On Spirituality

I’m from Sweden, a very secular country. I’m not really religious. But, the last couple of years, I am spiritually curious – whatever that means. I’ve started to discuss with friends and travellers who have strong beliefs. It’s fun!

I’m writing this for me, but might as well make it public for whoever else is interested.

It all starts from travelling. I thought everyone would be like me - agnostic atheist. It seems like the stance that made sense: assume nothing until something is proven with evidence. Settled.

How wrong I was. Almost everywhere I go, everyone is deeply spiritual. And it means so much to them – it’s rooted to their core and being. Ghosts are real. I’m the odd one out that people do not understand. “Esoteric or spiritual phenomena”, or “woo woo” is just not talked about where I’m from – but at least I figured out why. …and please note the interesting graph!

I’ve met all kinds of people on my travels from all over the world. I’ve met people who claim they are in regular contact with intradimensional aliens. At the same time, they are completely sane. Everything else that they do is normal. I thought you’d get locked up if you claim anything like that, but no, it comes from people that inspire me.

I’ve met people who have done ayahuasca, the oneshotting 6D mesoamerican demon, over 100 times. I thought their brain would be completely fried, or that they would turn hippie, but the inverse happened. That person is among one of the most based and productive people I have met, and operates with a unique type of conviction about holistic health, healthy food and respect for life.

I’ve met yogis who just radiate kindness and happiness, with more vanilla buddhistic/spiritual beliefs. They are happier than 99% of my friends in secular little Sweden, while making little to no money. I’ve met some people that are 34 but look not even a day over 24. They just travel around and work on farms and work for free food and housing through things like WWOOF. They give me sage-like life advice, but at the same time keep warning me about the reptilians and Bill Gates. The landscape of spiritual people is very diverse.

All these people tell some version of “the same story”, but with different words. It’s about past lives, the ego and higher self, “the source”, some sort of “energy war” going on with different entities, chakras and mind gates. Things that, to me, seem a little far “out there”. Whatever it is, it is not particularly Christian. It seems eastern. I believe it’s called the “The Perennial Philosophy”, but I have yet to read the book by Huxley. Even among these varied beliefs, I notice common threads of transformation or deeper purpose. While mainstream science is still skeptical, communities exploring these beliefs have grown considerably on social media platforms and retreats.

Nonetheless, what intrigues me so much about this is when I ask them, “do you really believe this stuff?” they reply with “I don’t believe. I know.”

That kind of conviction really hits different.

So below are my “puzzle pieces” to try and figure out what is going on.

Perception

Perception is interesting. It is controlled by what you want and need. For example, you walk on a street. But you don’t really take in all of the street. You don’t really see the shops and cafés until you get thirsty – you’re just strolling through, thinking of something else. What you see is a bit muted, and subjective. It’s subjective because I might feel that it is the most interesting street in the world, but you might be dying of boredom. And muted because nothing is interesting to you. But – if you are in acute need of something, like a water or bathroom, you really see through your perception filter. The places just pop out. “I can go in here, they will have water”. Or, you are in a store and find a certain brand of something you’d never noticed before because you just heard about it. It pops out, but didn’t the last time you were there. Note the difference between your inner world, controlled by your pereption and attention and the external world, that is. They are very distinct. I don’t want to argue here which world is more important, or real.

The entire external world just has too much going on, so your representation of the world in your head is a little bit like a directed, lower-resolution projection of the real thing, for your own sake. Otherwise you’d have to think and act on everything, all the time, which is not good for you. I think this is what happens to some people that turn insane – they cannot focus on anything because everything is overwhelming. This is partly why being online and reading the news all the time on smartphones about all the shit going on in the world might be a bad idea. But we’re not here to talk about that.

Let’s talk about praying instead. Let’s imagine you are desperate and pray for a new job. In a temple or at your bed. You really do it with intent. What I think that might happen a little bit here is a case of priming your inner world. The next day, when you are at your hairdresser, “finding a new job” is in your perception filter and subconscious. You might mention it in conversation, because it is on your mind. Then, the hairdresser says “well, my cousin just formed a company..”. And there it is. The opportunity.

You, without praying, would never have brought it up in conversation, and you, without praying, would not choose to pursue the opportunity. But there it appeared. Is it a miracle from the universe, the law of attraction, or God? Or a case of priming your perception until you found what you sought? I believe this is what is meant by synchronicity. I have yet to decide if it’s praying, the universe, both, or none (randomness) that gets you the result.

Consciousness

All of our senses are evolved to survive in our physical reality, i.e the external world. Even consciousness. We can’t perceive UV light or magnetism because there wasn’t enough evolutionary pressure to do so, even though it’d be cool. Birds can, though. Most of us just humans run the “basic” software on meat-hardware: hunger, anxiety/fear, sex drive and some other core emotions.

Some claim they run more sophisticated software and meat-hardware and can see or feel more things. Where that leads is: what are we missing from our senses, that might exist? We don’t feel magnetism, yet it’s there. In the woo-woo space, people claim they can see auras, souls, vibrate with the universe, feel and open their chakras and open their third eye to the source. Is it true that people project auras? Can a soul really be seen?

I can’t. And I don’t think science says we can. It’s never been proven. I’m not dismissing it, I’m just saying that they have not been verified by mainstream science. You just have to “trust” these all knowing gurus… which I have a problem with. But it is interesting to me that everyone is describing very similar things. And that they feel it. I try not to throw out genuine wisdom because it doesn’t align with my viewpoint. These experiences carry subjective experiences and carry legitimacy for people, which one could argue is the spiritual part anyway – a part of their inner world.

Perspective and fact

Which brings me to my next puzzle piece.

