What do we really know about religion and spirituality?

From what I’ve gathered, there are basically two ways of finding approaching truth when it comes to religion and spirituality: experience and prophecy. And checking our experience against other people’s experiences. Because making sense of our experiences is to a large degree a collective pursuit.

None of it can, for obvious reasons, be considered totally reliable. But at least they bring us out of the realm of completely arbitrary beliefs. 

This will be important as we continue.

So, here’s the thing: there is a strange knowing that is growing inside of me. This is the best way that I can explain it. This knowing entails that the world is much more than we perceive with our five senses. That we live on many different planes at the same time. But until I started experiencing this, I was only experiencing reality through my physical body. 

I would say that this is most definitely a spiritual awakening. 

Since I began realizing that this was what was happening, I’ve been studying the concept of spiritual awakening quite extensively. 

I want to contrast this with another knowing that has entered my life during the past few years. Namely that the answers are to be found in the Bible and in Jesus. This has come to me in such an undeniable way, that it would be impossible for me to dismiss it. Think “shaken to the core” kind of way. This while most people that go through a spiritual awakening flee organized religion.

This is difficult for me to talk about. Because if it wasn’t for all of the things that I’ve experienced, often together with my wife, I would not have the confidence to do so. Probably rightly. I would have to just pick one framework of beliefs or the other. But then we have that little word: “experience”. Which is such a crucial word here.

Ultimately everything is just subjective experience, even though, as I stated in the beginning, there might be ways of at least approaching something objective, even if we can never know for sure. There is obviously the possibility that literally nothing is what it seems and what we perceive as reality is not even an illusion, but a total lie. But that sort of thinking isn’t very helpful for anything but perspective. 

It you really study the Bible, it’s hard to deny that the hand of God has had a role to play in it. There is, maybe above all else, a strange coherence in it, where everything in the Old Testament seem to point to Jesus, even though it was written during about 2000 years. There is a narrative that does not seem to come just from the individual humans that have written and put it together. 

All over the Old Testament, there are furthermore these little signs that point to Jesus. For example, the prophet Isaiah speaks about Jesus in a way that, if you don’t know that it’s in the Old Testament, you would think that it’s taken from the New Testament. 

Or take the story of Abraham and Isac. Abraham, the father of Israel, is called to sacrifice his son. But instead God offers him a ram with its horns caught in A THICKET. Seen in this context, it’s hard to think that the similarity between this and a crown of thorns is just a coincidence. Because this is after all the story of the father of Israel sacrificing his son. 

I can point to many other passages in the Old Testament of this sort, but you could easily google it, so I will leave it at that.

On the other hand, if you read the Bible literally, it’s hard to reconcile certain statements. On the one hand, God is loving, kind, merciful, almighty and goes out of his way to save everyone. On the other, most of humanity is destined for hell? Eternal suffering most of the time because people act out of ignorance and not because they sin with full intent. No fair worldly justice system would allow something even close to this. And what would we think of a father that treated his children in such a manner?

I know that there is something here that I might not understand. This is not a rhetorical statement, I might add, but actually a very important one. Because when many intelligent people believe something that you yourself cannot se the logic behind, it’s always wise to leave the door open for the possibility that there is something that you haven’t understood. Especially when it comes to such an important matter as the eternal destiny of the soul.

However the explanations that I’ve heard for why people have to go to hell for all eternity, even from very insightful people, just don’t make sense to me. It’s usually something along the lines of: “God is not just loving, but also just, so he has to punish sinners.” Really? An almighty God has no other choice but to punish people? Often for actions where they didn’t know any better? For all eternity? Or worse yet, for failing to believe the right things?

The only way to make sense of this would be to imagine that Satan has a power that is equal to, or close to equal to that of God.

On the other, consider that the Bible is people’s encounters with the divine. People that lived under very different circumstances than we do. You have to take away at least 2.000 years of philosophy, psychology, and, basically, all that we know within the hard sciences, of course including quantum physics. What if these people tried to make sense of what they were experiencing from their understanding and the minds that this understanding shaped? Very real experiences, I might add, but for which they didn’t have the knowledge of the world that full understanding would require. What if it’s the same for us today? What if, from the perspective of God’s knowledge, we only know a fraction more than people did 2000 years ago? 

Don't be afraid

There is so much fear in the world right now. Have you noticed? It seems that there is just one threat or disaster after another. And everthing that we need in our day to day lives is getting more expensive.

