Personal relationship with a saviour

[Personal relationship with Jesus]

Central to the Christian religion is the humanity of its saviour. God became man, fully man, with all the human characteristics and temptations, and indeed limitations. Thus he is seen as able totally to comprehend the human condition and have compassion on those who seek him. He was even able to feel that God had forsaken him ("Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani") as he took upon himself the whole weight of humanity's sin and cut himself off from God his father. Having suffered the humiliation and death of a common criminal he then became fully alive, physically as well as spiritually. To many Christians he is a real presence, the deepest and closest relationship they have and the source of spiritual strength, forgiveness and wisdom. Prayer becomes conversation as with a close friend or worship of a real presence. This relationship is what gives life to the whole of the religious experience. It is then immaterial which denomination, rite or language is used to celebrate one's religion since the essence is in the relationship, not in the practice. Not only does the relationship give power, in the sense of spiritual gifts, it also brings acceptance, since nothing life can bring is seen as more important than leaving one's self open to the relationship with one's lord. This relationship may be experienced by Christians at any stage of the spiritual life, it is not necessary to have served some apprenticeship in the faith or to have reached some degree of spiritual maturity, simply to have accepted Jesus as lord and saviour. Many 20th century Christians have described this acceptance as being "born again", a spiritual renewal imparted by the Holy Spirit when their relationship with Christ undergoes a fundamental change.[Personal relationship with the Virgin Mary]

Despite some Christians' direct awareness of and prayer to Jesus, many feel too inadequate to approach him directly. As Jesus is an advocate with God the Father, they look for some advocate to intercede with Jesus. For both Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics, the prime intercessor is the mother of Christ, the Virgin Mary. Although this has sometimes been dismissed as simply a woman needing another woman to relate to, it is interesting how many men are also to be seen praying to the Virgin, and the spiritual comfort and strength received is undeniable, as the number of candles burning before shrines to the Virgin is witness. Indeed, the Virgin was intercessor with Christ at the first miracle, the changing of water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Thus many who find difficulty in relating to God clearly experience close relationship with the Mother of God, whose presence has been witnessed in numerous places which have since become the sites of pilgrimage, notably Lourdes.

[Personal relationship with the saints]

As well as praying to the Virgin Mary, many Christians find strength and comfort in relations with the saints. The saints were fully human and frequently lived at least the first parts of their lives with the same mistakes and failures as experienced by Christians trying to follow the spiritual path. When prostrate with grief at again failing Christ, how reassuring to know that even St Peter denied Christ three times as a bystander at the trail before the crucifixion. Thus Christians can identify with a saint whose failures, successes or concerns match circumstances in their own lives. The very humanity of the saints makes them approachable, particularly perhaps the saint whose name the Christian has been given, or the saint associated with his or her profession or particular circumstances. Although all Christians in paradise may be termed saints, those who have been beatified are those to whom prayers are addressed for they have already demonstrated that miracles have been effected in their names.

[Personal relationship with a teacher]

Many faiths, particularly the Buddhist and Hindu, and also the Sufi, consider the spiritual path as virtually impossible without a guide or teacher. The relationship with the teacher becomes the means for the making his disciple love God and for making him obedient to God. God is seen through the teacher and the teacher seen as God. To the Sufi, the shayk, the spiritual director is regarded as a supreme ruler and venerated as a saint, his disciples pledging themselves to do his will without regard to their own wishes. The Hesychast disciple behaves in the presence of his teacher as in the presence of Christ. The Tibetan looks upon his lama as the Buddha himself. Hindu teaching identifies the guru with God, the direct representative of the sad-guru. The Buddhist way of the solitary realizers leads to the state of pratyeka buddha but not to the fully fledged bodhisattva. In the relationship with the teacher the disciple learns the meaning of a relationship with God, being as yet too spiritually immature to have direct experience of the latter. Only when fully realized is the direct experience possible.

[Personal relationship with gods and spirits]

In some religions there is the awareness of a supreme being or God so far off and remote that he cannot be approached at all, such that religious practice concentrates on lesser gods or spirits. This is the case in Voodoo, where worship of lesser gods and ancestral spirits - [loa]

- may bring so close a relationship as to be possessed by the spirit. These spirits and gods are not omnipotent but each has particular characteristics, whether peaceable or violent, kind or vindictive. Pleasing the gods and spirits brings their favour on the devotee.

[Personal relationship with a spiritual guardian]

Similar to the relationship with a god or spirit is the experience of having one's own personal spirit guide, which one may know as one's guardian angel, an ancestral spirit, a good daimon, the voice of conscience or the higher self, group mind, a being more highly evolved than humanity, even an imaginary playfellow in childhood or the inner self helper of a person with "multiple personality disorder". The guardian accompanies one from birth to death, and possibly assists in the transition to the afterlife. It is the guardian's voice which directs at moments of choice, although this voice may be drowned by the louder claims of selfish desire or habit.

[Personal relationship with the environment]

Every place may be said to have its own spirit and to determine the human activity appropriate to it. For example, feng-shui, the ancient Chinese practice concerned with the art of living in harmony with the land, indicates that success or failure of one's aspirations depend on an awareness of and relationship with one's physical surroundings. Indeed, rather than postulate a supreme being, whether separate from or integrated with the individual, many beliefs are aware of the individual and the surroundings as a continuum. The Australian Aborigine accepts the land on which he lives as an extension of himself, not as a separate entity. The spiritual condition of "dreaming" provides an unchanging (and on-going) metaphysical referent to order the relationship between an individual and the natural environment, with the spirit of the individual acting as nature's consort.