How my memory, I first became aware of something spiritual - that the word "paradise" at the age of 4 years, when I woke up one morning and noticed that my little yellow parakeet was lying lifeless in his cage with head stuck in one of those tiny plastic Ferris wheel. Actually, it was also my first experience with the concept of death. This is my mother, who wiped away tears running down my face, and introduced me to words - the sky, trying to sooth my heart is grieving. She told me that my birds body is not moving as he died, but that his' spirit went to heaven with God. Some where along the line I developed the idea that "God" was the angry old white-haired man who lived in the sky and maintain records of all the bad things I did and the grief and guilt I was feeling to be part of his sentence. These concepts of death, heaven, and God had been very difficult for my four - year-old mind to grasp at times. All I knew was that before I went to bed, my bird was actively chirping, eating, and flying around and when I woke up, he was silent, motionless body lying in a cold steel cage. It seemed that death was not a popular subject will be discussed in my family, as the very next thing I heard from my mother to me softly down the - ". Do not worry honey, we'll buy another bird, "
I believe that my next experience with thinking about spirituality was at the age of five years, when my uncle who was in his early twenties, died suddenly in an accident at work on board. I remember waking up suddenly in the middle of the night scared loud wailing and shouting, when my parents received the news of this tragedy. After connecting the feelings of sadness, anger, sadness, shock and death, I started feeling a little confused about the concept of "heaven". As a youth, the questions began to fill my little head, such as - "If people really go to heaven to be with God after death, why does everyone around them looks so sad, angry, and confused?" and "If only good people get to go to heaven, how bad do not have to be to go to hell? Having received a number of contradictory answers intentioned adults who apparently have not figured it out, but for myself, I decided to get some advice from my father and to put these themes for adults on the shelf until I became an adult. I have also subsequently took his advice to never enter into a discussion about issues of faith and politics with anyone, I thought to protect me from ever having to think about the "spiritual things "again.
I think my uncle is a tragic and fatal accident affected the way I thought about death and spirituality to my early twenties, when I re-examined my beliefs after my first spiritual experience. This means that I honestly thought about spiritual matters for a period of almost 15-years. May I have a sad, angry or confused after attending a church service, funerals, relatives, or viewing of films addressing the topic, but I held tight to my childish beliefs of spirituality.
Over the years, and after many conversations with others, I realized that the "norm" for most people do not want to change their opinions on topics such as spirituality and religion unless they are directly confronted with new information or experience in connection with illness, injury, age, and / or trauma associated with war, hunger, disease and / or natural disasters. So, I would like to take this time to share some thoughts with you regarding spirituality, religion, and death in the hope that you resubmit your previous spiritual mindset and make some changes or adjustments you May be twenty years (or more) older, and May also want to think and act like a responsible adult in comparison to some of the most important things that can give meaning to your life at this time.
Spirituality and Death
Many young people because of feelings of invincibility derived from a very short period of high-risk behavior with minimal consequences have difficulty recognizing that life is tomorrow is not guaranteed today. Most of us have realized, however, that there are at least two UN-escapable truth in this world: 1.You will pay taxes, and 2 You will die one day. Since we already know what happens after we pay our taxes (we pay more taxes until they die), allows "to examine the most popular beliefs about what happens after death. I found that most people do beliefs about life after death, fall into one of three categories:
1 When you're dead -. you're dead
2 When you're dead - you're reincarnated
.3 When you're dead - you're going to heaven or hell
.Let us now consider these three points of view about life after death:
1 When you're dead -. you're dead
This is a medical and sometimes legal definition of death that declares that there is no life after death. When your heart stops beating and your brain stops working - you are biologically dead. Since there is no credible scientific evidence documented (replicated unbiased research include the objective facts that can be observed, tested and measured by others), which means that anyone has ever lived after he is dead for any significant period of time, (many are returned after a near death experience), when we physically die our bodies are returned to the country and we cease to exist.
This is a secular, logical, intellectual, rational, and scientific point of view which claims that since they can not observe, measure, or test all that is spiritual, you can not prove that everything was there spiritually. Thus, the spiritual life after physical death can not exist.
2 When you're dead - you're reincarnated
.Reincarnation is the belief that after we physically die, we are reborn or incarnated on Earth and again in different physical forms, in accordance with the divine plan as we learn the necessary lessons for our spirit to evolve towards unity with the creation and God. Some believe that this Rebirthing is the curse of the individual who must return to earth to fight through life, learning lessons and return to their karmic debt. The aim is to achieve enlightenment and break the cycle of reincarnation. This spiritual evolution gives his' followers develop an understanding of their lower personality and the nature of things right to correct and expand their awareness of a higher divine spirit. Life goes on in other spiritual realms as our consciousness is gradually evolving into the oneness with God.
