If Lost Start Here is a guide for the anxious, curious, lonely and lost. Featuring everyday places and at-home prompts designed to help you live a life that feels good.
Spirituality & Meaning
You’ve chosen the Spirituality & Meaning Pathway.
We've often found ourselves envying the people in our lives who practice religion formally. There is something about the intention and routine that goes into the whole practice that speaks to our need for consistency and purpose. More than anything though religion often requires that you gather with your community on a regular basis to discuss things like goodness and intention, to look at how you're feeling and how you can be better. The catch here is that, at some point, it's helpful if you actually believe the stories that are the underpinning of religion. [A task that co-founder Amanda found to be completely impossible, even when faced with a series of very nice boyfriends who took her to church every Sunday and would have *really* appreciated her buy-in. But, alas, faith cannot be conjured, even by cute, hopeful boys.] Which is to say: faith cannot be conjured.
The good news is there are now homes for the rest of us. Places we can go to gather with all of that energy and love. The key to all of this appears to be the intention behind it. It's one thing to run into an acquaintance on the street, it's another to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow (very loudly) with them as you sort of shimmy-dance awkwardly. It's one thing to say hello to your neighbor as you grab your mail and another to bake them their favorite pie at a planned community dinner. Life is full of ways to connect on a lighter level, from social media to quick texts or impromptu conversations. But few things can take the place of making meaning from something greater, and maybe gather together as we do so.
“The spiritual energy of our time, as I’ve come to understand it, is not a rejection of the rational disciplines by which we’ve ordered our common life for many decades - law, politics, economics, science. It is, rather, a realization that these disciplines have a limited scope. They can’t ask ultimate questions...they don’t begin to tell us how to order our astonishments, what matters in life, what matters in a death, how to love, how we can be of service to each other. These are the kinds of questions religion arose to address and religious traditions are keepers of conversation across generations about them.
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Check out some ideas for places to seek out spirituality & meaning
Where to search for meaning? Identifying with something beyond yourself can bring perspective and meaning into your life. We’re not talking about just traditional church though — this is all about the non-secular ways we can connect to something greater. Here are some places — like a Sunday Assembly of a different kind or getting unbound in a National Park — to get outside yourself and feel, in a good way, like there’s some wisdom to it all. This is all about bringing back that sense of connection to something bigger, defined on your own terms, in your own way.
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Where else do you go to locate spirituality and meaning in your life? You can contribute your ideas for our guide here.
Journal
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Conversations with Spacemakers
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Some prompts to connect with an idea of Spirituality & Meaning in your life
Culture Therapy: A Remedy Made of Meaning
Some cultural resources for seeking modern wisdom right now
Our series on books, podcasts, music, magazines, apps, and other cultural content that we turn to when in need. Have a recommendation? Share it with us!
You can find our book suggestions on how to bring spirituality and meaning into your life at Bookshop.