Spirituality is a lifestyle rather than a belief

“I’ve looked at spirituality living here in Utah, leaving the church. It’s like if you’re not Mormon, what are you? But why do I have to be anything? Do I have to have a label? I feel like I don’t have to have that label; I don’t have to be a Mormon, a Catholic, a Muslim, an atheist to be a good person. That’s what spirituality is for me—am I doing right by myself? Not by anybody else’s standards or anybody else’s means. It’s a matter of asking at the end of the day, can I go home and sleep well with how I’ve lived? I don’t pray to a god, I don’t necessarily believe or not believe. Spirituality for me is a lifestyle rather than a belief in something.

“My dad was one of those people. He grew up in the Mormon church and was expected to go to the temple and do all these things, but he struggled with drug addiction and alcoholism all his life—literally til the day he died. He didn’t go to church, he didn’t pay tithing, but he would give you the shirt off his back if he even thought that you might need it, with no questions asked.

“It’s not everybody, it’s not all of them, but I’ve had experiences of bishops and high-ranking authorities in the church who are somehow given this power trip to tell you what you’re worth because of the way you live your life. And it doesn’t matter if you do charity work, give money to the homeless, help out, donate, but if you’re not there every Sunday and don’t pay ten percent, you don’t make the mark. That was the eye opener for me. There are a lot more ways in my book to be Christlike than showing up on Sunday and giving ten percent.”