Life is taking me on a journey at present and it’s one I didn’t seek. Of course, all life is a journey, but this is something completely different. These last few years, I’ve felt like I am being pulled towards an invisible destination by an undetectable force, if that makes any sense at all. I haven’t consciously tried to identify a spiritual path, but I seem to be on one. There wasn’t an epiphany or light-bulb moment, it’s been more like a gradual awakening to the realisation that life has other, deeper dimensions to it than the surface level materialism I’ve been conditioned to believe in. Sadly, I can’t report a Road to Damascus moment, it’s more like being pulled through a hedge backwards by an angry sheep. As a child, I was conditioned by the Catholic Church, but for the last forty or so years I have been reconditioned by science. All I can think is that I must have been in a terrible condition. With my poor state in mind, I’ve been looking for my own truths, instead of blindly accepting what others want me to believe. This isn’t easy for me. I feel like I’m easily swayed by contrary opinions. I listen too intently to what people tell me, I’m affected by their arguments, swayed by their beliefs. Sometimes, I feel like I’m a feather blowing in the winds of discourse. There are however, some waypoints in my spiritual journey that I keep returning to:

There is a God. The likelihood of the universe springing into existence by itself is so remote as to be non-existent. The mathematics of it occurring by itself is mind-bogglingly extreme. And even then, the sheer size and scale of it tells me something. To think it is all just a random, statistical fluke is either arrogant or stupid. I’ve looked long and hard at the science, philosophy and religion of the universe and my mind keeps returning to the same incontrovertible truth – a God must have made it.

We do not die. If information cannot be destroyed, and time is such that past, present and future are meaningless, then everyone who has ever lived or will live, is out there, somewhere, just in a place we cannot access yet. We do not die then, because we cannot end. Where we have come from I do not know, and where I am going I do not understand. In addition, there are some strong suggestions from people who have died and come back, that there is something more profound waiting for us at the other side of death.

The universe has value. Life is such that goodness and virtue are our default ways of being. When we are an innocent child we are happier than when we are an all-knowing adult. When we are kind and loving we are happier than when we are mean and spiteful. When we are gentle we are happier than when we are violent. When we are giving we are happier than when we are selfish. This is how we are hard-wired. If life is meant to be about survival of the fittest, if it is supposed to be about being strong and tough, then why aren’t we happiest when we are cruel or unkind? The only people who are like that are not people at all. Ask yourself – why should this be? Is it just another evolutionary fluke that love is the blueprint for happiness?

We have a Spirit. Even if you just want to stick with the science, by definition we have a tangible bioelectrical life force emanating within us. But, I do believe the Spirit is more than just an electrical current. The Spirit encapsulates our emotions, our desires, our ambitions, our relationships, our interactions and environment. Our Spirit is us. A life without a Spiritual side is a life lacking in one of its most profound gifts. You can argue that you can have a spiritual side without religion, but there is something so majestic, so awesome and beautiful about faith that science cannot define or measure. 

Some things cannot be observed. We tend to only trust the things we can see. Science is built on observation after all. However, if you look hard enough, you can see the signs and traces of things that cannot be observed. They are like whispers, waning on the wildest wind. They are so subtle, it is easy to dismiss them. Most do. But that does not mean they are not there. Sometimes, the tiniest traces tell the tallest tales. We each encounter our own traces, but it’s up to us to read them. When you see them you will know them. You will know them because they will stay with you a lifetime and can’t be forgotten. If you see too many, you’re likely not seeing them at all. See too few, and you probably aren’t looking. Such is the way of things that cannot be observed.

For further reading, visit my blog pages:

Going Where the Evidence Leads: a summary of my understanding of the universe’s existence.

Valuing Our Values: what the implications are of a universe designed around virtue.

Near Death Experiences: what people who have nearly died have taught us.

The Spirit Within Me: what is the bioelectrical force inside us all?