Faith and Experience

Ive come to believe that faith alone is not enough to free us from the human condition and empower us with hope. Faith alone relies too much on what others have said or written about life and the Spirit, and less on personal experience. It is personal experience that not only gives strength to our faith, but in fact legitimizes and galvanizes faith as a spiritual tool. Experience is the strongest form of communication that God has with us. Spoken words can be misinterpreted, feelings are at times confusing and convoluted, but experience is clear. The only hindrance to experience comes from a mind clinging to itself and to the material world around it. My spiritual journey started off over a decade ago, and over the last year and a half its has begun to accelerate to new depths. To be honest, ever since i was young, i questioned the beliefs i was being taught in school and by my family. I felt as if what i was being taught did not match up to the reality of what i was seeing and experiencing. I began to explore at a young age many different religions, and ways of thinking. Yet each time i thought i had found something that fit me, i found that it didn't. Time and time again i searched to no avail. It wasn't until recently that i began to see that no measure of knowledge could bring me the understanding i sought. It was through my personal experiences i have undergone, and the true power of God i have felt in my life, that has brought me closer to realizing Truth. I don't see myself as wise man, or a a religious man, i see myself as a seeker of Truth. My religion is Truth, and my holy book is all holy books. My teacher is every great prophet and teacher who has ever taught a path to the Truth, regardless of their religion. Its a journey who's end may not come in this lifetime or in a hundred lifetimes, but the end is never in question, we all will become awakened and return back to the Spirit. I remember growing up and always feeling a nagging sense of confusion and emptiness in my life. I foolishly thought that the way to fill this void was through women. Yet no matter how many women showed me affection, it was never enough. I remember even feeling empty even during what was supposed to be a happy relationship. Often times in life we are meant to learn a lesson, but we fail to see the purpose of the experience and continue making the same choices and maintaining the same states of mind in spite of the experience. And this was the case with me, God had been telling me time and time again that my current state of mind and actions would only lead to further suffering and confusion. In spite of what most people think, God talks to us all, we just rarely listen. Whenever just the right song pops up on your ipod when your feeling sad, and brightens your day and gives you strength, that's God talking. Whenever a friend who you haven't heard from in awhile suddenly comes back into your life in a time of need and provides much needed support, that's God talking. These are just two out of the infinite number of ways that God talks to us through experience. Even during what we perceive as bad times, God is there talking straight to us. How many times have you undergone a major tragedy or suffered deeply thinking how could this happen to you, and yet when months or years go by and you look back, you realize the importance the event played in shaping who you are now. That's God talking. We forget that to God there is no such thing as tragedy or triumph, God uses all means of experience to get his point across to us. At times that point may be a lesson to be learned for growth, and at others it may be mearly a hand to comfort you in a difficult time. There are those that would read this and claim that they never have had these experiences. There are those that would say how could a kind God allow so much evil and sorrow in this world. Yet they forget that in order to see God and hear God, one must quite the mind and heart. Truth is ever present and unchanging, only ignorance to the Truth keeps us from seeing and experiencing it. To quote the great Sufi mystic Rumi, “Everyone sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon how much he has polished it. Whoever has polished it more sees more - more unseen forms become manifest to him.” Before you can see the Truth in your heart, you must prepare it. The Buddhist call it Right View, one cannot know Truth or the nature of God, without having set the basic mindset necessary as a foundation to see them. Yet none should be dismayed, for it does not matter whether your heart and mind may or may not be ready to receive God and the Truth, God does not stop trying and even if you deny him, he still works through experiences in your life. We cant run away from experience, for it is God talking, and his message for us will follow us into every life until we stop and say, "I'm ready to listen," and the best part is eventually we all will.