I know this may offend some people but I just need to express myself. I know others have felt the same way as me at times so I'm not completely alone. This is just me coming from my own personal experiences and feelings on the subject. I know some of you may disagree and I'm totally okay with that. I know where I have been in the past and I have compassion on every step of my journey as I do on others.
First off I just want to say that I do consider myself to be spiritual. I believe in a higher Power/God, prayer, meditation, being in nature to recharge, positive thinking and even have an interest in quantum physics and believe in life on other planets and have sensed energies/angels and things I can't always explain logically. I just believe that spiritual discernment is a skill that must be learned. It's easy to become brainwashed into believing something. What I'm learning now is that you can look to others to be a mentor and guide on your journey but ultimately the teacher is within yourself if you will listen. I also want to state that not everyone who labels themselves as New Age will behave or think the same way, just as not all people under the Christian category will. I just started feeling like New Age was turning into a feel good pseudo spirituality.
It seems like a special club for all the so called spiritual, positive, ascending, unity consciousness and so on...I came to realize that just because some says, "Namaste, love and light" or things like that doesn't mean they are automatically a perfect person or someone that I could trust to be there for me.
In the past I was joining all these New Age groups and listening to their teachings. Now I don't want to say that the New Age teachings don't contain some wisdom or spiritual truths bu I felt they overgeneralize, exaggerate, and oversimplify everything. I finally decided it was time to just go back to feeling like me again without anyone else's ideas shoved into my head. Now I'm ready to leave behind old philosophies.
There were also a small number of people who used drugs to try to access a higher level of spirituality and that's just not me and I don't want to be around that. Not judging but I'm doing what's right for me. I don't like feeling spaced out or out of my body. Also don't get me wrong, "blissing out" can be a wonderful thing and way to escape from your life's challenges for a short period of time but when things start to become an addiction or you start to become overly focused upon things that are taking you out of your body that's where I start to have a problem. To me spirituality needs to be balanced. I'm a daydreamer by nature but I know I have to focus that energy into my body and reality in order to get things done.
Now I beware of all magic wand approaches. They are nothing more than the energy equivalent of modern drugs, except their debilitating side effects will probably not appear until it's too late. Talk of the ascension process is very popular too. There were certain hyped up ascension dates where I didn't experience anything at all happening. Maybe someone else had a different experience than I did though. Are we evolving on many levels? Yes, but some of us are also very stagnated as well and living in the past. I believe ascension isn't exactly a global thing that everyone is experiencing in the same way. I feel like we are all on our very own individual journeys and I can't help but ask the people who say they are ascending where they are ascending to? Not trying to make fun of anyone but seriously questioning things. I assume that ascension leads to enlightenment? I got the vibe that enlightenment was being made out to be all about changing yourself and feeling good all the time. So if you're enlightened you should never feel bad and you should always feel uplifted like you just did some great drug? In my opinion, enlightenment can actually feel very uncomfortable. Most people don't want to do that work.
One belief I've come across is that there are no victims and that our thoughts and attitudes attracted everything into our lives. While I do believe in taking self responsibility I have seen many a shitty things happen to really beautiful souls who did their best to be healthy and positive. Some teachings said that we are all one and on some level yes I can understand that but there are dark forces out there and negative energies. Another New Age belief is to ignore the negative. The word negative is even seen as a dirty word. "I don't want to learn what's wrong by hearing it or seeing it and God forbid I don't want to say it. Don't talk about the negative and it will only bring more." Sometimes it's as if we're being taught to ignore what's really there and just go to spiritual gurus. I still haven't found a belief system that I can say that I 100% resonate with. I still have friends who are Christian, Atheists and also New Age and I love them all the same. I just know though if I continue to trust my heart I will be lead where I need to be.
I thought it was just me. I can totally relate. I was born into a Hindu/Buddhist household in Atlanta, Georgia (a lot of Christians around here) in 1990. I've hung out with yuppies, hippies, and techies in my youth. Where I'm at today, it all looks the same. The religion of science is just as delusional as the religion of New Age. Buddha said not to deify him but people do anyways and some pray to him like he was God. Jesus was a Master, no doubt about that, but the Church was a manmade creation of social control like every other religion.
ReplyDeleteI take refuge in Nature, in music, in books, in fitness, in gardening, in cooking/diet, in design, in writing, in photography, in service to others, in the God of my understanding. The world is full a variety of traps, desires, and egotrips...the point to me is to go beyond them all and free yourself.
I ended up here after meeting a woman at a book store who is very interesting to me, very helpful due to her good heart, but totally brainwashed by the New Age book section.
Without becoming a judge, what I'm saying is I am extremely grateful that I returned to the child-like sense of wonder, curiosity, respect I have for Nature/God. I welcome the mystery, the adventure, and the romance before me with openness. Like one of my heroes once said: I want to understand God's mind, the rest is details.