This large system of beliefs has been documented in the Bhagavad-Gita -. sacred text of Hinduism, and is popular in many other Eastern religions (eg Buddhism, etc.) and more recently in some Western philosophy of spiritualism
3 When you're dead - you're going to heaven or hell
.This is the traditional Judeo-Christian and Islamic belief that only go around once in this world, and then you die and go to be eternally blissful heaven with God or a place of eternal damnation with the devil. "Angel" death is your only transportation to one side or the other (some believe that the in-between state - called Purgatory, for those who are not yet good enough to get into heaven or bad enough to be in hell).
These major belief systems have been documented in the Scriptures of the Old Testament (Jewish / Jews), the New Testament (Christian), and the Qur'an (the Islamic / Muslim) the Holy Scriptures. Simply put, the Old Testament and the Quran (56, 16-41) to learn that if they are good - you go to heaven, if you're bad - you're going to hell. In other words, if you obey the laws of the Torah and / or the Quran and to good works (for example, give to charity, etc.), the Day of Judgement - your good deeds will be the way your bad deeds, and with God grace you will be granted to heaven for eternity. "Christian" New Testament indicate that someone is saved from eternal damnation is not good works or lives trying to be good, (Eph 2: 8-9), but so that the personal relationship and faith in personal and spiritual identifying themselves with the crucifixion, death and resurrection "of our Lord and Savior - Jesus Christ ."
before we move on, I think it is appropriate to discuss at this time, all the phenomena that the medical community is finding increasingly difficult to ignore. I'm referring to the near-death experiences (Ndeso). Once considered rare meaningless hallucinations, Ndeso admitted to apply for 33% of people who came close to death and became the subject of serious medical research. Gallup poll estimated that about 5% of the American population, or about 13 million Americans in 1992, reported Ndeso.
This is about near-death experiences were so fascinating to me that I thought I should get the "horse's mouth." Thus, the following three excerpts are taken from the Concise Encyclopedia of Psychology, 1998, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 566-567:
"Raymond Moody, a psychiatrist who coined the term near-death experience, and is used to indicate the ineffable experience on the verge of death, which may include discussion himself declared dead, a sense of peace, unusual sounds, the sense of movement through the dark tunnel , a feeling beyond the physical body, learning about other spiritual beings, the meeting will be light, life review, a border or point of no return, return to the physical body, frustrated attempts to tell others about the experience, profound changes in attitudes and values, removing one's fear of death, and independent confirmation of the knowledge acquired from the body ."
"A typical aftereffects reported by many independent researchers include an increase in spirituality, concern for others, and respect for life, and reduce the fear of death, materialism, and competitiveness. Ndeso People who tend to see themselves as integral parts benevolent and purposeful universe in which personal gain, especially on someone else's expense, is no longer relevant. These profound changes in attitudes and behavior have been confirmed in long-term study of people who have Ndeso, in conversations with their significant others, and in research comparing these people with survivors Close dungeons that do not remember Ndeso ."
"In addition, cross-cultural studies do not show the expected variation in the content Ndeso, and individuals often report experiences that are in conflict with their specific religious and personal expectations of the passage of death. Furthermore, people who have never read or heard of Ndeso describe the same kind of experiences as do people who are familiar with the phenomenon, and knowledge of individuals was about Ndeso previously not seem to affect the details of his own experiences ."
Spirituality and choice of
I once heard an energetic young pastor declared that the human race could theoretically be divided into three categories:
1) Believers,
2) unbelievers, and
3) Make a believer
I understood his doctrine means that "believers" are those individuals in the world who believes what he learned or committed to some other religion, "infidels" are all those people who were absolutely sure that God is not There are also "make believers" are those individuals who were just not sure or ready to make a decision. This pastor believes that "make believers" is the second largest group of three. He went on to proclaim that these are people who have lived in their fantasy worlds and / or who either did not know, I know, or care enough to discover whether there was a God, spiritual world, and / or life after death. It is interesting that the Greek word - agnostic comes from the root word ignorant or uninformed. Anyone who calls himself an agnostic is simply taking the place that he / she is unsure if God exists or simply told to answer the question - Does God exist? - "I do not know ."
