As I was sitting at my desk preparing to write this column, I was wearing fuzzy socks and sipping peppermint tea. I was also doing some pretty heavy thinking about the cosmos.
I was intentionally forgetting about the two incomplete applications I have yet to fill out, the 14 unanswered emails waiting in my inbox, and the very dire eye appointment I need to schedule ASAP because truth be told, I’m blind.
No, tonight I was thinking about the cosmos. And the stars. And whatever else is out there right this moment peering down on us with a large, otherworldly telescope. It’s unsettling how little we give these things any thought, how rarely they appear in our daily conversations.
I am not a particularly religious gal. I don’t attend church regularly…or really ever, much to my mother’s horror and confusion. I don’t read the Bible or any other spiritual text. I don’t really know what I believe.
This isn’t necessarily from lack of thought on the subject of my spirituality, but rather just an enormous confusion about what is right and true. There are so many conflicting ideas concerning a deity and the afterlife and so many variations within those beliefs that who’s to know what is real and what isn’t? Maybe nothing is real. Maybe everything is real.
This just took a sharp left turn to ScaryExistentialville. My apologies. What I’m trying to communicate to you readers who aren’t my parents or immediate family (and hopefully there are at least a few of you in existence) is that our spiritual beliefs matter. They matter not just on Sundays or holy days or special holidays. And they don’t matter in the sense that everyone must believe in some formal religious structure or in the same religious structure. No, it just matters that we at least THINK about what we believe and why.
Oftentimes, in a moment of panic or uncertainty, I’ve looked with envy at those people who maintain strong religious or spiritual beliefs. There is an unshakable aura of peace and contentment that radiates from them just due to knowing what they believe and being sure in that knowledge. In my experience, it doesn’t seem to make a difference what specific religious or spiritual belief these people hold. Anyone, from the most orthodox to the most atheistic, can find and radiate that inner peace that comes from trusting in their own beliefs.
We’re in college, obviously. We’re here to work hard and play hard. But where do we fit in time to contemplate? To think about the bigger picture and things like what in the world happens after death? How did we get here? Why? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE? (When you ask these questions to yourself late at night, you must say them dramatically and with bravado.)
Opinions on these topics vary greatly and are often inextricably tied to different cultures and backgrounds. Sometimes we will believe exactly what our parents believe and sometimes we will not. Normally we think of differences in religious or spiritual beliefs as distinctions that divide us more often than they bring us together. Rather than focusing on the individual religious distinctions themselves, we should celebrate the fact that people are able to have differing opinions on spirituality that enhance their happiness level while also giving them a sense of peace and fulfillment.
This kind of contentment is pure and true no matter what the source.
The slightly scary truth is that the earth keeps spinning while we’re compulsively checking our emails. If you step back and think for a moment, you have to admit, it’s a little bizarre that we (myself definitely included) spend more time thinking about what we’re going to wear on a given day than we do pondering over the mysteries of the universe.
I understand that we have to do some mundane things in order to be functioning humans and to keep life moving along, but it’d be very sad if we went through life, or even through college, without giving these mysteries, and our beliefs on the matter, their due consideration.
As we head into the season of endless holidays and celebration, we should give some thought to our spiritual beliefs. Whether those opinions lean more heavily toward the divine or whether they are firmly rooted in the secular, we owe it to ourselves to at least figure out where we stand so that we may derive that deep sense of satisfaction that comes from trusting in our beliefs.
Addie Navarro is a Trinity sophomore. This is her final column of the semester.
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