Religion and Spirituality

The two go hand in hand. I was raised a Christian...Southern Baptist converted to full gospel at the age of 18. Currently I am Spiritual but wouldn't call myself at all religious, but the point of this blog is to point out the similarities between my current beliefs and religion and how we can co-exist with Christians and all other religions for that matter. Before I begin, i know that I am going to upset the moral kilter of things, but my intention is not to upset but to practice and teach understanding.

I must tell you upfront that Love is my religion. I practice love everyday, random acts of love and kindness and i urge you to do the same. Now is not the time to be living in fear. Fear of losing your house, fear of not having enough money, fear of losing someone you love, fear of terrorism, fear of death...i tell you now is not the time. Ziggy Marley had a song that I can really identify with when i was in Jamaica last year called "Love is my religion" He sparked a lot of controversy on the island and around the world for that matter.

"Love is my religion, Love is my religion, Love is my religion
I'll take you to the temple tonight

All my days I've been searching, to find out what this life is worth
through the books and bibles of time I've made up my mind
I don't condemn, I don't convert, this is a calling have you heard
bring all the lovers to the fold, cause no one is gonna lose their soul..

Love is my religion (Love is my religion)
Love is my religion (Love is my religion)
Love is my religion
hey you can take it or leave it, and you don't have to believe it

I don't want to fight, hey let's go fly a kite
there's nothing that we can't cure, and I'll keep you in my arms for sure
so don't let nobody stop us, free spirits have to soar
with you I share the gift, the gift that we now know oh oh oh...

[Chorus]

Well I'm done searching now, I found out what this life is worth
not in the books that I find, but by searching my mind
I don't condemn, I don't convert
this is the calling have you heard, bring all the lovers to the fold
no one is gonna lose their soul..."

The reason i bring this up is because i believe we can live in a Christian/Muslim/buddhist or unified world as i like to call it without stepping on toes.

So Christians believe in God, As a spiritualist i believe in the universal law (could be god, buddha, allah), i just don't label it. Is this right? I don't like to label again so who knows but i know it works for me, just like I don't try and tell my christian friends to believe what I do. I respect them, i ask them to respect me.

Prayer-is/can be:

• the act of communicating with a deity (especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving); "the priest sank to his knees in ...
• reverent petition to a deity
• entreaty: earnest or urgent request; "an entreaty to stop the fighting"; "an appeal for help"; "an appeal to the public to keep calm"
• a fixed text used in praying
• someone who prays to God

My prayer is slightly different. I wake up with thanks to the universe and all the people that i am thankful for and then i send out my intentions, successful business, amazing friendships, fantastic connections. I then look out my window and smell the ocean air, listen to the birds chirp, feel the crisp air on my skin, and i give thanks for being alive.

Prayer (religion) = giving thanks (spirituality)

Can we find common ground?

I also live my life with a a sense of balance. I don't put all of my eggs in one basket believing in a God that pre determines my every move. I believe in a five level balance. Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and finally social. Again my only hope in posting this topic is to find balance, not pick out flaws in one belief system or another. I choose not to put all of my eggs in the spiritual side of things because then my pie is off kilter.

I have showed this to lots of people and many times after they see it, they understand my points. Each of the five pieces represent a very important part of our life, approximately 20%, what happens if i put all my time in lets say physical, like working out.

See what happens to all the other areas of my life, neglect. Every day i wake up, i try to find the balance in my life. If I am off, I will ask myself, where am i off. Sometimes i am giving energy to emotional, so my pie will be skewed like such

So then my task for the day is to re-balance. If you give energy to the different areas of your life, that is what your pie will look like. Now i could go on and skew the pie in different directions. I could over emphasize spriritual, if I spend all my time in that realm or if i were a reader and not very social i could skew the hell out of Intellectual. I think you get the point. When my family or friends call and tell me that life is good, or that god is amazing or that allah is wonderful, I totally agree and I am glad that things are well in your life.

So before you rip apart my beliefs, i would ask you, can we find common ground. Can your god love me as much as I love you? Can your beliefs allow you and I to coexist without me converting to your religion? Can i do a great act for a human or have another human do another act for me without having to worry about their reward in heaven? Can we live in a world where we respect and love each other so much?

I can try, can you?

( A special thanks to all the people that have influenced my life, Aunt Cindy for always praying for me and believing in me, Uncle John who loved me unconditionally, My mom for being there, My spiritual mentor---Mr Robert Donofrio (I must give him credit for the pie of life...he pointed that one out to me), My family who has always loved me, my grandfather and my father-who taught me to be tolerant and loving as often as possible.

May you be blessed this memorial day. My thoughts and love go out to the men and women who serve in our armed forces and who have served.