Surveys: Young adults searching spiritually
They are often tarnished with labels like “self-absorbed” and “materialistic.” But young adults are actively engaged with spiritual questions, two new surveys suggest, even if they are not necessarily exploring them through traditional religious practice.
One of the lessons in A Whole New Mind (which I have finished and highly recommend, btw) is that material abundance in Western cultures is leading to a sort of spiritual awakening. Since the average suburbanites no longer needs to focus all of their energy on feeding the family, they have more time and money to devote to philosophical introspection and therefore are on the lookout for people/things/services aimed at their spiritual side.
While these surveys seem to confirm that notion, I don’t really see anything surprising here. You’re supposed to explore the ether when you go to college. It goes hand in hand with leaving the nest. There’s nothing new about college freshmen experiencing (or striving for) an “awakening” when they first start reading Kerouac, Nietzsche, Castaneda, or whatever.
It’s the way things always worked, I thought.
Maybe this should go on one of your old FtN posts, but how the frig is Scientology so popular? I’m thinking of starting a religion based on Heinlein novel ideas apart from Michael Valentine Smith. On second thought, it’ll be an Alfred Bester religion dealing with killing spaceships filthy.
Scientology seriously freaks me out. I just don’t get it.
It’s a pyramid scam.
Exactly!
Hello,
I am a spiritual young person who has seeked spirituality all my life. Not trying to get super-religious on you and quote scriptures so soon but the bible does say, that God made us with a need to have a relationship with him. (Matthew 4:4) And it says that if the individual seeks him, he will let himself be found by him or her. (Hebrews 11:6)And seek him I did at an early age. I’d like to share with you an artilce that I wrote talking about how a prayer that I said when I was just thirteen years old has and will continue to have a major effect on my life maybe these thoughts will be of some encouragement to someone.
NOW THAT YOUR ROSE IS IN BLOOM
A LIGHT HITS THE GLOOM
My life verse is James, chapter 1, verses 2 and 3. This is a brief passage of scripture that was divinely used to communicate to me a message from God, himself. The scriptures read this way: “Brothers are you going through struggles? Is your life full of problems and difficulties? Well be happy, because when the way is rough, this provides a chance for your patience to grow. So, don’t try to squirm out of your problems. Let it grow. Because when your patience has reached full bloom, you will be competent, strong in character, ready for anything.� The key word in this passage is “bloom�.
When I was thirteen-years old I said a prayer to God that has had more of an effect on my life than I could ever imagine. I remember asking God to search through and examine me. I asked him to see if there was any goodness in me, and if he were to find it, to nourish it and make it grow just as a plant is watered, nourished and made to grow. Subsequent to this prayer immense tribulation entered into my life. After eight years of unrelenting stress, at the age of twenty-one I attended a religious function and got hold of a religious publication. As I was reading I received a revelation. During that point in my life I had forgotten all about the request I made to God for goodness. However as I was reading my eyes came across the last sentence of this particular paragraph that consisted of these printed words: “ And there has been “goodness� found in you.� Those words automatically reminded me of the prayer that I said 8 years prior to this event. Contact with God is not something that can be verified or confirmed by human analysis. It can be illustrated this way: Say that you were to have a dream about the house that you live in. In your dream your house is blue. But in actuality your house is brick. But your dream just tells you that this is the house that you live in. In this same way I just knew that God was giving me a reminder. Contact with him is a highly personal experience.
A little while after this event I happened to be in Manhattan, N.Y. and I met the musical artist known as Seal. I spoke to him and he briefly greeted me. The next day I happened to be fumbling through some CD’s and happened to come across one of Seal’s CD’s. If I hadn’t met him the day before I wouldn’t have normally listened to his music. But something inspired me to do so. The song that I was listening to was called “Kiss from a Rose�. And when I heard the words “Now that your rose is in bloom a light hits the gloom on the gray� all I could think of was “destiny�. Just as a rose, when it is in bloom, slowly and beautifully unravels as its pedals form a person reaches the point in their lives when he/she comes to fruition. He understands his purpose, knows who he is and realizes that his experiences in life, whether good or bad, were all part of his growth into maturity and discovery of himself. Obscurity, depression, and gloom fade away. It was as if God was telling me that I was at that point.
A few months after receiving this concept I asked God for confirmation. I needed to know whether or not these thoughts were truly divine revelation or if they were thoughts that I had conjured up as a result of coincidence and “wishful thinking�. At this precise moment I happened to be at the Marin Luther King Jr. Library in Washington D.C. And a mere moment after saying “Amen�, I picked up a certain translation of the bible and without putting any thought into it, opened directly to James chapter 1 and began reading verses 2 and 3 which read this way: “Brothers are you going through struggles? Is your life full of problems and difficulties? Well be happy, because when the way is rough this provides a chance for your patience to grow. So, let it grow. Because when it has reached full “BLOOM� you will be competent, strong in character, ready for anything.� After reading that, I closed the book and thought to myself, “this is no coincidence�. And I also realized that what was coming to full bloom was my character, the goodness. Goodness is a combination of many good qualities. I understood that the rose was symbolic of my character reaching the point that God wants it to be. The scripture says, “ let your “patience� come to full bloom�. So I completely grasped the meaning of the words, “now that your rose is in bloom a light hits the gloom.� In order for growth to be possible rain, which is a word often used to illustrate trial and tribulation, is necessary. As the Apostle Paul said, “ My strength has been made perfect in weakness�. In order for gold to be refined it must go through the fire. In the bible Job said, “ I go east but he is not there. I go west, but I cannot find him. I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I turn to the south, and I cannot find him. But he knows where I am going. And after he had tested me out I shall come forth like pure gold refined through the fire.� As the bible says in Romans 5:3-5: “More than that we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.� So after building character and endurance we have “hope� as the scripture says. Hope is a cousin to the word trust. In this context the word hope is being used in the sense of the word “trust�. Once one is trained by trial and experiences deliverance and realizes the goodness that comes out of it, he/she has a refined trust in God, knowing that no situation is insurmountable to God. And if God is for them, who can be against them?
In conclusion, I don’t know why God has lead me down the paths that he has, and has used the avenues that he has to increase my character and bring me to the point that I am in life. However, now that my rose is in bloom, I joyfully anticipate what he will do next.
Um… Wow.
While I can appreciate your beliefs, Trevell, I find it funny that you “didn’t want to get all super-religious” and than you wrote a diatribe rife with bible scriptures, roses and Seal. Spirituality is about finding out who you are on a personal level by reading, learning, reflecting and challenging what you continually believe. It is not living by some antiquated code that was established by first century Hebrew malcontents who believed the world was flat nor is it taking quotations from the good book of context. Ever give the Satanic Bible a read? What about the Quran? I doubt it. Your view on spirituality is probably as narrow as the lyrics on a Batman Returns Movie Soundtrack.