Faith, beliefs, Influences and happiness: Few musings
Calling myself agnostic does not solve the purpose when I write this piece. I am not sure if God exists and my rational mind believes that God is merely a creation of human mind. The spiritual mind makes me recite a Christian prayer, do a Buddhist chanting and recite few paragraphs from the Bhagwad Geeta. Both minds co-exist and there is no conflict. I love the feel of a Christian prayer and I don’t want to spoil the experience by talking to a religious dogmatic Christian. I experience a great level of positive energy when I chant Buddhist chants and a universal message of oneness of existence when I read the sacred Hindu Text, the Gita. (Krishna says “everything is me”). Still I feel that religions center around myths and many a times sound like children’s fantasies (creation of universe in few days and so on)
I feel happy in practicing or to say going through the above experiences, without really been religiously inclined. Primarily I am seeker of mental peace and calmness and not either salvation or a better afterlife. Co-incidentally many a times I get a feeling that my prayers are answered but when I think of people in war ravaged areas or zones of extreme poverty, even people living there would be praying too. In this unjust and unequal world, people tend to use religion even to divide and annihilate people as it happened during crusades or in the second world war. The rational mind cannot comprehend this paradox. I do know that there have been many wise and enlightened sages in India and I am fairly influenced by some good and by some controversial people as well. I learnt the value of spontaneity from Osho, of simplicity and child-like innocence from Neem Karoli Baba (a saint who lived in North India and has inspired many people including Ram Dass, Steve Jobs and Julia Roberts among others) and of compassion towards compounded beings from Buddha (through reading either their work or through the audio-visual mode). I do believe that followers of such Gurus would have experienced something great and that reflects in their work as well but as I do not have any such revelations, I am in the unknown.
For me, Happiness comes through being mindful about what I can contribute to the world around me and I seriously find no value in any organized religion. More than looking at the future from the prism of the myths of the past, I believe in what I can do today. Yes, I learnt from myths through metaphors and from gurus I learnt things that would help me understand life better. Anyhow, if you are religious you tend to believe in superiority of your religion over others. When truth is sabotaged by our own biased beliefs, it is difficult to find the essence of which version of truth should one adhere to.
As a Positive Psychology practitioner, I have my own rituals which may find some overlap in all religions. My prayers and meditations have a deep ingredient of praying or chanting for others while I also believe in “Empathy, Love and Compassion in action” and not just through prayers only. My meaning and purpose lies in connecting with people, understanding their stories, meeting them, spending moments with them with an innocent curiosity and remembering time spent with them through journaling. My belief hence is in myself and the learning I get from life experiences through people and their stories. My faith is a strong power. I have faith in my resolve that I need to be my better self day after day and let the world around me inspire me to the hilt. I always pray that I stay awestruck when I discover something new that brightens up the neurons of my brain.
Finally, I would say to sum it all, “I am Spiritual yet Agnostic”. Again it may sound like a paradox but this is my truth.
