Where Can I find my spirit?
I have been looking for something lately. I am not quite sure what, but I am in the seeking spirit. I went to my place of worship but felt disheartened that it is not exactly what I am looking for at this time in my life. My spiritual needs are different from a few years ago, and I need something different to satisfy me.
Recently my Aunt came to town and told me a quote my Sri Ramana Maharishi: " Let what comes come. Let what goes go. Find out what remain." We had a wonderful 3 hour conversation on spirituality and our belief system. Everything we think in our life is a belief. And a belief comes from the mind, so how can we know it to be true? The truth is we cannot. Everything that we think may not be real because it is in essence just a simple belief. Time is a belief. Religion is a belief. Advaita is a belief. Karma is a belief. God is a belief. We are taught so many things and are expected to follow them without question, without disrupting the so called entropy of it all. But we decided that the only thing we can believe, is our experiences because when something happens to us, we "know" it to be true.
There is a quote by Socrates where he states, "The only thing I know, is that I know nothing." And this statement is one of the most profound to me. The more I try to make sense of the world around me, the more chaos I begin to feel within me. I have now stopped trying to figure out life, free will, fate, and time and just try to be in the present. As my Aunt and so many spiritual seekers often state, that only thing to know is that "I am" or like my Mom says " I am THAT." All we know is that we are here now. We cannot worry away a problem in the future, or think our way into a solution. All that can be done is to be here, now. To be ever present.
My Aunt says that suffering should be welcomed. Suffering is the only thing that can turn us inward toward our higher consciousness. Suffering gives us the opportunity to seek happiness within ourselves, since trying to find happiness in a world where things come and go, is hard. Having equanimity of mind is the best form of spirituality. It reminds me of a quote I once read,
"you gotta take the good
with the bad
smile with the sad
love what you got
& remember what you had
learn to forgive
but never forget
learn from your mistakes
but never regret
people change, things go wrong
just remember
life goes on."
Whatever your spirit is seeking, remember that spirituality comes in many forms. For me I feel closest to God in Nature, or with animals, or when I am doing an act of service. I also like to do activities which keep me present such as: cooking, painting, jogging, writing. Whatever your form of worship, you may not need to go far. Just look inside yourself and the answer might be right there. We are always seeking something external, but more often then not we can just look inward and the answer will come. And right now my spirituality, is finding activities to stay in the moment.....
No comments:
Post a Comment