Grow spiritually without belief !

Spiritual growth is a hankering of the soul. We have a sense that we are here for a purpose, and so find ourselves in a seeking for that purpose. All the great religions have paradigms and belief systems for the seeker to follow and adhere to, with the promise of some kind of realisation or enlightenment as its reward of dedication. The greatest requirement of the seeker in this context, is that of belief. But what does it mean to believe?

For one to take on a belief system, is to simply follow an ideology or idea that is not yet an existential truth for the one that believes. In other words they are taking someone else’s word for it. The notion is yet to be an experience for the believer.

So, the only thing that requires belief is fiction. Fiction is that which is not true, and truth is something that is very subjective when it comes to an individuals experience of life. What is true for one person is not necessarily true for another.

Now there are many aspects to life that are fundamentally true. For example no one would argue that we all need air to breathe to survive. No one needs to convince another, or have them believe that they need oxygen to live. This is a fundamental truth that any person can test for themselves.

If you live above ground, there is no need to believe in the sun. The sun is a fact for you, and therefore is something that you know. Knowing is experiential, and supersedes belief. To know, is to have. To believe is to borrow.

When you know, you know. But no one can say that they know, if they believe, otherwise what would be the point of believing, when you could simply say that you know.

Belief is often the beginning point of the one that takes the path of the seeker. You begin seeking because you believe that there is something that you are searching to become an experience in your life. Once that thing is found and experienced, then it ceases to be a belief, it has now become the known.

This is not to say that belief is bad or wrong. But to remain a believer in any thing, is to essentially remain in ignorance to the very thing that you believe in. Again, the only thing that requires belief is that which is fiction for the believer. That which is true, is that which is known.

If you somehow know that there is something missing in your life that you are yet to experience, we would call this faith. In the bible, the book of Hebrews states that “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. This needs to be understood. Here the word substance is more correctly translated as confident. Also it is worth noting that ‘evidence’ is not the thing or experience itself, but rather that which points towards what is being searched for. So in other words we could paraphrase this statement as; “Faith is the confidence in things hoped for, the direction towards the experience of those things”.

So the difference between faith and belief, is faith is to admit that you are on the journey to the existential experience, to stay in belief is to omit the experience and settle for an internal illusion.

We each are having an individual experience, within a collective experience. The experience that you as an individual have of the collective, will still remain unique to you. This is your truth of the world around you and can only be known by you. The word individual, means un-divided. To be un-divided is to be whole, and to be whole is to be in your full essence.

So why are so many people quick to believe something that is not of their own felt experience?

Believing is an easy way of avoiding responsibility and ownership of your own personal growth and evolution. Believing that something outside of yourself will save you or transform you is simply outsourcing your personal spiritual development. This is not to say that believing in God or a saviour is wrong, but rather to say that it is most beneficial to allow for these things to become a realisation within yourself.

I had a supernatural experience in my early 20s that felt like what we may call the divine. I made the mistake of trying to convince people that God is real and that they should seek God. I was trying to convince people to believe in God from my experience. In other words, simply take my word for it, but without it being their experience there could never actually be any substance in them believing me.

It took many years before I could see the folly of my actions. Once I understood that the experience I had was for me to integrate and learn from, I then began to truly grow spiritually.

You see, all of your experiences of life take place within you, not outside of you. Many things happen outside of you, but they are not your experience if you have not come in contact with those happenings.

It is also important to consider, that just because an experience happens inside you and not outside of you, does it make the experience any less real? 

Two people take a ride on a rollercoaster. One loved the ride, the other hated it. Both tell their friend about their experiences. One says the ride is bad, the other says it is good. Which one should the friend believe? Neither. The only way the friend can know the truth for themselves, is to take the ride for themselves.

The truth of the matter is that we go this life alone. No one can have your experience, just as you cannot have someone else’s experience. So the reality is, we all go this life alone, but we can go alone together. This is to let each one have their experience of this life, and find out for themselves what is true and meaningful, just as you accept your own path of experience.

Just maybe, if we didn’t feel the need to convince another to believe in anything, we may all have the chance to find out for ourselves, that truth is as diverse as the individuals that inhabit this planet. Maybe that is why we are so dynamically different.

Spirituality would seem to be the antithesis of following or believing anyone or anything. For spirit is that which can only be known within the self.

But don’t take my word for it.

Let there be light

Saddhanta