Spirituality what is it? 

Spirituality means many things to many people. Spirit according to
Webster's New World Pocket Dictionary means:
 

1. same as soul. 
 2. life, will, thought, regarded as separate
from matter  
 3. supernatural being, as a ghost or an angel 
 4. an individual 
 5. disposition, mood 
 6. vivacity, courage
 7. enthusiastic loyalty
 8. real meaning
 9. pervading animating principle ... "

Spirituality is defined as "of the soul " and or "religious and sacred." and Spiritualism is "the belief that the dead survive as spirits which can communicate with the living." (In philosophy, it is used as a term to define any system of thought that believes in or agrees with the existence of an immaterial world.)

 Spirituality, to me is a combination of these precepts. 
My definition:
Spirituality is born of the soul, yearning to know and understand itself, others and its connection to a higher power, whatever name we may give that power. Our Spirituality is nourished by the journey it makes and the paths that it takes to that end, seeking it's purpose here on earth and its relationship to its higher power in the nexts.
Jesus is that higher power to me but, may be something else or known by many other names to other seekers depending on their own, individual, belief system.
 
The soul is, to me, the intangible yet, presiding essence of our being, the reality we cannot see but, is who we truly are, the circumference of what we think, believe, know, have known and feel. It's mission, to reach, seek, know and understand itself, our God or Gods and one another, this is our spirituality. 

I believe we must cherish, embrace and nurture our spiritual selves by concentrating on this quest for self knowledge and the essence of the soul. We must strive to learn all that we can about the spirit, before it is set free from our living body. We are all captains of our own Souls and as such must assume responsibility for ourselves and our destinies.
This I believe with all my heart. 

Their are many avenues one may pursue in their quest for self awareness, everything from organized religion to "New Age" philosophies. Meditation, Yoga, Reikki and religious study are all pathways to trying to gain self knowledge and understanding as well as, knowledge of the divine, the sacred. WE enhance our abilities to see, know and heal ourselves and to know and better understand one another in the process of these soul quests and these journeys. 

It is my belief that every organized religion, actually, fits in the divine tapestry of God and that each is a thread in that ever complex and vast design. Too often, I think, we condemn opposing religious and philosophical viewpoints in an effort to thwart ideologies differing from our own. We deny others their own right to think, feel and believe as they choose. We disrespect each other in the process, offering condemnation in God's name when in reality it is God's province to judge and condemn, not ours.
  
What is our province and where are its boundaries? What is ours to do and what is solely God's? 

Sometimes when the pathway becomes muddy and unclear it is easy to lose the way or overstep ones bounds. Self judgment and responsibility is necessary in one's life and needed to guide ones own behavior but, I have seen those who do not just live their lives but chose to live other peoples lives for them. They appoint themselves mini Gods, acting individually or in groups, to meter out justice as they see fit. But, have they that authority? It is always a struggle to determine what is right and what is wrong yet, these determinations are necessary for our own individual belief system and the character we develop as individuals and as a people. The question is how to live our beliefs and yet, not impose these beliefs on others who also have the right to chose. 

 Judgments are part of the governing process whether over ourselves or our society. So, there is always a delicate balance to maintain between the rights of the majority and the rights of the individual. I believe that Society is a negotiation. It is an alliance formed of individuals willing to yield to and comply with a doctrine, a list of rules, forged for the common good that is the only way for society to exist of free thinking people. 
 Society, law, spirituality and judgments, these are complex issues with no easy answers but then that is the struggle is it not? To try, to fail, to rise, to fall, to experience, to learn, to seek, to reach, to grow and to share this the human experience.
This site will seek to provide information and links to both spiritual, and educational sites as well as, to nourish the readers imagination and joy in its pursuit of wonder!

Spiritual Pathways

"The Flights of Fantasy"
"The Flights of The Spirit"

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