A couple of years ago I had a rather strange experience. I went to visit my nan who lived in a flat on her own. Her husband (my grandad) had died around fifteen years before from a heart attack. I would ensure that I would go to visit my nan at least once a week. This was not something that was a bind for me as I have to say that I really enjoyed going to visit her.
Now before I continue I would like to point out that I by no means work within the paranormal sector, if one even exists. I actually sell cheap holidays, as well as offering advice about training for foster carers and on a part time basis I sell external doors.
On this particular day she started to talk about her health and explained to me that she was sure that she did not have long to live. She had a number of health problems as I am sure many people in their eighties do. The problems that she was facing were slowly getting ever more severe which made her start to think that her time on this planet may well be coming to an end. As it happens she was correct.
What are you on about? I asked. She continued that she knew for a fact that there was an after life and that she was actually looking forward to going there. She was not afraid of dying and had basically had enough of life, as she was always tired and had very little to look forward to.
So what makes you think there is such a thing as life after death? Do not be alarmed, Steve, she said. Your grandad comes and visits me every week and has told me all about it. I know it is hard for you to believe but it is true. When I die Steve, do not be too upset for too long. Be happy for me and be safe in the knowledge that we will meet up again in the future.
My nan died around six months later and I really hope that she has been able to once again meet up with my grandad and other people like her parents of course.
Having a belief in the after life gave my nan a piece of mind and something to look forward to. This also gave her a rather bullish attitude over the whole subject of death – in reality I would suspect that there was a part of her that was slightly concerned about dying.
I once read of a rabbi who corrected a young, arrogant student named Jacob who loved to make fun of Christians. He regarded Christians as ignorant and ill-informed and Christianity as an absurd religion.
One day, the rabbi took Jacob aside and said, “Jacob, why do you suppose Christians make it a habit to tap the side of the saltshaker while Jews always tap the bottom?”
Certain the rabbi was going to join him in ridicule of Christians, Jacob was more than ready to play along. “No, Rabbi, I do not know. Why do Jews tap the bottom of the saltshaker while Christians tap the side?”
“To get the salt out!” answered the rabbi.
There are many ways to tap the shaker, but the purpose is the same—to dispense salt.
Religions all share the same essential purpose - to know the Divine. They may use different words or ideas to say this, but it is essentially the same purpose. Even in religions like Buddhism, where there is no belief in a Higher Power per se, they still speak sometimes of the “Universal Mind.” What is that, if it is not the same Reality toward which the words and names that others use point, too?
Similarly, a spiritual seeker in Christianity is really no different than a spiritual seeker in Islam, Taoism, or Hinduism. All want to know God, the higher self, or to reach what Hindus call Samadhi, which is “bliss consciousness,” what Christians may call, “salvation,” or “God-realization.” In other words, everyone wants to be complete, to be happy, and to alleviate human suffering, which The Buddha showed us is mostly self-induced anyway. In other words, we all seek the same thing. We just know it in different ways, based on our cultural, social, ethnic, and religious conditioning. Since everyone is seeking God-consciousness, sometimes confused with “happiness,” then you can understand that every religion has evolved to help facilitate this purpose.
Yet, throughout the history of humanity, religion has been the prime cause of most human division and human and planetary destruction. If this is not mad, what is it? Throughout the history of my own tradition, for example, Christianity has been either a Divine blessing or a demonic curse. Embarrassing to admit, it has been the latter far too often. Humanity will not survive unless there is a shift in human consciousness.
Even as I say all of this, however, I realize, until a person wakes up, this will likely be more than they can accept. Until they experience a shift in consciousness, making it possible for them to see everyone and everything through lenses clear of conditioned thinking, then they will resist virtually everything I written so far. This is true whether they be a Christian, Muslim, or atheist.
If I have learned anything over the years, it is that every religion, in its own unique way, has something important to teach us about Ultimate Reality, or what I like to call the sacred art of knowing God. You don't have to subscribe to a particular religion in order to know God.
