Definitions
Some definitions…with room for the mystery, they are presented as “beginning places” from which to learn and discuss life.
What is Spirituality?
The definitions of Spirit, Soul and God are beginning points for understanding of Spirituality. when people try to put defined labels and set values for Spirituality then it is called religion. That becomes the beginning point of "I am right and we are the only ones going to Heaven", judgment, fighting, condemning and shaming between religions. Usually none of the primary founding principles: love, forgiveness, kindness, good samaritan living, etc. get practiced, but only preached.
For purposes of Spirit Camp, the following general definitions will be used. I will attempt to be consistent through out my work, however at times my definitions will blur due to the fact that nobody really can “know” for certain about any of these. Religions and people can all have specific “beliefs” and “articles of faith”, but knowing and proving to the satisfaction of a legal court trial or to any person … that is not possible.
Spirit Camp is not very concerned about "Beliefs" but about your "actions and behavior".
Spirit
That force which is present everywhere. It can be called the Christ Spirit, the presence of God, the void, the all, the Isness. It is something which is present everywhere and either is 100% God or 100% God's energy.
Soul
Individual Soul
Commonly thought to be that which each individual receives at birth which holds the unique spiritual definition of that person to the exclusion of others.
There are great differences among Religions as to when this Soul becomes “alive” or part of the individual’s body. “When does life begin?” is an ongoing spiritual and legal question for society
Group Soul
Is also used to describe a “group” identification. “The Soul of the Country” is so and so.
Soul as a descriptive term regarding people and intangibles
We also have “Soul food, Soul music and Soulful times”.
The time of a soul’s birth or beginning
Some feel a Soul does not exist until the creation of a human being. This can be at the time of conception for some or somewhere before or just at birth.
Some feel that each Soul has been in existence from the beginning of time. Eternal. This is where I find myself the most comfortable, yet I seek to remain neutral in my role as a Spirit Camp Leader.
God, the mystery of: naming, describing & limiting if we do any of those
This is where the real fun begins. I personally don’t feel that God is 100% definable or understandable by any human being. By definition if something greater than us created life, the solar system, the physical laws of our world and things most of us don’t understand: such as Quantum Physics… and other advanced fields of Science where different theories about the same things are commonplace and overall agreement as to the beginning of the universe or universes do not exist. With the "limits of men and women's brains, then I feel there continues to be a mystery about God which we will never 100% fully grasp or understand.
It is like the 9 blind men each touching a different part of the same elephant and coming out with different perceptions of what their experience of reality is.
To me God is indefinable. Characteristics of God are certainly observable, and yet probably still not provable. We can't put God in our "human boxes" Religions have used their version of God to justify judging and for some religions it gives the excuse for killing one another.
It is not for me to argue with anyone about their definition of God and Spirit Camp will remain a neutral harbor from any participants promoting or arguing about their own religion unless that is the stated purpose of a specific class or discussion.
Reality
"Reality is as Defined" (by each person) is a statement which I came up with in high school. Your reality is based on what you believe, your clarity of mind, your intelligence, your experience, your education and perhaps from whom your learn something new from. Each of us has our childhood psychology interfering with our "objectivity". We each see the world through our own lens. It is something like looking through a stained glass window. The clearer we are on the inside, the clearer our perception and conclusion.
In legal trials, often there have been experts testifying that in any "staged accident" which has 5 witnesses, that each of the 5 witnesses will report completely different events or details immediately after the accident.
If you think of a "Bridge". Many will think of the Golden Gate or Brooklyn Bridges, some will remember a bride from childhood and yet others will think of "Bridge" not as a noun, but as a verb meaning to cross over a chasm or divide, to connect two points of view.
Each of us has our own unique reality and words are very imprecise in communicating it to another. Unless we have identifying and let go of prejudices and fears in our subconscious mind, we will never come close to seeing life "as it is" or being happy in the time and place called "the now", because we will forever be placing and projecting values on the situation.
Racial prejudice. Sex Orientation prejudice. Men vs. Women superiority/inferiority, short/tall, young/old... are all examples of realities which are seen entirely different depending on your beginning belief system.
When a person opens up to a Unitive or Universal way thinking, feeling and seeing all people as "one", their prejudices open up and become less commanding. This is called a paradigm shift, and from that point forward reality is just not the same. It is as if there are as many realities in a room as there are people. When one individual makes this "paradigm" (major consciousness) shift, then their prior reality is not even close to the new one. At that point most people don't even understand how they could have believed or seen the world in the prior fashion.
Another example is when a person moves from a fear-based life into a love-based life.
They may release a phobia, they may begin to allow emotional closeness and intimacy of feelings and trust towards others, they may overcome a Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and be able to move through life. They may leave a serious depression or mania behind and wonder "how could I have behaved that way!"
Reality is just not a fixed thing. How is your window to the world? How stained is it for you?
Religion
Each religion appears to have been founded by an inspirited person or the followers of an inspired person.
Some Religions claim that their inspired founder was either God in full, or some part of God.
Religions get bogged down in specific rules and traditions which followers who are way down the road from the beginning of the religions often replace a more automatic and rote way of applying things instead of an alive, personal experience with the God of their choosing.
Psychology’s role at Spirit Camp
Christ, Lao Tsu, Confucius and Buddha were expert psychologists. They each observed that an individual’s troubles with others stemmed from inside troubles within that individuals world view rather than from the outside and other people. Christ observed something along the lines of: Before you concern yourself with the cinder or speck in the other person’s eye, first take out or deal with the log in your own eye. (paraphrased)
Essentially “deal with your crap, your automatic patterns, your negative beliefs and behaviors yourself”.
Buddha said our problems arise from our own (selfish) desires and the solution is to let go of them from running our lives. In essence, get away from automatic or addicted living. Become conscious and aware.
All luminaries and mystics have been concerned and taught that each of us has to "do our own work" and not that of others.