Spirit Stories: In Your Own Words

A member shares his views of the spiritual path

OVERVIEW

Based on my own experience, observation of others, and

different faiths, I sincerely believe everyone begins

life with a default destiny or path, a spiritual path

God has chosen for them as only He sees fit. If we do

nothing else, this path will guide us in a general

direction much like currents in a stream. Unlike a

stream though, we possess the ability to think and the

gift of free will, which enables us as adults to

change our default path for better or worse during the

course of our lifetime. Sometimes the default path is

especially good; sometimes it is mediocre; sometimes

it is especially bad (for instance, you could be born

into either a good or a bad home). The best way to

rise above the default path is to grow spiritually.

The more you grow spiritually, the greater the reward

either in this life, or certainly in the life beyond.

God loves His children and wants us to grow closer to

Him. A very effective way to grow is to become more

spiritually aware of yourself and the world around

you. One person who greatly exemplifies this is Dr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. He was keenly aware of the

needs of others in society, something for which he

fought his whole life. He most certainly was rewarded

a special place in heaven.

ENLIGHTENMENT

There are many problems in the world today. The most

effective means to eradicate a problem is to eliminate

the need for its source. For example, drugs are a

problem in our society; the best approach for solving

that problem is to eliminate the demand for drugs

through interdiction and education. Many problems

exist because of the need to fill a void – something

is missing. I believe one important factor missing in

our society today is a cohesive family group. Problem

families create voids in both adults' and children's

lives, in turn affecting children developmentally.

While family counseling begins to correct the problem,

an exceptional way to fill such a void is through

spiritual enlightenment. Spiritual enlightenment

helps you build moral character and become a more

complete person, which leads to better relationships,

stronger families, and more fulfilling lives. There

is more than one means to experiencing enlightenment;

one very effective way is to become at one with

yourself, one with the world around you, and one with

God through love and prayer toward Him. It is through

oneness that you achieve a union of mind, body, and

spirit into a greater celestial whole, thus bringing

you closer to God. Four meaningful ways to achieve

spiritual enlightenment are to thoughtfully learn more

about yourself, more about the needs of others, more

about the natural environment in which we live, and

have faith in Jesus Christ as your savior. This kind

of understanding will help you attain a greater degree

of wisdom, consciousness, and inner peace, therefore

giving you guidance to make the right choices in life.

Once you fill the void in this manner, the problem

will most likely be solved. This is especially true

for children, since they naturally embrace faith and

spirituality.

LEARNING

I believe there exists an absolute truth in life, and

only God knows it. The further you grow spiritually,

the more you come to comprehending that truth. Having

said that, I believe the Earth represents a learning

ground for mankind to evolve spiritually, before

moving on to the afterlife. To progress toward this

goal, we as a race can either learn our spiritual

lessons proactively or passively – either way, God

will see to it the lessons will be learned. If we

learn proactively, we rise above our default spiritual

paths and we get the chance to lead happy, fulfilling

lives. If we learn passively, we rely on our default

paths and we will then be destined to either repeat

the lesson or learn it the hard way. Two examples in

the 20th century of repeating and learning the hard

way are World Wars I and II; collectively, we didn't

heed the threats of tyranny and imperialism well

enough in advance, so we paid a heavy price to

ultimately defeat them after the fact. An example of

learning proactively is the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

The global community mobilized their forces against a

tyrant before it became too late, and the result was a

war that lasted only a few months with minimal

casualties. Three very important spiritual lessons we

will need to overcome in this century are global

warming, overpopulation, and environmental

sustainability. Unless we reduce the buildup of

greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and maintain the

environment, the world will become a fairly

inhospitable place and millions of people will suffer

needlessly as a result. Together, we can prevail over

these challenges if we act now rather than later.