Sunday morning.. so i thought i’d share some spirtual teachings!  forgive me for sounding like the cult-master once again.. but it just sounds cooler.. here’s a little something my flat mate shirlz and i put together a few months ago to represent our spiritual way of thinking..

Shmeim, What religion do you subscribe to?
None.  Personal faith.

Personal faith?  I havent heard of this movement!  Where can I sign up?
Its not a movement, it’s a faith, your own faith in your life path and the choices you make.  Personal faith is a belief individual to each person which comes from questioning, contemplating and life experience.

But all the world’s religions have set beliefs and moral rules.  So how can religion be individual?
The majority of religions subscribe to a similar set of moral codes, believe in a higher being and strive to become more spiritually in contact with that being.  They differ on who that higher being is and the path on which they gain greater spiritual fulfilment with that being  You could argue that personal faith is no different, except that my beliefs to reach a greater spiritual awareness are totally individual to me.

So how would an individual like me attain a greater spiritual awareness through personal faith?
Its about self exploration.  Think about everything you’ve been taught, meet as many people as possible and listen intently to their stories, question everything you know and find out about what you don’t know.  Be open.  The key to personal faith is that we are all individuals and we must all attain our own path to truly reach a greater spiritual awareness.

So whose your God?
God exists within everything and everyone.  He is probably something bigger than we could possibly understand.  What’s important to realise though is that God is not the big guy sitting at the top playing school master, he’s a force, an energy that lives here with us on earth.

God lives on earth?!?!  Wow, can we go round for tea?  I’d like to meet him!
No silly!  As I said God is not a physical person, he is an energy.  Energy is present everywhere you look in nature, its present in us.  We all have energy, otherwise known as karma.  Those with good karma have better clarity of mind and approach life with a better spiritual awareness than those with bad karma.  To gain better karma one should act positively and view the world we live in in a positive light as much as possible.

Hmmm, this is getting a bit complicated..
Sure!  Well lets look at this example..
2 men are stuck on the wrong side of a river.  There is no food or shelter on this side of the river, and so they must cross the river safely in order to survive.  The one man kneels on the river bank, and begins to pray.  He asks god to guide him safely to the other side.  The other man starts to think of possible ways he can cross the river.  He decides it may be possible to build a makeshift bridge, and gets to work straight away.  Which man do you think has more chance of surviving?

Well.. I guess a bridge would be pretty handy.
Exactly.  There is a famous saying that says God helps those who help themselves, and its very true.  By thinking, questioning and growing positively through all of life’s situations we are building the bridges that lead us to a greater understanding of the world we live in and beyond.

Ok!  I think I got it.  So you call this personal faith..
Yes.  They key to personal faith is to take an individualistic approach to gaining a greater spiritual awareness as opposed to submitting to a set of defined rules and beliefs as in the case of an organised religion.  Faith is defined as a “Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing” and it takes a certain kind of confidence to give up traditional beliefs in search of your own spiritual path.