It’s funny how many similarities there are between spiritual pathfinding and choosing a career.  Too often the opinions of others and the “payout” impact our decisions more than our needs and core values.  People look to their careers to establish their worth or status in the same way we look to religion or spirituality to give us some kind of moral or spiritual validation.

Why look for a spiritual path to give you a sense of morality or a set of values to live by?  This is especially weird if you consider that we all have a set of values and ethics built on years of experiences and observation as human beings.  Atheists have these things without the underpinnings of religion, and most people leave spiritual paths because they feel a conflict between their soul-deep values and those espoused by the church or group they’re leaving.

The most important thing to do when searching for a spiritual path or home is to figure out what your core beliefs and values are WITHOUT the contribution of churches or traditions.  Those things are part of you, and while it’s important to bring them out and examine them and make changes now and then, we should all be searching for paths which fit us rather than changing ourselves to fit the paths.  A good spiritual home should make you better, not make you different.