You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, it does not exist. - Friedrich Nietzsche
I have been asked a lot recently “What do you believe?”. But what they are really asking is “You believe what I believe, right?” I see the hope in their eyes as they ask the question and then the horror when they hear the answer.
I believe that our spiritual path is our own. I believe that no one path is wrong for everyone and no one path is right for everyone. We must search and see for ourselves what serves us best; but ultimately each one of us has the ability and the obligation to think and decide for themselves.
I will spare you the details of my childhood spiritual experiences. Suffice it to say that I grew up as a fundamentalist Christian and all that goes with that. It was not until everything that I knew disintegrated right before my eyes, that I began to think for myself. I asked the questions:
- Is there really a God - What is the meaning of life - What do I do now
These questions changed my life (and my beliefs) forever. You see, I had just taken for granted that there was a God – after all that is what the church said and who I am to question? The next two questions had been answered for me as well. I was to spread the Good News of the Gospel throughout the world and bring people to Jesus. That was the reason that I was created – or so they said. Don’t misunderstand I am not bashing the church or the Christian faith. I am simply sharing with you my journey, which includes these things. So when I was doing everything they said and I found myself divorced and homeless and jobless, I was at my wits end. It was at this point that I began to question my beliefs.
I have come to believe that my belief system is ever evolving. I will continue to explore and learn and grow for all eternity. I do not stuff myself into a labeled box of beliefs; rather, like the God who created me, I allow myself to be free and experience life as the perfect mystery it is intended to be.
I was put on this earth to give and receive the beauty that is in all and of all. My creator cannot be contained in one belief system or creed – to try to do so would be like trying to put a huge oak tree back into an acorn. The human mind cannot comprehend the greatness that is God; even the name puts limits on the abilities and power of the source of my being. I believe that this source is always with me. Because of this , every answer to every problem is within me and I am fully supported and loved by the source that I now call, for lack of a better word, the Divine.
So, what do you believe? I hope you will explore and share.