First of all, it’s okay to be afraid. It’s understandable. No one is going to judge you because you are afraid. So you can relax. At least when it comes to this. But just know that you don’t have to be afraid.

We worry about the future of the planet, wars, the economy, our economy. All the way from the whole of humanity, down to us as individuals, we worry. Everything seems to be hitting us all at once.

I’m not going to say that this means one thing or the other. But doesn’t it all seem a bit odd?

Here’s a suggestion: Maybe it’s time that we who aspire to follow Christ start believing that we are taken care of? 

For me this entails that when it comes to problems of humanity that we don’t seem to be able to solve on our own, I decide to trust God instead. Trust that God will not just let the world perish. That God will never force that which is unacceptable on us in order to save the world or humanity. 

Knowing where I stand when it comes to this, will also help me draw a clear line when it comes to what political solutions I will never comply with.

If we don’t take a step back, just breathe and think about the fact that, in the end, everything is in God’s hands it’s easy to forget about joy. It’s easy to just react. Because this is what we’ve gotten used to. Make a panicked response to a stressful situation. Whether we do it as individuals or as a collective.

One major reason for this is that the default mode of our brains is to keep us safe. But that just won’t do anymore. We are on our way towards something new. Something where our egos and instincts can no longer guide us. Can you feel it? 

One thing that the Bible says, is that God has promised that in one way or another, he will take care of us. He has not said that everything is going to be easy or even that our survival, on an individual level in this physical body, is guaranteed. But he has promised that he won’t let the world go under until the end times. And even the end times may suggest a more symbolic interpretation. 

Now, those that want to control us want to keep us in a fearful state. Because it’s easier to get fearful people that are deprived of hope and meaningfulness to hand over their power.

So if you really want to stick it to the man so to speak, the only way forward is to learn not to respond in a negative, fearful manner. To stay happy, hopeful and trusting even when the world tries to bring you down is the only way out. 

Therefore, to be joyful and happy is an act of defiance. To refuse to let our chaotic world upset our balance. To choose to rely on God and on that there is a plan. Isn’t that great? The way that we fight back is by choosing happiness and embracing the positive aspects of life.

I know that it’s not always easy. Neither on a personal nor a global level. We might be struggling with one thing or the other on a personal level. And on a global level there are different things that grab hold of our attention in a way where we seem unable to stop thinking about them. Thus we worry. Thus we fall. Because we’ve learned a totally backwards way of functioning in the world. It’s not our fault. We have learned that this is the natural way of operating in the world. That it’s the only way.

Therefore, when we fall, we must realize that there is nothing wrong with us. We are not bad. We just haven’t learned that we have options.

If you don’t know where to start, I suggest that you start working on acceptance. This is a big step and I admit that, in it’s apparent simplicity and effortlessness, it’s often very difficult. Because we have a lot to unlearn and re-learn. But here’s the thing I want to stress over and over again: You are okay the way you are. You are okay the way you are. There is nothing wrong with you. You, just like me and everyone else, just lack the proper understanding. You don’t have to do anything about it. Everything is optional. You were created to love God and be loved by God. That’s it. Everything else is optional. You don’t have to do or be anything to deserve God’s love. And as long as we are ruled by our egos in any way, we are bound to make mistakes. It is what it is.

But once you can see yourself and your relationship with God, yourself, the world and the rest of humanity and everything else in a clearer light, maybe you can also start thinking of some logical steps that you want to take? Maybe you want to start prioritizing a bit? Or maybe you choose to do none of that, even though you know that you have a choice. God loves you either way though.

It’s so easy to get caught up in speculations about reality, religion and what all of this means, while ignoring the human condition. Which, ironically, is staring us straight in the face if we study what Jesus says. Sure, he mentions heaven, hell, prophecies and the likes. But all of this is open to interpretation. Many of his teachings regarding how to live and treat each other and ourselves are not however. They are often multi-faceted, but seldom difficult to understand.

We’ve been given a very complex machine to operate. A machine called the human body and brain.

Like any complex machine, the human brain and body have very specific ways of functioning. They have specific ways of interacting with their environment. Teaching how to do this is part of what I’m trying to do with my and my wife’s YouTube channel.

I furthermore suggest that you ask yourself the following question. What do we really know? I honestly don’t know the severity of the state of the world. I just know that I make the choice of trusting God rather than worldly authorities. And I make that choice every moment of every day. 

