Spiritual but not Religious

The problem as I was growing up in a Christian mystic religion that my parents were ministers in in the 1950s was I discovered by age 20 was hypocricy. In other words "Saying one thing but actually doing another".

As I studied Comparitive religion I found this to be a universal tenet of being religious and going to church. Why?

Because most churches are sort of like White Country Clubs. Do you believe in the by-laws of your country club? Probably no. You are in the Country club to meet friends to find mates for your children and to make money off of the people you meet in the country club.

But, it has less than nothing to do with someone's real beliefs.

The cynicism I experienced when I realized this was beyond maybe your imagination at present.

My point of view was that if I didn't believe 100% in everything in that religion I didn't want to become a hypocrite as a religious church going adherent either.

So, by my late 20s I realized I couldn't compromise my beliefs enough to join ANY church because saying you believe in something is very important to me.

So, I was horrified by the hypocrisy in every religion and church worldwide that I encountered in my Comparitive studies of religion. Also, I had a friend getting his master's degree in History of Religion at UCLA at the time so I could talk to him a lot about religions around the world. We both found ourselves most attracted to Tibetan Buddhism of all the religions we found. However, we both found peace in studying with American native American Medicine men and women too. However, I still see myself as a mystical Christian I just added the Medicine path and Tibetan Buddhism to this path as well which worked for me.

This doesn't mean I attend any church regularly because I found that doesn't work for me. However, in my spiritual practices I still do Tibetan Buddhist practices because they give me great peace ongoing and help mankind and all life on earth in infinitely expanding ways. By God's Grace

Here is one Buddhist prayer that got me interested in Buddhism to begin with:

First I will give you the version my Tibetan Lama teachers gave me and then I will give you the more traditional one:

May all beings attain bliss and the cause of bliss

May all beings be free from suffering and the cause of suffering

May all beings never be separated from the extreme bliss which is without suffering

My they remain in boundless equanimity, free from both attachment and aversion

By this merit may I become like all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions and the three times.

Now here is the more traditional one in this world era.

The Four Immeasurables as a Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Prayer

May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness.
May they be free of suffering and the cause of suffering.
May they never be disassociated from the supreme happiness which is without suffering.
May they remain in the boundless equanimity, free from both attachment to close ones and rejection of others.

NOte: also, Bodhisattvas of the ten directions is a way to navigate through all time and space throughout the known and unknown universe of universes.

The Three times is: "The Past, Present and Future".

You might be able to see why I see this as maybe the greatest prayer ever created for mankind.