What best serves our spirituality?

[moksha]

Is our spirituality best served when we focused on life in this world as opposed to otherworldliness?

Seems like the great commandments to love God and others could be served by this approach. What are your thoughts on this idea?

[crossmyheart]

I attended a funeral recently of a dear family member. He and his family were not religious and the funeral was held at a funeral home. The eulogy and service were conducted by a female spiritual guide. She never knew our family member but gave the most amazing eulogy. She interviewed family ahead of time and gathered the stories of his life. We counted over 300 in attendance as he was well-loved in life. It was the most amazing spiritual, transcendental experience I have ever had. Nothing in the temple could ever compare to this funeral. I do not have sufficient words to describe how life altering this funeral was. We all walked away wanting to be a better person, wanting to be more like this beloved family member who had passed away too soon. He did not live his life in anticipation of the next. He lived his life in the now, serving others everyday, giving of himself and making sure that everyone around him had what they needed.

I no longer live this life in anticipation of the next. Just like my family member who has passed away I want to live my life for today and serve everyone around me today. Not spend my time inside a temple working for the Salvation of the Dead. My temple is those around me who are in need.

[dogbite]

I think it's too variable to generalize to any useful degree.

[RubinHighlander]

Personally, out in the natural world I've experienced greater joy in living and more amazing and fulfilling metaphysical (spiritual) experiences than I ever experienced in my 40+ years in the LDS church. I also had to slough off all of the man-made religious views and put myself on a path of continual discovery. Instead of looking at this life as the lone and dreary world, wherein I am a natural enemy to an unseen god, I saw how truly precious my existence is in this vast universe. Without having to attribute my life and actions to any outdated pseudo science of man made knowledge gaps, I feel so much better about my life now. I look back at my time in the church now and see a life of servitude and mental slavery to a corporation.

Now all I have to grapple with is my servitude to the capitalistic corporation of the USA, but at least I get to see that for what it is and can complain about it openly!

[EternityIsNow]

I attended a funeral recently of a dear family member. He and his family were not religious and the funeral was held at a funeral home. The eulogy and service were conducted by a female spiritual guide. She never knew our family member but gave the most amazing eulogy. She interviewed family ahead of time and gathered the stories of his life. We counted over 300 in attendance as he was well-loved in life. It was the most amazing spiritual, transcendental experience I have ever had. Nothing in the temple could ever compare to this funeral. I do not have sufficient words to describe how life altering this funeral was. We all walked away wanting to be a better person, wanting to be more like this beloved family member who had passed away too soon. He did not live his life in anticipation of the next. He lived his life in the now, serving others everyday, giving of himself and making sure that everyone around him had what they needed.

I no longer live this life in anticipation of the next. Just like my family member who has passed away I want to live my life for today and serve everyone around me today. Not spend my time inside a temple working for the Salvation of the Dead. My temple is those around me who are in need.

+1

Humans have an amazing spiritual capacity, or elevated emotional states (to be scientific). So sad that Mormonism portrays a spiritual feast while it carefully blocks the members from these rich and rewarding spiritual moments. I am reminded of the difference between capitalism and communism (guess which is the church), all the difference comes down to human motivation. When a church plays 'Simon Says' with your emotional life, and restricts your happiness while convincing you that happiness is only possible through their rules, motivation suffers. But make a person free to experience this life in its fullness, let them make their own moral choices, and some amazing lives can play out. Wish I could have been there!

[Margarita]

Soft music..poems.a personal prayer..and a walk in the hills..no chapel can beat this. Just listen...to the silence that really is not there..because the heartbeat that you have is in rythym with all that nature has to offer. There is a peace in finding that your soul holds the core of all of your real questions and yet the answers are just hat heartbeat away. I still believe there is a God..not the mormon one..but the one who pulled together a universe made with common sense and laws of science..a unique blend that can sooth the human spirit and the purpose is to find that human nature is a part of a growth that can esteem great knowledge one generation to the next.