How can I become a more spiritual person? (paranormal, pray, Christianity)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am not talking about Christianity and any other organized religion. I just want to become more spiritual and develop a relationship with a higher power.
I do like daoism and I have thought about practicing it. I've made no decision yet.
I think that's the next level of growth for me in my life.
Please, no debates or arguing in this thread, there is enough of that going on in the forum already.
Give your POv but please do not argue.
Ron
Well, Ron, the best way I know is start talking to the one that gives life to all. Just by having an honest conversation to the One, who is the Higher Power you seek to discover is a great start. Acknowledging that you have weaknesses and open your heart and soul through prayer brings you closer to Spirituality. Prayer is essential in discovering that which you seek.
Prayer can be just talking or even write a prayer to the Almighty. And keep that prayer with you. And when you talk to the Almighty tell Him why you wrote the prayer. Not because I told you, but because you want to be able to receive a blessing to become a better human and gain the spiritual knowledge you seek. The more you talk to Him who is above all, the more spiritual you will become.
One more thing, help people. Open a door for someone, donate your time to an organization that helps people. Doesn't have to be a big thing, just some small stuff first. And, when the Spirit is in you, and you will know, be thankful.
I am not talking about Christianity and any other organized religion. I just want to become more spiritual and develop a relationship with a higher power.
I do like daoism and I have thought about practicing it. I've made no decision yet.
I think that's the next level of growth for me in my life.
Please, no debates or arguing in this thread, there is enough of that going on in the forum already.
Give your POv but please do not argue.
Ron
It depends on what you want to get out of life. You can read about every religion in the world and still not find what you may be looking for. At the core of every religion is Love. Each religion expresses it differently.
The religious books all contain stories of the past lives of others. How they lived, their thoughts, their beliefs, their fears. If you want to become more spiritual, find the Love that YOU are and make your own story of you. You are sacred, not books. You are love made manifest on earth from a creator who created you out of love for this experience. Be that Love and you will find your spirituality. No belief system can do that for you.
I am not talking about Christianity and any other organized religion. I just want to become more spiritual and develop a relationship with a higher power.
I do like daoism and I have thought about practicing it. I've made no decision yet.
I think that's the next level of growth for me in my life.
Please, no debates or arguing in this thread, there is enough of that going on in the forum already.
Give your POv but please do not argue.
Ron
Here are some words by OSHO.
Perhaps they will provide some clues.
And what do you mean by "practice Taoism"?
Zen says truth has nothing to do with authority, truth has nothing to do with tradition, truth has nothing to do with the past - truth is a radical, personal realization. You have to come to it.
**********************************************
The past is no more and the future is not yet: both are unnecessarily moving in directions which don't exist. One used to exist, but no longer exists, and one has not even started to exist. The only right person is one who lives moment to moment, whose arrow is directed to the moment, who is always here and now; wherever he is, his whole consciousness, his whole being, is involved in the reality of here and in the reality of now. That's the only right direction. Only such a man can enter into the golden gate. The present is the golden gate. Here-now is the golden gate. ...And you can be in the present only if you are not ambitious--no accomplishment, no desire to achieve power, money, prestige, even enlightenment, because all ambition leads you into the future. Only a non-ambitious man can remain in the present. A man who wants to be in the present has not to think, has just to see and enter the gate. Experience will come, but experience has not to be premeditated.
Zen asks you to come out of the head and go to the basic source.... It is not that Zen is not aware of the uses of energy in the head, but if all the energy is used in the head, you will never become aware of your eternity.... You will never know as an experience what it is to be one with the whole. When the energy is just at the center, pulsating, when it is not moving anywhere, neither in the head nor in the heart, but it is at the very source from where the heart takes it, the head takes it, pulsating at the very source--that is the very meaning of Zazen. Zazen means just sitting at the very source, not moving anywhere, a tremendous force arises, a transformation of energy into light and love, into greater life, into compassion, into creativity. It can take many forms. But first you have to learn how to be at the source. Then the source will decide where your potential is. You can relax at the source, and it will take you to your very potential.
