I, as everyone arguably does, form my basic beliefs qualitatively - that is, I can't prove them. I can't prove why lying is wrong, what I had for breakfast last Tuesday, nor can I prove why there does or doesn't exist an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God/higher power or an ultimate reality. Though I suppose that's just an epistemological matter, though, so I'll get on with it...

In childhood, my Protestant family took me to church on a regular basis and taught me the stories of the Bible. We attended less frequently over time and, as of now, I haven't been to church in around a year (with the exception of the Easter holiday). In addition, my friends are unsurprisingly predominantly atheists (naturalists, agnostics, or otherwise). I use "unsurprisingly" because my generation is generally atheistic, of course, due to the no doubt amazing scientific advances that have been made in recent years. That's not to say the beliefs I was introduced to in childhood haven't affected my beliefs at present.

It's hard to describe my current "faith", but I can say with positivity that I do have one. While I'm certainly avoidant of organized religion, I do believe in the entity that is God. I've felt, not exactly a presence of God "himself", but an awareness of the metaphysical beauty in my (our) world, or rather the world that I (we) inhabit. I cannot and do not intend to justify my belief with arguments - if God's existence could be proven or unproven, I'm quite sure it would have happened already. Therefore, one can only make arguments to the point at which he must make the leap of faith to the belief in God or the belief in his nonexistence.

What, then, can we trust? Regarding someone whose mind is in perfect working order, why cannot he/she trust his own experiences? Why is experience not justification itself? If you believe in God because you've experienced God, you're considered insane. If you don't believe in God because you haven't experienced him, or have even experienced his nonexistence, you certainly aren't considered insane. How does the logic follow? Note, I'm nowhere near implying that someone who doesn't believe in God, or doesn't have faith, is wrong or unjustified or insane. The rejection of someone based on their spirituality is (in my opinion) unacceptable.

To sum up my incessant rambling, yes! I am spiritual, if in a bit of a nontraditional way. Cheers!

(photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/paultraf)