True Religion

Some thoughts occurred to me from the posts here and on others' blogs. I think "true" religion has been hijacked by most organized churches and the people that run them. I can honestly say that I never truly believed in God. When I prayed it felt like I was talking to myself. I had one campus preacher declare smugly, "Oh, you knew God when you were a child." Nope. Sorry.

But I did eventually realize that the "spiritual" feeling I think true believers get does occur in me. The only really spiritual feeling I got when I was younger and doing something churchy was when I helped out someone else. When we took food to an old person or a sick person, cleaned their house, got their groceries or just sat around and talked because they rarely got company, it felt good. It felt uplifting and inspiring. It felt spiritual.

For many years I would involuntarily snort whenever someone mentioned the words "faith" or "religion" out loud. I really haven't gotten over this habit, so I shouldn't act like I have. A friend pointed out some time back that we all need spirituality, or else we have a hole in the completeness of our lives. At the time I shrugged and said to myself, "Guess I'll live without it, then. Better than the alternative." But I figured out that I got the feeling of completeness through service of another sort.

So now I volunteer. I teach adults to read, and I teach immigrants how to speak English. I work part time for our division of the Literacy Volunteers of America. A hard job with lousy pay. I still don't believe in God. But I got my spirituality back. It feels *great*.

Oh, and it has the added bonus of no one slamming doors in my face anymore, *snicker*. No more looking at people half dressed and mad as hell and getting the "You people go ANYWHERE, don't you??" responses. Yep. Help to those who really want it, and no more "spiritual" assault on other people's Saturday mornings!