“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” —A.W. Tozer
When I was in college, I read the preceding quote from the theologian/philosopher A.W. Tozer. The substance was so profound I have never forgotten its message almost 15 years later. It continues to spring up again and again in my mind on a regular basis.
I realize spirituality can be a very touchy topic that arouses countless strong opinions, intellectual arguments, and far too many unspeakable emotional wounds. Nevertheless, I believe the quote above holds true. There is nothing more central to our lives than our understanding of spirituality. And it is a conversation we ought to engage in far more often than we do.
Whether we have intentionally pursued a personal spirituality or not, our beliefs have a profound impact on our lives. Consciously or subconsciously, it influences us in countless ways. Consider how it impacts our understanding of…
- Ourselves. Does God care about me? Is He mad at me or pleased with me? If there is no God, who am I? And where did I orginate?
- Others. Are all lives equal? If so, on what basis? What is my responsibility to care for others?
- Minimalism. If we have removed the pursuit of worldly possessions from our affections, with what will we replace it?
- The world around us. In what specific ways should we care about the world and the environment around us? Is our motivation in this regard more significant than survival of our species? And if so, how do we as humans responsibly interact with it?
- Morality. Is there a moral set of truth for the universe established from a higher power? Or is morality determined by each individual?
- Evil. What am I to understand about the evil and suffering in the world? Is it there for a reason? To what extent should I try to counteract it?
- Money. Does the universe give money/status to some and not others? Or is money/status earned by the individual? What should I do with it when I obtain it? Do I hold any responsibility to care for those with less?
- Afterlife. Is there life after death? Is death something to be feared or welcomed? And either way, how should I be preparing for it today?
No doubt, our understanding of spirituality carries great influence on our lives. For that reason, one of the most significant journeys we can ever embark upon is the exploration of it.
I understand fully this community is made up of readers from every imaginable religious/non-religious background. I am so very thankful for that reality. And I should be quick to mention this post is not an endorsement of any specific religion. Instead, my hope is only to prompt each of us to further consider the role of spirituality in our everyday lives. And cause us to joyfully embrace the journey rather than shy away from it.
Because of the important role it plays, you will never regret any time spent furthering your understanding of the Universe. Whether you have never tried, have tried but given up, or spend time everyday seeking one specific God, let me offer seven beginning steps that are central to our personal exploration of spirituality.
A Beginner’s Guide to Exploring Spirituality
1. Respect those that have gone before. The quest to understand spirituality is as old as humanity itself. Billions have gone before and have spent countless hours seeking spirituality. Don‘t overlook their efforts. Consider their findings and their writings—even those outside the religion you have become accustomed to.
2. Your journey must be your own. You alone must be the decision-maker for your view of God. You should not blindly accept the teachings of another (even your closest mentor or parent). Your heart must ring true and your spirit must rejoice in your spirituality—or it is worthless.
3. Start right where you are. We all have special gifts of character: compassion, laughter, self-discipline, love, etc. Use them as your starting point. Are you facing a trial in life (disease, loss, rejection)? Use it as motivation to further pursue your understanding of spirituality. Lao-tzu once said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” He was right in every regard. Start your journey with whatever first step makes the most sense to you.
4. Ask God for help. By this I mean, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by making the request. If there is a God, He may answer your prayer. And if there is no God, the process of making the request will still work to help focus your senses and desire.
5. Practice, practice, practice. Like everything else in life, spiritual growth is mastered through practice. If you don’t find your answers after your first few steps, take some more in a different direction. It will require time, effort, and energy. But given its influence on our lives, it is always worth the effort in the end.
6. Don’t be afraid of unanswered questions. Although leaving questions unanswered may sound contrary to the goal of the pursuit, we should not be afraid of them. These unanswered questions will cause some to forever abandon the journey. And while our spirituality should make sense of our heart‘s deepest questions, it would seem unreasonable to believe our minds could successfully fathom all the mysteries of the universe.
7. Be wary of “everyone is right” thinking. If there is no God, there is no God. If there is a God, He is something specific. Personally, I am skeptical of the thinking that says God can change from one person to another—that philosophy crumbles under the weight of its own logic. God is who God is. And it‘s our responsibility to successfully find Him.
Again, I realize fully this journey is going to look different for every single one of us. Spirituality is a highly personal matter and will likely result in different outcomes. This is not a post that endorses any specific religion. It is simply a post of encouragement and a reminder this journey is important.
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I do not typically moderate comments too closely (unless they turn offensive). But I might make a suggestion for this post. In the comments below, I would be interested to hear about your personal journey toward spirituality. How did it begin? And how did you arrive at your understanding? I think this conversation will be more helpful and encouraging than a specific argument made for choosing your view.
