Welcome to Hopeshine!

https://www.youtube.com/@hopeshinechurchofpolyspiri3092

My friends it is here at last! Finally, a path of faith which does NOT exclude, separate, invalidate, dominate, breed hate or create dissent between us and our fellow human beings.

Spirituality and religion in particular can be a rather sensitive, deeply personal and oftentimes attacked areas that leave many of us feeling either reluctant to discuss or open up about or we just simply flat out avoid it entirely. This current and ongoing personal project of mine is the culmination of (at least thus far) of my own personal spiritual journey. For as far back as I can remember religion and spirituality have played a major role in the more interpersonal aspects of myself and how I choose to live and interact with others in this life. I call it a journey because it has been a journey of exploration, in search of the right answers to all these unanswered questions or voids that remain that no singular or mix up of current religious or spiritual beliefs have been able to answer or fill. I have dedicated a large part of myself to that exploration in search of those answers in an effort to fill those voids. At this point I have close to two decades worth of knowledge and in depth personal experience with a multitude of different religions and spiritual concepts gained through theological, mythical, historical, and mystical studies. And I have gained a lot of personal insight through full immersion not only within those subjects themselves, but the personal practice of various religions as well, and Hopeshine Church of Polyspiritualism © is the culmination of all this.

Hopeshine Church of Polyspiritualism © is a place for those of us who do not or have not ascribed to any particular "faith" for a multitude of various reasons that may or may not have anything to do with a lack of faith or belief in something "beyond" ourselves and the material world in which we inhabit, but who are open to possibilities. Many of us do hold the idea that there is some kind of driving force or higher power above or beyond working or existing beyond ourselves. This is a place for those of us who quest for a greater understanding and further knowledge both within and outside of ourselves. For those of us who have always felt that there is something "more" there, something pulling from within our souls that connects us, connects everything. That great, elusive beat or pulse of each other, of the earth, the heavens and the universe itself.

Many of us refer to ourselves as "spiritual" rather than "religious" individuals because there hasn't been a particular or singular religion that encompasses or in many cases even considers all that we feel, hope, or believe, not to mention all of the unanswered questions, inadequate answers, and rigidity that seems to try to just shove everything into an unyielding little box that leaves no room for individual or higher thought or growth. Hopeshine Church of Polyspiritualism © isn't a box, it's a living, growing, ever changing forest filled with trees of any and every kind you could ever imagine, and each of these trees filled with all kinds of leaves and fruits just waiting to be explored and tasted. Because if Eve really did pluck a fruit from the tree of forbidden knowledge and eat from it, then that tree would have come from this forest and why should any knowledge be forbidden?!

The main difference between being spiritual vs religious is that spirituality is something that is more personal and individually experienced or practiced by one's self. Whereas religion (churches in particular) bring those individuals together to experience or practice their beliefs. Spirituality is also much more open to interpretation, fluid, there may or may not be any particular set of rules or guidelines. This may be seen as either a pro or a con to some people depending on their personalities or sentiments. Personally, I have always found that the complete lack of rules and/or guidelines (not to mention the severe struggles I've had with self discipline) makes it a lot more difficult to achieve and maintain that personal sense of spiritual enlightenment and bliss. Hopeshine Church of Polyspiritualism © is the solution to that particular dilemma. The brand itself Polyspiritualism © is a brand new word, title, identifier of an entirely new conceptual idea that stems from both spirituality and religion. It is a blending, a merging of the two.

I termed the word Polyspiritualism © myself (hence the © copyright symbol at the end of each use) because there just was no other word or term that fit exactly right for what I wanted to express and create here. I am currently in the middle of the writing process where I go into much further detail, but for the sake of brevity here basically I just took the term polyspiritual and slapped an "ism" (a distinctive practice, system, or philosophy, as defined by Miriam Webster) at the end of it and there you have it. It's a spiritualistic religion that takes from a multitude of different areas.

Polyspiritual is not technically a word but is generally known and can be found in the urban dictionary It is defined as "believing and following the ideas and/or practices of multiple religions and/or spiritual beliefs." This definition was close to what I was wanting to express but not quite entirely. Trying to decide which religions or particular beliefs to grab onto and include and which ones to throw away just became far too overwhelming, complicated and confusing. There was also the added discomfort of trying to fit things into more boxes. Plus, I didn't like the idea of limiting or excluding myself or others. I wanted something that could feel natural and comfortable for everybody, regardless of previous religious or spiritual affiliations. Instead of trying to stuff myself or anybody else into boxes I wanted something was more custom tailored. And thus POLYSPIRITUALISM was born.

Polyspiritualism © Is a modern religion founded in the early 21st century by the Reverend Father Paxton James Chance . It is a polyspiritual approach to devotion and worship based on the concept that all gods/deities are all valid because they are all variations/extensions of the SAME power. Making polyspiritualism unique in that it is both monotheistic (believing in one god) and polytheistic (believing in multiple gods). The only other religion that shares this unique quality is Hinduism.

The basis of polyspiritualism is the idea that there is ONE higher power with which many other powers stem from, including OURSELVES, our own souls. It is the idea that all living things are but smaller extensions of the ONE and therefore our ultimate goal is the REUNIFICATION OF SOULS. This is the polyspiritualists idea of ultimate peace, enlightenment, heaven... eutopia. The closer you are to others the closer you are to HIM, and the closer we all are to that final eutopia.

The Catholics believe in something called THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS (communio sanctorum) which is the idea that there is a spiritual union that exists with both the living and the dead members of the Church and that they are all part of a single "mystical body" with Christ as the head, in which each member contributes to the good of all and shares in the welfare of all (wikipedia). It is from these sentiments that the idea of THE COMMUNION OF SOULS comes from. The idea that we each carry a light within ourselves that's a little piece of that ultimate or divine original source, some of us shine more than others and some of us shine a little less, but the more we come together in love the more we grow that light and the closer to divinity through understanding we become.

Hopeshine Church of Polyspiritualism © is not an entirely new or unique take on spirituality, it is however, a new and unique way of merging spiritualistic and religious principles and ideals in a communicable way that we can share, explore, learn, guide, and grow together in a completely accepting environment free from judgement. A safe space where we can all feel free to shine as our brightest selves free from prejudice and fear of social persecution for your beliefs. A place where people truly do onto others, do as they will so long as they harm no one, and share both the beauty that is both the joy and the pain of this journey that we call life.

We are ever changing, as is everything else. Rigidity in religion is the number cause of all the dissent and discontent within its practitioners. We need something that is more fluid that is able to move and evolve and grow just as we all do, while still managing to maintain a basic set of core principles that are as endless and ageless as the human spirit itself. If any of this sounds appealing to you please join me and share this message with others.

Rpax©2019

“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” Buddha