Derek Sivers has a fantastic book called Useful Not True. In it, he talks about perspectives and facts.

A fact is something indisputable. There’s nothing that can be argued in the statement. Earth rotates around the sun. It can be measured, proven, whatever.

Perspectives are different. It is an interpretation. Most things people tell you are perspectives – not facts. These are subjective. A good tip in life is to always try to discern if someone is telling you a fact or perspective.

Religions are perspectives. That is why a Muslim and Christian could argue for centuries about who is right – which they, you know, have. There are too few facts to ground the discussion in any shared reality.

But what is interesting is: although a perspective can be completely false in reality, it’s power can be real.

Let’s imagine you’re about to present something in front of a crowd. You’re a bit nervous. You sit down beforehand, take some deep breaths, and say to yourself “I channel the positive power of the universe through me”, because you don’t know what to say to yourself at this moment. It worked. You feel slightly less nervous.

That “channeled energy” can’t be measured, and maybe didn’t happen or go through you, but if it made you less anxious about presenting, it’s power was real. The perspective could be complete bullshit, but it’s effect did work.

The perspective’s power is absolutely real if it is shared among several people. If you believe in money, money is real. If you believe someone is the king, he is the king. Don’t even get me started on the Placebo Effect. You also have self-fulfilling prophecies in economics: a lot of people believe the stock will go up, so it goes up because people buy it. It’s wild.

Power

Here lies my greatest insight:

Philosophy, productivity, systems and will power can only get you to a “certain point”. You can optimize as long as you want. Do the right thing. The smart thing. But it’ll always feel like work. For example, a habit “system” can make you go to the gym four times a week. Or read 30 minutes every night. Be disciplined and do the right things. That’s great. But it doesn’t stick well enough for me. I get surges of motivation sometimes. I’ve read Atomic Habits. I’ve tried the X-effect and todo-lists.

“Real(?)” power lies in the conviction that only spiritual people have. Something that pulls them to do something, from within. Spiritual conviction can literally make you jump off a cliff, or light yourself on fire. Form a church. Launch a crusade or invasion. Live your entire life in a monastery. But it’s convictions are not always negative, just very powerful. Spiritual conviction can be life-affirming or destructive, depending on the belief system. You can for example wake up one day more charitable due to a mystical experience and fill your life with purpose.

So it makes more sense to tamper with what kind of perspectives that shape you, and be really careful how and which ones you accept. If you think that your true self is someone who is in great shape and really loves to go to the gym, it would be your duty to go to the gym and push yourself really hard. You can’t wait for it! And try to really “believe in it”. Even if you have no higher self and it is not true, it’s power can be real. And if you can muster some ounce of energy from the universe, when your own energy feels like it’s not enough, maybe that’ll push you to a new PB weight.

Diversification

With all this said: be very careful what perspectives you adopt. Because in the woo-woo space, everyone claims to be right and know the truth. There are next to no facts, only perspectives. There are so many weird gurus, cults, traps and whatnot. People spend their entire lives following their guru, believing they are chosen, which their echo chamber keeps repeating, and that their little group sees the truth while “everyone else is blind”. They live their entire lives that way. I’m not judging, because if it’s giving them power, happiness and purpose, it’s giving them power, happiness and purpose. But it can also go wrong, like Heaven’s Gate.

I feel the right way to play this game is the age-old lesson in finance: diversify. Read what piques your interest, but adapt and integrate what is useful. Never take anything as fact, and know it’s all perspective. If you confuse the two, you can get really lost. If you think you are part of the group that is “right”, check so that you’re not in a cult.

Strive for Pareto efficiency in your beliefs instead. It’s only possible by picking up nuggets in a diversified fashion. Thankfully, people like to condense their best insights into small books. If you read all the gurus, or philosophers, and pick up what is useful, you gain all their upside (positive perspectives you can adapt) but limit your downside.

Conclusion

What filters and perspectives shape your perception of the world?

I am now convinced spirituality is very important to living a full life, not merely existing. The question is – what perspectives do you let in and integrate, and who do you want to become? You have to balance skepticism with openness. Embrace what resonates – but keep your critical mind with you.

My perspective is that I think there’s a version of me in some universe, or in an alternate timeline, that “does almost everything right”. The closer I align to be that person, the better I feel, and materially the better off I am here because I do the right things. Consequently, there is also the inverse – versions and timelines where I do almost everything wrong. That gives me a “higher self” version to always strive towards. The game is really trying to make choices that manifest more of the best timeline, and less of the poor timelines. It makes me less afraid of the hard but right decisions that I believe will lead to better outcomes eventually. If you try to make that “right but difficult” choice all the time, theoretically, you’ll actually end up in the best timeline or be in a near perfect tangent of it. It’s a little related to the “multiverse theory” I guess, which is not scientifically proven or disproven as far as I know.

It’s working better than other motivational tricks I’ve tried to get me to exercise, work harder, be kinder, and to be disciplined about positive habits that I want in my life. I’m way more mindful and have healthier connections. This perspective might not be true at all – this might, in fact, be the only universe and only timeline, but it’s power is – on me. I just ask what my “best Fred” (pun intended) version would do in a situation.

And what’s cool is, I don’t even need it to be true! It still works and makes me do the things I know I need and want to do. It’s like Karma. Even if it’s not real, you lived a life filled with good deeds. With my perspective, there is always an upward pull towards the best, but it requires effort and courage. And if you decide this isn’t for you, that’s okay too. Pick the perspectives that help you grow and leave the rest. Either way, the power is yours to wield. No matter what timeline you believe in, remember this: each choice is a step across the bridge from who you are to who you could be!

Hope you enjoyed.