On Spirituality

It was interesting reading over your responses to the questions on my spirituality survey. Now I have to keep in mind that these responses come from readers who are drawn to this blog and what I might have to say. In that respect, this exercise is more a mirror image of my own perspective on spirituality than it is a snapshot of the world's "spiritual beings having a human experience" as Wayne Dyer likes to put it. Still I think the effort has something to offer to us.

The purpose of spirituality appears to unfold along three different paths. The first is to guide our search to discover meaning and purpose and, ultimately, enlightenment. A second path is to nurture a relationship with the divine, one capable of redeeming us or effecting our salvation. While the first two paths appear focused primarily on the self the third path is an other-centered, outward movement that seeks to reconcile the self with creation, building community and promoting harmony.

This follows our very view of God as the divine that is found somewhere deep within us. We also want to believe that God is intimately involved in every aspect of our life and somehow keeps watch over us. Despite the need of the self to intimately touch and be touched by the divine, we also recognize there is an experience of God that manifests itself only when people are able to set aside their differences and come together.

While our perspective on God and our understanding of the purpose of spirituality seems first related to the self, I find it interesting that, when considering what might please God the most, we tend to focus on the other. God is pleased when we break down the barriers that divide us and look out for the most vulnerable in our midst. Only to a lesser degree do we return to the self and acknowledge that God might also find pleasing a spiritual hunger for truth and a desire for peace and enlightenment.

Finally, I find it interesting how strongly we appear to agree that God is not bound by the pages of any book, that God spoke in history but continues to speak to us today. Simply stated, our relationship with God isn't limited to a past but has a present that is alive and vital. God does speak to us today and the readers of this xanga are poised to listen!