Travel & Photography

Getting Spiritual Can Happen Anytime, Anyplace in the World

Many of us have been tricked and sold lies, but it’s never too late to learn a new way

Can spirituality occur while strolling along the South Boston Waterfront near the site of the infamous Boston Tea Party? How about along the shores of the Caribbean Sea at Las Cuevas or Maracas Beach? While sitting quietly and watching the geese dance along the Snake River in Idaho or glimpsing the majestic crabapple and cherry trees in Utah? Waiting for a connection at an airport in Houston? Or Atlanta? High above the Atlantic Ocean on approach to Miami? Or just about anywhere else really?

Yes, it can. I’m here to say it can happen anywhere at anytime. I just happen to be a travel lover, and traveling helps me feel more connected and grounded to both the physical and the spiritual world. I’ve simply never been a person who could stay planted in the same spot for too long.

I want to see everything the world has to offer.

Playing on the beach and building ‘sandcastle churches’, washing away ‘sins’ in the surf, exploring Christmas markets, on a train or a bus heading into the city, on a country lane in a beat up ol’ pick up truck… doesn’t matter.

I know I’m far from being the only one who grew up thinking that spirituality had everything to do with a church, a congregation, a pastor, a bible, an interpretation of scripture, parables, devotion, suffering, guilt, etc.

How many times was I told as a kid something like the following— the Holy Bible is so incredibly complicated and difficult to understand — and thus, in need of clarification and application to our lives — right?

Same thing with God. So mysterious. You need a guide. Most religious institutions have built their entire platform on just such a notion.

Innocent actions or clever trickery? Who knows? I suppose it all depends on what’s inside the heart and mind of individual people.

I had the misfortune of growing up in a cult-like religion that ended up being just one giant lie. When it turns out that most of what you were told as a kid is bullshit, it can really mess with the mind. It took me so long to unravel the tangled mass and come to terms with all the mess.

Nothing new. The world is full of good and evil — truth and lies — transparency and mystery — clarity and confusion. The important thing is what to do with this knowledge? For years I succumb to being a victim, I had a giant pity party for myself, but that doesn’t get anyone anywhere. Far better to say: to hell with it all, I’m moving on with living life.

You can indeed find spirituality in a church, but you can also find exploitation and greed. You can find the same things anywhere else out in the world as well.

But there’s one thing I’ve become sure of in the last several years. There doesn’t need to be a middleman, or middlewoman, although this may not hurt as long as that person has the best of intentions, and not, for instance, just a clever salesman or disgusting pedophile… or both.

Nope. We can all dial direct. This can be both liberating and scary, knowing it’s all up to us. And there are no excuses, but there are reasons. No one is perfect. We all commit sin, but we are all deserving of forgiveness if we ask for it. At the end of the day, it comes down to what lies in the heart and mind. That higher power we know as God knows the real truth. We can hide from everyone, including ourselves, but we can’t hide from Him, or Her, or It. Whatever ‘it’ is. No one seems to know the entire truth — no matter what they say.

Why all the mystery? Who the hell knows. Let’s just forget that for now and go with what we do know.

Another thing I’m certain of is that there is a connection between how much we honestly give, and perhaps sacrifice, of ourselves to the universe and how many blessings we receive in return. I’ve experienced it time and time again.

Taking care of the planet, taking care of our animals, taking care of each other, is not just important, its essential. We simply must.

Try the following, for instance, the next time you are walking along a beautiful river, lake, ocean, waterfront, or some other majestic body of water. Find a place to sit comfortably, close your eyes, and feel the connection. The tease of the air against your skin, the ripples or the sheen of the water when you open your eyes back up, the hum of the sounds of life, whether it be traffic out on the street or a fly buzzing by.

Everything living is connected. Maybe it’s not water, but trees, or a mountain, or a coffee shop. We derived strength from other living things — but not all living things — only those giving off a positive influence. Absorb the positive strength as much as you possibly can.

This means we can go ahead and swat away the mosquitos, and use bug spray, or whatever. Doesn’t mean we need to let ourselves get mauled by a bear or attacked by a pit bull. But, when I see a cat or dog that seems friendly and vulnerable and in need of care and love, like cutie cat Po I’m currently looking after in the beautiful city of Boston while his owner is away visiting her family, well then, I’m ready and willing.

Connecting to the world doesn’t have to be strenuous and there doesn’t have to be a lot of pressure. Our greater power knows we are flawed and a bit of a mess most of the time. As long as we are trying our best, that’s the important thing.

Do you understand or do you think I’m just talking bullshit? I would guess that a lot of people get it, judging by reading our many submissions to this month’s theme of spirituality here at Globetrotters. Even I was a bit floored by how many people wrote about being disillusioned by traditional religious institutions as we know them to be, in favor of deriving spirituality from nature, animals, people, travel, the world, and other such things.

Like this story by Erika Burkhalter about kayaking along majestic glaciers in Alaska:

Or this story by Marianne O of getting spiritual while exploring both the Grand Canyon and Vancouver: