For those of you who don't subscribe to a particular religion; How would you decscribe your spirituality?

Question

Assuming of course you have one.

Many excellent answers, who am I to choose the best. I'm going to leave it up for you to decide.

Answer 1

I am not spiritual. I am an atheist. I believe that my mind is a part of my body. When I die, my thoughts die too.

Answer 2

Well being a Solitary Eclectic I base my beliefs on morality, humility, chivalry, and equality of everything big and small. If I like for example eat a steak dinner I respect the cow where it came from. If its a chicken dinner I respect the chicken etc etc. I believe I'm not above anyone else and in the possibility of reincarnation. I follow the three fold law and the Wiccan Reade, but I'm not a Wiccan. I do not pray or deal with any types of spells, but I will things to happen and explore things with deep thought. I believe in asking questions and learning from different faiths. I also believe in a concept which there should be no fear of death only acceptance of it when the time comes. I do not deny the possibility of a supreme Deity, but I don't not state that there is one because of the possibility there could be many or we could be made of parts of a single one. I believe in spiritual energy which we draw from inside and given to us by other things. I believe in ghosts and wandering spirits and dreams are a gateway into the unknown.


Well that's the short version for you.

Answer 3

I believe that there is a divine energy that powers this existence (I have only to look around and see flowers growing, planety spinning, people walking and talking to know that is true, for me anyway). I always try to couch this, so it doesn't sound so kooky, but here is the straight answer:

I think that we, in our natural existence are beings of pure energy. While this is a wonderful existence, there are lots of things that we can not experience - true individuality, taste, touch - and a lot of things that we can learn.

I think we as a group have created places where we can come and incarnate to learn new things. I think Earth is just one of these places - I think there are lots of them throughout the Universe and each one holds different lessons for us to learn.

I think we make plans with our friends to undertake a course of study and we come here as a "virtual reality exercise" - all the while staying in constant contact with home (and other friends that aren't here yet or maybe they won't come at all on this trip). I think that whatever we think, home sends more of - when we think negative thoughts the Universe figures the course is too easy and sends more of whatever it is we think about.

I think it is important not to get too bogged down in "science" etc. because that cuts off ways in which the Universe can help us. I mean if we just know that with the education we have we can not possible earn enough money, then the Universe has to make us win the lottery to help us with prosperity (much harder) and if we couple that with "I never win anything" then the Universe has no way at all to send us prosperity (and they think that is what we want - we want to see what life is like here with insufficient funds). Same with illness. If we are dead certain there is no cure, then we are certainly dead. Those of us who defy science and insist upon curing themselves (through laughter or herbs or whatever) often do just that because they have left an option open for the Universe to make the change they want.

I think this can be overlaid onto a lot of other religions. The group we come from is often called God and Heaven - the mind connection often called prayer. I think that when we die, we head home - often times using whatever death myth we learn in this existence (and those who think they are going to hell, feel they don't deserve to go home and they stay in their own mind or linger here on earth after death).

Maybe this is too much information, but I include it all because I believe that many of the different religions are stories about the same thing, and that people just don't realize it. I think it is such a shame - because if you explain your own personal faith without the "buzz words" of current religion, we all can come up with something similar and uniting (and then we can stop arguing about it and do some real good in the world!)

Peace!

Answer 4

How do you describe color to a blind man? This is a tough question. It's more like just knowing that there is more to this life than meets the eye but the knowledge is not gained from a book or from tales told over and over again. It's knowledge that wells up from deep inside reinforced by real world experience. Experience that goes beyond the limits of modern science. Skeptics would say that this is self dellusional and I would tend to agree except that some of the knowledge has impacted our everyday existence. As an example, I offer this experience:
It's a typical Saturday night. My daugthers, one lives at home, one live here in town, have gone over to a friends house to have a few drinks and hang out. Nothing unusual. They are all of legal age. About an hour after they have gone, my wife becomes very alert and aggitated and insists that we go over to the friends house. She "knows" that something is wrong. We go and arrive at the friends house to find that all three girls are exceptionally drunk. There is a guy there that is a unknown to us and not a regular face in the girls circle of friends. He was unaware of our arrival and is talking on a cell phone and we overhear him talking about his plans of sexual conquest. The bottle of liquor is sitting on the table and is only missing 6 to 8 shots, not enough to inebtiate "these three" healthy women. Once our prescence is know by this guy he makes quick tracks to get out of there. The gals were confused at their state of inebriation and we suspect that they had been drugged. As it turned out, they were. As I've stated, this was a typical night out for them and there were no red flags giving us cause for alarm when they went out. Somehow knowledge reached us and we responded.
In my experience, I have found that my spiritual developement has progressed much faster by turning off the noise of the world, including practicing dogma and just being still and listening to the voice within. Trying to define the undefinable has only gotten in the way.

Answer 5

Ralph Waldo Emerson, who once held the position of Dean of Theology at Harvard once said (and I am paraphrasing here)
to the graduating class of 1896..."That the goal of mankind in the next century is to build a relationship with God that goes beyond the repetitive practices of organized religion." The definition of the word God in one dictionary said "Higher Consciousness". So my goal is to connect to that consciousness. I gave up being a practicing catholic a while ago and have had a deeper connection with myself and the world around me.
I mix that with the poem that mother Teresa wrote,
The Final Analysis .....
"People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.....
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.....
If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.....
If you are honest and frank, people will cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.....
What you spend years building, someone can destroy overnight.
Build anyway.......
If you find serenity and happiness, they may become jealous.
Be happy anyway.....
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.
Give the world the best you have anyway....
You see, in the Final Analysis, it was always between you and God.
It was never between you and them, ANYWAY!

Answer 6

I consider myself a Christian because that is how I was raised. I have also studied Buddhism, Baha'i Faith and Urantia. I don't think it is necessary to go to a building to worship God. I don't think it is necessary to have a middle man in the form of a priest to communicate with Him. I see the presence of God a thousand times a day, from the sun that warms me in the morning to the bird that lands on my chimney and fills my home with song. From the sparkle in my grandsons eyes to the whispers of leaves in the trees. My spirituality is a living thing, my world.

Answer 7

I believe in the Great Spirit, he is the creator of all things. Others call him God, Allah, etc. No I do not go to church, because when I did, I found more Hippocrates, than believers. I can speak with the Great Spirit any where and at anytime I need to, I see him in the beauty of his creations, and I can hear him on the whisper of the winds. My offerings go to those in need, instead of going into a plate to be given to the rich. I do not go into a booth and ask a Man for forgiveness, I go to the lake and speak my peace, and ask for forgiveness from the only one who can forgive me. The Great Spirit.

Answer 8

I think there may be 11+ dimensions as string theory suggests. I think religion of any form is a way to translate the unknown into something hope-full. The ultimate reality in which we all exist is way too big for us to fathom. Only after death will we be able to see the big picture.

Answer 9

My spirituality is based on the main law of the universe, which is "energy follows thought". It's the basis for karma and the golden rules in all religions.

Answer 10

I was raised Baptist, but I base my beliefs from the Bible without any so-called rules of religion. I still deeply love the folks in my Baptist church, but I don't want to be told what the bible says , I want to learn for myself, its like a no frills type of spirituality. I still enjoy talking to those who go to church, but I have my own ideas of what things mean.

Answer 11

I'm an atheist as well. I think that everything ends when I die and that's how the world is. However, I don't go around insulting other people's ideas just because I think differently. I respect their ideas, but I don't like it when mine are criticized as well. I try to be a good person not to go to "heaven" but rather to feel good about myself. I'm alright with no God.