Secular spirituality

You need faith in something.
You need to live for something outside of yourself.
You need a symbol that represents virtue.
You need a ritual which regularly encourages humility and introspection.
You need to be striving for something.

Without these things, you are living without a purpose.
Without these things, you are only living for yourself.
To live only for yourself is to live a craven life of fear, insecurity, and selfishness.
To live only for yourself is ultimately meaningless.
It is nihilism.

Narcisism is nihilism.
Hedonism is nihilism.

Our mainstream western culture has become one of nihilism.
There are no mainstream values any longer.
There is nothing we can agree on
Besides selfishness, profit, and consumption.

Our mainstream western culture has become one of narcissism.
We are encouraged to worship ourselves on social media and dating apps,
In our patterns of consumerism,
In using others.

In worshiping ourselves, we create sickness.
We build walls between ourselves and the world,
Try to suck everything else in while slowly collapsing inward.

The antidote is to worship something else.
But how?

That is the dilemma that we secular people find ourselves in.
We were raised as rationalists, but we need faith.
That is a human requirement, like food or water.
Faith in something outside of ourselves
Or we collapse inward.

How can we do that?
Here is an idea.

God need not be a man in the sky

God is a symbol.
It is a symbol of those virtues and values which we aspire to.
It is a symbol of the deep wisdom that lies within each of us,
That perhaps lies within all things.

Worship the symbol
to place your reason for existence outside of yourself.

Worship the symbol
to keep your virtues and values in the forefront of your mind.

Prayer is not supernatural

Prayer is a ritual.
Rituals are about setting intention and authoring our lives.

Pray to god, the symbol of goodness,
So that you remember what it means to be good.

Pray to god, the symbol of goodness,
So that you remember you are living for something more than yourself.

Integrate positive psychology into your daily prayer

Let the first few prayers be about what you’re grateful for.
Tell god about it.
Thank the goodness in the universe for what it has given you.
This will teach you to be more positive and grateful.

Let the next few prayers be about growth.
Pray to god for wisdom.
Pray to god for the strength to face your issues.
Pray to god for insight and clarity.
This will help you set intentions on the path to growth.

Let the last few prayers be about others.
Pray for your family and friends.
Pray that they overcome their challenges.
Pray that they find love or contentment.
This will help you to see outside yourself
And connect with others more deeply

Touch your heart as you pray
Draw your consciousness into your heart.
It is the seat of your deeper wisdom,
And rationalizing will only get you so far.

Have faith in goodness.
Have faith in the natural order.
Have faith in the symbol of god,
And god will come alive within you.

Maybe god is a supernatural entity
Like Yahweh, that listens to our prayers
Through the fabric of the universe.

Or maybe we create god
And forge the symbol,
Manifesting the goodness in our communities.

Either way, god is real.
Either way, god is powerful.

If your soul is not eternal,
Then it is still the gestalt of your being.
You still feel the weight of your existence.
You still feel joy,
Still feel pain,
Still suffer.

Pray to god and save your soul.
Pray to god and save your higher self from your lower self.

You are one of many
And we are all connected
In our joy and our suffering.

Find your virtue.
Leave the world a better place than you found it,
For all our sakes.