Image: overgraeme
Sue@House Pretty says
I was born and raised Baptist. Now, I understand the difference. I now say I’m a Christian, who happens to go to a Baptist church. I have been “burnt” as well, by many legalistic Baptist churches. The flip side to that is churches that are now going the other way with such a casual atmosphere that true reverence seems to be fading away. I am now on a personal journey to find what is closest to the way Jesus was. I’m currently reading the book Twelve Ordinary Men, How the Master Shaped His Disciples For Greatness, and What He Wants To Do With You.
Joseph says
Personally I’m a mormon. Having this background along with my personality has led me to develope my spirituality in many ways. And by having spent many hours meditating and philosophizing I’ve come to hold certain values. Among others I truly believe in “minimalism” as a great cause that is positive both on an individual level as well as for society as a whole. Another cause that I would deem honorable and maybe even more essential than “minimalism” is that of “effective altruism” (check out 80000hours.org). Also I’ve become increasingly interested in politics and different means of affecting our world which holds values that I don’t agree with in many cases. I must say I feel the political system as well as the monetary system are quite imperfect and serious improvement but that’s a topic for another day. However I think everybody should meditate and come to terms with what you believe in, what values you hold and what you consider important in life and then strive to emulate that belief.
Ree Klein says
Hi Joshua,
I love this post. It is just the type of spiritual inquiry that I love! I was raised in a family where sleeping in was far more important than taking kids to church. We never went. As a teenager, I followed my friend on a quest to find the “right” church. During the process I became a born-again Christian.
After a year I realized that wasn’t a good fit for me and one day I just quit going. I never really pursued a religious path again but knew there was a spiritual element of life that I wanted to develop.
About 10 years ago, I wrote a personal mission statement. I still love and connect with it today and it drives much of what I do…
Mission: To build and share emotional, spiritual and financial wealth.
Ree
peacefulones.blogspot says
I’ve loved reading this. I was a little girl when I became aware of God as a personal being who loved and cared for humanity. I was drawn to worship and adore my Creator – who was this who set us in families and communities, who provided food and shelter, who knew me intimately?
As I read the stories of the Bible, I became aware of justice, morality, and the need to order human structure because we didn’t always do what was good for others or ourselves. Because God loved us, he set boundaries that would help us care for each other. I learned the 10 Commandments as alignment with God’s character: don’t take his name in vain (he’s bigger than we are and worthy of respect); don’t lie (He’s truth); don’t steal (everything belongs to God so we gratefully accept what he gives and don’t take what’s not ours); don’t commit adultery (God is faithful, so we should be faithful to those around us = stability in human relationships), etc.
Our happiness and human harmony rested, not on rules that told us what NOT to do, but on the principles behind those guidelines. I fell in love with God. When I married and had kids, we taught them that God is both love and justice: without boundaries there is no true freedom. (i.e.Do we want traffic coming at us every which way, or is it easier to get somewhere with lines on the road?) And embracing boundaries brought grace and favor. Be polite – people will help you and accept your help. Be culturally aware: God has set us in families and nations and everyone learns to cope (our worldview isn’t necessarily the “right” way of doing things.) We have to care for people and nature because God privileges us with his beauty and wealth – the whole, stunning planet-ful.
This was long already, but one more observation… I’m surprised when people insist that tolerance means saying everything (and anything that we want to do) is ok. Some things hurt us and others. True tolerance and harmony seems to emerge when we accept that our Maker knew what would make us happy, specified those things (for me as a Christian, he’s revealed his nature and plans in the Bible), and given us the freedom to choose whether or not to follow.
That’s true love and true care for his creatures. I’m happy to be his and invite others into this lovely friendship between our Creator and fellow creations.
Sally kelly says
I was raised Lutheran. I can’t figure out what happened in my learning. Either I had such a hard childhood, that I just didn’t grasp the knowledge…OR…I have forgotten what I was taught. Anyway, after the death of my son, I was experiencing things that I didn’t understand. I, now, really believe that our loved ones are still with us. Things were going on, that you could find no reason or answer for. Even after trying to find an answer or some kind of rhyme or reason, we finally had to learn to accept that these were real things coming from our son. Then after reading and learning about spirituality, things seemed to make more sense. Thru all of this, we have been able to live life again and accept the fact that there is more. I DO believe that there is life after death…just, somehow, in another realm. I believe our body is just a shell that we have to leave…but are spirit lives forever. I still don’t know how they can be everywhere at once, and don’t understand linear time. But, I now believe they can be with us when they want. I think they can see us, even while we can’t see them.. I still don’t understand why so many young people have to leave so soon. I don’t see how their purpose here could already be done. If we are sent here…for a purpose, why don’t we know the purpose? It seems like we could do a much better job if we knew. I don’t know if I believe that we “pick” our parents…..unless some parents are picked for the lesson to be learned. I still have a lot of reading to do….do hopefully end up with answers. If there is a “heaven” per se, do families live in houses. do we have jobs?
