My Spiritual Journey

[Revoltingest]

I never had one.


That might sound flippant, but this is a serious thread.
I'm curious if anyone else here has never experienced
what appears to be so common.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I'm curious if anyone else here has never experienced
what appears to be so common.

It depends what you are referring to as "spiritual." For me, this life has been a "spiritual journey."

I'm not a human being having a spiritual journey; I'm a spiritual being having a human one.

 

[Revoltingest]

It depends what you are referring to as "spiritual." For me, this life has been a "spiritual journey."

I'm not a human being having a spiritual journey, but a spiritual being having a human one.

Definition of the term "spiritual" is a problem.
I'm thinking of commonly expressed experiences
of connection to all of humanity or higher powers,
ie, something more than ordinary personal growth.

 

[Soandso]

I never had one.


That might sound flippant, but this is a serious thread.
I'm curious if anyone else here has never experienced
what appears to be so common.

Hmmm... I live in a less religious part of the country, and I'm definitely the only person I know personally who has had a spiritual journey of sorts outside of my family. Maybe this has something to do with where you live and who you know?

I'm curious though - As someone who hasn't had a spiritual journey, what do you picture a spiritual life would look like in comparison to the life you've lived? If I had to imagine what the absence of a spiritual journey would look like, it'd be people just living their lives without much thought for religion or spirituality outside of "it's something people just do sometimes." Maybe I'm wrong?

 

[ChristineM]

I never had one.


That might sound flippant, but this is a serious thread.
I'm curious if anyone else here has never experienced
what appears to be so common.

No, sorry for the extensive reply.

Actually i will have expand a little, still no, just the opposite in fact, in.my later teens i went from being somewhat spiritual (no journey, i just went with the flow) to seeing the world clearly in just a couple of years.

Enlightening for sure

 

[Quester]

Mine started in the mid-1950s. To keep this short, I was supposed to figure out where the error was in Christianity, and then figure out the base story this "end times" conundrum came from. Unfortunately, as the millennia went by, we lost what we had historically, which is why there are so many versions of this story. Even though we have no clue where we are with this topic - the base picture is again coming, religions like the Aztec and Hopi and even the 2012 story kind of have the picture time-wise, but, it's all still a mess.

 

[Revoltingest]

Hmmm... I live in a less religious part of the country, and I'm definitely the only person I know personally who has had a spiritual journey of sorts outside of my family. Maybe this has something to do with where you live and who you know?

Perhaps they had spiritual journey's, but didn't talk of it?
I observe that most people don't talk of such things.

I'm curious though - As someone who hasn't had a spiritual journey, what do you picture a spiritual life would look like in comparison to the life you've lived?

I don't know that living one's life would differ.

If I had to imagine what the absence of a spiritual journey would look like, it'd be people just living their lives without much thought for religion or spirituality outside of "it's something people just do sometimes." Maybe I'm wrong?

I think about religion.
But I've no feeling for it....except if on includes loathing of the evil perpetrated by some.
Religion is merely a bizarre psychological phenomenon to me.
Like coulrophobia or schizophrenia.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Definition of the term "spiritual" is a problem.
I'm thinking of commonly expressed experiences
of connection to all of humanity or higher powers,
ie, something more than ordinary personal growth.

I'm not sure I would call my experiences a "connection to all humanity." I recognize divinity in every being (even non-human) and ever thing.

As far as "higher powers" go, I can roll my tongue. Does that count?

 

[Daemon Sophic]

I never had one.


That might sound flippant, but this is a serious thread.
I'm curious if anyone else here has never experienced
what appears to be so common.

@Revoltingest writing a serious thread? Perhaps this is an out-of-body experience.

For me.....Nothing really.
As a kid, of course I was scared of ghosts and vampires, etc....
My dad was and is a devout Catholic, and for a couple years (ages 15 and 16), I went along with him. But while the singing and friendly hand-shaking was pleasant, the whole experience was underwhelming and disappointing. That was when I realized that I should remain Agnostic.

Over the decades, there has been plenty that I've been thankful for, and I've often wondered at the many "unusual (?and anticipated?) coincidences" that I've seen. But nothing spiritual. Many Inspirational experiences, but nothing spiritual.

 

[Revoltingest]

@Revoltingest writing a serious thread?

It happens.
Most posters ignore them.

 

[Vinayaka]

I never had one.


