Tag Archives: Spirituality

22

The Gap of Knowledge and Life

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One of the things that I have become more sure of each day is I used to know a lot more about life than I do today. You are led to believe early in life, and you will eventually figure all of this out as you gain more experience and become a bit more mature. Yet the older I get, the more I recognize the gap between life and what I know is growing wider by the moment!

This is not to say that I am becoming less intelligent. On the contrary,  it simply means that as I have gained more experience, I attain a certain level of understanding, which unfortunately causes you to know the things you have believed most of your existence about people and life has been chiefly inaccurate or become irrelevant with the discovery of new information. I am sure of much less than I used to be, and that is OK. I have learned to maintain a balance in the unknown.

What I Used To Think

 

A few years ago, I believed I knew all I needed about relationships, people, finances, politics, and religion. Any topic you wanted to discuss, I was secure in my beliefs of how the world worked and not looking to test those parameters in any way.   I was happy and satisfied, knowing I was very proper and intelligent. We are willing to turn a blind eye to investigation when we are so sure about the true nature of a thing. But life is not a predictable equation, set to the simple calculations of fools.

A funny thing happens as you get older; like old paint on the side of a building, the ideas you carry that once used to show such surety slowly display signs of wear and crack. At first, you can ignore it, but once you start to look at things closely, you realize that what you knew before without the shadow of a doubt is not in any way correct. It happens with just one small thing at first, perhaps a belief about yourself, and once that is proven false, even if it positively helps your life, it is unnerving. If one of your beliefs can be wrong, they could all be wrong, and then what can you count on??

Answers Found, Not Answers at All

Finding an answer does not end the quest; it merely leads you to ask other questions that need to be answered. This cycle continues until you realize that as you answer the many questions you have, more questions come, and soon you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you know much less than you did yesterday.

I believe it would be helpful to give you a demonstration of this process in action. The first question I ever had was, why does bad stuff happen to me?  That was it. I had experienced a string of bad luck, poor choices, and unpopular decision, add-ons, and I couldn’t fathom why this happened to me. Here is a growth opportunity.

The old me would think I didn’t deserve these bad things because I was a good person and never harmed anyone, so why am I being cursed? That often turned into a wave of self-pity and selfishness, unproductive, harmful, and just plain painful.

What I found to be the Answer

image1Life is full of experiences, some may be more pleasant to experience than others, but they all have merit and are designed to teach you something. If you are continually experiencing the same thing, perhaps you are just too dense to grasp the lesson. This was profound, and not surprisingly, those situations stopped occurring.

The questions that came next were predictable, and I think:  Is there a God? Why do bad things happen? What happens when you die? How should I feel? How should you treat others? What is the secret to being happy? What does love mean? Etc.

I am working on all these, but the most mind-boggling question has been, who am I? If you had asked me ten years ago, there would be a short easy answer, based on my job. But when you strip your occupation and titles of a family away, what are you? What makes you uniquely and individually? Is it your thoughts? Or is it the person who sees the ideas? Either way, these questions will keep coming until you have an answer.

Still Not That Smart

I do not have the complete answer to the question of who I am yet and what I am supposed to be doing here because I am not wise enough, and I may never be. I love to learn from the experiences life presents, take those I know, and apply them positively to my knowledge. I am increasing my quality of life and improving the experience for those I encounter.

So as I have searched for answers, I have found many questions. My journey displays clearly and concretely that I know much less today than I did yesterday! I am sure my knowledge will continue to shrink as I get to see the world and the universe better, and I am OK with that. How much you know it is a small thing, and it is how you use what you know to help others and make the world a little bit better place that counts.

“The older I get, the less I know. By that, I mean the less I am sure of. I view people with strong opinions on the big stuff with distrust. I don’t think we should have certainties on faith and politics; I think we should be open-minded.” Pam Ferris.

 “Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.” Immanuel Kant

“The older you get, the quieter you become. Life humbles you so deeply as you age. You realize how much nonsense you’ve wasted time on.”Anonymous

“Never, no, never did nature say one thing and wisdom say another.” Edmund Burke

“Knowledge is knowing what to say. Wisdom knows when to say it.”Anonymous

 

 

21

Spirit

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How often do you look after your spirit? Most of us focus on our mental capacity and physical prowess, but the third leg of the powerful human triangle of life is the spirit, which people mostly ignore. The soul is the intangible part of your existence, determining a lot about who you are and how you deal with other people and, more importantly, yourself and your world.

