I have been doing a lot of thinking about spirituality and religion lately. Society thinks spirituality is some sort of pleasing aesthetic on Instagram. Whether it is Ash Wednesday marked photographs on Facebook or perfectly curated witchy altars on Instagram, I don't think people are as spiritual as their social media presents them to be.
There seems to be a "fakeness" in spirituality nowadays. If you don't have that perfect tarot card layout, then you're not really a tarot reader or a spiritual person. Or if you don't have pictures of you doing yoga poses or meditating on the beach or somewhere out in public, then you're not really spiritual. Or if you don't have a post with the hashtag "blessed" thanking God for everything and everyone, and even for the "man with the white beard" killing your dog, then you're not seen as spiritual.
To me, spirituality is not an aesthetic, and it should never be a fad. It should just be a natural part of humanness. You don't have to show off your spiritual practice just to be considered a legitimate spiritual practitioner. Performative spirituality on social media isn't a requirement to be taken seriously in the spiritual community.
Spirituality is a way of living. It's how you treat the people around you. It's being kind in the face of dark times. It's trying to do good in the world (whatever "good" is, we seem to redefine what good is in the world every century or so).
Albert Einstein once famously said (and I love this quote!)
"True religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness." This perspective implies that true spiritual living is being fully present and authentic in daily life.
My author Instagram and Facebook is not going to be your typical spiritual influencer accounts. Even though I post pictures of tarot and oracle cards, they will not be influencer-type posts like my old tarot accounts were. No. I am merging my tarot and writing into one Instagram. One that is authentically me.
Spirituality is also about realignment, "backtracking", and figuring things out as you go. You don't have to have all the answers. No one has all the answers. You set sail, then adjust according to the wind gusts. But it doesn't give you a free pass from owning responsibility for your mistakes.
A spiritual person will take ownership for being wrong, for being misguided, for misleading, for manipulating, whatever. And then they realign.
I haven't been as transparent as I should have been as a professional tarot reader in the past. I take my share of responsibility in how the world is right now, as I voted for that sick, sicko Trump for the first time in my life in 2024. He had me even fooled. And I was very misguided in my research. But now I am realigning with my Democrat party roots, which I have always voted Democrat except in 2012, where I voted for Mitt Romney as I had my issues with Obama's presidency (notably the economy and how I was laid off in 2009 after working two years in a full-time data entry clerk position that had great benefits). I still have grievances about the economy, but it's worse now than it was in 2009!
I have always been a moderate/centrist. I am more left-leaning than I am right - leaning . I care about social causes. But I also care about my livelihood, being a mentally ill and autistic cis white woman.
You vote for who you think will get the job done. Not party. That has always been my stance. I am not a Democrat, and I am definitely not a Republican! I am politically homeless! I feel the two-party system does not fully represent the complexity of humans. But the side I'm going to pick, probably a majority of the time? The Democrats. Because they align with what I value. I want universal healthcare for all. I want my taxes to fund schools, fire departments, police officers, and the community I live in. I want all women (including trans women) to have equal rights as white cis men. I want marriage for everyone. I want women to have abortions for reasons that are none of my business. But I also want less red tape for small businesses, the Second Amendment to be kept but with common-sense gun laws. I want protection from criminals who do not live here legally as well as protection from the criminals who DO live here legally! I don't want billionaires and trillionaires running this country! I don't want generative AI to take over writing and art! I don't want one religion or one language! I don't want one religion controlling our government!
Spirituality is about your values. Your values shape your political beliefs.
Also, I am an idiot. Don't listen to me for my views on the world. And that is my spirituality in a nutshell. And that is why I say spirituality isn't an aesthetic. Spirituality is how you live. Because from what I just revealed, I am messy and flawed. And spirituality is messy and flawed as well. It is not whole. It is not perfect. It is messy, complex, complicated, and contradictory. And that my friends, is life on Earth!
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