Today it was 75 degrees in San Francisco. No fog in sight, just pure warmth and sunshine, happy faces and blue skies. On my way to Dolores Park I fell in love with this world all over again. I wasn’t worried about our future, I wasn’t hating corporations for their destructive actions, I wasn’t worried about whether or not I have enough money, or will ever be loved again, or will fulfill my purpose in life…I wasn’t worried about anything. I was completely present to the beauty around me in that moment in time, and it was breathtaking. Everyone I passed was either smiling or laughing too…enjoying this beautiful Sunday in San Francisco. It was truly a spiritual experience…I felt connection, oneness, admiration, and gratitude for everything around me, including myself. I can intellectualize about the existence of God/Divine Presence/Truth any day, but it is in these experiences that I feel as though I actually understand what God or Divine means. The problem I have with the current religions is that they’re predominantly boring and uninspiring and unempowering. No one will never truly know or understand God or the Divine without actually having a personal experience. There’s a time and place for gathering as a community to learn about and pay respect and gratitude to that which we believe gave life to us, but that’s not enough to solidify belief. Religion in its current form fails because its main focus is to spread “the word” of God, but provides no encouragement or structure around personal exploration. Christianity and other dominant religions would benefit from increased participation if more people were having these divine, Godlike experiences because when they have them they’ll want that church community to share them with…so Christianity, Judaism, Muslim and other religions have nothing to lose by embracing nature and supporting personal exploration of the Divine. “Know thyself” should be expanded to “Know thy world.” Not only does it empower us to know more about the world we live in, but in paying attention to the external world we can better understand ourselves. It seems that the current religion in America is consumerism because sadly for most people, buying stuff is more personally satisfying than having a connection with God or being on a path of personal growth. But that’s because religion in its current form can’t promise those personally satisfying experiences. As someone who was raised in Christianity, I was not at all interested or excited about sitting in church for an hour every Sunday. I have never had a religious experience while in church, but I have felt the presence of God in Muir Woods, or while watching the sunset at Ocean beach, and on this beautiful day while walking down Dolores Street.
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I know what you mean, when you feel at one with your surroundings and so happy, and love is pouring out of you. May you have many such days, and when you don't maybe you can try to realize that the tough times are when you are given the real chance to become a better person. How can we improve, and why would we if everything was simple and easy?
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