I’ve been making spirituality personal at times lately. It’s hard to resist that urge. I’ve made it personal on my blog at moments. It’s easy to make spirituality personal, but it’s not personal. What do I mean by that?
Spirituality is a river flowing through the atmosphere. At any given moment, you are either connected to spirituality, or you are not. If you lean down and drink from the river, you are connected and you experience those benefits. It’s all a very good thing and it’s helpful in tolerating in life and perhaps thriving in life. How is it not personal?
When we say, “the universe is showing me/telling me” we are making it personal in a way that it cannot possibly be. There are far too many individuals in existence for spirituality to ever be personal in that way. It just does not make sense to me.
Plenty of mystics who can’t stand the personal god/Jesus Saves dynamic will turn around and make their brand of new age spirituality personal, just like the jesus freaks, in a way that it does not need to be. It’s a river you drink from. You are either connected or not. We are individual flames. At any given moment you are either a flame that has joined the spiritual fire of other people and humanity, or you burn alone as a single candle.
I imagine that the notion of spirituality being not personal is terrifying to some. If you had really shitty parents (common enough problem) and you lean toward spirituality, then the idea that spirituality – the one and only thing you have to survive emotionally – is not personal and there’s no love flowing in your direction is pretty scary.
It does not need to negate an idea like law of attraction, okay. For me the thing behind law of attraction is basic common sense with a bunch of bells and whistles (spiritual language, etc) decorating it – Like attracts Like. You have to Give in order to Get. If you cannot remove the blockages that prevent you from Giving, you will not Get/Receive. Very simple common sense stuff, spoken in different words by all the religions of the world. Maybe there’s a long period of time where you are unable to contribute. Because things like depression. Well, the river is always around. It will be there when you overcome. I just don’t think that river flows toward any individual in a personal way.
There are other rivers around too. Taking up space around the spiritual river and blocking it’s path. Dark rivers. “Oh, you couldn’t dam that river. And it washed me so far away.” -Alice in Chains / Jerry Cantrell.
Great. Now I am running late because I am off Lexapro and beginning to feel like myself again. Which means coffee/high – rushing philosophical thoughts in the morning and the need to write. Ha. Now I don’t have time to put on makeup.
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