Religion gives way to Spirituality

I am not a religious person. I am a spiritual person.

Spirituality is the foundation upon which many well-meaning persons, or teachers will attempt to build some sort of superstructure called religion. The original teacher/leader of any particular religion will have experienced a spiritual awakening. He experienced, and learned, and so his awareness of spiritual truth and understanding grew. To borrow a Buddhist term, he became an enlightened being - a spiritually enlightened person.

Usually such enlightenment comes out of contemporary religion, the current philosophical wisdom of the time. Wanting to know more -- to know truth -- such a person will study, pray, meditate, contemplate, and learn wisdom not of his contemporaries. He simply grows beyond them in spiritual stature and understanding.

Look at the lives of the great teachers of the past -- you know who they are. Often a religion (usually called the “true religion”) is formed around their teachings. No matter how good the teachings are, they ALWAYS become diluted and altered by subsequent followers of the “one true way”.

There is no need to beat the drums of religious failure and discrepancy. We all know what these are. Opponents of religion will explain at great length what the drawback of any particular creed or doctrine will be. This is done to defeat religion in general or done in an attempt to make a convert to another way of life which is often as flawed as the previous doctrine.

The Spiritual world is revealed to seekers of Truth. It will creep in silently on little cats feet. It comes from within and creeps into your mind like the dawn creeps over the morning landscape.

Awareness is suddenly there. There is no “AH-HA” moment when the transformation occurs like a light switch being turned on. It is as the slow awareness of dawn.

And after the dawn, the morning becomes progressively brighter until the brilliance of noon has expanded fully. At its peak, spiritual awareness blossoms into an understandable Truth which defies description. There are no words for this awareness. It is, simply put, something that IS!

It is as cryptic as the name of GOD: - - I AM.

Following the awareness of the full brilliance of noon, comes the inevitable decline as followers of the spiritually enlightened one make “improvements” and add “rules for the masses” in an attempt to teach what can be described only dimly.

Enlightenment does not come mass-produced. It is an individual experience and will come when the individual is ready.

The path to Spiritual understanding is easy to find, but very hard to follow.. It demands self-discipline.

Help in this self-discipline is readily available. Through prayer and meditation and a burning desire to know, one can receive this help. The religion that you had been following is not important, but using the tools that that religion offers is very important. In all of the religions I have studied, I find these tools to be available.

The most basic of these tools is a great desire to know, to learn, to gain understanding.

The Second tool is Prayer. Prayer must come in two parts -- the second of which is equally important -- and that is Meditation. Prayer and Meditation are an inseparable team.

Make your desires known -- then SHUT UP and LISTEN. GOD cannot speak in reply if you continue to run off at the mouth, either verbally or mentally. Conversation is a two-way street, never forget.

Shut up and listen!

In the Silence you will find GOD.

In the Silence you will find Understanding, Wisdom, Knowledge, and Enlightenment.

Often phenomena, such as visions, will accompany the opening of the Inner Awareness.

“Psychic” experiences can be forced but will not be true due to the fact of their being forced.

“Psychic” experiences which accompany Enlightenment are true and dependable. Much of the Phenomena of Enlightened Beings has been documented often in the Scriptures of that religion. These events should be studied, and learned about, and understood for what they are -- the working of GOD through the enlightened mind of an enlightened being.

Is this available for you?

Of course it is.

All you have to do is want it bad enough to get it.

GOD is waiting.....