I’d like to share with you my own personal story today.
In India, religion plays a huge role in everyday life, from getting up, clothing, rituals to celebrations and festivals.
And spirituality has always been a way of life under my dad’s supervision in his own unique ways.
At a very young age, I was asked to question “Who am I?”
Growing up there, I remember clearly from the moment you opened your eyes in the morning to the moment you closed them in the evening, spirituality was present in one way or another.
I believed that people who followed religion and spirituality hand in hand, were superior to those who held steadfast beliefs and were moral policing.
It wasn’t until my very best friend asked me if I respected my clothes and the dining chair that it dawned on me that religion and spirituality extended beyond humans and animals.
And as a science student, when I learnt every cell is made up of electrons, protons and neutrons, I didn’t need much convincing to believe we are all one.
Moving from state to state in India, I realised how versatile people’s approaches were towards the same goal or purpose.
Moving out of India and experiencing people and their lives and religion lost its barriers.
Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and theosophy played a huge role in my understanding that religion is like food. You eat what you get from where you live. The end goal is to keep you satiated. And people are still happy, sad and falling in and out of love everywhere.
Driven by an engineering, accounting, business and analytical mind, I started my search for evidence and proof. Ridiculed religion and spirituality.
NLP contributed a lot to my life and gave me an understanding of “I am what I am”.
And here is one of my favourite quotes: “As body, mind or soul, you are a dream: you really are Being, Consciousness and Bliss. You are the God of this universe.”
This took me more away from religion and brought me to an understanding that all we do and all we are, are just projection and programs from our past. The decisions we make may seem random but are actually going through a myriad of filters and are actually very predictable if you understand the filters and understand the mind.
This way of thinking satiated me for a long time. However, as I continued to deepen my understanding of the mind, I began to realise that to hold such rigid thought patterns was itself a belief system and all I had done was to swap out one belief system with another.
What I realised was the one thing that connected them all was the genuine people who were genuinely searching for the truth.
Whether that was through Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity or theoretical physics, these were the same people trying to find out something else.
Or was it more than that?
I have a Peace Lilly, and I love my Peace Lilly. I talk to it, water it and take really good care of it. I can’t even stand to see any brown leaves..
I ask it to bloom to validate my decisions (I know it sounds funny) and when it blooms I feel so grateful.
The question is, is this the same as worshipping a deity or am I projecting my unconscious mind onto it?
THEN, the question arises whether it even matters?
You see, the moments that I’m tending and talking to my plant, I’m not me, I’m not thinking about the past or worried about the future. I’m there, present in servitude to my plants. I feel calm, relaxed and free, just for a moment I’m nothing.
Is that really any different to performing a religious or spiritual ritual? Isn’t the intended result the same?
What about science? Doesn’t reaching to understand the world around us and the universe stop us being us, even if it’s only momentary?
Then what if religion is for the emotionally driven people and science is for the more analytical people? They may seem very different, but the results are the same.
So back to me, having travelled this journey to both extremes, I am now again looking back, into religion but with my knowledge along the way to understand it more.
What if our ancestors knew that you were not enough to motivate yourself?
In fact, I was discussing this very topic with my client Dan, and upon understanding my point he said something very profound. He said “It’s not what we do to take care of the plant, it’s who you become in the process of doing it”.
Both are just a perfect waste of time.
Have a great week.
Luv
Manna
P.S: Join me on the listening post, coming Friday to share your insights, experiences and explore this topic with like-minded people.
If you believed in something in the past and now you believe something else and that is causing you to suffer and face conflicts with your family, friends, partner, children or colleagues at work, feel free to book a chat and we can catchup.