Lately I’ve been reflecting on my spiritual practices, beliefs, and relationship to spirituality.
Am I properly honoring the traditions outside my culture, like yoga, that I engage in?
What about my own ancestral roots- am I connected to those traditions?
Is there one true path for me, for humanity, the multiverse?
And here’s where I’m at with it right now:
It ain’t what ya do, it’s the way that you do it!
How do my practices and beliefs make me FEEL?
What is my intention for engaging with a certain practice?
What’s underneath a particular belief?
Again, most important of all: how does it make me feel?
What speaks to me, my heart & soul, lights me up & makes me come alive?
I’ve fallen in love with certain practices like Kirtan (devotional singing and chanting in Sanskrit) because it opened, opens my heart. What a beautiful feeling. I found that the words, though they do matter, are secondary to the feeling. Certain words can evoke certain feelings. Kirtan (re)opened me to singing my heart out, like I did as a child! Ever since, I have been singing ALL kinds of songs and making up my own.
In the end, for me, God doesn't have a name or face (and at once, all names and faces!). The names used help to grasp a concept so much greater than us. Words and naming don’t do justice but definitely help to describe and understand our experiences. And of course, Jesus, Mary, Quan Yin, Kali, Buddha, Krishna (we could go on and on) are God/Goddess/Holy Entities- because we all are! Or at least we all have the potential to awaken to and embody our divinity.
So, how to awaken to and embody our divinity?
Simply being in that question, being in spiritual inquiry and investigation, is the answer. Spirituality and religion are at once so personal and universal. For me, it’s not about a specific name or practice. It’s about the energy and feeling. And so, I engage in specific practices and may pray to particular named deities and divinities because of the connection and feeling I experience. Because I am constantly evolving, so is my faith. This is my truth right now. I also see the merit in devoting myself to one clear lineage because of the energy of devotion, dedication, discipline and commitment. I’m interested in exploring this too in my religion.
I can say for sure that ultimately, I am dedicated to love.
What do you dedicate yourself to?
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