What a spiritual crossroads looks like
The first time I ever heard what a “crossroads” figuratively meant wasn’t until high school. How about cognitive dissonance? not until freshman year of college. Cognitive dissonance represented so much beauty, so much that I don’t think i’ve heard a more romantic-continental-philosophical concept(other than reading Sartre). Like any good philosophy major, i’ll explain what “spiritual” really means to me. Though, without romanticizing the wonders of the unexplainable by what the word “spiritual” emotionally provokes within us, but rather what we define it as.
Spirituality gained meaning for me from as early as the average Mexican household. By the time I was confirmed in the Catholic church, and the pride of my family, spirituality started to look a lot more like social responsibility. Then when my mother decided to join an Afro-Cuban polytheistic religion, spirituality was shattered into millions of unclaimable pieces.
I’ve recently been religiously conflicted, and i’ve been taking advantage of it.
There are people who do not mind living in contradictions, and as a result, can see broader perspectives.
Living in a contradiction and attempting to make it work can be as effortless or as troublesome as you want it to be. As Sartre would agree, you create the limitations in your mind.
A spiritual crossroads is understanding that there are two possibilities in which this could play out in your head. This moment will dictate how you see everything else in life, because you are forcibly adding a lens, but willingly choosing which.
The continental philosopher is often amazed at what is beyond our capacities, while the analytical focuses on what we have now.
My spiritual crossroads takes the shape in various different concepts. Whether it be playing the analytical or the continental, or choosing to be the daughter of Oshun or a loyal Christian.
We are living in a constant garden of forking paths. We must embrace the reality in which we find ourselves in, aware that there will always be something more. We must embrace the not-knowing, and live comfortably within it.
