I'm new here. Hi.
I have been getting back into spiritual beliefs that helped me in the past. And I think they are better than the conservative beliefs I was raised in, but after about 4 months of thinking that everything that happens to me is some deep spiritual lesson, or that I need to do soul work to release negative habits, and so on, I'm getting a little burned out.
I was also reading this book that takes a very skeptical view of self-help, saying that our society has essentially adopted one of two views: 1. that we are all victims or 2. that we are all gods who can have anything we want.
In considering the sort of "new age" beliefs (that have at least freed me from being a depressed, nihilistic closet atheist) I sometimes wonder if there are some bad, counterproductive beliefs that are taken as a given when you start to say you are "spiritual, not religious."
I'm not saying I'll ever go back to believing in a hell or a god who gets angry at people for just being what he made them to be. But I also can't really get behind the whole "enlightenment" project. I'm here now. I have to deal with things. So putting this mountain in front of me and saying, "climb the mountain of enlightenment," makes me want to go back to bed and eat Oreos.
Being spiritual takes too much work.
It helped me see that I CAN belief that life is good. People have good in them. That spiritually, the universe has our best interests at heart and we have a lot to be positive about.
But "spirituality" is too often crafted on the self-help model that constantly reminds us that if we don't get results, it's our own damn fault.
To that end, I think I'm onto a new approach that is right for me. I'm not saying I'm some great guy who has the ultimate truth and no one else does. But it's a bit frustrating to be spiritual these days. It's like getting a carton of ice cream that you thought was the right flavor, but turns out to be fudge instead of chocolate.
I have been getting back into spiritual beliefs that helped me in the past. And I think they are better than the conservative beliefs I was raised in, but after about 4 months of thinking that everything that happens to me is some deep spiritual lesson, or that I need to do soul work to release negative habits, and so on, I'm getting a little burned out.
I was also reading this book that takes a very skeptical view of self-help, saying that our society has essentially adopted one of two views: 1. that we are all victims or 2. that we are all gods who can have anything we want.
In considering the sort of "new age" beliefs (that have at least freed me from being a depressed, nihilistic closet atheist) I sometimes wonder if there are some bad, counterproductive beliefs that are taken as a given when you start to say you are "spiritual, not religious."
I'm not saying I'll ever go back to believing in a hell or a god who gets angry at people for just being what he made them to be. But I also can't really get behind the whole "enlightenment" project. I'm here now. I have to deal with things. So putting this mountain in front of me and saying, "climb the mountain of enlightenment," makes me want to go back to bed and eat Oreos.
Being spiritual takes too much work.
It helped me see that I CAN belief that life is good. People have good in them. That spiritually, the universe has our best interests at heart and we have a lot to be positive about.
But "spirituality" is too often crafted on the self-help model that constantly reminds us that if we don't get results, it's our own damn fault.
To that end, I think I'm onto a new approach that is right for me. I'm not saying I'm some great guy who has the ultimate truth and no one else does. But it's a bit frustrating to be spiritual these days. It's like getting a carton of ice cream that you thought was the right flavor, but turns out to be fudge instead of chocolate.
