My Life Is Not About Money, Religion, Or Spirituality

It is all about what I need and getting it.

In my community, the pursuit of money is a common thing. And, as I perceived, religion is easily an unquestionable rule to live by. At the same time, spirituality is a confusing term with multiple ideologies surrounding it.

When I was a child trying to figure the dos and don’ts of the world, I got bewildered and frightened by the unexplained need to follow the complex ideologies. As such, I questioned if blindly following is the only way to live.

What would I do if I have access to all the money in the world?

What do religion and spirituality mean to me?

Why should I be pursuing all of these?

In the end, what is it that truly matter?

As I questioned, I found no answers of certainty. As I observed, everyone, except me, seems to be clear about the meaning of these pursuits. Yet, I understood nothing about those from anyone. Hence, I decided to explore and create acceptable answers for myself.

Money Is Not What I Needed

It is obvious that I can’t eat coins or notes to survive. To live, I need food to fuel my body and shelter to protect my body from external threats. Needless to say, food like vegetables doesn’t stem from money. Vegetables grow from the cultivation of seeds with the required tools and nutrients. Similarly, meat doesn’t grow from the consumption of money.

As such, money is simply a bridge to those necessities in places where necessities are dependent on external sources. Despite so, after living in such places for a long time, I begin perceiving money as a necessity. Thus, I may feel insecure when I lack money. However, as I do know, money isn’t the only way to get access to necessities.

One of the ways is simply to be a farmer. Because, in the cultivation of food, food becomes much easily accessible. As a result, money can become less of a need for survival. Another way is to exchange services for necessities instead of money. Such ways work on the idea of accessing directly to the necessities, disregarding the middleman named ‘money’. This also hints at the possibility of surviving without money.

Therefore, the things I need are my necessities and a sense of security, not exactly money.

Religions Can Only Provide Me Partial Truth

I grew up with religious parents, who followed and implemented incomprehensible rules. I followed their prayer practices during certain festivals. However, not much information is passed to me to fuel my understanding of their religion. Due to that, it sparked my curiosity to understand religions.

After examining the information from various sources, from what I noticed, religions are often passed down from people through speeches and/or texts. Each passage contains quotes that will be elaborated by the preachers. Because the originally intended message is being passed from people to text and from text to people multiple times, it may be heavily modified unintentionally.

Even though the messengers may make reasonable points, the bias perceptions can easily alter the initial message. As such, it can be difficult to accept the entirety as the truth. Furthermore, the authentic parts of those can be lost in language translation and in speech-to-text translation.

Fortunately, most religions have some similar and same values in common when compared. And, those are of doctrines intended to benefit the people. At the same time, those are ideas that I find agreeable, relatable, or both. Such as ideas about love, compassion, faith, etc.

The Term ‘Spirituality’ Is Distorted

With parts of religious doctrines not fully catered to my taste, I dove into understanding the idea of spirituality. Unfortunately, I find ‘spirituality’ to be a term that varies hugely among people.

It is such that, some may treat spirituality as a separation from the materialistic world while some may treat spirituality as the entirety of life. Also, some may find spirituality to be a far fetch idea that is beyond understanding. Furthermore, spirituality can be split into multiple parts that some self-proclaimed spiritual people adhere to while others don’t.

Therefore, as much as I would like to simplify conversations, the term ‘spirituality’ is a term for me to avoid using to prevent misunderstandings.

This Is What I Need

Despite whether I may or may not understand Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I certainly understand my basic survival needs. Furthermore, my understanding may have been ingrained into me once I am awoken in this world. However, although all my needs are already catered to, many times, I could feel emptiness.

Upon some self reviewing, I realized what I need isn’t just survival because this human body may not be built solely for survival. This body has proven the incredible adaptability to dire circumstances and the special ability to bring brilliant creations to life. Therefore, to state the purpose of my existence as simply a need to survive may have been an underestimate.

With much potential to create almost anything that I can dream of, not fully utilizing this ability may be the reason for my emptiness. At the same time, the focus upon materialistic pursuits and questionable doctrines may trap me within a space of limitations. Without freedom, a robotic life wouldn’t provide a meaningful reason to live.

My Answer

Hence, in my opinion, my life is about surviving to create meaningful experiences through the freedom to dream and explore the unknown. While, constantly learning and growing in the uncovering of knowledge and experiences.

It is only as such will my need to be fulfilled be satisfied. Therefore, my life is not about money, religion, or spirituality. It is about fulfillment and satisfaction.