I love the story I read of a Frenchman who approached the Dalai Lama after he had given a lecture in a city in France. He said, “Your Holiness, I loved your words and I’ve decided I want to convert to Buddhism.”
In great wisdom, however, the Dalai Lama answered, “Why Buddhism? Why would you wish to convert to this religious tradition? You are in France. In France, you have Christianity.Christianity is a great religion; it's the followers of Christianity that ruin it!”[1]
There isn’t, is there? No more so than there’s anything wrong with the myriad of other paths one might follow toward the evolution of Divine consciousness.Exclusivity must end or humanity will!” “We’re in, you’re out!” “We’re the chosen ones, you’re not!”
Just as is everyone,
You were born to walk with God;
So, why would you walk alone?
[1] André Comte-Sponville, The Little Book of Atheistic Spirituality, trans. by Nancy Huston, (Penguin Books: New York, NY, 2007), pp. 39-40.
While all religions share the same essential purpose, all of them are failing miserably. They start out right, but end up obsessed with matters of lesser importance and are, in some instances, just plain insane. Observe for yourself and this is what you will see:
Instead of bridge to God, religion is often a barrier to God;
Instead of freeing people from their burdens, religion itself is the burden;
Instead of knowing God, religion is obsessed with knowing about God;
Instead of divine acceptance, religion is preoccupied with guilt and failure, and the depiction of God as a deity displeased about both;
Instead of bringing unity to humanity, religion is the principle cause of most disunity;
Instead of peace and tranquility, religion is a circus of endless activity, beliefs, dogmas, and doctrines that are more divisive than unifying.
To begin with, it is ironic but the literal meaning of the word religion is “to return to bondage.” The word comes from two words, the prefix re meaning “to return,” and the root legare meaning “to bind.” Since everyone wants freedom, and many turn to religion to find it, the regrettable consequence is that too often the only thing they get is greater enslavement. This is the dysfunction found in every religion and Christianity and Islam may be two of the most dysfunctional religions in the world today.
Since I know other religions only as an outsider, I’ll reserve my observations to what I know best as an insider to Christianity. I have been a spiritual leader within the Christian church for decades. But, I have had the added experience, unknown to virtually all other Christians, of providing consultation within almost every communion within the Christian church. For example, not only was I a former Baptist minister for twenty-plus years but, for more than a decade now, I have provided consultation to Roman Catholic, Evangelical, and Protestant churches all across the U.S.—from theologically conservative churches to liberal ones, from mid-sized congregations to those accustomed to seeing more than 10,000 worshipers every weekend. I’ve consulted with churches vehemently opposed to anyone but males in positions of authority, and with those served by female clergypersons; with those who openly welcome gays and lesbians to those who insist they return to the proverbial closet.
I know the Christian church. Many things I’ve come to know, I’ve come to loathe. At times, I’ve wondered if I might not have been better off to have gone after some other career. And yet, I now realize it is part of my destiny to be right where I am, to know what I know, and to say what I’m saying, especially through this book.
I feel more strongly today than ever before that the future of humanity is at stake. Unless there are profound changes in human consciousness—that is, changes in how we look at each other, as well as how we treat each other, there is little hope for humanity’s survival. Madness has reached an unimaginable, as well as unsustainable level. Unfortunately, however, the one place where you would expect to find sanity—in your religious tradition—you often find just the opposite.
This, and a score of other anomalies I cover in a new book, The Enoch Factor: Sacred Art of Knowing God.
Instead of helping people know God, most Christian churches, and their leaders, are obsessed with achieving the status of being the biggest church with the largest crowds and the most elaborate campuses. Yet, ironically, apart from a very few exceptions, most churches are declining. If the declines experienced in most churches today were the medical case history of a patient in a hospital, the diagnoses would read, “Chronically ill; resistant to change; on life-support; likely terminal.” The church itself is the one institution most in need of the very thing it proclaims to the world—salvation. It boasts of knowing God. But, by the sheer numbers who have given up on the church already, it is right to question whether the church knows God at all.
