Finding My Religion

I have been agnostic all my life and that hasn't changed with this post. Most of my solitude has been extensive introspection and questioning round about everything; which has caused to shake a lot of fundamentals and dogmas. With help from the internet and books, I have come to find some clarity.

1. Spirituality is not the same as religion

    Some of you might already know this. But for me this was new found realization. Heck, I learnt the word agnostic at the beginning of this year.

It is okay to not believe in the social constructs of deities and the thousand rules imposed coupled with fear and little to no explanations, Ask yourself- would a just God want you to be afraid of them? Would they give in to vices like anger and stoop to threats? And if God's plan is truly ineffable (thank you Neil Gaiman), can we be sure we are interpreting it right?

2. It is okay to not be religious

    Now-a-days it is a bit more socially accepted to be an atheist, which is what I considered myself to be for the longest time. If God was supposed to be this all merciful and transcend above material things, I failed to understand why would God would be petty enough to 'punish' us.

Also, like many writer's before me have noticed, there is considerable overlap between astrophysics and religion, which begs the question- should all of us worship knowledge and common-sense?

While 99% of the workings of the universe is still unknown, some things have been explained under the guise of fiction. 

Club that with world mythology and we start to see some recurring stories because that is the most plausible explanation of our past and how it all came to be. [Spoilers] It wouldn't surprise me if the answer to all of universe and everything is actually 42.

3. What is spirituality anyway?

    The belief that something more powerful and sensible than us exists. It could be a God, or it could be an alien race. Or as most agnostic people call it- the Universe. We don't pray or aim to appease it. Neither does it require offerings. We need to understand it and that can only be done by observation. Your third eye is nothing but your intuition. If something is going wrong in our lives, it is because, along the way, we have taken bad decisions.

It is quite aggravating to be held responsible for our own actions (a lesson learnt from observing my nephew's tantrums) and hence, just spiritual, non-religious folks are poo-poohed by the idol and non-idol worshippers alike. Here, Karma is not just a concept, but a baseline to improve our own characters.

4. Ok, so what do you guys do?

    Voodoo. And I am only half-joking. We work with energies. This doesn't mean we ditch a doctor for a Reiki master. Common sense, remember? We are more attuned to "feeling" positive or negative. We can judge if something or someone "sparks joy". We don't have to find someone or something to be grateful for what we have.

We do little things like stirring our morning tea and sitting in the sun to be fully present in the moment. This, for some is bizarre, but being in the moment is one of the key aspects of being happy and feeling fulfilled. Imagine your life is a Ghibli movie and from then on... just live.

In conclusion:

Common sense trumps ritualistic practice.

Be present.

Do what 'feels' right.

Gratitude goes a long way.

Love the little things in life.