Surprisingly, it has been very difficult for me to write this post. I have always been confused by my religion and spirituality. I have never taken the time to actually think through these issues and attempt to solve them. Putting something into writing meant that I needed to reflect and search for a more concrete answer to how I see my religious and spiritual beliefs. One concept that I learned while attending the School of Public Health is that there are 6 sides to wellness and one of those sides is spiritual wellness. This concept made me realize the importance of understanding your own spirituality.

  Although I grew up Jewish, had a Bar-Mitzvah, and kept kosher for most of my life, it’s hard to say how much of it I actually believed in. I followed Judaism because my parents did, and it wasn’t until high school that I began to question my beliefs. I still kept kosher during undergrad and celebrated high holidays, but a big part of it was just that I was fascinated with cultural aspect of Judaism. I appreciated the fact that my ancestors practiced these same rituals for hundreds, if not thousands, of years before me. That has more weight than any particular belief I had in Judaism. However, over the 4 years of my undergraduate career, I slowly grew away from practicing. I began to study Buddhism, and Hinduism, and felt the power in meditation. I chanted Hare Krishna as my mantra and was rewarded with a clear mind and bigger picture to life.

  I also studied science in school, and I was no longer sure if I believed in God. I thought for sure that the two couldn’t coexist. That was until I saw the first episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. The episode explained how a Roman philosopher believed that you could shoot an arrow into the sky and it would go on forever. It made sense for an infinite universe to be created by an infinite God. As a man who appreciates science, and the ever-expanding universe and the ever-shrinking particles, I could really appreciate his theory. It also clicked for me that he imagined himself traveling past planet earth and reaching out to the galaxy. That is similar to what a few people claim is possible with meditation. Earlier on in the episode they explained the possibility of a multiverse existing. All these ideas really hit home for me and it was the first time I witnessed an intersection between religion and science.

  I still don’t have a definite answer in defining my own religion, but I know that I do think it is possible to both believe in God and science. Deciding to post on this site has actually forced me into thinking about my own religious beliefs. Although I am not completely comfortable with my spiritual wellness, this is definitely a step in the right direction. Putting my thoughts into words and taking an hour to just sit and define my beliefs has already helped me with my spiritual wellness. I really encourage anyone who is reading this to take the time to define your own thoughts on religion and share it here. What I’ve learned is that everybody’s beliefs are unique and worth sharing.