A collection of spiritual narratives exploring the purpose of existence (introduction)

Our beliefs relating the why of existence are also metaphors or “spiritual narratives” that can be useful and inspirational but must not be taken too literally.

As human beings, we have a deep need for a sense of purpose and meaning.
The meaning we assign can have a profound impact on our lives.
We live in a modern world starved for meaning.
Some of this has to do with our materialist paradigm of the world that promotes the view that we live in a mechanistic world created by a kind of random accident.
The truth is there is much mystery that science, with its focus on the material world, cannot explain, especially the profound mystery and wonders of our own consciousness.
Science is effective at answering “how” but not good at answering “why”.
Spirituality has a role to play in conveying meaning and it does not need to clash with science.
It is in providing suggested answers on the question “why?” that spirituality has a role to play.
Far from hindering spirituality, science can play a major role in expanding our concept of God and expanding, not diminishing our view of existence and the wonder and awe with which we contemplate both our inner and outer worlds

A sense of a benevolent higher power is at the heart of all spirituality.
However, the concept of “God” has become empty of meaning to many, tarnished by the bad behaviour of religion so clearly a projection of the human mind.
In the rush of religion to define and lay claim to God, we have forgotten that the essence of God is pure mystery beyond conception and understanding, beyond description and explanation.
God, if God exists, cannot be known by the mind as a mental concept.
The reality of God is a direct experience, an experience of the heart, that leads to a sense of indisputable knowing beyond the mind.
In the spiritual realm, therefore, absolute truth is not a thought or concept.
Absolute truth is a direct experience that emerges in a high state of consciousness.
The irony is that religion, if trapped in a conceptual prison, can block higher states of consciousness that lead to direct experiences of God.

Spiritual and religious concepts are best seen as narratives that do not encapsulate absolute truth but point to it.
Spiritual narratives may include spiritual concepts like heaven, re-incarnation, karma and enlightenment.
Spiritual narratives may also include ideas about the purpose of our existence.
While narratives can be powerful and sacred pointers to truth, they cannot come even close to the direct experience of that which they point to.
Spiritual narratives exist as mind devices to propel us out of the mind into the realm of the heart.

Spiritual narratives are not meant to be dogmatically believed in and are not meant to explain away the mystery.
When we become too caught up in a narrative, mistaking it for reality, life becomes mundane and empty of wonder.
We need to be conscious of both the narrative and the mystery.
Paradoxically, the narrative can help us embrace the mystery.
When we embrace the mystery and surrender completely to it, our level of consciousness shoots upwards and a direct knowing arises beyond the mind.

An effective spiritual narrative should make rational sense when taking the latest scientific discoveries into account.
True spirituality must embrace the discoveries of science while at the same time, investigating deeply into areas that science doesn’t venture, particularly our subjective inner experiences.
We need modern narratives that empower us.

Spiritual narratives are deeply subjective. A narrative that greatly inspires me may leave you unmoved.
Direct, personal experience is the best oracle of relative truth. The true litmus test of a narrative’s power is its effect on our own direct experience.
Try the narrative on like a loose garment. Live as if it were true. If the universe responds in ways that enhance your happiness, love and peace, you know it is a good fit.
If not, discard the narrative and try on another.