This is the part of you that believes or denies a higher power in the universe and determines how you approach each day. Is there a grand plan? Are we just individual organisms, randomly existing and experiencing life? All of this and more is determined by your spirit and sits in that very personal possession called a soul. It is my challenge today to be aware of the choices you make in life and how they affect your soul and, of course, your spirit. Use your thoughts, words, and actions to become more aware of nourishing your confidence and enhancing your energy. Or, conversely, how you can do things to harm it.

Religion vs. Spirituality

Some folks choose to rely on the organization of faith to develop their spirit. This practice requires you to listen to the ideas of others and accept them as your own. Following another’s an interpretation of the world. It also describes what God is and how you should worship. There are all types of religions, and each has its dogma, rules, and history. But in the end, no matter what religion resonates with you, it is still someone else’s interpretation of God you are following, and thus you are not in control of how you view your spirituality. In my view, if an organization preaches separateness, it does not have the best interest of your spirit in mind. They want to control you for some reason. Usually for money.

Spirituality is how you choose to relate to a higher power based on your personal experience and thoughts. It is my view that I don’t need a religion to control my thoughts or my spiritual growth. A relationship with the universe (God) is a personal choice. I choose to be responsible for my own decisions and look for guidance from a higher power. When you look at the world, either you see a whole lot of wonder or a whole lot of mess. The health of your spirit results from this view. One of the things that I am sure of is that we are all connected through a higher power. It is in each of us, and our experiences, intelligence, and openness determine how aware we are of this phenomenon. The health of our spirit is determined by our connection to others and the world around us that we are conscious of the day today.

Enhancing Spirit

There is within us all a version of our being, which is our best self. The part of us does the right thing, helps others, and leaves the world a better place after our time here has passed. Our best self reveals itself when we put the well-being of others in front of our interests—giving of our time and effort more than our money to someone or something. This type of spirit makes the world a better place. Making choices that benefit everyone and everything is seeking your best self. This path is not as easy as it sounds.

Since this is so difficult to do, we get help to find our best selves. Our spirit is either enhanced or limited by the people we choose to associate with in our adventures. Each of us is continually given guides in our lives. They provide thoughts and attitudes, and our choice to listen, follow, or disregard what they say and do will help determine our spiritual health. If they are positive and enhance your existence, you will grow and feel good. If they are on the negative side and limit you, you will have negative emotional feedback. Look for the positive influences of other people to feed your spirit.

The third influence on your healthy spirit is how you choose to view a divine presence. Is there a God? Do they influence your life? How do you see this divine presence in life? Understanding how a divine presence works in your life if at all, will help your spirit. Each of us is naturally going to look at this differently, and that is ok. There is more than one way to see things.

Don’t Limit Your Spirit.

The factors that will limit the development of your spirit are limiting beliefs and the people who try to build them. Each of us has a lifetime of interactions with others. The messages they give us that we accept determine what we believe about the world and ourselves. It is vital to choose beliefs that honor you because these will lead to thoughts that honor you, which will lead to words that keep you and, of course, actions that observe you.

All of us have let beliefs push us in directions that are less than honorable. We have to accept responsibility for this. To develop our spirit and have a healthy emotional journey, we need to evaluate our beliefs and how they honor us continually. If you have limited confidence in your abilities and life, then your experience will be limited. I would never tell you what to believe, but I would urge you to seek the spirit that honors you and all of those you meet. Only you can decide for yourself what that is and how to honor yourself and your life. Remember, Our spirit connects our physical and mental selves; a healthy heart will bring a healthy and happy life.

Creativity lets your spirit run free. Create whenever you can from the soul.

“It is in the balancing of your spirituality with your humanity that you will find immeasurable happiness, success, good health, and love.” ― Steve Maraboli.
Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body.― Cicero
“A further sign of health is that we don’t become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it’s time to stop struggling and look directly at what’s threatening us.” ― Pema Chödrön.
“If we are creating ourselves all the time, then it is never too late to begin creating the bodies we want instead of the ones we mistakenly assume we are stuck with.” ― Deepak Chopra.

“So be good with what you’re given
For it’s all you have to give
We are only passing shadows
In the mighty wind.”