My last question…do you, personally believe that some people can communicate with our loved ones who have passed on? My husband I have come to the realization that, IFSINCE we believe that the things we see are real, how can we doubt that others can’t do what they say in communicating with folks who have crossed over? But, if they can do it, why can’t I? Thanks for listening and I love to hear other opinions. Shoot!!!
Barbara Robinette says
Though I was brought up in the 1950s in a Protestant church, we were not regular church goers. My dad always believed you could worship God on a golf course or on a walk through the woods. I hated going to church in those years because it seemed so dead and irrelevant to my daily life.
After my parents saw to it that I was confirmed, we never went to church again as a family. That was just fine with me as I did not want any religion forced down my throat. I enjoyed looking up at the stars in awe of the Creator who set them in place and kept them reliably in place.
I believed in God but knew nothing about Him, he was “way out there.” Yet, in the 1970s as a young adult in college onto motherhood in the latter part of the decade I increasingly looked for Him. “Where are you?” was my attitude towards God and while I didn’t know him, I knew I would someday die and I knew I had also done wrong things. I wanted to go to Heaven when I died but didn’t know how to live a gentle life. I was often angry to the world around me and to myself for having failed so often.
One day, unknown to me at that moment, God answered my frequent prayers…when I let go of what I wanted and said to him “Anything you want, God. Anything is better than this.”
That was over 33 years ago. I hope my faith In God continues to grow. That is one reason I like so much the Becoming Minimalist website as it gives me confidence in going with the “lesser” road rather than with “more is better” road.
Rebecca (Sydney) says
Still looking, still searching, still trying to understand. Too many opinions and viewpoints whispering in my ear. Clearing the mental clutter, as well as the physical, are helping to focus my thoughts and pick up on the sign posts pointing me in the right direction.
Beth says
While I find this a well written post, I think it is off topic. I subscribed for information and discussions on minimalism, simplicity. Not this. While I wish you well in your journey, if this is the new path of this site, ours paths will separate.
Tina B says
I agree entirely.
HomeForGood.Net says
Our relationship with God is the foundation of everything else in our lives, including Simplicity and Minimalism. Without the rest is just a sand castle–it will crumble into worthlessness. I am thankful for this reminder–excellent post! :-)
Patrick says
HomeForGood.Net, you have it backward. Simplicity and minimalism are a wonderful foundation for living, including and especially relating to the divine, however it is understood.
Thomas says
Thanks for this excellent post, Joshua and your courage to discuss this topic with us. It’s a very controversial one. As for me, I was never attached to a specific belief in god. I couldn’t imagine him as an old, white-bearded man, sitting in the sky and watching us. But I knew, there must be something we can’t describe with words.
About three years ago, a close relationship, that ment very much to me, crumbled and left me extremely exhausted. I started to question everything, basically myself and my view of the world. I got lost in thaughts about the past and the future and missed out the present for a very long time. I was seeking intensively for the freedom I ment I had lost in this time. But the question is: Was the freedom there before? Or was this relationship just another aspect of my needy self-perception? I tried to find answers in books from Erich Fromm, the Dalai Lama, Anselm Gruen and recently ended with Eckart Tolle. And, I think, I found it for me: spirituality is the way to ourselves, into us. It is the foundation of our external life and contains the freedom and the independence from external circumstances. And, to go a step further, it connects us with the earth. This delicate feeling that we are all one, a part of this beautiful, unique planet in an endless universe with billions and billions of other worlds: this is spirituality (for me).
Thank you!
Amy says
I struggled with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder all my life (it started in first grade and would follow me for about 14 solid years.) I had enough. I read a book that incorporated spirituality into the the healing process. I said my first open minded prayer and I felt a release. I got into the whole new age “you can become like God” stuff and then I decided I wanted to read the bible and see what that was all about. I discovered something: the historical Jesus looked nothing like the American Capitalist Jesus. He was homeless, minimalist, and He loved and included everyone. I also noticed He didn’t mention any of the stuff that is crammed own our throats in traditional Sunday morning church. I fell in love. I’ve known him almost 9 years and I just continue to be blown away by His presence and power in my life. My husband and I are actually selling all of our possessions and following Him to Uruguay next week. You can read more about our story below! Your blog planted a major seed btw. God bless you for doing what you do.
Amy
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/love-before-suicide-campaign
Sallyann says
I am an atheist, however like Ciska, I believe in morality, kindness, compassion, doing as little harm as possible to the creatures we share this earth with, and making a difference. Being an atheist I think deepens one’s appreciation of the here and now, because I expect that after-death will be very similar an experience to before-birth.
I also appreciate many of the elements of Buddhism; I have read a number of books on it and it has some very useful practices.