Why people turn spiritual.....

beach

This is to the spiritual seekers. The question is what made you (at least tilt a bit) to turn spiritual.

I don't think the usual theory we hear here is a simple & straight forward answer. The crux of the theory explains people's unsatisfaction in the materialistic (west) world make people turn spiritual. Also with the 'freeze' in interpersonal relations and individualisms....

I really don't know.

If this theory is right, even in India too all these materialism and all exists. Still people are able to keep the spirituality at an arms distance. Nonetheless we spend a lot on religion than any one else.

Your thoughts about the (high)way to salvation.....

Shiver me Timbers

I get the feeling many times people turn to religion when something bad happens to them that they can't explain, the perfect example being the loss of a loved one. People can gain strength where they previously had none - see the influence of the Bible in Alcoholics Anonomous.
Another example is the way prisoners on death row often 'find god' whether it's Jesus or Allah - it gives them a way to reason what's about to happen to them.

Just 3 examples, would love to hear more.

sagar

i believe we all are spiritual beings, although most of us choose to completely ignore this. the problem is many people are completely out of touch with their spirituality due to many reasons(society that glorifies money, fame, beauty and marginalizes the spirit).we live in a very superficial world, IMHO, that encourages only the expression of practical, social and realistic side of our selves and seldom spiritual. and it's kind of sad...
that's why i deeply respect those people who truly live a spiritual life

Digital Drifter

Simple answers
a) Fear
b) Greedy desire for 'heaven' whichever way it's defined
c) mortality

Taking a stab at answering this from an atheist like me, from my own personal experience, is the need to feel wanted, maybe?

I think, most people find it hard that we just are. no reason, nothing to tell where andd what we are supposed to. When it dawns on people that the universe is callously indifferent to their existence, they do one of these things

1. believe fervently

2. accept the premise and *live* their life with a slightly worried 'Freddie Wooster' expression which Wodehouse paints and go about their lives.

3. swear and curse impotently like Yosserian(Catch 22) and me but still go with the same expresion in (2) above.

I believe at (1), they're spiritual!

aghori

For me it is an inner pull/need, hard to put it in words, as it comes from something beyond mind.
I returned after one year in California, and I needed to think how to live now when I am back home. I was 17 at that time, and to make lots of money and to have a family didn't seem as satisfying to me. I was looking for sense in life, something that would worth to live for. Soon I found out about yoga, hinduism and buddism, started reading, then decided to give a try. In few months yoga became a center of my life. Later I traveled to India, found a guru, real yogic tradition (actually they found me), and received several dikshas.
Earlier in childhood I was introduced to Christianity, but when I became a teenager it didn't satisfy me, because to big focus on rituals, not on how actually to reach God or one's true Self, and there is not concept of becoming one with God, kind of not enough place for self-perfection, no with Moksha or kaivalya idea, and also I didn't happen to meet someone truly spiritually advanced in christianity and I belived in incarnations before I heard that someone else does, so I chose a Hindu path.
That is my story.

AvidTrekker

I was informed that I could have total knowledge of everything and everybody, including myself. This was tempting, I was just 18... to be all-knowing sounded too good. It also was wacky. I always wanted to do things that most people didn't/couldn't do. The book promised that if I discover "myself''; I discover God... because it said: "I am God"; "everyone is God"; "there is only God"... and so on.

All this was really tempting. I have found out nothing. But still trying... pretty hard. The process is harsh and interesting, never ever boring.

One day I will know "who am I?". That's the only thing which keeps me going on...

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Matty Gee

Hey Digital, Kali will get you for that........

No one is really that cold....

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Digital Drifter

Indeed, nothing like a little bit of blood letting and a chopped head will bring some sense into me! :-)

BTW, the universe is literally a very cold place, notwithstanding all the stars and galaxies.

ashish0608

I am of the views held by sagar i.e. all are spiritual beings and in the rat race we just forget that and hence "spiritual awakening" is really realisation of our being spiritual...the unpleasent events can only trigger it. But thinking that Spiritualism (or any thing for that matter) will keep away more unpleasent events from happening will be WRONG

Like my swiming coach would always say "we all know how to swim by birth but we just forget it"...and saying so he would push us in the deep side of the pool for 'swimming awakening' to happen (with an unpleasent event)

ArjunaWeeping

A couple of comments- first, I don't think that people "turn" spiritual. We are all spiritual beings, searching for 'more than this'. It's just sometimes that this hedonistic world distracts us from this truth.

Second, don't confuse spirituality with religion. Spirituality is personal, religion is an organised attempt (to whatever extent, and for whatever perceived reason) to control people and the way they think/act. Religions also tend to believe in God(s), spirituality is just a connection with something beyond ourselves - whether that is simply nature or just the way of the universe, or in some cases the belief in a supreme being, is down to the individual.

However, I "know" what you meant, so in answer to your question beach, what "turned" me? I would say it was finally listening to that nagging voice that has always been there that said, "there's more than this". So I looked, and guess what - there is!

What is it? That, my friends, you have to look and find for yourselves.



