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May 17, 2008
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Spirituality
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Spiritual Explorations
This group is focused at exploring the nature of consciousness, alternative spiritualities, philosophy and the nature of Reality. We are open to non-traditional issues and points of view of all kinds. . Most people are raised within a single religious paradigm. As a result, we don't find within our environment clear expressions of other religious understandings or perspectives. This group provides a place to ask fresh questions, to examine our spiritual beliefs and non-beliefs, to look at our spiritual and life needs from new perspectives, to question old beliefs that have not fulfilled our highest spiritual needs, or to discuss the deeper questions of life with others who are seeking better understandings to age-old questions.
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wolfthinker said:
on November 5, 2009 09:44 PM ET
edited on November 5, 2009 09:45 PM ET

Do you think it is possible for someone to get addicted to spirituality?  We are a nation that requires a quick fix for everything.  We want what we want...and we want it NOW.  What about our addictions, and the use of spirituality to cure them? 

Can getting high on Heaven be a curse? I am starting to think about this alot. 

 

4 posts by 4 users
Post #4
wolfthinker replied to tghoffman's Post #3 :
on November 8, 2009 09:57 AM ET

I like Osho.  I find his words hit me deeply inside.  I feel what you are saying is true.   Perhaps this evolution of man is coming in bits and pieces, and being a mere mortal, I have no way of understanding the big picture, because although I know that I am part of the whole, I live in this human body, and my mind camera lens...(although expansive and limitless) is dual...and I fall into human delusional consciousness.

.

So what I am talking about here, is addiction.  America is a quick fix nation.  If you have a headache, go get the aspirin.  Oftentimes, we are just eating for the sake of eating...not because we feel hunger.  We are a nation of non-feelers.  Most of the time, we walk around in realm of zombie like consciousness.  We are not individuals.  We are mass produced, networked, and taught to think conventionally.  Kids do not do creative play much anymore.  They are driven to conventional activities, that will turn them into adult like zombies...a nation of drones.

.

I am saying this.  If one decides not to belong to say, a Buddhist sect, or any other religious affiliation, and one might feel lost.  Lost, because they are not "obeying" the precepts, or commandments, or rituals of a certain sect.  The sect does not care if you leave...they continue without you.  They speak of love, yet the appear blind that one of them is missing.  So the spiritual addiction might be one of "wanting to belong to something greater than this pitiful human self..."  a sense of superiority.  Look at me!  I got my act together and you don't.  I know.  You know nothing.   Not many people will bring up this topic for discussion because it hits a raw nerve.  I am contemplating this issue deeply now.


Post #3
tghoffman said:
on November 8, 2009 09:18 AM ET
edited on November 8, 2009 09:19 AM ET

From my side spirituality is about awareness.  It has nothing to do with beliefs or mechanisms or mystical experiences.  It's simply a way of perceiving the world, of seeking reality which is beyond mind.  It's in the mind that things become habits or addictions. Real spirtuality cannot be of the mind and therefore cannot be addictive.

"........ since the monkey became man, man has remained the same. A great revolution is on the way. It will be far more deep-going than the revolution that happened when monkeys started walking on the earth and became human beings. That change created mind, that change brought psychology in.

Now another far more significant change is going to happen that will bring the soul in, and man will not only be a psychological being but a spiritual being too. You are living in one of the most alive times ever. The new man has already arrived in fragments, but only in fragments. And the new man has been arriving for centuries, but only here and there."

www.messagefrommasters.com/Life_of_Masters/Osho/osho_new_man.htm

 

 


Post #2
Lu said:
on November 6, 2009 10:26 AM ET

I don't have a spiritual addiction.

But I have an absolute belief, or acknowledgment for want of a better word, in the hear after.

I have seen threads of what lies beyond. I have heard, and felt, what could not be seen. I don't think, I know...

But I don't know how to connect the dots. I have had these abilities, ever since I can remember, I do not profess to be a medium, or a seer, or any other so called psychic.

I think it's a God given talent, just like any other talent. Every body has a little bit of it, I just got overdosed with it!

I have had dreams come true, I have seen bits and pieces of the future, not on a large scale, but enough to know to follow my instincts.

While I was in the children's home, they gave me every known test to mankind, to try and see what made me tick, and dissuade me of my supernatural abilities. They came up with nothing, no neurosis, no mental disabilities, no brain dysfunctions, nothing.

And since I raised a family, held a lucrative career in the defense field, I figure I must be pretty normal, in spite of myself. I even use to tell people what I did when I was big, when I was a very little girl.

These events have happened off and on all my life, I have no control over them, I don't know when they are going to happen, and I cant make them happen at will. But I know they don't scare me, never have. maybe because as I said, they have been with me all my life.

I don't know how to put it all together with religion, I do not claim to be Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Islam, or any other religion, but definitely NOT Atheist, I know better then that.

I keep a personal record, of all the events I can remember, since my childhood, I have over twenty, different episodes of different supernatural events.


Post #1
Skyraven said:
on November 6, 2009 07:11 AM ET

Yes I do think that spirituality can be addicting also....just like anything can. I worked in the addiction arena for 5 yrs, and it's just like heroin, crack, booze, sex, people...etc.. However, in moderation it helps us all connect to ourselves and others. When we go toooooofar is when it becomes a hazard, or an addiction. Heaen is here on earth, whether we believe it or not. I believe we cure ourselves. There is no one or anything that can do that for us. Sirituality is believing we are worthy of what we bring into our lives....there is no quick fix, it is a process and a journey for what we need to exist. There is a Divine energy that protects us all, if that's what we desire, if not we use what helps us get up everyday and persue the teasures we seek. I believe in many different areas of spirituality, not just one. It's a conglomerate of many teachings not just one. We are loved beyond any teachings or learnings....JUSY BELIEVE IT!

 

Thanks, SKYRAVEN