I've written about spirituality before and I thought I would write about it again. It means different things to different people and I imagine to some people it means nothing whatsover. As Kathy said last time I wrote about it, it is for her a feeling we are all beings with an inter-connection. For me it is simply man cannot live by bread alone. This probably comes from 12 years of convent life in a Catholic school. Some of it rubs off and buries itself within you. I left it behind me for decades and have only picked it up again during the years that I have been alone. It is also probably a crutch for me but if it helps me then it is a good crutch.
The spirit for me is that the body lives with both physical and non-physical feelings. That is how I feel at this moment. I am human and I can change and the older I get the more changes I see in myself; the more I alter my views on maybe how I have behaved in the past, how I have reacted to events that took place, how I might react now. It can be frightening like going into an unknown of a person I haven't seen in myself before. I can only speak for me personally, one can never switch to knowing what others think. Yesterday I spent a long time going over and over events of long ago and how if they happened now I would react differently. Changes that I never thought would happen to the way I think have happened.
Spirtuality is as it is for me, and I speak only for me. It may not exist for you. How it is and for those who do not feel that, then that is fine. There is no right or wrong about it, no success or failure implied. No have to or have not to. No judgment. I have not passed judgment. No difference in your life implied or intended. No better or worse. It is just a personal way of dealing with the everyday for me at this time.
I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI have no religious spirituality but I can see how much it means to those of my friends who do. They are not offended by my atheism and I admire their gentle faith.
My friends from school mostly scoff at the idea of religion now. We just all rub along together and definitions of alternatives never come up. We are aware that some go to church and some don't. That's about all.
DeleteI don't go to church but I was Christened and married in a church. I don't think I believe in organised religion. I believe in a higher being and as though I am connected to something outside of myself. I had a bit of a nervous breakdown last year. I felt like I had become detached from myself. It was so scary. I prayed for months to feel normal again. I felt like I was an empty shell with no sense of purpose. I don't know if I am making much sense just now! I hope you have an Easter weekend full of contentment Rachel. x
ReplyDeleteI am sorry you went through that Simone. You are making sense to me. I am going through a change myself and as I said it is quite frightening to face the future in a different way, which is what I feel at the moment. I wrote the post because I did not want anybody to feel upset or offended by my words about spritituality, a few days ago, which I had never intended. Thank you for sharing. I have been alone today but have heard from my friend who wants to meet in the morning. It felt like a life saver when she contacted me this afternoon. I will tell her tomorrow. Rachel xx
DeleteEveryone needs something more than just fulfilling their basic physical needs. Once those are satisfied and we are neither hungry nor cold nor scared for our lives, we want more - we look for something to make sense of our lives, of the world we found ourselves in with no doing of our own, where ever we were born and whatever family, circumstances and environment we were born into. We're all looking for something, whether we are aware of that search or not. Some are content with what they have found, how their lives have turned out, happy to pass their genes and values on to their offspring, others look elsewhere for their lives to make sense.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, no better or worse, no judgement.
I was wondering whilst writing the post if it is all a matter of the use of language and some do not like my use of the word spiritual. Perhaps it is enough to say we are aware of our inner selves without some silly person like me trying to describe it as spiritual. This fact is what throws them into anger towards me.
DeleteI had a lot of pressure when I first arrived to attend church, kiss icons and obey the rules. I didn't. Over the years I've taken what I need or want and left the rest. I like going into one of the little churches to light a candle in memory of someone gone but not forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI send my prayers to the Universe and feel connected to something out there.
We had a lot of pressure from school and I had to have kind of counselling from the nuns because of the questions I asked at the time. I left it all behind me when I moved away and it stayed that way for years until recently when I found myself alone and I started to think this spiritual stuff again. I think you found the right balance and I am in the process of finding that too.
DeleteFor me ? It’s the kindness of people
ReplyDeleteOh yes, that too.
DeleteHi Rachel, I have been giving this some thought, I feel that we exist many times, forms and places. That we are all like leaves on a tree, connected more closely with some than others and probably have other 'lives' with other beings on the same 'branch' That we are all knowledge and experience collectors for a higher being , god or however you see the energy or 'Great Spirit'
ReplyDeleteI cannot see that only 'living' once would be an intelligent use of resouces , that we need to incarnate in different forms to gather enough experiences to fulfil our reason for existing at all.
This of course is how I understand things now. It will only be part of the picture. I think we are spirit in physical form and that in our present form we have a soul which is only part of our spirit.
My grandmother was very religious and read from her bible many times each day. I must have asked her if Jesus was really the son of God. sheanswered that she didnt see it mattered, that he was a very great and good man. The answer shook me at the time.
Enjoy Easter
Walk in beauty
Kathy
In other words spirit remains the same, soul changes in each existence.
Thank you for this thoughtful reply Kathy. I am having to read it through a few times to let it sink in. I have never thought of it being an intelligent use of resources to reincarnate in different forms to fulfil our reason for existing at all but I can see that it is worthy of my further thought. I also have to think about the spirit and the soul. My mother talked of this too, that the soul is not part of the spirit and they are separate. When I was in school I questioned many things in the bible, as you did with your grandmother, and for that I had to speak with a nun each morning and basically the only thing they tried to do to me was stop me questioning anything which they appeared to take as a negative on my part rather than wishing to learn and understand.
DeleteThank you again for this reply, especially as you had already given a long and interesting reply when I last wrote about spiritualism. Happy Easter Kathy. Rachel xx
oh dear, i hit the wrong key and shifted the last line from the sentence ending 'part of spirit.
ReplyDeleteKathy
Thank you for explaining. I joined the two up when I read the long comment. xx
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