What Is Spiritual Understanding and How is it Important in My Daily Life?
This question is in the hearts of so many people who ask about a spirituality that feels real and personal. You may wonder can one ever come to an understanding about something so mysterious? Is it even possible?
My own understanding leads to a resounding “yes” as an answer. For me, it begins with a combination of perspective, belief, experience, and inward truth. I have perhaps an unusual belief about the human condition. Many people from a traditional Judeo Christian background believe humans are born suffering from original sin. I believe we are born with original blessing. I explore this in more depth in my spiritual awakening book PRESENCE Recognizing the Divine in Your Everyday Life. It reminds me of the high school teachers who told you that you started with an “F” in their class and you had to dig yourself out of that hole through exemplary class work and performance on tests. Did you ever have a teacher who told you everyone started with an “A?” I think God gives us all an “A in the beginning.”
Consider the following – when you start with “A” you already have all of God’s love, grace, and forgiveness. It’s your mission and responsibility to keep that “A” rating along your life journey. Sure you get dinged by an occasional pop quiz that you didn’t expect that you might fail, but you still have the chance to get back up to that “A” high mark just by realizing that original blessing is abundant and available 24/7. For me, that feels like the inward truth. I really believe that is what God gives us, and Jesus taught us. Otherwise, how could we practice being loving and forgiving to our neighbor, just as the Divine is with us?
What if receiving love and grace were conditional? What if you had to belong to the right team? You might be told that only the members of this one team would get the goodies (love, grace, eternal existence?) You could say your team is better than another team and make sure there are strict rules about being able to join yours – because you know yours is the best. What if you could win only if you are on the right team? And there was only one team that was right? Somehow that doesn’t sound like internal truth to me, it doesn’t sound like the God of my understanding.
Of course we aren’t talking about teams like school sports teams. But think about it, we form identities (like teams) in religion, race, gender, nationality, language, etc. and we might believe these teams will endow us with the love of God by keeping us from the consequences of original sin. I cannot understand that interpretation of spirituality.
There is that word again – understanding – that started this article: What is spiritual understanding, and how is it important in my daily life? Imagine what would change in your spiritual journey if you replaced the idea of original sin with original blessing. I seek to understand my life, and all life, as being blessed with the love and grace of the Divine. I hold that as the foundation of my understanding of spirituality. It pilots me in my daily life, and that it forms my everyday reality.
For more information or help with understanding more about the difference between religion and spirituality , contact me or pick up your copy of PRESENCE Recognizing the Divine in Your Everyday Life.