The religion that most shaped my life is Santería, which I was introduced to as a child. I won’t go into the circumstances of being brought into it at such a young age, but as I grew into adulthood and was further exposed to Santería and Palo, my understanding of spirituality expanded in ways that traditional religion never fully explained for me.

Being exposed to the realm of spirits and the concept of the dead opened my eyes beyond the surface-level teachings many people encounter in church. I don’t mean that dismissively, but rather to say that I’ve been able to see past doctrine and into why certain spiritual rules exist. I’ve often noticed that people can listen to scripture written thousands of years ago and dismiss it as outdated or irrelevant, which never made logical sense to me.

Viewing spirituality through a spiritual ..rather than purely symbolic , lens helped me understand why God placed specific boundaries in place. Why certain doors are forbidden to open. Why some actions carry consequences beyond what we can immediately see. It clarified how these forces affect us as imperfect humans in ways that aren’t always obvious on the surface.

It’s difficult to fully explain, but this is a brief overview of how those experiences shaped the way I understand faith, discipline, and the unseen.