The Search for Meaning in Everyday Life

Many troubling and confusing things happen to us in our everyday lives. It is often difficult to make sense of why things happen the way they do, what we should think and believe about those things, and how to respond to them. As human beings, it is important for us to be able to impose some kind of framework over our daily experiences which helps us find purpose in our existence, and which helps us make an active and vital connection between the deep self and the rest of the world or universe.

Spirituality is the search for meaning in everyday life. Some people search for this meaning through organized institutional religions or churches, and some find it, very simply within themselves. Which is the better way? And which way is healthiest and most beneficial?

We encourage people to embrace Unhindered Living, which is living without the restraints that others try to place upon you, making your own decisions about what's right for you, creating a life that works for you, no matter what anyone else says. It's knowing who you are and living in harmony with yourself, without needing to have the approval of others.

The problem with religious institutions is, they often squelch the search for meaning within the self, and encourage only narrowly structured definitions of spiritual processes and reality.

The search for meaning should not be rooted in any particular dogma or set of beliefs, it is simply a curiosity, a wondering about where we come from, what our purpose is, and how all people, places and events are connected on an unseen level.

Millions of years ago, when people first began to live on this planet, they began to wonder about the sometimes confusing things that happened in their lives. They sensed a connectedness and synchronicity of life events, and they began to wonder, what force made the violent storms they saw, or provided the plants that bore fruit for them to eat, and they wondered about the intuitive feelings they had and where they came from. Sometimes it seemed as if they were hearing thoughts or ideas from someone else's mind, or hearing someone else's voice. They didn't understand these things, so of course they thought there must be some powerful, unseen being behind these things.

So, down through the years, people have come up with many varied and different ideas about this "force." Some people have called it "God" and have come up with whole belief systems to explain what God expects of us. Others have called it simply the universal life force energy, and have explored their powerful, structured connection with this force. Others don't sense the presence of a powerful entity, but simply sense a universal connection with all life.

Whatever your way of explaining the events that take place in your life, you have a right to your beliefs. No one belief is right while others are wrong. You are entitled to structure your beliefs in whatever way makes sense to you.

Human beings have free will, we make mistakes, we are not perfect, so be wary of any path or group who says they are "the only way" and who do not allow for the possibility that their beliefs may, in some way, be in error.

Here at the Center for Unhindered Living, we believe that all spiritual traditions have some truth, and some error. Every religious or spiritual teaching has the potential to leave with us much wisdom and enlightenment. But because humans are the ones conveying these teachings, there is ALWAYS room for error, so no one person or group should hold their teachings up to you as completely authoritative or without error.

Remember, all beliefs systems are created by humans, to help explain the unexplainable. Even those belief systems who claim their teachings were communicated by a supreme being or spiritual entity, cannot be trusted to be totally authoritative. The only thing you can use as your definitive guide is your own experience.

For instance, if a particular belief system claims that only by using the name of their deity can you heal, but you as a non-believer in that entity have been able to heal as well, then your experience has proven that, for you at least, that belief system is not valid, and you have every right to reject that belief system.

However, even in rejecting a belief system, only reject it as not right for YOU. Perhaps someone else has had a different experience which makes that belief system valid for THEM. It's important not to be judgmental when distinguishing between what you will or won't accept as your own beliefs.

You might be thinking, if there is unity of all, then why shouldn't we all believe in the same belief system? How can there be unity when we can all choose different beliefs systems? Shouldn't there be one standard for everybody?

In the Bible, there is a helpful story to illustrate how this works. It is called the parable of the workers in the vineyard. In this story, the owner of a vineyard hires workers. to work in his vineyard.

He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered.
"He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.' "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.' "The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'

"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

Now, there are a few things to consider here. First, the vineyard owner did NOT make the same deal with everyone. Each person who worked for him negotiated his salary based on a different amount of work. The vineyard owner was not concerned with making sure that each person did the same amount of work. He was the owner, and he had the right to decide to pay the person as he saw fit.

Now, we can apply this same reasoning to the adopting of belief systems. If you decide to adopt a very strict belief system that requires you to adhere to certain rules or dogmas, and you accept the tenets of that belief system, live your life by them, and expect to receive the reward promised to those who do, then you cannot complain when someone else adopts a more liberal and flexible belief system that does not require them to adhere to your beliefs, but offers a desirable reward. You might say, "I believe God applies the same standards to everyone" but according to this parable, he does not. He makes a different deal with each person, and is not concerned with whether it appears fair to others.

