Spirituality makes a lot of promises.
Overcoming the ego, transcending psychological suffering, finding purpose, meaning, and belonging, moving beyond dualistic thinking, compassion and connection.
And the possibility of achieving these through spirituality is available. But does it truly make a difference?
In overcoming the ego, one might find that they actually liked having a strong ego. The whole dance within drama, having a strong opinion about other people and things. The ability to relate to others based on some common ground. Overcoming that, one might find another problem, what do I do with my time now? I’m still stuck here.
In transcending psychological suffering one might find a different perspective, but lose motivation to live a normal life. One might become a hermit. Maybe even homeless. The fears and attachments that motivated them to stay in line, might become irrelevant, and they may simply be incapable of forcing themselves to comply. Incapable of forcing themselves to fit in.
In finding purpose, they may move beyond the normal worldly desires, and in finding purpose they may find comfort in serving something bigger which ultimately gives them a strangeness, making them weird, and unrelatable. They may find purpose but lose relatability.
Belonging is found in hanging out with other people who are into the same thing, or that might be non-existent, and they merely find it with their relationship to God or a Higher Power. Finding this, they may lose the desire to associate with their old friends. The push and pull that previously motivated them to socialize and be around others might become obsolete.
Moving beyond dualistic thinking, one might have less friction than before, but miss out on the energetic rise and chaos of debate. Also they may be less excited by things that are perceived as good and beneficial. From being active on the board of life, they might find themselves to be merely a silent observer.
More compassion might be found but they diminish in their ability to play into the drama of life. And they might find greater connection to God or the Universe, but lose favoritism for certain individuals vs others.
All this moving from being the main character to merely, I’m merely an existence.
There are many ways to exist and play the game of life, but I wouldn’t suggest that one is better than the other, it’s merely a preference. There are pros and cons to everything. Is the reward truly worth the cost? That is always a personal preference, and this goes for anything.
For me, my meditations are the most interesting thing in existence. I’d rather meditate than watch tv, socialize, or play video games, at least some of the time. And no matter where I am, thanks to my meditations, I have something to do.
The most interesting and fulfilling relationship I have is the one with my god, the version I am connected to. In this I am never alone.
But if anyone were to look at my life, they would probably say nothing is going on. What’s the big deal?
And they would be right, nothing is going on…. This is it… This is all there is….
Is spirituality for everyone? Absolutely not and it’s not supposed to be. It’s just a personal preference. But for me, it’s the only game in town.
