Have Prince's spiritual beliefs influenced your beliefs since you became a fan. Since his passing, do his lyrics related to spiritual matters have more meaningful resonance with you now or possibly make you reevaluate your own beliefs?

Prince was and still is my spiritual guide, everyone asked me when he turn JW if i was going to become one as well. I said no i would not be able to do that (i know a few of them and I have done bible study) but my love for Prince would be against there religion (Idol worship)?

I was in a catholic school (uniforms an all that) when I discovered Prince not just as an artist but more as a state of mind.

At that point I stopped going to church & confession but was constantly looking for the deeper meaning of things.

So in a way when I became an atheist I discovered Prince as my spirituality … Therefore he is the closest I ever came to a religion.

TessDeKegel said:

avajane said:

anangellooksdown said:

I already had a spiritual life but Prince's example in this area is one I like and admire in many aspects. I don't know about the religious stuff but his kindness, humility and ability to not let fear stop him, among other traits, are respected by me and they help me.

This

avajane said:

Prince's music taught me that you can live and enjoy in the material world but still be deeply and spiritually connected to it simultaenously. He took away those boundaries and paved a freeway.

Lovesexy... Anna Stesia... 'Nuff said.

[Edited 5/13/16 14:09pm]

purplethunder3121 said:

Lovesexy... Anna Stesia... 'Nuff said.

[Edited 5/13/16 14:09pm]

among many others...

none. I don't believe the way he did. I believe in and worship Jesus Christ as my Saviour. No idols. No selling your soul or whatever he did. Don't know. I get a sense of something not so good sometimes when I listen to him. If he is still alive somewhere somehow....(far fetched I know) I hope what died is Prince the rockstar and what lived is Prince the human being who finally found the way to God thru Jesus Christ. Like I read the story of Denise whatever her last name was walking away from the Vanity thing, I hope Prince has done the same one way or another. What profit is it when a man gains the whole world and loses his soul, and that's a verse I turned to the day he died, (which is actually the only three weeks I've listened to him is since he died.) well, anyways, you asked.....

Not at all.

Prince was an entertainer. He often enertained me. That's it. His spirituality was all over the map until it seems to have setlled as JW doctrines. I know them well and I don't share those beliefs.

When I stay up all night working alone on a creative project, it becomes a sort of mantra and ebb and flow of energy from my brain, often resulting in me feeling fulfilled and even surprised in a pleasant way at the outcome and myself. That's my spirtuality. Creative = creators = creation. That is the concrete "God" I know and feel.

Prince's literal self marketed spirituality doesn't live or resonate within me (the overt religious elements, I simply took as details and shades of his persona and themes).

But, I have been creative and obsessively working on little projects since I was in grade school in the 70's, and his sort of extreme monk warrior practice of wielding and honing his creative energy is certainly one of the biggest influences in my life that will continue on in me as a diamond standard.

none... i would never allow a rock star to influence my spirituality...they are often,some of the most troubled, soulless, people on earth...no shots at Prince personally, just saying...

None at all... he was just another human being, no more or less important than anyone else when it comes to faith or religion or much of anything else, actually... he was a genius of music only. The fact that his beliefs were rather abhorrent at times certainly didn't help, either.

cindyt said:

I will always be an atheist regardless of what anybody else thinks.

No effect on me. I love his spiritual music, but he seemed to have this conflict within himself that sex was a sin. As I come from a family for whom membership of a strict religious sect caused a lot of family problems I've avoided organised religion most of my adult life. So I was never going to follow Prince down that road. But I respect that he had his own beliefs that helped him with his life.

I love Prince and I love his music and I acknowledge its spirituality. And I'm glad his spirituality helped him.

But he had no influence on mine. I'm a fan of the man and his work. But I couldn't stomach his a lot of his Jehovah's Witness stuff. I still can't listen to a lot of his 2000s work because of the overt Jehovah's Witnesses influence, like his heartbreaking homophobia.

[Edited 5/15/16 0:40am]

I'm an athiest although I was raised Presbyterian and was actually devout enough in my youth to actually give a couple of sermons on Sundays at 13 years old. However, I was also reading and studying the bible at the time, and in short order began to see the hypocrisy and contradictions in not only my religion but others as well. Now at 45 years old, I have a pretty negative opinion of organized religions as a whole (I'll keep those opinions to myself in respect for the believers here). At about the time of my leaving religion I discovered Prince. His music was pretty much the only thing that could revive those feelings of connection to something larger than us all. He sang with such conviction and passion, it was actually hard not to believe. The Cross, Elephants & Flowers, and the all the songs like them always made me inch a bit more to the spiritual side. But when he became JW, the sincerity and passion in his spiritual songs disappeared in my opinion. They felt like they came from a place of obligation rather than a wellspring of overwhelming belief. The Everlasting Now is a great song, but for me just lacks the conviction of Elephants & Flowers.

smoothcriminal12 said:

I will always be an atheist regardless of what anybody else thinks.

NorthC said:

cindyt said:

none. I don't believe the way he did. I believe in and worship Jesus Christ as my Saviour. No idols. No selling your soul or whatever he did. Don't know. I get a sense of something not so good sometimes when I listen to him. If he is still alive somewhere somehow....(far fetched I know) I hope what died is Prince the rockstar and what lived is Prince the human being who finally found the way to God thru Jesus Christ. Like I read the story of Denise whatever her last name was walking away from the Vanity thing, I hope Prince has done the same one way or another. What profit is it when a man gains the whole world and loses his soul, and that's a verse I turned to the day he died, (which is actually the only three weeks I've listened to him is since he died.) well, anyways, you asked.....

Denise "whatever her last name was"? You're not very well informed, are you, Cindy?

I said I only listened since he died...It's Matthews...I found that out...I didn't mean any disrespect towards her. If she did what she said she did and walked away that took true courage and is very admirable from a spiritual perspective for me....

Anyhow i respect everyones belief whatever they may be - we each have our own path in this life - my answer to the Q is this - no Princes beliefs did not significantly influence me as I had my own path - BUT I have always been aware of the parallels and I believe Prince demonstrated himself to be very 'conscious' of the spiritual and I applaud his stance as a vegan. There are obviously a lot of tracks inspired by love of God and spiritual thoughts in his songs. Im conscious of the spiritual aspect that he seems to have developed more as the years went by and is reflected in his music.
'Way back home' appears (to me) to be a song about finding his way back to God.

We are all spiritual beings imho. Whatever happened physically maybe he found his 'way back' to his spiritual home.