Something close to religious or spiritual

This post was moved here from my old Livejournal. Some updated points are in italics.

Why do people put their hands over their hearts when they pledge allegiance?

I have what I might consider to be a rather unique theory on a religious perspective, and I wanted to put it down in writing. Why? Because I think it's a very good theory, and I don't want any other factors in life to influence it in its raw form right now, while it's fresh on my mind.

I was raised in the South, around Southern Baptists. That's right - right in the middle of the bible belt. My family didn't necessarily go to church, but they always encouraged me to at least go to Sunday school, which I did. I did some bible reading. Eventually I started attending church services, where I sat and listened and took things in. I went to a couple of friends' churches, one being of a non-denominational basis, the other another Baptist, but each with their own perspectives on things. I read and observed from others around me, as I tend to do, and have pieced things together in ways that made sense to me, and felt right to me.

There are so many religions in the world. Who can say which is truly right and which is wrong? Most of us believe that which we were taught in our upbringing, or that which influenced us the most strongly when we learned about it. Does that mean that others around the world are wrong because they did the same things, yet ended up believing in what may a totally opposite religion than your own? I think not.

I'm not going to talk about the bible much, or any other religious books or teachings. I'm not a scholar, nor have I studied biblical histories. But I will say this. I do feel there are some divine words in those pages, but they were written by man, and man is prone to errors, opinions, and personal missions. I don't doubt that governing bodies influenced words that were driven into the minds of the masses in order to impose control.
I know it's said that it's proven that the bible is still basically as it was originally written, even after all the translations and such. But still, it was written by man at the time it was written.
I feel that I can read the words handed down from generation to generation, and take what words of wisdom I can from it, and combine them with my own knowledge and experience, to make a better way: one that is true for myself.

I hate it when people just latch hold of something religions because they can't explain it, just because they want to continue to believe it, or are too afraid to stop believing it.
How did our delicate cycle of life on this planet come to be as it is? From the result of what? I don't know, and feel that maybe I'm not meant to know, the answer to so many questions. But I just can't see how delicate, beautiful flowers or exotic tropical creatures, just for examples of life, could have begun this process except for some reason divine.

I don't think people were meant to ever fully understand the spiritual realm, nor that we ever really will. I do believe there is such a thing. I find it to be a miraculous event that life as we know it came into existence and that the universe down to the very world we live in hangs in such perfect yet precarious balance. I don't think things like this occurred out of some random chance. I believe there was some meaning, some purposeful creation, or some greater being(s) responsible for all. I can hardly fathom the infinite expanse known as space, much less begin to wonder how it got there. I feel that if I ever need to know, I'll find out.

I don't necessarily feel that everything hangs in balance due to some divine intervention; the world revolves and evolves of its own accord, because everything in it is created of the divine. Nature balances itself. When I sometimes say everything happens for a reason, it's not always meant as something karmic in meaning: things do certainly happen in reaction to other things happening.

Up to this point have been my opinions and viewpoints to lead you to this theory. Now for the theory itself. What if, what if.

What if there isn't a "heaven" or a "hell," and that the Gaia theory holds some truth? Well, from the same perspective as that Final Fantasy movie depicted. This theory http://www.oceansonline.com/gaiaho.htm is a bit more hefty of reading than I care to delve into. Let's keep it simple, here.

I like the name "God" for whatever it is that is greater than me, that through some eventually, put me here on this earth.

I think there is a good possibility that when your life "flashes before your eyes" when you die, it's passing by more than just your own eyes. This could be when you pass on all the knowledge and experiences throughout your life back into the spirit from which you came. Every moment, recorded, played back just like a movie, to be absorbed, analyzed, and ... well, I really don't know what else. I'm not God! Maybe it's used to help perfect "karma," where you could have been a better person if you didn't have this flaw, or that. Maybe the millions of combinations of people and personalities help construct a growing knowledge and understanding of the human capacity. I know that's true for each of us individually, at least. Can you imagine how many years it would take to see just how advanced we can become, and to learn all there is to learn? I don't think I was meant to understand it all. For all I can guess, maybe this knowledge will help make a better race on some other side of the universe, or something weird like that. (Where do you think all the inspirations for those sci-fi movies come from?)

Wow, that was a meander. Anyway, when people state that God is omnipotent, have you ever stopped to wonder how? Well, perhaps that's how.

I have always been skeptical about the idea that people are rewarded or punished based on their deeds. I think people drive their own life, and that we are influenced by other people and surroundings to arrive at where we are. But people are like sheep: they need something for guidance and assuredness, so they have become comfortable with the not quite tangible, yet solid view they have of a God.

I think that maybe, just maybe, each and every person has a little bit of God (or the spirit of the world or whatever it is) within them. When people pray for guidance, they are really focusing within on that which they have been given (a reason why might some people say that everyone has a little bit of God in them). When you close your eyes and meditate or focus and listen for answers, sure - maybe they're divine. But I don't think they zap down out of the sky into your mind, or anything telepathic. I think the answers are right there within your own mind, and have been the whole time. It's that inner voice. It's your soul. It's the spirit within each one of us. When you seek answers, this is where they come from. They are banked there, and perhaps your "soul" contains the wisdom of ages and you just don't know it. When you shut up and listen, sometimes you learn a lot.