Whether you’re religious or not, Easter should be a time of rebirth and reassessment

Unless you’re a dedicated Christian, you would most probably argue that the only significance Easter has to you is the long weekend off work. Just like Christmas, religious holidays in the Western world are rarely now thought of for their traditional meanings.

Following on from my piece last month on marriage in the modern world, I got to thinking about tradition again this weekend, but more specifically about religion and its place in our hectic lives. In a world full of war, natural disasters and economic crisis, religion is often ignored or blamed for our problems.

I was fortunate enough to be raised in a home where I was given the choice to decide what I wanted to believe in, which I think ultimately has led to me being far more open-minded to religious and spiritual possibilities.

My experience through others I’ve known is that the more forced religion is upon you as a child, the more you will rebel against it down the line. I think it’s natural to question anything that is put in front of you and labelled ‘the truth.’

As a teenager I became extremely interested in the teachings of Buddhism. I liked, and still like, how Buddhism is as much a philosophy as it is a religion and in comparison to Christianity, is far more geared towards worshipping life than death. What I mean by this is it teaches us to see nature and our planet as sacred, and it doesn’t obsess about celebrating everything that will happen after we die.

It’s this sort of ideal that I think we should all learn from and translate into the way we live our lives, whether this is influenced by a God or not. Without sounding too clichéd, I believe finding God is all about finding yourself and your own inner strength. Whatever you see this ‘light’ or ‘All’ as, it should be what guides you through the dark place that our world so often is.

As I’ve grown older, I still apply aspects of Buddhism to my life but avoid being defined or labelled by any specific or singular belief. I would like to say that nature is my religion, as I honestly feel that through the cold and corporate framework that is city life, the environment is my ‘light’ that guides me through and keeps me grounded and connected to what is real.

So this Easter weekend, despite how much I’m in need of a long weekend off work, I am also giving the true meaning of the holiday a lot of thought and figuring out what it should mean to us today.

We all know how the Christian story goes: the son of God, Jesus Christ, was crucified for the sins of humanity. He then rose again on the third day after his execution, viewed by many Christians as part of God’s plan of salvation and redemption.

I got to thinking about this mindboggling event and what it would mean if the same thing happened today. We still have martyrs and executions in many parts of the world, but this story would never be believed in our modern society. What it makes you realise however is how much the human race still longs to believe in miracles.

So if anything, I see Christianity and its teachings as a metaphor. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ can be applied to many things that we see happen in our every day culture. We all want to believe in superheroes, whether it is a president or a celebrity. We want someone to have the answers so we can build them up just to watch them fall, then watch them get back up again.

So what Easter will now represent to me, is this grand notion of rebirth that I have such a life-long obsession with. You can feel this reawakening in the spring air and see it in the natural world where plants and flowers are being reborn, furthering my belief in nature as a religion.

If Christ really did die for our sins and remerge from the ashes, then why can’t all of us find this strength within ourselves? Whatever the ‘light’ is to you, make sure that you never let it go out as this is what will lead you to your very own inner Promised Land.

To celebrate this Easter weekend I have given my website its very own spring awakening. With a clean and fresh new look that represents this brand new era; I look forward to all the future thoughts and discoveries that have yet to be expressed.

This is my alternate vision that I can’t wait to share with you all.