Although there are different definitions for the above categories of persons who have different beliefs about God and spirituality in general most will fit into the following three groups:
1 Atheism - (4%) - an atheist is a person who denies the existence of any
and all the gods, or deities,
2 Agnosticism - (15%) - an agnostic is a person who admits his ignorance, or that they simply do not know, but it is open to the possibility that God or gods, but also believes that there is
no way to prove that God exists or other deities, and
3 Theism - (81%) - theist is someone who believes in a certain God,
Goddess, or gods, or a combination of the Deities.
spirituality and atheism
is interesting to note that only 4% of the world's six billion plus (6654377099 3 March 08), people on the ground are absolutely sure that God does not exist. In other words, 96 out of every 100 people in the world believes in the possibility of God's existence, and 80% of them are absolutely sure that God does not exist. Although rare, atheists have for centuries been a valid scientific arguments against the existence of God. Since the matter is all that has ever been proven that there is a scientific method of investigation, the existence of the supernatural must be rejected. After all, if you can observe, test and measure something, then it must exist. How can anyone believe in something they can not see, hear, taste, touch, or smell?
is interesting to note that only 4% of the world's six billion plus (6654377099 3 March 08), people on the ground are absolutely sure that God does not exist. In other words, 96 out of every 100 people in the world believes in the possibility of God's existence, and 80% of them are absolutely sure that God does not exist. Although rare, atheists have for centuries been a valid scientific arguments against the existence of God. Since the matter is all that has ever been proven that there is a scientific method of investigation, the existence of the supernatural must be rejected. After all, if you can observe, test and measure something, then it must exist. How can anyone believe in something they can not see, hear, taste, touch, or smell?
...By the way, if you "Ask Jeeves - children on the Internet (AJkids.com), he will tell you that there is no right answer to the question, because there is none (What is electricity?) substance called electricity that there Huh that's right, when we ask what is the current -.?. It's like asking a former world boxing champion George Foreman to tell us what his son George as The father (the famous boxer - George) called all of their 9 or 10 children (I think I am exaggerating a bit) George -.. He can not answer your question, because the question itself is not wrong to identify which son George in the same way there is a substance called electricity, but there are many electrical phenomena that we are all together a group for some odd reason I call power, such as electrons, voltage, spark, electrostatics, electromagnetism, electrodynamics, electrical currents, electricity, a charge imbalance, etc. etc. So, when we try to answer the question: What is electricity - and even teachers, engineers and scientists will often come up with a lot of contradictory, inconsistent, and confusing answers
.I'd give you another example of scientific "question". You've probably
putting your faith or your full weight on the chair you're sitting in because they believe it is solid. I mean, who would sit on what they considered to be mostly empty space. hard scientific fact, however, that the atom, and thus all matter is scientifically proven to be mostly empty space. electrons in the atoms of your chair is moving so fast around the nucleus that are giving you the illusion that your chair is solid. If all the electrons in your chair to stop vibrating, even for a moment, the chair will disappear. So, what are not sitting on solid wood (eg, plastics, metals, etc.), but vibrating energy. We can not see them as vibrations of our five senses can not perceive the vibrating waves that speed. The same is true with regard to anything you've ever seen, tasted, touched, smelled, and heard. Questions? How what we know comes from scientific observation you've made? If we as humans can not trust our five senses to seriously limit our perception of the physical world to the extent that it is an illusion, how can we have absolute certainty that the supernatural / spiritual world does not exist? I think that Albert Einstein - is one of the greatest scientific thinkers of the world has ever known, said it best: "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind (Einstein, A., 1941 ).
& Spirituality Agnosticism
Despite the above chapters examining atheism, my intention is not to persuade, influence, convince or convert anyone to my spiritual / religious personal beliefs. My goal is to help others to clarify and determine where they currently stand at this point in time, so that they can take into account the draw of course is the place where they are to where they want to be someday. After all, you can not make a flight booking if you do not know what airport you will go out. So if you are satisfied with their atheistic beliefs, do not let me convince you otherwise. I'm still interested in the fence sitters or those individuals who have not clarified their beliefs about spirituality and religion.