Scott

Frog

I agree with Digital's reasons for why people look for a belief. What other reasons are there? It might sound cold but it's true! However I am not an athiest. An athiest also has a belief! Most people are afraid of dying. Why? "Are they scared of something they don't know? Or are they scared of losing the known? If they are scared of losing the known then surely the problem is attachment and not the unknown... death"

I feel that probably Buddha did not have a belief either when he sat underneath the tree to meditate. Nor did he follow any rituals or worship any statues. He simple found out for himself. It is the same probably with the others too. But Buddha's discovery is not MY discovery. I can believe him as much as I want (same with belief in Christ/Krishna/Mohammed) but unless I can find out and SEE for myself then it's all just words, their words not mine. People find a quick solution in other people's words and those words become all important. People then are prepared to argue over the belief in those words and even fight & kill, which has gone on and on...

Budda was not Buddhist, Christ wasn't a Christian, Krishna wasn't a Hindu. It was the followers who instead of finding out for themselves like they were most likely told, instead took the words as fact, believed without enquiring and worshiped the teacher instead of listening to the teaching. Over time the words got corrupt as they were past down from Priest to Priest. This has clearly happened in all the religions. It is a fact that Buddha never had ANY of his teachings written down so the stuff that you see over here, the prostrations, the worship of statues, is most likely stuff he never did and never wanted others to do in the first place!

Why do people go to temples and pray to statues? Is it fear? Is it desire? Wanting MY family to have good luck and fearing it's opposite, wanting a better next life, wanting to go to heaven etc. etc. Even the praying for the whole of mankind to me is lame when the actual problem with it all, the reason for all the mess and sorrow it seems is human selfishness, the self. As long as selfishness exists in me what is the point of praying for mankind? Surely it makes more sense to observe myself and change that first! And for me that is far more important than doing any blind ritual or believing in other people's words that act as an escape from my fear. Been reading a lot of Jiddu.Krishnamurti lately and from that I have learn't that real religion has nothing to do with belief

lobo

I think a lot of people do ask themsleves "is this all there is?" and they want to believe that there is more to life ( maybe there is).
Indeed some people might need to believe there is more.

But I agree with digital often the belief is no more than fear of not getting into heaven (or equivalent), and the realisation that you will die.
It can be a comfort and can give you a feeling of belonging and it might even all work out to be true after all.

Off topic

ashish0608 I am sure that babies cannot swim you know, not much room in the womb for swimming and your lungs dont work so u ...float.

lucky

Spirituality for most remains a fad. An in-thing to be discussed over a coffee table. Almost like a fashion. I met a rich american in search of spirituality while trekking to har-ki dun. His rucksack was carried by a porter. All the way we discussed spirituality and the "peace" it brought to him. While he was camping at har-ki-dun his leather gloves got stolen. Immediately this land of spirituality turned into a land of thieves and his God deserted him at such a "testing" time. It applies to most of us regardless of nationality, cast or creed.
That beautiful beyond beckons yes. But what is it? Is it an escape? a safety valve? or a true inward plunge? Atleast with the rich of India spirituality has become a fetish. Accumulation, exploitation flourishes amidst sounding of gongs, sankha, and hymns. The pious is the one like a farmer who sets out for his fields, sweats the whole day and receives his food with utmost humility, does not store grain more that it is required. We on the other hand have bank balance, provident fund, social security, pension plan, life insurance and of course a fast car (insured!). Can we part with any one of these? Can we truly give off ourselves? Have we silently tried to change one bad thing around without claiming credit? Have we ever stood up for what we believe in?
I think if the answer to any of these is yes then we are spiritual. There is no need to go further. For spirituality if none of that vacuous ether holding a promise of eternity. It is here and now. Just a nod to the present and the right to change its course.

ciao

edwardseco

To fill the void and some people need it more than others..

Bigzero

Spirituality for me is a combination of self-hypnosis and positive thinking to help one stay sane amidst the stress of daily life. A placebo. I like the sense of relief after a trip to a religious place. I dont do it because I believe I will go to heaven if if pray, or will go to hell if I dont. I dont care. I do it for a purely selfish reason - a coolant for the mind.

I definitely dont like jostling and crowding to have a "darshan" at a temple. Darshans are not important to me. visits to hugely popular temples adds up to my stress level. the only thing I come back with, perhaps, is a "been there, done that" feeling.

I liked the childhood trips to sabarimala, because it had a sense of adventure in it, since you end up walking through the forest etc. I am not sure if I will like it again, since the crowd has increased a hundred times after that.

I do like going to the smaller local temples when i visit my native place, because the atmosphere, the sights, the sounds, and smell are quite nostalgic, and I almost become a kid once again, and pray sincerely for our well being.

I do pray for other people as well, and I know that it is again another version of positive thinking. I did pray when my brother was critically ill, so did all the others in the family, and it helped us believe that he will come out of it. and he did. God was kind.

I dont believe that you have to follow any religion to be close to god. Religion for me is a whip to keep the society in control.

I have a ganesha on the dashboard of my car, and every time I sit in my drivers seat and have a look at him, I feel good.

Reading through this post once again, i was surprised at the number of "I"s . Perhaps that shows - God is a purely personal thing for me, a friend I turn to in hours of crisis.

All of these are purely my personal view. It could be flawed, but i like it this way.

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