So, it appears that this parable is saying, don't judge others who don't have your same belief system, they are just as acceptable to God as you are. We aren't all required to follow the same rules, we each work out individually with God exactly what kind of life we are going to live and what rules we will accept, that is between us and God (if we believe in one). It is NOT required that we all have the same belief system to have unity. In the parable, all the workers worked side by side, sharing the work and working for the same employer, even though they all had made different arrangements with the employer as to what they had to do to get paid. This is a lesson for us. We can all work together, in love, unity, cooperation and compassion, even if we don't all believe the same way. And we are all accepted by God equally, regardless of the fact that we don't agree on even the most fundamental aspects of spirituality. We don't have to argue with people or try to get them to believe the same way we do, it's perfectly acceptable for you to totally disagree with everyone else as far as what you believe, no one is more acceptable by virtue of what dogmas or belief system they accept.

LET ME BE FRANK....The Christian, the Buddhist, the Muslim, the Wiccan and the Athiest can all work together in complete harmony, love and respect, following those beliefs that seem right to them, and cooperating together for the good of all. None of them has to give up their beliefs, none of them has to judge the other, or try to convert the other, or make comments about the other's beliefs. We can respect those things we have in common, and NOT COMMENT about the rest. In the past, most belief systems have been structured around right and wrong as a standard. But this standard is subjective, and deciding that you are right and someone else is wrong then sets you up as superior to that person. It really IS possible to live by your own principles without judging another person's principles to be wrong. Your principles are what you have chosen because they make sense to YOU, and they are right for YOU. If anything, the parable of the workers in the vineyard teaches that there is no one right way.

Healthy spirituality recognizes that our spirituality arises from our own personal relationship with God or the universe, and not from our relationahip with any religious institution. A person does not have to be a member of a church or religion to be spiritual or have a relationship with God. Churches are manmade institutions designed to teach and protect certain dogmas. You can choose to be a part of one if it fits your lifestyle and beliefs, but your spirituality is really not connected to one. Your spirituality arises naturally from within you.

Another characteristic of healthy spirituality is that it must acknowledge that each person alone contains everything needed for a fulfilling and successful spiritual existence. Most churches or religious groups do not encourage you to look within yourself to find the source of all wisdom and knowledge. They stress that you are in some way inferior, broken, lost, without knowledge, and need someone to save you, fix you, or in some way add to what you are so you will be acceptable. We reject this viewpoint.

This viewpoint has done more damage to the human spirit than all other teachings combined. If you believe you do not have the necessary knowledge, power, or position to be deemed "acceptable" then you will always be forced to go to someone else to gain what you have been told you lack. But you do not really lack anything! You have just been made to believe the illusion that you are incomplete. Everything you need is already available to you, but you must simply learn how to embrace what you already have.It's true, right now, you may not feel complete. You may feel unsuccessful, unhappy, that you are missing something in your life, that you don't know where to turn or what to do. What has been hidden from is the fact that you have access to all the wisdom of the ages, unlimited power, and you do not really need to turn to anyone else to get these things. They are already yours. Barbara and I are able to access the wisdom, knowledge and power on a daily basis, and you can too.

But, we're not going to force you to accept our belief, you are free to choose your own belief system. You may even rail against what we've said, believing that this power is only God's and humans do not have access to it. If that is the case, how is it that we at the Center for Unhindered Living have access to it? How is it that any piece of information we need, we receive and any need that we have is met? How is it that we are able to manifest in our lives exactly what we want, by using the spiritual power inherent in every human being?

Part of healthy spirituality is using your intuitive gifts. It recognizes the spiritual-intuitive gifts of all individuals as divinely empowered. Our spiritual-intuitive abilities come from the universal source of all, or God if that is how you express it for yourself. Everyone has the ability to manifest in their life whatever they need, whether that is healing, more money, intuitive guidance, spiritual communication with angels or spirit guides, and learning experiences which will teach them the spiritual lessons they need to ascend to a higher spiritual path. We all have these abilities, it's just that our belief in them has been squelched so that we do not even know of our abilities or believe we have them. Part of healthy spirituality is to begin to explore freely your spiritual gifts, powers, and abilities.