Here’s what you should know…
Religious belief has supplanted a relationship to God in most churches today. Few would admit this, but there is no question but what this is the case. How to know God has been relegated to a place of secondary importance. Or, to put it another way, knowing about God is regarded today as equal in importance as knowing God. It’s as if religious leaders believe what people need is more beliefs, more doctrines, dogmas, moral judgments and expositions. But, if beliefs and doctrines were what people really needed, why are they leaving the church in greater numbers today than ever before in Christian history?
There is no belief that, once you know it, will mean you know God. If that were the case, the belief itself would be God. Just as a name for God is not God, neither is a belief about God, God. There is nothing you need to know in order to know God. You know God already. You have just forgotten that you do. Or, it could be that you’ve just been misguided or mixed up, believing there is something you’ve got to know, a belief you’ve got to believe, or a church, temple or mosque you must attend before you can know God. In either case, you are spiritually unconscious, asleep to the indwelling presence of God—a presence within you already. If you were awake, you would both see God in yourself, in others around you, and in the world. You would know this Presence, too, intimately and in a transformational way.
To know God is the supreme purpose of every human life. I have written this book in the hopes it will serve as a catalyst to awaken in some the realization of the Eternal, this one Life who goes by many names. The fact that so many people are unaware of God’s presence explains why there is widespread discontent among Christians in almost every church today. It also explains why many of them swap churches faster than swingers swap lovers. They are looking for themselves but, unfortunately, they enter a church only to discover the church is more lost, confused, and dysfunctional than they are.
Visit my blog for information on this subject and other matters of pertaining to the spiritual life: http://stevemcswain.com/blog/how-to-know-god/ezinearticles-com-authors-area-2/
When we leave home for work we tend to leave God behind and we change into our business mind set. Most of the time we will be willing to take actions and commit acts that is in opposition to our beliefs. The normal explanation is that this is the way it is done in the company or industry or the way it has always been done.
“God’s Healing for Businesses”
David Shadbolt wrote a book called “God’s Healing for Businesses” that touches on this subject. The subject matter is very interesting and David's book is an enjoyable read. It is very interesting to see what people think about God and their business lives and if the two mix. Business people become very uncomfortable when they are questioned about their beliefs. At some businesses it is a bad career move to speak about God.
Every person needs to clarify this issue with themselves. We cannot leave God out of certain areas of our lives and expect to be blessed. Businesses can be a battleground, don’t wait until your back is against the wall before you equip yourself for the fight.
In the end God is interested in our businesses and wants to speak to us about them. The guidance that God can provide in our businesses depends on us allowing Him to enter.
Allowing God into our business lives is a very private decision and a person needs to put some serious thought into this issue. All of us will answer differently to this question and will allow God into our businesses in unique ways.
There is a website www.specialprayer.webs.com that features this topic in one of it’s pages and this site has a blog where visitors can share their views on the subject.
To have spiritual growth is to take a closer look within yourself toward your inner soul.
To be a dweller on this earth and to grow spiritually in a world defined by power, money, and outer influence is surely a Herculean task. Today’s conveniences such as electronic equipments, ipods, and tools as well as entertainment through dvd players, magazines, and the web have predisposed us to confine our attention mostly to our physical needs and wants. As a result, our ways of seeing our self-worth and self-meaning are scattered. How can we strike a balance between the material and spiritual aspects of our day to day living?
Challenges
Many different roads will come our way as we take this journey through this life. There are some pathways that lead to a life of single blessedness, marriage, and spiritual vocation. Some of these pathways could ultimately bring us happiness,fame and fortune on one hand, or hopelessness, isolation and poverty on the other. Some of these pathways lead to shining happiness as there are roads to ultimate sadness, roads towards triumphant victory and jubilation, and roads that will ultimately lead to defeat and dissatisfaction.
