Found During Travel: Places Of Spirituality In California And Austria

The historic Melk Abbey in Austria and the Redwood Forests in California are both places of spirituality

Spirituality and religion are not the same. While spirituality conveys feeling or a belief in something “bigger” than us as humans, something that goes beyond our senses, so does religion.

But, while Christianity and other major religions ascribe to this same tenet, the difference with spirituality is that there is no one prescribed way to practice or obtain spirituality.

Raised as a Lutheran, I loved church and participating in worship services as a child, teen, and young adult.

I went on to raise three boys, all baptized in the Lutheran church (ELCA).

Eventually, I became disillusioned with organized religion due to the church’s demand to be “part of the community.” I tried — I helped with Sunday school, put up bulletin boards, and attended services.

But, the church wanted more…and that more was money and membership.

I had already joined two churches one as a child under my parents’ guidance and one I elected to join as an adult — which was now 900 miles away due to where we chose to live.

I did not need to “belong” to a church to worship. This was the conclusion I came to when the pastor of a Lutheran Church in Wisconsin refused to baptize my youngest son unless I became a member of “his” church.

This was the parish within the town where I lived. This was the parish which I had helped with Sunday School and bulletin boards. My service wasn’t enough, I was given an ultimatum.

Looking back, I now know that this encounter broke my ties with organized religion but not my faith, belief system, or spirituality. And it set me free to find spirituality in other places.

Being spiritual connotes qualities of awe, joy, meditativeness, and connection with something bigger and beyond our sensory experience as humans.

If it’s not in a church, then where do I find spirituality?

For me, the answer is simple — in nature.

When my son and I traveled to California this past June to visit the Redwood Forests, it was a very spiritual experience for me.

Firstly, looking at the huge, ancient, old-growth redwood trees is awe-inspiring. They have survived so much — centuries of human years, continuing to grow in their peaceful and stately way.

Their size is almost incomprehensible. Large in both height and diameter, the Redwood trees are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. To me, they were more jaw-droppingly beautiful and awe-inspiring than standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon in Arizona (which we did in 2021).

Some might feel the opposite. This is the thing with spirituality. You find it where it comes to you — it cannot be dictated, prescribed, or forced. So, when I say I find spirituality in nature, it might not be the same place or type of nature that works for you.

In addition to the absolute greatness in appearance of the Redwoods, the silence of the forest was loud.

What do I mean by silence being loud? I mean that it is so quiet you can hear noises — noises of forest life — that you might not notice or hear when surrounded by people in a worship service or a more populated place.

Birds singing, twigs snapping, and trees cracking along with the wind gently blowing the needles on the trees were all things I noticed and took away with joy.

The forest made us step gently and talk softly — we acted with reverence.

If that isn’t spirituality, then I don’t know what is! Being there made us better, calmer, and more in-tune with ourselves and the world.

Whatever force makes the Redwood Trees grow and survive — be it biology, botany, climate, soil, the amount of sunlight, or location — surely, there is an element of something bigger than us that ensures their survival.

As a gardener, I can only be gobsmacked by the life cycle of the Giant Redwoods. Humans didn’t grow these, something else had a hand in their lives.

Other places of Spirituality

This doesn’t mean that I can’t feel or recognize spirituality in other places — I can and do experience this. I don’t think I can totally extinguish the early influence that organized religion had on my life.

This means that when I enter a house of worship, I am still reverent and respectful of the religion and those who worship there, finding faith and spirituality in such a place.

We went to Europe this fall for the first time. Traveling on the Danube and Rhine Rivers makes one appreciate the ancient-ness of religion and co-existing spirituality.

In Austria, we visited the Melk Abbey. Although not the oldest place of worship I’ve visited, the Abbey is majestic and offers much to be inspired by spiritually.

The monastery’s community is more than 900 years old. Monks (only a few) still live, work, and lead quiet spiritual lives within its walls. The Abbey still holds a school within its walls, today too.

And the grounds, well, they are perhaps the most spiritually inspiring of all with sweeping views of the Austrian countryside, forest walk, and well-tended flower gardens.

It didn’t take attending a service here, to feel spirituality in this place. It occurred just by being there, walking the halls from room to room and traversing the gardens surrounding the Abbey.

I can certainly appreciate Melk Abbey as being a place of spirituality. I am sure the monks that are still living there feel the same.

This article is in response to the Globetrotter’s December Writing Challenge on Spiritual Sites. For more interesting articles, check out the following:

Tim Ward, Mature Flâneur, takes us on a trip to Kyoto and the Buddist Temple where he encounters a light show that takes him on a journey he didn’t expect.

I read Tim’s article with interest because I once visited Kyoto and the Buddhist shrines there. I even saw a blessing of a vehicle! But, alas, my visit was in 1982 and the photos have long been stored away.

Michele Maize takes us to Sedona, Arizona. This is another place I have been and as recent as 2021. But we elected not to visit areas of the vortex. I read Michele’s with curiosity. Certainly, Sedona captures me with its natural beauty.

Thank you Tim and Michele. And thank you to the Globetrotter’s editorial team for offering these monthly challenges.