Brie Austin

Spiritual Journey: Why don’t you believe in God?

Are you on a spiritual journey? Devote Christians always ask me “Why don’t you believe in God?” Then I ask them to “Define God.” Afterward, I assure them that I do, in fact, believe in God. But, that I interpret God differently than they do.
Like many spiritualists I’ve known, I grasp the broader sense of spirituality, though don’t always know how to apply it in daily life.  I, like many, often told myself that sometime in the future I’ll put aside time in order to really partake in a spiritual journey to fully comprehend it.

During the past few years however, I’ve come to understand that spirituality is a daily experience; one that we can engage in during the simplest routines of our day.

While now living in India, the land of many religions, I came across a column in The Times of India newspaper called “The Speaking Tree.” During my stay in India, from time to time, I’ll relay some of the ideas from that column [by P. Raymond Stewart].

Today he led off with “Pride is the trademark of ego. True humility is the spiritual trademark of the master: We can’t claim to personally own or accomplish anything as a separate person, since all comes from the omniscience and omnipotence of the One Self.”

He goes on to talk about being humble in all things, and thus removing ego from our lives that in turn dissolves all boundaries.  Interesting notion.  While ego in of itself seems to fuel our personal drive, he is suggesting that it also blocks our path.

I’ll have to think more about that.  What do you think?

Later in the column he goes on to say that “The limited self-image created by the ego is what needs to dissolve for the OneSelf to be experienced.  It is in stillness that we become aware of of our inner presence, which may be experienced as personal but is universal.  John is not the One God, yet the One God is within John. For ‘I am the way’ not ‘you are the way.’

Who you think you are and your efforts to maintain and enhance that are exactly what keep you from experiencing what you really are — which is already perfect and complete. This message is difficult to spread. Because the humble — if they choose to speak at all — do not speak loudly, they are not often heard. ”

Later in the column he quotes Sai Bab who noted that “He who is least in ego is most in spirit.”

Exercise:  for the next few days pay close attention as to where ego plays a part in your actions.  

About Brie Austin

Co-author of I'd Do It Again, he is a columnist/reporter for a variety of magazines in the areas of music, lifestyle, nightlife, travel and business. He also writes business documents and creates copy for websites.