BootsnAll Travel Community

I am a religious person. I try and let my faith guide me actions and help in my daily life. I do belong to a specific church but I have found the road that religion means little. The key to spiritual growth on the road is your personal faith. I have met very few people so far who are in the same church as me. Sure, I have met other Christians, but dogmaticaly they're differnt. That means I have few people to share with on the road. Even when I have found my own church and went, I am an outsider, not apart of the community. The main reason I am religious is for the purpose of community. So now I just have to rely on myself. This has been very rewarding. I have found so much out about myself. Its been great.

Anyone else care to share the growth of their faith on the road? I am willing to share more to a listening audience.

Question: What's more important to you, the dogma of the faith, or the spirit in which that faith is held? Often from what I've seen of religion, there are too many details getting in the way of what often boils down to the same feeling and reason behind the spirituality itself.

Have you been to India before? (I've not been yet, so grains of salt here, but I've listened to and read the accounts of many who have been and that's what I'm drawing on.) Something that's always stuck out in my mind is that so many faiths mix in India, but often - not always, and perhaps not enough - but often there is a common respect that yes, people pray to different gods, have different rituals, etc., but many of them base their faith in the same convictions of love, community, etc.

I would say that you in fact have many people to share with on the road. There is no reason a Taoist, a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim can't share their beliefs and faith. The differences don't have to separate you, but are in fact opportunities to examine spirituality and to grow your own faith personally.

As goes the community aspect, I think of BootsnAll: thousands of people interact and participate in this community, but we certainly don't agree on all the details, from the clothes we bring to the transport we use to how long we like to spend on a trip. But our common ground is our love for travel, for the experiences that it brings and the greater understanding we can gain from the world and the people in it.

I travel differently from Chris, Sean and Nick, who also travel differently from one another - but it by no means limits my ability to discuss with them travel and how I travel. In fact, my discussions with them and with the other people in BootsnAll, have shown me more about my love of travel and how I can develop than I would ever be capable of purely on my own.

I agree with what you say about sharing in the spirit and I have done that. My point is really that faith is a personal matter. Alot of people come to rely on others to tell them what to believe. Instead, on the road I am finding myself letting go of the dogma. It become an opportunity to discover yourself. Your right, people depend way too much on what other people tell them. Now, community is important, but it is just as rewarding to go on a spiritual journey outside of your community so you can go and expand it.

Thanks for the reply, I agree about finding a broader community.

I consider my whole life to be a spiritual journey. I find I learn most and it gets the most spectacular when I just follow the synchronicity. If I get too bogged down in one place I end up in the doldrums and not a lot happens. As for dogma I've taken bits and pieces of all sorts of faiths, found what's useful to me and discard the rest. When I grow some more I usually find that something that was important to me once becomes irrelevant and I discard that too...

I think that everyones spirituality is a personal matter and only your own experiences can truly guide it although it is useful to sometimes take on board what other people have done and learned for example in learning a technique or dicipline that can help you move on a step.

I don't trust any faith that says to me this is the way it is and this is the only way it can be. I consider that a form of tyranny.

I was just thinking about this same thing today in the shower (where most of my intelligent thinking takes place), and i said to myself...self...."Ascribing oneself to a single view of the world is like shackling one's mind to a blank prison cell wall. all of life's possibilities become adversaries, and all of life's opportunities of self-knowledge become long nights of self-flagellation." and then I said.."who the f*** just said that?"
seriously though...I've known too many people of gfreat faith that end up beating themselves up when they get out on their own because they find out how hard it is to live up to the idea they have concieved about faith, and how they should act accordingly. Faith is just hope to me. Knowing that yer doin yer best and so is everyone else so have a pint and love it.
anyone wanna go get a beer and get me away from this desk????!!!!

ummmmm, where am I? oh yeah, , hehe, here.
what time is it?? oh yeah, , hehe, Now.