How a Rational Person Can Find Spirituality
By Ted Orenstein
As a young child, you probably took seriously what you were taught in religious school. You dutifully listened to Bible stories and believed them. But now that you’re older and think for yourself, the God you have heard about all your life isn’t as believable.
The God We Know was Created by Man
How realistic is the humanlike God from the Bible who becomes angry, jealous, and forgiving? It’s hard to fathom a super-powerful being who created the world in six days or parted the Red Sea. Man probably invented God to explain natural phenomena before science could do so. Now that we have rational explanations for what we see in nature, there is no need for that God.
Our Traditional Belief in God Rejects Common Sense and Life Experience
In my teens, I acquired a cynicism about religion. I saw people going through the motions of devotion by reading prayers about a God I could not relate to or believe in. In college, I saw myself as an atheist. I believed that a person’s achievements are related to his or her abilities and luck. There was no God of our prayers helping us. I agreed with President Kennedy when he said that “Surely God’s work on earth must be our own.” I rejected the idea of the God who had been taught to me as I grew up.
My Revelation of God
Then, when I was 26 years old, something happened to me. It was a few days after I had gone Christmas caroling for fun. In the middle of the night, I was studying for an exam and the spirit of love within Christmas was still in my subconscious mind. The meaning of the words, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” struck me with no warning.
I suddenly realized that there is a part of me within everyone, and there is a part of everyone within me. At our cores, we are all one. We are connected through human love. We are One! That is why I am happy when I make others happy, and I am unhappy when I make them unhappy.
Before that moment, I had been a good, moral person. I had followed the fundamental rules of conduct. I did not lie, cheat, steal, or hurt anyone intentionally. But at that moment, I first recognized the shining spirit behind those rules. It all came together for me.
My life was fundamentally changed at that moment.
I spread the word to my family and friends. We are One. If I harm you, I harm myself. It struck a chord with a popular phrase at that time: “Don’t criticize another man unless you have walked a mile in his moccasins.”
I was elated and calm, amazed and filled with quiet contemplation. Everything came together. Everything was understood. I could not fully explain it with words. It was a revelation!
Revelations kept coming to me in the two years following that moment.
I discovered that the life force some call God is really love. Absolute love. It binds all of humanity and unifies all of us. It is the force that inspired the holy books of all religions and The Golden Rule. It allows you to put yourself into the place of others and still love them, in spite of their limitations.
The spiritual power at the depth of your soul, as I discuss in my book, Awaken Your Soul: How to Find Your Inner Spirit and Life’s Purpose. is that level of your existence that is more fundamental than your ego and any person’s individual differences.
Finding Your God
You can’t find God by thinking. God is outside of — and exists independent of — your thinking mind. Many people have trouble connecting to their spiritual life because they are thinking about it, rather than experiencing it. The intellectual mind only understands things by their physical attributes— length, width, color, odor, sound, shape, etc. Love, the spirit within you, has none of those qualities. Therefore, thinking will not help you truly experience it. As a matter of fact, thinking will only separate you from it.
So, how can you find God?
Even very rational people can find their inner spirit; it’s always within you. But just as you can’t see the stars in daylight because of the sun’s brilliance, you can’t sense your spirit because of the world’s noise. The secret is to separate yourself from the busy and noisy work-a-day world and listen to your subtle spirit. This can be done through meditation, a simple technique that has been used by all types of people for centuries.
Find a quiet space and sit. Start breathing deeply and slowly in and out — three or four seconds in and three or four seconds out. Over and over, concentrating only on your breath. If a thought comes into your mind, just ignore it. Keep focusing on your breath and the thought will go away as easily as it came. Note: There are many places where you can learn more about how to effectively meditate.
Of course, like any new activity, it takes practice. But for those who may have thought that spirituality was lost to them, it offers a way to reexamine that part of your life.
Living in a rational world doesn’t mean giving up on spirituality. You just need to rediscover it.
Ted Orenstein writes, speaks, and teaches about spiritual enlightenment. He enjoys sharing that there is a purpose and direction to the universe and that it is good. A former lawyer, Ted’s mission is to help others find greater meaning and fulfillment, and a deeper understanding of why people are what they are. He is the author of Awaken Your Soul: How to Find Your Inner Spirit and Life’s Purpose. Learn more at his website here.