Spirituality - The Thing Itself, Religions the Various Brands

The spirituality I spoke of yesterday and always speak of is a momentary experience of profound peace, a release of struggle, and a deep sense of grace and blessing; a realization that I have nothing to prove, that God loves me, unconditionally, that I need do nothing to earn that love and grace and that if I just stop thinking and trying, everything will turn out fine. It’s getting my bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits. It’s realizing that spirit is all there is, it is me and I am it, and my bloated nothingness is just that – no thing, an illusion created by the ego.

Spirit is my default. It is always there, the still small voice, I can hear any time, all the time. It is my choice to identify with It, hear It and act on Its guidance or believe that I am the ego’s bloated nothingness. I practice being spiritual by being mindful and aware of my choices and the purpose they serve. When I am aware of choosing ego, I simply choose again, without blame or recrimination, guilt or fear. The ego blames, instills guilt and frightens. Spirituality is not behavioral, though it can be reflected in behavior. It is primarily mental and emotional. It is my mindfulness of my choices and the purposes they serve and then choosing to reinforce or choose again.
All humans partake of this Spirituality. It is who all of us are. It is everyone’s default. The concepts of spirituality and religion are different. Spirituality is the thing itself; religions are the various brands. Spirituality and religion can overlap, but more often, religion is the ego’s tool, focused more on the body, rules and rituals and less on the heart and mind. Some churches talk more about the devil, than about God, Michael Beckwith said. Spirituality is inclusive, forgiving and all about grace. In most religions one must accept and obey the rules to earn grace and forgiveness. There is no grace and forgiveness for non-believers, who are damned. Spirit knows nothing of damnation and rules, it only shines forth on everyone and everything in love.

It is this spirituality, not any particular religious dogma, that I want to bring to our political discourse; and indeed, to all discourse. This spirituality may be found in religions, but one has to dig for it and then usually, struggle to actualize it. The same kind of struggle is involved in connecting spirituality and politics. We almost can’t get there from here. Our bloated nothingness obscures nearly totally. It is only possible to experience the spiritual reality and oneness in everyone and everything by surrendering our ego reality and letting our bloated nothingness go. Once mindful of our inherent, natural spiritual default we can experience it more fully.