Freedom for MY Soul

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I am often asked what my religion is by people who cross my path. I immediately respond by asking them what their religion is. If they tell me they are Christians, then I say, “Me, too”. If they tell me they are Buddhist, then I say, “Me, too”. If they tell me they are Hindu, then I say, “Me, too”. This stops all proselytizing. Fortunately, I have spent many years searching for my truth so am able to say “Me, too”, without anyone suspecting that I am just playing them at their game.

I do not play them at their game because I am being disrespectful. I say “Me, too”, so that I do not get into any arguments and I also do not have to listen to anyone preaching or pushing their truth/religion down my throat.

It is wrong for me to judge the religious or spiritual path of another and I believe that it is wrong for anyone to judge mine. Unless I have walked a mile in the shoes of that person, I have no basis on which to judge. However, I can judge for myself whether my path is right for me or not. What another person believes or how he makes sense of his or her world is none of my business. I do not have the right to judge another. Buddha said that the pure man respects every form of faith, and in the Bible I am told to ‘judge not, lest we be judged’.

Spirituality is as different to religion as chalk is to cheese. Religion is the belief in a creator and controller of the universe who has given man a soul that continues to exist after the death of the body and is a system of faith and worship based on such belief. Spirituality is the concern of the spirit or soul and not of material things. As such, spirituality is not concerned with faith and worship of a belief system, but of matters that prioritize the soul. Religion ensures that I tow the line, that I behave within the paradigms of the dogma and that I stay with the literal account of the holy books. Spirituality is an individual pathway to the Creator and does not rely on any faith but the conviction, the absolute knowing of the truth for me.

Religion is a social organization that expects me to become a member, behave appropriately and pay towards the upkeep of the representatives of God. If I do not conform, I am ostracized and cast out. Spirituality requires no such thing. I already am, always was and always will be an integral part of the Universe, affecting the Universe and being affected by it. I do not require paying anyone to be an interpreter or negotiator between my Creator and myself. I am only concerned with taking care of the world I live in and the care of my own soul.

I think that most religious followers are extremists, who judge, condemn, beguile and coerce, who wear blinkers and who have to rely on the “only” scripture to prove their point. It does not make sense for me to try to prove something by using the same thing they are trying to prove, to prove it. This is an apple because it looks like this apple? Is this proof that the apple is an apple or should I rather look at an orange and say this is an apple because it is different from that, which is an orange? How can I prove that the Bible is the Word of God, or that the Koran was divinely inspired if I have to prove it by reading from the same book? Proof of something is always found in something else, not in itself. To prove that I am a male, I look outside of myself and see the difference between the sexes. I cannot just look at another male and say I am the same as he. I have to look at what I am not, to prove what I am. I am female. By proving that something in the Bible, Torah or Koran is true by referring to another part of the same book that mentions the same thing, does not prove the truth of the matter. It merely states that there are two verses in the said book that say the same thing. It does not mean that it is the truth. To say that a dog is a dog means nothing. But to say that a dog is not the same as a cat, even though they are both animals, tells me something about the dog. To prove that a holy book is the truth, I need to look beyond that book.

Spiritual people rely on themselves. They read, research and use their powers of deductive thinking, they question and they search. They feel no need to tell anyone about their spiritual path because it has nothing to do with anyone other than themselves and their Creator, and because they are content with what they understand to be the truth. They do not need to constantly ask people whether they believe because they do not need the confirmation of other beliefs to justify their own.

Both, spiritual and religious people are concerned with climbing the mountain of awareness, or religious or spiritual enlightenment. When I am at the bottom of the mountain, there is a vast difference between the Buddhists, Baptists, Hindus, Jew or Pagans. All these people are taking different paths. But the higher up the mountain I go, irrespective of which path I take, the less difference there is. When I get to the top I will find that there is no difference at all.

What does it matter how I get to the top? What matters is that I make an effort and that I constantly strive to reach the summit. Whether I bowed to the East yesterday, chant a chant today or cast a spell tomorrow, what does it matter? What matters is my spiritual freedom to do whatever it takes, whatever I want, to commune with God within me and to remain in the zone of unlimited potential.

Often, it has been when I found that the material world did not satisfy me any longer, when my longing for that thing which I could not put a name to became unbearable, that I would begin again to search for God, for enlightenment and for that ultimate place to be. For me, to be enlightened means to see in a new way – to move from the old way of perceiving and understanding the world to a new way of seeing and understanding the interconnectedness between my self and the universe. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. My thirst for knowledge and truth is unquenchable.