My Spirituality by

My spiritual Image

s4100361 — 2013-08-05 22:56:22 UTC

riding in the forests

My Definition of Spirituality

s4100361 — 2013-08-05 23:06:31 UTC

Spirituality pulsates, dances, and flows as the source and essence of every soul. Spirituality is more than religion, relating to your personal search, to find greater meaning and purpose for your existence. Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light‐years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual.

My Spiritual Song

s4100361 — 2013-08-05 23:13:46 UTC

Stairway to heaven

a song about the value we place on useless items and how we look back on our life when we are old and reflect on our experiences.

Bible Passage 1

s4100361 — 2013-08-08 23:59:53 UTC

Ecclesiastes 1:13

My journey to seek my purpose in life, to search for wisdom and to not get held up on unanswerable questions.

Bible Passage 2

s4100361 — 2013-08-11 23:49:07 UTC

Galatians 3-4

The Laws of life

This parable teaches us that everyone's journey is different, and that our wrong doings are not held against us by God

My Spiritual Ritual

s4100361 — 2013-08-11 23:53:38 UTC

The purpose of this essay is to critique a ritual that I regularly take part in, as well as outlining the place, time, participants, leader/s, community, signs and symbols. My ritual is mountain biking. I have always enjoyed riding and this has progressed to more serious trail riding over the past 3 years. I usually ride on the Gap Creek/ Mt Coot-tha trails as they are very close and provide many trails and acres of forest. While riding I feel a sense of spirituality as I am riding through amazing scenery for hours and often have time to think about why I'm here and what's my purpose. During the school term I usually ride every weekend in the afternoon, but on the holidays I sometimes go everyday. I ride by myself, with my dad, or with friends, depending on whether I need time for reflection by myself. If I'm riding alone, I'll often find someone else riding alone and ride with them for safety. This still gives me time to think. Anyone with a bike who is willing to come can ride with us. Usually the leadership role is split between those who are willing to lead and they choose which trails to ride and where to go and when to take a rest. The ritual usually starts with getting ready, by getting dressed, filling up backpacks with food and water and pumping up tyres. We then either load up the car to drive up or take the long hard ride up to the trails. This is depending on whether someone is willing to drive us up there. When we arrive we will often ride easier trails to begin with and move up to more trick-style lines later on. During this time we must be aware but we also have time to think and reflect, especially up hill. Other than making more traffic on the trails, riding has no affect on the community. We rarely delve off the trails and try not to destroy berms on tight corners. The symbols used are difficult to highlight as each ritual may be different to another person's. By allowing time to think, I am able to question my spirituality, belief in God and what stage my catholic life is currently at. I often see others in deep thought when riding as uphill they stare at nothing in particular or are not responsive to questions even though they are right beside you. Riding allows us to pause our busy lives and gives us time to reflect on what our current state is.

Entry	Preparation	Climax	Celebration	Return
Packing food and water. Grabbing gear and either riding up there or packing the car and driving up.	Helmet, gloves, pads, shoes on. Tyre/suspension check. Water filled up. Riding to the top of first trail and beginning to think about the big questions.	Riding down the first trail and enjoying life and the scenery and thinking about my spirituality and purpose in life.	Getting to the bottom of the first trail alive and chatting about the good moments.	Riding back up the next hill to do it again.

This ritual allows me to reflect on my existence and reason for what I am trying to achieve in life. It allows me time to plan for the future by reminiscing past mistakes and successes to find what works and doesn't work for me. Riding also allows me to connect with others by doing a healthy past time and allows us to not take natural beauty for granted. At the same time, we begin to see how easy it is to fall, in life and when riding, and how you must always be focused to achieve your goal.

A time to Reflect

s4100361 — 2013-08-25 23:52:46 UTC

My spiritual Poem

s4100361 — 2013-08-26 00:00:41 UTC

I watch the sun rise in the sky
I ask God the question, Why?
Why is there hatred in the world?
Why are there starving boys and girls?
Why is there addiction everywhere?
Why are there people not willing to share?
Why is there prejudice and fear?
Why are there people not willing to be near?
I say, God please tell me why.
Then he whispers me a simple reply,
You must experience bad to know the good
You must do right just as you know you should

You must love me, yourself, and everyone
You must spread hope, faith, and love until your life is done
You must do unto others as you want them to do to you
You must persevere in all you do
All these things you must embrace
And God assures, everything else will fall into place

This poem helps establish my faith in God whenever I doubt him.