Examine
Our introspection should go beyond the recollecting of recent events thattook place in a day, week, or month. You need to look closely and reflect upon your inner thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and motivations. Periodically try to examining your experiences, the decisions you can make, the relationships you are working on, and the things you take part in provide useful insights on your life goals, try to focus on the quality traits you must keep with you and the negative traits you have to get rid of.
A healthy mental and spiritual cleansing is absolutely necessary for your spirit.Moreover, it gives you clues on how to act, react, and conduct yourself in the midst of any situation. Like any ability, introspection can be learned; all it takes is the courage and willingness to seek the truths that lie within you. Here are a few good pointers when you introspect: be objective, be forgiving of yourself, and focus on the areas for improvement.
Growth
To grow spiritually in within,is to develop your potentials. Each and every time that you exert effort to improving the quality of your life and your being, be it to cleaning up your room, extending your hand and helping a stranger, to fail on school exams and brushing yourself off and trying again, maybe you have offered in the taking care of your neighbors sick cat,life has a way of giving you equivalent points for that. Religion and science have differing views on these unknown matters of the human spirit. Religion views people as spiritual beings temporarily living on Earth, while science views the spirit as just one aspect of an individual. Mastery of the self is a recurring way if thinking in both Christian (Western) and Islamic (Eastern) teachings.
Beliefs
The needs of the human body are recognized but placed under the needs of the spirit. Beliefs, values, morality, rules, experiences, and hard work provide the blueprint to ensure the enrichment of the spiritual being. In Psychology, self-actualization is the realizing of one’s full potential. The psychologist Maslow identified several human needs: physiological, security, belonging, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization, and self-transcendence.
Needs
James earlier categorized these needs into three: material, emotional, and spiritual. It seems that it is human nature that when you have satisfied the basic physiological and emotional needs, spiritual or existential needs will follow. Achieving each need brings you to the total development of the individual. Perhaps the biggestdifference between these two religions and psychology is the end of self-development: Islam and Christianity will believe that self-development is a means toward serving God, while modern psychology views that self-development is an end to the means unto itself.
To grow spiritually is to seek for a higher purpose
Religions that believe in the existence of God such as Christianism, Judaism, and Islam suppose that the purpose of theirour existence is to serve the Creator of all things. Several theories in psychology propose that we ultimately give meaning to our lives. Whether or not we believe that life’s meaning is pre-determined or self-directed, to grow in spirit is to realize that we do not merely exist. We do not know the meaning of our lives at birth; but we gain this wisdom and knowledge from our interactions with people and from our actions and reactions to the situations we are in. As we discover this sense of purpose, there are certain beliefs and values that we reject and affirm. Our lives have purpose. This purpose puts all our physical, emotional, and intellectual potentials into use; sustains us during trying times; and gives us something to look forward to—a goal to achieve, a destination to reach. A person without meaning or purpose is like a drifting ship at sea.
To grow spiritually is to recognize interconnections.
Religions stress the concept of our relatedness to all creation, be it animate or and inanimate. Thus do we call other people “brothers and sisters” even if there are no direct blood relations. Moreover, deity-centered religions such as Christianity and Islam speak of the relationship between humans and a higher being. On the other hand, science expounds on our link to other living things through the evolution theory.
Connection
This connection is clearly seen in the concept of ecology, the interaction between living and non-living things. In psychology, connectedness is a characteristic of self-transcendence, the upper most human need according to Maslow. Recognizing your connection to all living things makes you more humble and respectful of people, animals, plants, and things in the world. It makes you appreciate everything around you. It moves you to go beyond your comfort zone and reach out to other people, and become care-takers of all other things around you.
Growth
Growth is a process, thus to grow in spirit is a day-to-day encounter. The important thing is that we learn, and from this knowledge, further spiritual growth is made possible.
If your growth stops then you are dead.Never stop the learning of your soul. Learning is life.It is the bread and butter of our life and our earthly existence.