That might sound flippant, but this is a serious thread.
I'm curious if anyone else here has never experienced
what appears to be so common.

I don't think any part of life on this planet is 'spiritual' or 'not spiritual'. The term is more about how people view themselves, or describe themselves. If 10 people studied 10 biographies each, and then were to rank them as to degrees of spirituality, I'm confident we'd see quite the range. Personally, I see acts of kindness as spiritual, so that would describe part of you. In the end I don't see it as a very helpful adjective.

 

[Quintessence]

Definition of the term "spiritual" is a problem.
I'm thinking of commonly expressed experiences
of connection to all of humanity or higher powers,
ie, something more than ordinary personal growth.

For many, "ordinary" personal growth is the spiritual journey or growth. One's person - one's identity - is one's spirit, or essential nature and self. Something to keep in mind with how the phrase is sometimes used. I tend to not be a fan of the term "spiritual" myself though. I describe my life's journey as... well... my life's journey. And everybody has one of those whether or not they apply a word like "spiritual" to it - everyone has a journey that has shaped who and what they are in profound ways. One could call it "ordinary" but I'm not sure I would.

(edited to fix one word that came out right in my brain but not with my fingers lol)

 

[Jimmy]

To me spiritual journey is getting answers to the questions, how did we get here and where are we going. I think when one gets those answers on their own rather than from various books, whether it be religious or scientific, that’s when they have a spiritual awakening.

 

[crossfire]

Definition of the term "spiritual" is a problem.
I'm thinking of commonly expressed experiences
of connection to all of humanity or higher powers,
ie, something more than ordinary personal growth.

Personal growth is not ordinary--it's extraordinary, especially if you consider other species. I would say that growing and evolving is a spiritual journey.

 

[Revoltingest]

Personal growth is not ordinary--it's extraordinary, especially if you consider other species. I would say that growing and evolving is a spiritual journey.

OK.

 

[Spice]

Perhaps they had spiritual journey's, but didn't talk of it?
I observe that most people don't talk of such things.

I don't know that living one's life would differ.

I think about religion.
But I've no feeling for it....except if on includes loathing of the evil perpetrated by some.
Religion is merely a bizarre psychological phenomenon to me.
Like coulrophobia or schizophrenia.

I don't think of a spiritual journey as having anything directly to do with religion. The most enlightening part of my spiritual journey was after I found a dead end in religion and turned around.

I see spiritual journeys as what kicked off religious thought in humankind. I see spiritual journeys as the beginnings of "why am I here" and other human contemplations of the Mysteries.

If you've ever had a feeling, not a thought, but a feeling, of mysterious power and awe when observing the stars, experiencing a thunderstorm, watching ants work around their hill, IMO, you were having a moment in your spiritual journey.

 

[sun rise]

I'm thinking of commonly expressed experiences
of connection to all of humanity or higher powers,

Yes to your question. My interview with @JustGeorge goes over some aspects of my journey from atheism to the spiritual path. And I've written about it here in bits and pieces in other threads. I'm happy to answer any specific questions.

I will note that I've found the same basic message in various spiritual systems such as the writings of Hindu sages, Islamic sufism such as Rumi, Jewish Kaballah and Christian mysticism. I'll also note that the "don't question - just believe" is a feature of religion not spirituality. Two examples that are part of the picture for me:

"Beware of any system which discourages questioning. Anyone who stifles questions is afraid that it could uncover the falseness of the beliefs." - Rabbi Noach Weinberg

"We don’t see things the way they are, we see things the way we are." - The Talmud

 

[Revoltingest]

If you've ever had a feeling, not a thought, but a feeling, of mysterious power and awe when observing the stars, experiencing a thunderstorm, watching ants work around their hill, IMO, you were having a moment in your spiritual journey.

Never experienced that.

 

[sun rise]

Never experienced that.

Experiences are not necessary.

 

[Heyo]

I never had one.


That might sound flippant, but this is a serious thread.
I'm curious if anyone else here has never experienced
what appears to be so common.

I guess I wouldn't even be able to recognize a spiritual experience, if I had one. I'm not sure if I know what that means.
As so many people have some form of "spirituality" (and if that is what Michael Shermer calls "agenticity", it is an evolutionary beneficial trait), I consider myself a mutant. I can't remember ever having believed in invisible entities, like ghosts, the Easter bunny or gods.
If there were such a thing as a "god region" in the brain, it would be easy to find by looking, what is missing in my brain.