Tori talks about spirituality

Tori talks about spirituality

"Instead of running to Christianity or running to Islam, or running to whomever, we have to move forward." - Tori Amos

There's the inner world which is a reflection of the outer world, and when you think of all the billions of worlds that are going on out there - we are connected with that, we're not encouraged to think of our connection as why we are on this planet. Is our life just functional; is that all that is? Getting up, going to work, having kids, to just populate the planet? I mean there have to be reasons we do things... [In Conversation - interview cd, 1992]

I can talk about religion for hours, because in the name of religion many irresponsible things happened in the past 2000 years. I think it went wrong a long time ago. I've had many long conversations about that with my father, in which we had our disagreements. I respect his opinions. He's a Methodist minister and respects the church. Where would the church be if we all believed God or the Godess is in everyone of us? Guilt, sin and shame are not relevant. It's about some kind of completeness, the light beside the darker side, the murderer and the virgin. Seeing those things as equal and not putting a hierarchy there. Making clear to yourself: I am all those things at once. We are all reflections of each other. There are only gradient differences. The church can't accept this, because she isn't needed in this vision anymore. Therefore they see these ideas as a threat. But if people want to go to church to feel better, that's also fine with me.

It doesn't matter to me anymore whether something's bad or wrong. I've been too busy with that my whole life. Life is a test and you learn from the moment things happen to you. How do you react? Are you getting depressed? Do you feel like you're a failure? Or do you think: "OK, that happened, this is what I said, or that didn't go the way I expected." One who plays safe will never know what he or she is capable of. If you are afraid to go too far or to show who you really are then you are not living life the fullest. [Oor - March 7, 1992]

I see the dream and I see the nightmare, and I believe you can't have the dream without the nightmare. [Keyboards (Germany) - September 1992]

The good place where I'm going is, I finally understood that I didn't understand what spirituality is. After being around people that have done a Jungian study, the sweat lodges, the this, the that -- and we're not talking about just a New Age fanaticism. We're talking about very educated and passionate people, whatever, again, that you could sit down and have a conversation with. And yet, some of these people, who I got to know very well in New Mexico, were the most bitter, negative people that I've ever met. Now, they had a lot of information, but that's a whole different thing than knowledge. So it's very different. There's loads of information, and yet the heart connection was gone. Just the acceptance of, well, this is OK that I don't have it resolved. It's OK that I don't have an answer to this, and it's OK that I don't really know what I'm feeling right now. I'm a bit confused. Those things are OK. That's been a new place where I am where I wasn't before, where I thought that there had to be a resolve. [Baltimore Sun - January 1994]

Do you believe in organized religion?

No. Why? There has to be a hierarchy. I'm not interested in hierarchy. I'm not interested in being a part of it on either level - the controlling side or being controlled. It's about no control.

What's your spiritual belief?

I believe in life force and that we can all tap into it. It's there for anybody and everybody. We're all a part of it. [KSCA 101.9FM, Los Angeles - February 9, 1996]

I think you conjure up energy, you go to the vortex. That's why certain events happen in certain places. There are reasons why certain breakthroughs happen in certain countries. There are reasons why certain darkness or evil gets generated over and over again in a certain spot. And so I don't assume to know why that is, but I trust it, and go with it. [B-Side - May/June 1996]

There are several ways to climb a mountain and there are many paths to come down again. Even if you know them all, sometimes you reach the summit only to find that there are a hundred more mountaintops to conquer. That outlook is sacred to me. Wherever our life force is coming from, it couldn't have originated from one particular religion. I grew up with the thesis there's only one God, one religion, one road to the top. Very shortsighted! I think every religion contains little pieces of magic. Use it to shape your own truth. [Oor (Dutch) - April 18, 1998]

With Poppa, there was Spirit in all things. You have a relationship with the spirit world or you have nothing. People try and make other people feel bad about getting in touch with their souls and their spirit. You get it a lot, especially in the cynical media. When people cut themselves off from everything except what they can touch, they are cancerous. The sad thing is, that's really evil... evil to yourself. You become the fascist. [Details - August 1998]

Those people are waiting on the Apocalypse. But it already happened. The best proof of it are the bad haircuts in the '80s. No kidding: the people are totally alienated from their spiritual and emotional side. That is the real Apocalypse. We're all very close in front of the abyss. In my case it's only some inches. I am that close on the edge of insanity. My only fear is that my fear is bigger than my faith. [Oor (Dutch) - September 18, 1999]

Anyone can attend yoga, kabbalah classes, church, lectures by the Dalai Lama, yada, yada, yada -- but can you be present for your life, and live with the way you treat other people? [More - February 2005]

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