“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

The world is powered by passionate people, powerful ideas, and fearless action. What’s one strong belief you possess that isn’t shared by your closest friends or family? What inspires this belief, and what have you done to actively live it?

Joined in a couple days late and first challenge is...well, quite challenging, but I am going to have to go with one strong belief that defines my truth: You have the right to create your own spirituality, for you are a Spirit BEing. Now, this can also be restated as: You can live a "spiritual life" without being religious and visa versa. Before I go any further, I just want to state that I am not (what others have labeled me at one point or another) an angry person, anti-religious, anti-God, atheist, a very self-righteous person, deceived, contaminated, evil, or a devil worshiper and I am not trying to claim, convince or condemn I am only telling my story.

I was raised in religion. I was taught out of the Holy Book, went to Sunday school, did the church plays, learned about the evil that can lead us astray or attack and how we will go to hell if we do not accept Jesus Christ into our lives, oh yeah and we also were born sinners. This seems like a lot for a child of God to deal with. In my honest opinion, it is abuse. It is wrong and damaging. I do not share this belief with my family nor do I ever speak of how I feel about it unless I am challenged or questioned. I have learned to find the middle ground, be in a state of grace and compassion when others present their beliefs and always hear with my heart and see them all as channels of God-Energy. I even remained in this state when a pastor from a church I went to with my family as a child approached me while shopping and was very concerned about my life, mostly for not continuing to participate in "the church" or the teachings. He thought I was deeply lost and needed to come back to what I knew, yet I responded the way I thought Master Jesus would have responded: I still see the glory of God in you and honor that, but I will choose that path that God has presented before me.

And I did. At a young age, I felt the calling...a yearning to discover what this God thing was all about so I studied many religions and practices;
exploring
and searching
and seeking
and reading
and experimenting
and wondering why I could not find the one that was the one for me. And, I was tired and thought the others whom damned me were right. I was lost and could not find my way. I could not feel this God; I could not experience an overflowing spirituality that completely filled me to the brim.

Eventually in my desperation, I gave up. I began to focus on me without;
all those labels
all those religions
all those beliefs
all those voices telling me I'm wrong and I will never be happy. I surrendered and I wept, and wept till I had swollen eyes and my voice cracked when I tried to speak and one night, in my desperate calls, a voice louder than ocean waves crashed in and said,
"LISTEN! Listen to yourself! Listen to that God inside, that's where it lives. It resides in every cell. It stirs every particle, it vibrates in the wind, it sings through the birds, it dances in every color, it is there. It is without religion, it is without judgment, it is not designed a particular way for you to follow and there is no manual or book for it,  it cannot be contained for it is PURE POSITIVE LOVING & EVER FLOWING for all to experience and express. We are all created in God's image, we are creators (period).

I was ordained into a ministry that honored these beliefs, for it is my God-self that sees the greater beyond the religion, the labels, the fears, the judgments, the disagreements. I softly sit and speak upon questioning of heartful inquiry not to prove anything only to respond in clarity if may help. I know who I am, I accept me even when others don't I never regret any of my experiences for they have shaped me and prepared my heart to be of service to others.

We have the right to be Spiritual in our own way and we are all DIVINE.

And, God would say, look in the mirror to know me.