LISN believes that your spiritual meaning is embedded within you, and it is not LISN’s intent to guide or push with an agenda.
It is useful, though, for you to consider the things that make life worthwhile for you, or that you seek.
Please read the following categories to get a feel for which drives are important for you, then select your choices in the interactive question survey (IQS) below. This will help the LISN algorithm to link you with those in a similar stage or intent.
The headings below contain one thing in common:
they show that seekers are not satisfied with only the material side of life, and wish to move beyond this limitation.
PURPOSE / DIRECTION.
Whether you are on the top of the wheel of material life or on the bottom, there is an underlying sense of dissatisfaction, limitation, and emptiness. Some people are sensitive to this, others aren’t, or they try to fill this up by chasing external goals endlessly. Spirituality is a search for meaning, for purpose and direction in life. It fulfils our need to have a foundation for living, a path or way of life in the light of a larger context. It speaks to the need to be “aligned” with something bigger than our body and mind.
ONENESS / LOVE / CONNECTION.
This speaks to our sense of separation and incompleteness. Because it is painful, we seek connection and love – either in a community, or in being one with the universe, or connecting with the Divine (whatever shape this may take). To feel complete, we crave to receive and give unconditional love, which brings a sense of total acceptance and of happiness in being alive. This search can also manifest as returning to the source, to God, or to a sense of sacredness.
GROWTH.
There is an innate drive in many of us to evolve, to improve, to push the boundaries, reach our full potential. The drive to continuously grow and learn, live a life authentic to our truth, develop our mind, cultivate virtues, and expand our consciousness.
ANSWERS / TRUTH.
Questions like “Who am I?”, “Why are we here?”, and “What else is there?” together with a drive to understand how life works and to learn about ourselves. For some this takes the form of understanding, absorbing, and becoming one with the absolute Truth.
HAPPINESS / PEACE / OVERCOME SUFFERING.
Suffering is the initial door of spirituality for many people. When our mind depends on external things for happiness, its experience of happiness will be inconstant, unreliable, impermanent – just like external causes are. It has been rightly coined as “stock market happiness”. Since suffering is a mental phenomenon, and spiritual practices are a means to transform one’s mind, it is a wise way of seeking a better life. Hence, there is the drive to seek happiness and peace internally. Or to at least to diminish the suffering that we are experiencing. Spirituality helps us gain balance, independence from external cases, and a greater appreciation of life.
TRANSCENDENCE / ENLIGHTENMENT.
Different traditions describe enlightenment differently. But the common theme is that it is a state of transcendence from the human condition, beyond all possibility of further suffering. There is a radical and permanent shift in our perception and experience of the world, and a moving beyond the sense of being an individual, or a person. It’s the urge to experience ultimate peace or freedom, to find the ultimate reality of who we are, transcend the ego, or “merge with God”.
EXPLORATION / MYSTERY.
Diving into one’s own consciousness and exploring other aspects of reality is something that speaks to our thirst for knowledge, experience, and adventure. Learning the mysteries of life and nature, exploring the sacred, and living with a sense of wonder.
BEING ONE’S SELF & HAVING FUN
Real spontaneity in our day allows us to live outside the rut of routine, and highlights humor, being able to have fun and enjoy what we are doing, both for self and for others.
SERVING.
The urge to serve people in a deeper level, making a big difference in their life, and helping to lift human experience and awareness.
Which ones appeal to you personally?
The content of LISN is kept in pages of information, which are categorized according to content. You can find such pages filtered by category, by selecting the LISN category from the side bar drop-down list. You can find Interactive Question Surveys (IQS) is a category.
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becomes:
congregation. However the death of both her mother and her daughter led her to look for a different level of connection to what she gained from her weekend religious activities. Through LISN membership Annabel found inspiration from others who have had similar losses, and who were nearby.
Ethelia is lonely, new to her new village, and with specific spiritual interests which could be called ‘mystic’. Her country does not permit views contrary to the national religion. Ethelia longs for people to explore questions and inspiration with, and finds LISN.
anyone else knowing what they are. He likes that.
He joined LISN and then discovered he can also upload his entire cohort of parishioners as users, so that they are part of the membership of LISN, but specifically assigned to his care group.
He had recently found a number of small groups existed that he did not know about. His attempts to get people to let him know had not worked, probably because things were constantly changing and there was no online method for people to update their own connections.
She looked online and found lots of offerings but no indication if they would match what she was looking for. By registering and defining membership with LISN she was able to define her own spiritual expectations in a fun way, and in doing so the list of local Spiritual Directors was somehow narrowed down to those who matched her needs and style. She loved not having to research a whole lot of options and found it easy to choose one that works well with her spirit.
LISN also has mapping and organizational support for small groups, circles, councils. LISN can link a person to spiritual circles or groups who are local or in a vicinity of interest.
