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Spirituality is a popular topic these days. Unfortunately, many people do not have a clear grasp on what it is all about. In fact, many often confuse spirituality with religion, or subjects pertaining to religion. While you can indeed be a very spiritual person if you are religious, you may be interested to learn that you do not have to practice or even believe in any religion in order to embrace spirituality and reap all of its wonderful benefits! Even though the two subjects can be connected, they do not need to be.

As a consultant for nearly two decades, I have had clients from all walks of life. I have had clients who were predominantly Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and atheist, pretty much in the order. Perhaps I am only dealing with clients who are not orthodox in whatever religion they practice. I know this must be the case with the clients who are Muslim and Christian, but I suspect this is the case with the other religions as well. I was raised Jewish and it's my understanding that the orthodox Jews in Israel do not even think that the reform Jews in American are even Jewish. I do recall having an Orthodox Jewish client once who was very uncomfortable with my suggestions in her home. I had been recommended to her by a concerned friend, so she reluctantly scheduled with me. It was not that I was suggesting she do anything that would be offensive to how she had her household arranged. It was merely the fact that she was taking advice, outside the Torah, which perplexed her. And yet, I have been asked to evaluate a Kabbalah Center in my area.

If you are one of the many people who have become disillusioned with organized or traditional religion, you are far from alone. Many have concluded that it does not provide the answers which they really need, and fail to gain a true sense of satisfaction from it. If this sounds like you, changing your focus from traditional religion and seeking the more spiritual aspects of yourself and life can be the answer you have been looking for. This does not mean that if you hold a specific religion as dear and important to you that you must or should give it up. Instead, you can find that becoming more spiritual can enhance the beliefs that you already have. When you begin learning about all that is offered, you will gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your world; and this can help to make your particular beliefs even stronger.

From a nondual perspective, the purpose of phenomenon (pretty faces, tree trunks, racial prejudice, interminable loneliness) is to provide a surface against which our attention can ricochet back to The Attender - the one, selfsame being looking out through every pair of eyes. Accurately seen, every shred of ego's evidence of separation is in swooning service to oneness and self-remembering. Wow. Think of it: everyone and every thing you encounter came here to help you - you, in particular - to better savor your vast, witnessing presence. Every seemingly random event is strategic, volitional, a meditative prod. Buddhists call this Pure View. No more indifferent glances from strangers. No aesthetically beautiful but personally unsympathetic flowers and trees: just allies in awakening huddling close all around you - an entire planet populated with Buddhas rooting you on, urging you to notice how peaceful, relaxed and unborn is this one who's looking.

Ah, but is it true? Dead question. Look around the room. Let your physiology cast a vote. Notice: how does my body feel seeing through this Buddhaful lens? What sensations arise? Ask: could something that so opens my heart and enlivens my tingly, full-bodied presence be contrived, unnatural? Unlike religion, astrology is non-dogmatic. It is composed of intuitively recognized patterns or archetypes that can be observed in our inner psyche, in outer personalities and in the unfolding events of the world. The basic outlines of these patterns are thematically consistent but their individual expressions are infinitely unique. In addition, these archetypes overlap and continually modify each other. As such, they cannot be comprehensively defined; their presence must be felt or intuited in each individual person and circumstance. In this sense, the matrix of astrology is, indeed, a presence-friendly framework of perception because it invites us to more intelligently tune in to each passing moment and notice its repeating patterns. Astrology points to an intuitively verifiable and, I believe, benevolent design in which provisional beliefs like karma, reincarnation and pure view fit like a glove.

If you want the deepest sense of satisfaction and the strongest sense of connection that you can possibly have, perhaps it is time to reassess what you believe in and the effects that it has had. Upon doing this, if you find you want more and better, you will find the answers that you need are within yourself.

To this teacher's credit, however, I would add that my least favorite people to talk astrology with are fellow astrologers. Too often, these astro-savvy folks display a buzzy identification with their beliefs that leaves little room for relaxed, emergent knowing. It is in their company, in fact, that I am most reminded: the world is not suffering from wrong belief, but from Beliefism: the faith that if a separate somebody can just get it conceptually right we just might save our own or another's soul, if not the planet. Alas, "final solutions" are the language of a panicked, solidity-clinging ego who has no interest in resting with no edges because it forever feels itself dissolving like the wicked witch of the west. True/false, mainstream/occult: These content-based divisions of belief are superficial, misleading and unhelpful. In reality, there are only two kinds of belief: the presence-killing, conviction-stuffed ones and the lightly-held, provisional prompts that inspire folks to peek through the thick curtain of "somebody-ness" that keeps them feeling divided, desperate and afraid.