Hello there!

[curi0]

Greetings, friends! I'm curi0, a curious soul from somewhere in Asia :)

A little background about myself; I was raised as a muslim in quite a strict family, but because I have so many forbidden questions about my religion since I was a kid (perhaps around elementary school), I finally went agnostic in my 20s.

The first time I learn about spirituality (aside from my religion) was after I trolled a religious person on the Internet (I'm sorry, dear stranger) where one of the wiser man said that I don't need religion to be spiritual. At that point, I thought it does make sense, so I learn more about SBNR and the likes, and then read a lot of books on spirituality, past lives, spirit guides, etc. It really fascinates me 'til this day.

Perhaps my interest on these subjects partly stems from my quite religious and spiritual families. Spiritual in a sense that many of my family members (mostly the females, including my mother and sisters) have the "sight" to see things from the other side, even though I've never see or feel the presence of such things in my life (or most likely just not aware of them).

It has been years since I hide my apostasy, because it's simply not safe to reveal it in my country.. although sometimes it gets in my nerves when my parents deliberately keep telling me to pray, read the holy book, etc. in front of others (religious people) in order to make me ashamed. So, hopefully I belong here, to learn from all of you and to share about things that I can't really talk about openly when I went offline.

Sorry if my English isn't good enough, since it's not my native tongue and I still try to learn it.


TL;DR Nice to meet you all!

[Somnia]

Hello and welcome from a curious wolf ;)

There is a lot of personal truth to what you said about "I don't need religion to be spiritual"...

It is why I am personally spiritual, but I am not religious...

I hope you enjoy your time here...

[StarChild]

Welcome dear curi0 :-) I have become much more spiritually enlightened after I stopped being religious. Namaste.

[Crystal Ambassador]

Hello, and welcome to the forums :)
It's neat to see someone from your region here, I hope you also find the support you're looking for. It took me a while to get to the point I was confident enough in my intuition to not cast it off as coincidence anymore, perhaps that's where you haven't gotten to yet, especially if you're still doubtful in the validity of spiritual things as opposed to religious.
Either way, I'm glad you were able to find a support group and can have a place to discuss any questions you have.

[curi0]

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

Yes, since I decided to break free from the dogma and start to explore spirituality, I feel a sense of relief and become curious to learn about a lot of stuff. No longer I feel afraid of leaving this world without fulfilling my "good boy" quota to go to heaven, and just doing my best on being present and be good to other people and everything around me, at my own will instead of fear.

Also, by reading a lot of posts here about the spiritual experiences of other people from around the world might help me detach from the old programming; so now at least I don't feel that weird anymore for thinking differently than most people around me.

@Crystal Ambassador: Yeah, I still have trouble differentiating my ego and intuition, and at times I still overanalyzed things, for example with manifestation (LoA), I can see it from both spiritual or logical perspective. Although, whenever I'm in sceptical-mode and dismissed LoA after an unexpected event, I keep reminding myself that I must be really lucky for all those past "coincidences" that have saved my butt plenty of times.

[Crystal Ambassador]

I admire your courage to follow your magnetism towards a spiritual path that doesn't line up with what the popular culture around you is saying and the risks you face. From what I've seen, a lot of people who explore spirituality face some kind of acceptance challenge in some form, be it from legal risks, social pressure to conform to one religion, or families that frown upon someone going a different route. It has been my experience that even those who face heavy risks like imprisonment still benefit if they choose to follow their calling, because it gives them a sense of contentment and calmness to know that what they're choosing is right for them. A lot of the time, things work surprisingly easily. The universe has a way of supporting people in unexpected ways when they choose to follow what they intuitively know is the correct path for their soul to take.

I do still struggle with trusting my intuition, despite learning to follow it most of the time. It's almost entirely self-doubt on my end, and a lot of that has been alleviated by doing what you do: reminding myself of when my intuition was correct, rather than focusing on when I didn't feel I had perceived something correctly.

Ironically enough, it seems that when a lot of people who are drawn to spiritual paths let go of feeling the need to follow the morals of their old religion, they end up having an even stronger bond to the more positive values. Choosing not to murder, for example, becomes followed not because they are afraid of being punished by a deity or being shunned by their community, but because they've learned to have compassion and value towards every soul and don't want to do anything to harm them. Choosing not to steal becomes followed because they become secure in the knowing that the universe and their own ability to manifest will always provide them with what they need; that they will never have to take away from others. So in a way a lot of spiritual paths share similar values to religions, they just take a route that is a bit more conducive to internal and external peace.

[curi0]

Hey, thanks! You're right, it actually kinda tore me up a bit because my parents seem to be disappointed in me just because of this dogmatic stuff. It's kinda like being a good person is not as good as being a good muslim. But I try not to think about it and just do my best to be at peace with them.

Regarding intuition, whenever I'm in doubt about an outcome, I take a step back; refocus myself on what I intended to achieve (just as a direction but not attached to it); let go of doubts; just focus on the process and let the events unfold themselves, whatever happens, happens. Even if I need to take a longer route or in the end steer off the path completely, I still got the experiences from the process and yet another chance to set a new destination, that might be even better than before.

Yeah, I think people are inherently good. It just circumstances that drove them to do certain things and behave in certain ways that aren't aligned with us. Each person's way of thinking is unique, based on their life experiences. That's why I don't like to judge people, because if I'm in the same situation with the same kind of mindset, I might do whatever the things they do. Even if they've done horrible things, it just unfortunate for them to be in that spot, at least from human perspective. It seems like not everyone has the chance to break free from their own closed-mindedness, or perhaps their soul isn't ready for certain life experiences. But I might be wrong.


Edit: Scratch that, I misunderstood. Yeah, if people know their true nature, they might act accordingly based on their initial thought-process when exposed to a new paradigm; because ultimately we still live in this fragile shell with different sets of problems and ego that often scream for attention, where at times made us forgot that we are so much more. I can't really compare the values of spirituality to religions in general, because it really depends on the principles on each religion.

[knightofalbion]

A very warm welcome to the forum, dear soul

[grannymary]

Curi0 Hello and welcome!

[Crystal Ambassador]

That was beautifully written, Curi0. You seem to be on a pretty good track as far as being at peace with yourself and others goes, and that's very nice to see. I like that you're compassionate in thought towards others who may choose a different action than you would in a circumstance, and viewing intuition the way you do is a healthy way of going about it even amidst doubt.
For religion, I agree it is difficult to compare all the values to those of spirituality. They definitely vary.

Are there any specific topics in spirituality you're interested in or have questions about? What was your first experience - like a book or something someone said - that inspired you to take a closer look at spirituality?