Spiritual, Not Religious: Sacred Tools for Modern Times

Do you believe in God and in living the spiritual life? When you are asked about your faith do you usually respond, "I'm spiritual, not religious"? Do you believe that you are unlikely to have your spiritual needs met through the clergy and rites, rituals, ceremonies, churches, temples, and mosques associated with organized religion and formal religious practice? If you said yes to these questions then "Spiritual, Not Religious: Sacred Tools for Modern Times" is the spiritual guidebook you have been seeking. This book is built around short 3-4 paragraph chapters. Each chapter, derived from a specific talk given by Lewis Harrison, a non-dogmatic spiritual mentor. It is written to guide you and help you explore how the defining and clarification of your intention, and your personal life vision may lead to what is known in many spiritual traditions as "Enlightenment." Clarity of intention is what gives meaning to life and this book will help you achieve clarity of intention. . With clarity of intention you have the key to the door through the illusion of time and space. Here you may define your vision or life mission and bring it to fruition. At the moment you are ready, willing and able to act on this intention, it comes into being spontaneously without discipline or willpower. I like to describe this as "actualized intention". Whatever you can conceive of and which is a natural aspect of what it means to be human will happen through actualized intention. All that is required of you is that this intention manifest in every second of your being through thought, word, and deed. The ideas in this book are not new. They are familiar concepts restated sans unnecessary cultural baggage. This book is a simple stew of Eastern and Western wisdom drawn from Platonic thought, physics, game theory and some of the non-ritualized elements found in Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, Animism, Paganism, Tantra, Post-modernist thought, the mystic meditative traditions, and shamanism - all injected into the new digitized reality that we live in today. I have supplemented these with realizations, and personal truths gleaned from his forty two years as a teacher. If you are seeking absolute or universal "Truth" or a Guru, you have come to the wrong place. The thread that weaves through the chapters of this book is the idea that reality is what each person chooses to construct, as his/her mind and intuition explores interactions with other people, places and things. If a person can remain detached from these people, places and things while living though love and compassion he/she will have entered into the realm of the spiritual. This sense of reality can be framed as an approach that transcends traditional religion. This book offers ideas and practices that will help you to magnify what is already spiritual within you. In addition it will help you bring what is authentically spiritual, but of which you may have been previously unaware, into your daily life. As this spiritual component is magnified and embraced you will have this guidebook to assist you in creating a practical order and harmony to the messy chaos that often passes for normal living. "Spiritual, Not Religious" is not opposed to formal religious [practice, in fact it offers ideas and tools that can enrich your authentic connection to a formal faith. No matter what your beliefs, the ideas and practices presented here can be invaluable in helping you to create joy and a grounded sense of spirituality in your life. If you enjoy the writings of J. Krishnamurti, Ram Dass, Suzuki Roshi, Milton Erickson, or Lao Tsu then you will find the ideas presented in this book to be both enlivening and spiritually fulfilling. More than anything "Spiritual, Not Religious" will give you the tools to create your own spiritual and wisdom practice; a practice motivated by love, spiritual clarity, emotional balance, and genuine happiness.