How to grow spiritually

without stability or reliability from anyone? I unlike most I have had little stability in my life as a result all all I want is peace and stability though I am powerless to make people get along. Do any of you live alone without family or friend you can rely on? Where do you start in such a situation? Without stability I feel the only option relieve stress from this is to get rid of things and peruse minimalism. I feel their is nothing left but to seek peace and stability. I wish to learn to live without money but with skills knowledge to help others.

let go of what is weighing you down and hang on tightly to what is important to you.

my first months on my own where the hardest. and it makes it harder when those around you have problems of their own.

the biggest thing that helped me was being a good friend. good friends beget good friends.

now i have people that care about me because i care about them.

now when i need them most (i am unable to work) they are taking care of me.

but you have to be simple.

/ramble

reply to post by SimpleKnowledge


i have some things to share with you, but first i have a question
(the answer doesn't matter - i just want to know where to start)

do you believe in a higher power?

Yes I guess you could call it a higher power. I am not really religious and think they are all somewhat wrong. I think people are not really awake until they start to question their religion.

Originally posted by SimpleKnowledge
Do any of you live alone without family or friend you can rely on?

I did for about 6 months at one point. My friends and family still helped me out now and then but mostly I was living in my car by myself. Any way I could make money, it almost all went to gas, I was too broke to afford food to eat so I stole it from supermarkets (and I was once caught but the court took pity on me and dropped the charge completely), all through the winter it was cold every single night in my car so that I had to sleep in my clothes and wrapped up in blankets and even turn the car on to try to heat it all up just so I could get to sleep. All in all I had plenty of reasons to complain, but I didn't like to, and still don't like to complain.

I had next to nothing, and I considered it a blessing. Who else can drive out into the mountains and spend entire days reading, meditating, doing whatever they want? I had no schedule. I meditated more often than I do currently. I had to endure some hard times and situations and I really learned a lot from this, including how to best deal with other people in all various situations.

Where do you start in such a situation? Without stability I feel the only option relieve stress from this is to get rid of things and peruse minimalism. I feel their is nothing left but to seek peace and stability. I wish to learn to live without money but with skills knowledge to help others.

You still have an infinite number of options before you that satisfy your desires. The less you have to worry about, the more down to Earth you are and the more you can provide yourself with all of your own basic needs, the happier you can be, from my experience. The people who have all the cars and houses and have to worry about taxes and lawyers and all the other nitty-gritty that comes with it, they have too much to worry about. It's possible to be happy and uncaring and still have those things, but realistically it doesn't often work out that way.

But you can find a balance between keeping material things, and losing material things, being able to express your love to friends and family and being happy.

I think in order to grow you have to know yourself. You have to know what you believe in. You have to know your mind, body, and soul, and how everything in the world affects your mind, body, and soul. Have beliefs that are your own, not beliefs that other people push onto you. Believe in things that are beneficial to your mind, body, and soul.

Once, I was in a Christian bible group and the leader asked us what we believe in, and I said I believe in bikes, and he said we are trying to go a little deeper here. But that was a dick thing to say, my belief in bikes goes deep.

Bikes help my mind because it makes me mentally stronger because while everyone else rides around in cars I take the extra mental effort to get on a bike. People tell me that they would never be able to bike when it is 20 degrees outside. I can. That is a mental bonus for me. Knowing that I can do things that other people are unwilling to do, that feels good.

Bikes help my body because I pedal my bike, strengthening my leg strength and endurance. Biking in the cold also helps my body to deal with extreme cold.

Bikes help my soul because it helps my relationships with people. When I have a friend who lives 4 miles away and I ride my bike instead of riding in a car, it shows that friend that I am willing to expend extra effort to ride a bike just to see them. It shows that you genuinely believe them to be your friend.

So, to grow spiritually, think about what you believe in. I believe in bikes, what do you believe in?

Originally posted by SimpleKnowledge
without stability or reliability from anyone? I unlike most I have had little stability in my life as a result all all I want is peace and stability though I am powerless to make people get along. Do any of you live alone without family or friend you can rely on? Where do you start in such a situation? Without stability I feel the only option relieve stress from this is to get rid of things and peruse minimalism. I feel their is nothing left but to seek peace and stability. I wish to learn to live without money but with skills knowledge to help others.

#1. Honesty of Mind

#2. Sincerity of Spirit

#3. Detachment

The last one, probably the hardest of all for our western society, doesn't mean one needs to live without money, it simply means that we need to live sufficiently.

Money should flow through our lives water. Sai Baba once said that money was like manure: heaped together in a large mound it stinks and rots, spread out across the fields it makes things grow.

So, to grow spiritually, think about what you believe in. I believe in bikes, what do you believe in?

A higher power but I'm interested in many things.





[edit on 9-1-2010 by SimpleKnowledge]

reply to post by SimpleKnowledge


I would say before you can truly believe in a higher power you have to believe in a lower power. Believe in specific things in your life like bikes and you will find out more about yourself, and you will better be able to believe in higher powers.

Originally posted by Wang Tang
reply to post by SimpleKnowledge

 

I would say before you can truly believe in a higher power you have to believe in a lower power.

Yea, well said. I would add to this: Before you can truly believe in a higher power you have to believe in a lower power. Believe in yourself and you can believe in God.

reply to post by Wang Tang


So do I need to believe something materialistic before I can find god? I guess I believe in cars. Can I Believe in marital arts music or nature? I guess the truths I have learned have replace the things I use to believe in. I guess I have too much spare solo time too little funds to find my belief at the moment. Maybe I need to be patient and wait a little longer.



