Authentic Spirituality

We've been talking about differentness, and how we might begin to celebrate rather than condemn it. One of the areas of most contentious difference is in the area of religion—supposedly a place in which we find our deepest spiritual roots. What started out as a pathway to the divine turned into a place of rules, in which everyone was supposed to the same. Those who didn't follow our rules became a "they" as opposed to our "we." So, now that we have an externally developed spiritual path for each person who grows up in a particular religious culture, how does that person go about finding an authentic spirituality? Where will we find the path if it is not decided in advance for us by a very righteous and firmly planted group of spiritual leaders? And this, of course, brings us to the very definition of spirituality. What is spirituality, and how does one live an authentic spiritual life in a world where everyone has a "right" way for us to be spiritual? Let's talk about this today.