a British philosopher and sociologist, Herbert Spencer, who was initially best known for the development of evolutionary theory has argued that we can not know whether God exists or not, because we can not know anything that we can practically do not observe and experiment with the empirical . Although Spencer was a heavy critic of religion, he could not bring myself to take the position of atheists. He argued that Theism can not be adopted because there is no way to acquire and test knowledge of God, but he also argued that while we can not know whether God exists, nor can we prove that God does not exist. So Spencer adopted an agnostic position and was quoted making the following famous statement:
"There is a principle which is bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which can not fail to keep man in everlasting ignorance -. principle is contempt prior to investigation"
- Herbert Spencer
I grew up listening to the phrase, ". I do not knock, but try it, " Spencer "- Principle of Contempt Before Investigation has similar goals:
1 These bars (prohibiting, preventing, and / or bans) against the acquisition of any new information,
2 This is the (false) proof against all arguments, and
3 It can not fail to keep man in everlasting ignorance.
The American Heritage Dictionary - defined as an open contempt for failure to comply and / or
willful disobedience regarding the feeling that someone or something is inferior and undesirable. Explores - is seen or query in a carefully - or to investigate systemically. I believe that Spencer is openly stating that if you disrespect someone or something before you get to know the person or thing, then you have willfully disobeyed a sense of "Failure to comply with another person," will take you from learning anything about that person or thing. It will continue to keep you in a state of ignorance about this person or thing, and it will become your only argument against changing your mind about this person or thing.
I could never say with absolute certainty that you have never had personal experience with someone or something, if I had not first observed, examined and / or examine your entire life from the day you were born to the present moment. I can say is "I", I personally had an experience with someone or something, then just "I" can not say that God is May or May not exist for me. I could never say that God does not exist for you. Who am I to say that there is no God, if I have not personally investigated the God for me? Even if I made a few weak attempts to get to know God, how do absolutely no doubt know for certain that God does not exist. Someone once said that it takes more faith to believe that God does not exist, but they seem to believe that he exists.
Thus, as noted above, there are many choices to consider when thinking about the spiritual way of life. There is one thing for certain however, that regardless of the spiritual way of life we choose, it will require some faith to live it out.
spirituality and faith
Since we usually associate spirituality with religion, I think it is appropriate to ask some questions about the faith at this point, such as: What is faith? I need faith? Does everyone have faith? How can I get faith?
Webster's Dictionary defines faith as:
1 Devotion to duty, or person;
2 Faith and trust in God,
3 Trust and
4 system of religious beliefs.
Two of these concern a concise definition of God and religion, but the other two do not. So I think it would be fair to say that it is possible to consider "faith" in practical terms, besides all the spiritual and / or religious. After all, we can all have confidence in a person, the belief that the system is reliable, and be faithful to a cause or a place without a dedicated member of the religious organization or a spiritual journey to Tibet. How many of you drive through the intersection at 40 to 50 miles per hour without slowing or looking both ways, just because you see a "green" light? Can a "red" light bulb physically stop a speeding vehicle? We continue to ride without even slowing down, because we have faith in the laws of our government, and transport system we have faith in our fellow riders.
How many of you open your eyes every morning in bed thinking that you have enough oxygen for breathing, drinking water, shelter, electricity for lights, food for breakfast, clean clothes to wear to work, and work is still waiting for you when you get there, not to mention that we expect (believe, trust and have confidence in) our social, legal, financial, healthcare, and local, state and national government systems and services to perform exactly as they always have.
We all go to work every day, because we believe, trust, and trust and have faith that our employers will pay our wages, and promised, so that we can continue to pay for our daily needs. So you can see that we all need to have "faith" in order to survive in this world. Those who have little faith in yourself, others and / or a higher power seems to be more preoccupied with worry, anxiety and fear that can often lead to psychological problems (eg, depression, suicide, etc.).
Most of us have a pattern of behavior and activity that we get comfortable doing (eg going to work, hanging out with some friends, sitting in our favorite lazy-boy, eat Bon-Bons, or your cheese "the control of the remote, and watching TV, etc.). We tend to put in our way so to speak, and trying to avoid any new or different because we are afraid that any change can make us uncomfortable. Some people have called this group the activities of their comfort zone and can be described as a wall that protects them from the 'big bad' world, or wall that prevents them to grow into mature, responsible adults. Whenever opportunities come along, we all have a choice of either recoil and avoid change because of fear of failure or confront our fears by stepping out in faith and trying something new, which ultimately increases our confidence and self esteem to try bigger and better things in life. I believe that this latter choice is a practical way that we can develop faith in yourself, others, andthe end -. God or spirituality
Practically speaking, I believe that we are all born with a part of faith, and that most of us place our faith (belief, trust, and trust) in what motivates us and gives our life energy, and it becomes the focus our spirits or our spirituality. For example, if you are preoccupied with sex, drugs and rock and roll, or in this day and age - rap, bootie, blunts, and "bling-bling", and then their values, beliefs, priorities and objectives will focus on those things attempt to give meaning to their existence. Taking personal inventory of where we spend most of our spare time and money (for example, look at your checkbook and monthly credit card, etc.), usually can give us a good idea of what or who we put our faith in.