[edit on 9-1-2010 by SimpleKnowledge]

Originally posted by SimpleKnowledge
reply to post by Wang Tang

 

So do I need to believe something materialistic before I can find god?

No. You can't believe in something materialistic. When you buy something it has monetary value. When you genuinely believe in something it has mental, physical, and spiritual value... it's not something materialistic anymore, it's something deeper. When you have a deep belief in something, the monetary value doesn't matter anymore.

Materialism is when you buy the hottest new products with the expectation that it will make you happier. I am suggesting the opposite. I am suggesting that you develop a deep belief and attachment to everything in your life with the goal of developing yourself and discovering yourself. It's the difference between having a shallow attachment to a lot of possessions, and having a deep attachment to a few possessions.

Originally posted by SimpleKnowledge
Yes I guess you could call it a higher power.

cool


remember, then, whenever you feel alone...that you are NOT!
that which you believe in is with you all the time and especially when things are rough.


it was several years ago - almost 10 - when i lived a few years on my own.
i still had my mom but i generally cut myself away from the old familiars, so to speak.
i had just gotten divorced so i wanted to be alone for a variety of reasons.

and it was good.
i learned what i needed to learn, i think
and eventually i wasn't so "alone," anymore

i've never felt like i was alone, however.
my higher power - i have various names for it depending on circumstances, etc. - has always been with me, within.

if you believe that, and then start being AWARE of that belief and what it means, you will start picking up more and more indicators that you are, indeed, NOT ALONE.

then, that conscious awareness eventually leads to direct, lucid, two-way conversations!

regarding what's required in order to find GOD, just one little thing:

to find belief in GOD, one must first believe simply that GOD IS

remember, then, whenever you feel alone...that you are NOT!
that which you believe in is with you all the time and especially when things are rough.

Here is the way I see it. I can't just say, "Hi God" and then feel like he is there with me. I can't just decide one day in my head that I'm going to stop feeling lonely when no one is around just because I believe there is a God. I have to feel like that higher power is with me, communicating with me somehow.

The way God communicates to me is through certain possessions and activities. If you can find a deeper connection to things you have and things you do, you find God's purpose for you, and when this happens, you are never alone because you know that when you are doing what you believe in God approves, and is walking with you.

Originally posted by queenannie38
regarding what's required in order to find GOD, just one little thing:

to find belief in GOD, one must first believe simply that GOD IS

GOD

I believe in GOD just that 99% of all Christians are ignorant and wrong in celebrating pagan traditions and other religions are half truths. I think this is what separates me from everyone I don't know if I should make freinds with people if they are ignorant of their religions history I truly highly doubt many share my view. I think a true Christian would not keep pagan tradition and would keep the Sabbath. I know 99% of everything man has made is toxic and pollutes that is why I feel this worlds failure is inevitable. I know and and am willing to accept the destruction of a system of ignorance's,foolishness and greed. I'm not a global warming supporter.

[edit on 26-1-2010 by SimpleKnowledge]

reply to post by SimpleKnowledge


Well said, yeah I also think that Christian tradition and the Christian church has been polluted by paganism and corruption. I see the American church as a hippocritical and un-genuine institution; people go to church because it makes them good adults but in reality they know nothing about how their traditions have been corrupted or if they do know they ignore them and they also don't live by the very Christian beliefs they claim to follow.

I am on the Board of Deacons at my church and I help to run the church and I can tell you that there is not one ounce of genuine spirituality in the church, everyone treats running a church like running a business. And when people pray, they pray for their health and other peoples' health and their success and other peoples' success in the world, but never have I heard anyone pray for strength to bring someone to Christ or for others to strengthen their relationship with Christ, it's all shallow prayer if you know what I mean. The first time I prayed at one of these meetings I prayed for my non-Christian friend who I had given a Bible to as a present, that he would come closer to Christ, and when I said that everyone was like "Wow what a great prayer!" And people congradulated me and I was like what? Isn't this what you are always supposed to be praying about? It's like people know what they are supposed to be doing as Christians but no one in the church really does it, they think just going to church is enough to make them a Christian, so I have lost all faith in the church.

So I try to find God on my own, unplugged from the system.

Originally posted by Neo__

Originally posted by Wang Tang
reply to post by SimpleKnowledge

 

I would say before you can truly believe in a higher power you have to believe in a lower power.

Yea, well said. I would add to this: Before you can truly believe in a higher power you have to believe in a lower power. Believe in yourself and you can believe in God.

Yes!

Well done here. I really hate the fact that alot of Christians think they can only be good and happy with god...you CAN be a good person without him

I trust the goddess to steer me but frankly she's too damn busy to make every little decision for me

-Kyo

Go to communion.

from personal experience, it helps the soul overcome anything and causes you to reach perfect love because God enters you.

From my experience going from used to thinking communion was a potatoe chip, to now realizing what it does for the soul, I cannot describe what happens when he enters the soul.

I haven't been in years though. believe it or not.

and read my sig about the eucharistic miracles.

peace.

[edit on 27-1-2010 by JesusisTruth]

reply to post by JesusisTruth


I don't get communion. All it is to me is a bunch of fakers getting together trying to convince themselves that they can be good Christians without actually being a Christian. So I've never really been a big communion guy.