In a modern secular-focused world, many of us are re-defining, re-claiming, and in many ways reviving spirituality. This is a program for people who feel there is something more to life than what they are currently experiencing. It may surface as a feeling of discontentment, emptiness or possibly a strong feeling of being stuck.

It is a knowing, deep down, that we are more than we appear to be. Lately we're hearing a lot of people say, "I'm not religious, I'm spiritual." What exactly does this mean? What are they saying? Many people have begun to claim their personal relationship to Spirit. We are no longer satisfied to hear other people describe to us what or who God or Spirit is, we want to experience the presence of the living God ourselves. We long to know that part of ourselves that we can sense but not see.

Can religion without a personal experience of Spirit have any true meaning? When we believe that this life-giving energy is separate from us, aren't we just mere observers hoping and wishing it will bestow its blessing upon us? We follow the rules, trying to gain favor with this hard-to-please, separate entity.

Our traditions and religions often teach that God is dissatisfied with us and will take away the "good stuff" unless we suffer and give way to something other than what we want. This is an immature relationship with our Source that reaps nothing but despair and frustration. In order to live the life we've been given to live and to give what we are here to give we must come to realize that our purpose is not to suffer and withhold our authentic selves.

H. Emilie Cady in her book Lessons in Truth wrote this about God communicating to us: "Desire in the heart is always God tapping at the door of your consciousness with Its infinite supply." This voice, this energy within, is bigger than our individual selves. There is a reason why we have the ability to commune with Spirit. It is not to satisfy our so-called "selfish desires" or to placate our insecurities and dissolve our fears. There is something much bigger going on.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "You are an inlet and may become an outlet to all there is in God." God works through us. If we believe God is separate from us, we won't understand that we are an expression of God. We matter. Who we are and what we are doing here matters.

More and more people are hungering to know the truth of who they are and are choosing to explore the path of experiential spirituality over the more traditional religions with which they may have grown up. Taking spirituality beyond Sunday, beyond formal structure, and bringing it into everyday existence awakens us to the presence of what we may refer to as God, Spirit or just pure energy. It is that which is constantly moving within us, through us, and is evident all around us.

Life is not about avoiding the wrath of God. It's about living in the flow of God's love and abundance and becoming an outlet to all there is in God. We're not cogs in a wheel, here for the sole purpose of reproducing and surviving.

When we are living in the flow of God's abundance, life is no longer about someone else telling us stories of how other people have been inspired by God or Spirit. It is not about all the bad things that will happen to us if we don't follow the rules. It is not about waiting to be inspired by someone who claims to know God and spiritual truths. And it is definitely not about subscribing to anyone else's definition of who or what God may be. Life is about hearing, feeling and knowing this voice, this energy, that lives within us all the time, and having an intimate relationship with it.

There is a beauty and richness living within us that cannot be denied. We experience this presence through the internal language of our thoughts and feelings. When we come to know Spirit it becomes a very individual and unique experience. Once you embrace Spirit and awaken to this relationship no one can take it away from you. You are home and you know it. There is no longer a need to talk or argue about what it is because you're experiencing it.

The journey we embark upon to experience this energy, is the journey within ourselves. We may be interested in hearing about other people's experiences with this presence, but until we have a first-hand experience of it, we're just talking about it and not living it ourselves. When we stand on the perimeter observing and judging, we don't get a sense of what's really going on. We talk about what's good and bad, right and wrong, but usually from a very limited perspective.

Spirit goes beyond our personalities, likes and dislikes, and takes us into a realm with which we may be unfamiliar; yet, most of us have experienced the presence of Spirit in our life. We may have called it an intuitive knowing, idea, inspiration, or a strong hunch. Ideas and energy flow through us somehow, and when we tune in and start to listen to this energy we are often amazed at the wisdom we're receiving. This realization of the closeness of Spirit opens us up to living everyday spirituality. Once we fully grasp the magnitude of what we have been given, oneness with this presence, we are not satisfied with anything less.