Note: If you're feeling a little disappointed at this point, because you hoped to see in depth theological dissertation on the spiritual faith of their own personal religious perspective, I do not get too discouraged at this point because I have saved a similar analysis for a later article.
Spirituality and the Regulation
To assist those interested in clarifying their personal spiritual decisions for their advanced spiritual guidance, spirituality 101 Inventory is displayed.
Please read the following statement in part and select one of the options put (X) with the corresponding letter (eg, ABC, etc.) to complete the statement that best describes your belief. Note:
Select only one option.
I believe
___ a. When you're dead -. you're dead
___ b. When you're dead - you're reincarnated
.___ c. When you're dead - you're going to heaven or hell
I believe that religion should be:
___ a. individualistic, subjective, informal, inside directed
___ b. Community focused, objective, systematic and directed towards the outside
My past religious experiences are as follows:
___ a. Positive
___ b. Negative
___ c. Nonexistent
I believe in (that ):
___ a. one God
___ b. many gods
___ c.vrhovno enlightenment - not in God
___ d. God and nature are one
___ e. There are two opposing forces / Gods
___ f. God does not
___ g. In some parts or all of these beliefs, depending on the situation
___ h. I'm still not sure what to believe
I believe that I am a (n ):
___ a. Atheist (I do not believe in God)
___ b. Agnostic (do not know whether God exists)
___ c. Theist (I believe in God or many gods)
I believe that for my personal pleasure, satisfaction, and safety, I take my faith (eg, lean-in, holding, trust, etc. ):
___ a. Things to meet my eyes and make me feel safe (eg money,
materialism, beauty, etc. ).
___ b. Things to meet my body and make me feel good (eg food, sex, music, alcohol, drugs, etc. ).
___ c. Things that satisfy my ego and make me feel like I'm in control (eg,
power, fame, personal pride in accomplishments, etc. ).
___ d. Spiritual things (the supreme being, faith, hope, love, etc. ).
___ e. Other: ______________________________________________
Qualification Note: This article is written and should not be viewed or considered to be a formal theological debates about religion and spirituality. It's just a simple introduction to these topics in order to reveal critical to the process of addiction recovery with the hope of helping individuals to reassess their values, and examine their priorities in order to redefine what is really important in life. My intention is not to persuade, influence, convince or convert anyone to my personal beliefs. My goal is to help others to clarify and determine where they currently stand at this point in time, so that they can take into account the draw of course is the place where they are to where they want to be someday. After all, you can not make a flight booking if you do not know what airport you will go out.
References:
Aday, R., "Belief in the afterlife and death anxiety: Correlates and Comparisons", Omega, 1984, 18:67-75
Allport, GW and Ross, MJ, "Personal Religious Orientation and Prejudice", "J Personality and Social Psych 1967, 5 (4) :432-443
Batson, CD and Schoenrade, PA. "Measuring Religion as Quest: 1) Validity Concerns," for J Sci Study of Religion, 1991 30 (4) :416-429
Batson, CD and Schoenrade, PA "Measuring Religion as Quest: 2) Reliability Concerns," for J Sci Study of Religion, 1991, 30 (4) :430-447
Belcher, AR et. al. "Spirituality and sense of well-being of people with AIDS", a holistic nurse. Pract. 1989, 3 (4) :16-25
Bergin, A. and Jensen, J Religiousity psychotherapists: National Survey, "Psychotherapy, 27:3-7
Burkhardt, M. "Spirituality: Concept Analysis" Holistic Nursing Practice, May 1989 :60-77
Byock IR. Missoula-Vitas Quality of Life Index (version 25S). Vitas Healthcare Corp., 1995.
Byrne, JT and Price, JH, "In sickness and in health: The influence of religion, " Medical Education 1979, 10:6-10
Chambers, LW et. al. "McMaster Health Index Questionnaire," J Rheumatology 1982, 9:780-784
Clinch, JJ and Schipper, H., "Quality of life assessment of palliative care,"The Challenge of Palliative Med, p. 61-70.
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