I was chatting with a neighbor in his house on religion and spirituality. He was asking me about the purpose of religions. He is kind of an agnostic, and is skeptical of the purpose of religions. My answer was, in most cases they were systems put in place by their founders who had profound insights about the nature of reality. As our conversation progressed, my friend expressed his views which were around the perception of the shallowness or degenerated state of the religious culture that he had experienced. Clearly he hadn’t encountered any profound religious experiences in his life or people with deep spirituality. As the finale of our conversation, I expressed that in order for religions to work, people must apply these systems into their lives. The beliefs of a religion are starting motivations or a kind of incentive for people who haven’t yet discovered the depth of themselves and are in need of a context to start their exploration of life which in turn leads them to adopt the religion because it is the only thing that is heavily presented to them at a certain point in their lives. I told him that the belief of a God is not mandatory to find the truth of reality, but one should follow their own inner sense of truth and honor themselves. Indeed I feel that the belief of God is only a belief, but the real experience of truth is different than a belief, a belief is only a starting point towards the real experience. And skeptics, agnostics or atheists.. they also have beliefs.. just like the religious people. They also have their starting point. The point is, whatever you believe in, if you infuse your life with yourself, if you really be truthful to yourself, you will get to the bottom of your beliefs, what they truly mean. Your awareness will expand into their roots in your mind, to where they spring from. I told him everyone has their own path, the point is not to do what others tell you to do, but is to be truthful to yourself. Everyone’s fire is lighted in a different way, the point is that it is lit.
So, I came home.. and was browsing around YouTube .. prompted by the memory of a conversation with a friend. I realized that the Star Trek: The Next Generation.. was such a good incentive for me.. watching this and experiencing its perspective was a kind of a growth experience.. Just like religious beliefs given to me when I was younger, or my education and everything that ever was given to me by life. It all brought me to this point. And throughout this all, I was the observer of it.. sometimes really identified and lost in the experience of being a person.. and sometimes more as the awareness that I am. Now I feel that it was all a wonderful gift.. to live this life as a human being, from this unique perspective.. and it still is.. Now my eyes are more open.. I take care to live my experiences as awareness.. from a deeper place that I have found throughout the years. I want to go deeper still, discover more Love and deeper peace within myself.. leading to more happiness and wisdom.. a richness of life. And I want to share this with the world as I continue to live on this path.
Learn to cherish every experience.. by tapping into the ever existing Love within yourself.. by discovering it more and more.. you will understand what cherishing is.. and by cherishing you will discover the Love more and more.. words only point to the same experience.. your awareness of this will increase as you focus on it.. as you place your awareness to it.. to yourself.. as you be yourself. It teaches itself.. Be yourself and know yourself. It is the same experience unfolding.