When you experience an unsettling feeling, an emptiness inside, a nervousness without cause, a desire for more than the humdrum repetitiveness of daily life, it is time for you to start your spiritual quest, to find your own path to God.

God is the reason you are beckoned to search for the meaning of life. God draws you toward the awareness of your true nature, that you are connected to all mankind, a part of all that exists.

God wants you to accept life's challenges, to learn its lessons of how to love yourself and others to the fullest extent, without reservation, without holding back. God wants you to go with the ebb and flow of life, taking responsibility for your actions, using your free will without interfering with the free will of others. Your true nature is more than the body your soul inhabits, you are part of the life force that is the essence and makeup of all that is.

God Has Many Names

Jesus refers to God as "Our Father in Heaven"; Jehovah is used by the Jehovah Witnesses; in Judaism, Yahweh is His name and it is not to be spoken aloud; in Islam, Allah is God's name; in newer faiths, it is Spirit; in ancient faiths the feminine Goddess describes the creative force behind all life.

The Meaning of Life and Finding Our Spiritual Path

Many faiths teach that the meaning of life is to learn to love yourself and others as God loves you. The correct spiritual path for you is the one that helps you achieve a loving, whole feeling of being connected to everyone and everything, and at peace inside.

Many Paths Lead to God

The seemingly limitless number of faiths are as individual as we are, but further analysis eventually reveals that the underlying lessons most teach remain the same. Have faith that there is a higher meaning to life and a spiritual destination worth working toward. We are all one, a large family, learning to live together in peace and harmony. Therefore, let us not allow our prejudices evoke harsh feelings towards others who use different terminology to describe the same basic concepts and lessons that most faiths have in common. Let the truth behind the wise words that fill the many religious texts shine through and reach those who are in need of their comfort and wisdom.

Some people choose to belong to structured, organized religious groups, and others choose non-structured, individual paths directly communicating with God through prayer and meditation. Let your path be free of frustration toward those who are at a different stage in their spiritual development than you, and free of judgment toward others' chosen paths which may be different than yours. Before you judge another person's religious/spiritual views to be wrong, consider the lesson behind this famous fable: The Blind Men and the Elephant

What Is Spiritual Enlightenment and Faith

When you seek a way to open your heart, to love all including yourself, and to feel your connection with life, you have started on your path toward spiritual enlightenment, to God. Faith is believing in a higher order to life, that life is more than a random set of occurrences. It's believing in a power of creation which is the source of all life, that a supreme being or intelligent force is responsible for life as we know it.

The road to enlightenment begins with a spiritual awakening drawing you to find the faith that resonates with you. It eventually leads you to your higher purpose. Once you achieve your higher purpose, the road will end in a fulfilled, blissful state of love and inner peace.

How to Find Lasting Happiness

If you only had these four directions to choose from as your life's goal, which one of the following do you think would bring you lasting happiness?

As this simple four-choice test illustrates, the way to achieve lasting happiness is to find your higher purpose in life by searching for and following your own spiritual path. Once you discover your higher purpose, you will live a fulfilling life and will no longer crave those material things which can never satisfy your heart's inner needs.