************************************************** ***
A man's true life is the way in which he puts off the lie imposed by others on him. Stripped, naked, natural, he is what he is. This is a matter of being, and not of becoming. The lie cannot become the truth, the personality cannot become your soul. There is no way to make the nonessential the essential. The nonessential remains nonessential and the essential remains essential, they are not convertible. And striving towards truth is nothing but creating more confusion. The truth has not to be achieved. It cannot be achieved, it is already the case. Only the lie has to be dropped. All aims and ends and ideals and goals and ideologies, religions and systems of improvement and betterment, are lies. Beware of them. Recognize the fact that, as you are, you are a lie. Manipulated, cultivated by others. Striving after truth is a distraction and a postponement. It is the lie's way to hide. See the lie, look deep into the lie of your personality. Because to see the lie is to cease to lie. No longer to lie is to seek no more for any truth--there is no need. The moment the lie disappears, truth is there in all its beauty and radiance. In the seeing of the lie it disappears, and what is left is the truth.
A master in Zen is not simply a teacher. In all the religions there are teachers. They teach you about subjects which you don't know, and they ask you to believe because there is no way to bring those experiences into objective reality. Neither has the teacher known them - he has believed them; he transfers his belief to somebody else.
Zen is not a believer's world. It is not for the faithful ones; it is for those daring souls who can drop all belief, unbelief, doubt, reason, mind, and simply enter into their pure existence without boundaries. But it brings a tremendous transformation.
Hence, let me say that while others are involved in philosophies, Zen is involved in metamorphosis, in a transformation. It is authentic alchemy: it changes you from base metal into gold. But its language has to be understood, not with your reasoning and intellectual mind but with your loving heart. Or even just listening, not bothering whether it is true or not. And a moment comes suddenly that you see it, which has been eluding you your whole life. Suddenly, what Gautam Buddha called "eighty-four thousand doors" open.
I am on the same path--searching for spirituality while trying to discern what that even means to me. I'll share with you what I've been doing to further my path as well as what I plan to do next:
1. Reading (since I am already familiar with Christianity, I've been reading other things--stuff on Buddhism and Yoga as well as books by Echart Tolle, Michael Bernard Beckwith (I really like his stuff--he doesn't discount different philosophies and pulls from many different sources, religions, and personal experiences).
2. Yoga. I've felt really close to something indescribable and wonderful while doing some forms of yoga. If you try this, make sure to try different styles, different venues, and different teachers. I've had experiences that were highly spiritual and others that were highly physical, but that was it.
3. Meditation. I haven't gotten into this much yet, but I think this is probably really the key, or answer, to what we all search for. I've been doing some reading on it and have been looking for free instruction on it--I have found one place in my area. Maybe your location also offers the same?
Most yoga classes and even yoga DVDs include some mediatation, so this might be a good place to start. If nothing else, you can start by taking deep breaths and following your breath--what does it feel like going in and out of your body? Where in your body can you feel your breath, etc.
4. Attend different religious services. Even though you said you weren't necessarily into the whole organized religion thing (I'm not either), I find that usually by attending a service of some kind, I get something valuable from it--I learn something new--a new way to think about something, or I gain the knowledge that I am not digging that place or that philosophy at all.
Best of luck to you! Let me know what you discover--I'm looking too!
I am not talking about Christianity and any other organized religion. I just want to become more spiritual and develop a relationship with a higher power.
I do like daoism and I have thought about practicing it. I've made no decision yet.
I think that's the next level of growth for me in my life.
Please, no debates or arguing in this thread, there is enough of that going on in the forum already.
Give your POv but please do not argue.
Ron
Many people speak of 'spirituality' in terms of religion -- this god, or that goddess. Spirituality, in my opinion, is 'beyond' all that -- it's not religion, or gods or goddesses.
(A warning to readers: this may sound like a 'religious' viewpoint, but that's not my intent).
We are losing our connections to life -- humanity has become a race of 'wanters', without having any concrete explanation for why we want. Material posessions, the drive for wealth, has overcome the simple pleasures of existing.
Sure, I want that shiny new video game, but do I need it? Is there any reason to have it, beyond 'I want'? Will it just sit on a shelf and be unused?
To be more spiritual, I think we need to leave the 'want' behind. Before you make a purchase, decide: do you need it (ie, will it make a difference to your existance), or do you want it (is it just something 'cool' that won't fill a useful part of your life)?
As I said, spirituality isn't about religion or gods -- it's about a mindset. When you can look at something, sitting on a shelf, and walk away without regret at 'not' buying, you're on a pretty good path.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
