A Dialogue about Spirituality

So many of you visit here every day. I am grateful for those who come to read my words, leave their words, and also for those who bring silence. Thank you.

I'm wondering if you might like to dialogue about spirituality and your personal beliefs in this regard. I'd like to see you dialogue with each other as well as with me. If so, we could create a continuing thread to make this possible. Interested?

I will serve up some starting questions, but would like all of you to serve up your own questions as well. Please number your question so we can refer back to it. For example, the next person to post a question would use the number 2. Deal?

Question 1 (Two-part question):

1a: "What does spirituality mean to you personally?"

1b: "How would you describe your core spiritual beliefs and practices?"

Here are my starting thoughts on each.

1a: Spirituality means to me that I am a spirit by nature. All that I do is "spiritual" in this sense. There is nothing that I am or do that is not spiritual. I strive for a direct relationship with the Divine (God-Being) on a daily basis and in this sense follow the mystical tradition. There is no separation between me and God. Spirituality permeates everything I am and do. I see others the same way.

1b: I believe my spiritual essence is consciousness, which is shared with others and not separate. In my way of thinking, there is but one consciousness that is the universe. Mind, body, and spirit are not separate. They are one and I am one with all. Mind and spirit mean the same thing to me.

My worldview is panpsychist. "Panpsychism is the belief that mind, or consciousness, is omnipresent throughout the universe and is a fundamental aspect of the universe. Panpsychists believe the entire universe from the largest galaxy to the smallest sub-atomic particle or wave is sentient or conscious and are all connected parts of the whole. In other words the substance of the universe is composed entirely of "mind" or "consciousness." Source definition: Wikipedia.

I don't consider myself religious in an organized religion sense. In many ways, I subscribe to the Buddhist way of seeing and being, but not entirely. If I had to pick a Western "church" so to speak that I feel any affinity for it would be the Unitarian Universalist Church.

My life vision statement is this: "We are "here" to help others. We help ourselves by helping others. We teach what we ourselves need to learn in life. Life is really very simple once we learn to get beyond ourselves."

The main components of my current spiritual practice include: meditation, poetry, ongoing self-study, nature, giving to and sharing with others, and certain practices from Native American spirituality.

Namaste!