So, if you have a hard time not believing that we are not heading for a horrible, dystopian nightmare unless certain measures are taken, how much do you really know? Have you taken a careful look at the available data? Have you listened to those with an informed opinion that disagree with the views that are being presented in the mass media? Do journalists and politicians really deserve your trust? If you had someone that was continuously lying and manipulating you in your life, would you continue trusting that person? So why do that when it comes to politicians? What if it’s not out there in the world, but inside ourselves that the solutions lie? What if each and everyone of us will know what to do once we start looking in the right place?

The truth is that we might have to go through some hard times. But what’s in the future is very far from as certain as the doomsayers claim. And until we can work on cultivating a joyous spirit. The hard times will be easier then. 

Let go and trust God

What if it was possible to relax and let go? I’ve had glimpses of this kind of state. Now let me tell you about it.

I’ve reached sort of a turning point in my life. I’m not over the top yet, but something has seriously began to shift inside of me. Something that I know is the destiny for everyone.

There are still parts of me that are resisting. That want to make things hard. That do not want to follow the natural flow of life. That still want to think my way through everything. Even though I’m more and more seeing how absolutely limited and deceptive my thoughts are. I’m not the little silly voice inside my head. I know this. 

I know that it’s time for us to stop being afraid. God is in control. He’s always been. And he’ll act through us if we just let him. He could force his will on us. He has that power. But he never will. We have to let go and allow. And here I’m going to discuss how we do this. 

In the end, this cannot be conveyed in its fullness through words. It’s so simple and easy, and yet so difficult. And it’s right in front of us. In fact, it’s closer to us than we are to ourselves.

If we want to hand our lives over to God, we need to practice present moment awareness or mindfulness. If someone says that mindfulness is bad because it didn’t originate in Christianity, please don’t listen to them. They are stuck in their silly little thoughts. Their egos. Their thoughts are telling them that what their thoughts are telling them must be right. But one single experience of real truth will prove the limitation of such thinking beyond any doubt.

Mindfulness, in essence, is just about bringing awareness to the present moment. And when we do that something begins to shift. Just be here now! When we start doing this in the beginning, we will notice that our attention starts to drift. This is because we have learned this throughout our lives. We have learned to be caught up in our thoughts. 

But mindfulness is not what this post is about.

What I want to talk about here is handing our lives over to God. In every given moment. In every moment we can choose to trust or live in fear. If we want to resist or let go. 

Jesus was the ideal that we should always strive for. He came here to show us the way. And in one way or another, he’s promised that he will return. But when Jesus came here 2000 years ago, he came in a way that basically no one expected. What if it’s the same when he returns? 

Jesus told us that his will and the will of the father are one. In fact, he told us that he and the father are one (Joh 10:30). 

This doesn’t have to be hard. Circumstances might make things hard at times. But following Jesus should make it easier to handle whatever circumstances come our way. Jesus came her to set us free. For real. So if we feel that what Jesus taught is not making us free, we are not reading his message correctly. If you treat the Bible like a stale rulebook, where you constantly limit yourself from anything that might offend God, even if it’s not clearly spelled out in the Bible, you are reading it all wrong. I think that the example of Christian rock and metal is such a telling one. If someone says that it’s wrong, I just stop listening immediately, because I know that the words come from a mind that is caught up in thoughts. When you realize that it’s possible to argue for just about anything and make it sound plausible, you are one step closer to breaking free from the prison of your thoughts.

What Jesus offers is real freedom. This while life lived according to our own wills is not real freedom. This kind of life is a prison of our lower natures. For some it’s a dirty prison full of stench. One that has bars of rusty iron. For others, it’s a shiny, clean prison with bars of gold and all the comforts you could ask for. But it’s still a prison.

But we don’t have to fear the prison either. The prison is an illusion. You can look at the Bible as a type of instruction manual for life on the earth. But not an instruction manual that is a rulebook that you have to decipher. The really important stuff is pretty straight forward: Don’t judge. Cultivate love. Be honest and respectful. Examine your own behavior instead of pointing out the faults of others. That sort of stuff. 

If you don’t follow the instruction manual, all that happens is that life doesn’t work properly. And so you’re caught up in the illusory prison.

Again, what we need to do is to choose God and to trust God in every given moment. There is no other way forward. We need to choose trust in our personal lives. And we need to choose trust when it comes to the events that unfold in the world. It’s not easy when we witness all of the chaos that is taking place. But whatever the circumstance, all is ultimately in God’s hands. The worst that can happen on a personal level is that we die. And the worst that can happen on a global level is that the world ends. If this happens, it’s the will of God. Instead of resisting, forcing and being afraid, why not just try to figure out what God wants, do that and leave the rest to God?