What Is Spirituality?
December 3rd, 2006What is spirituality? There is no right or wrong answer to the question what is spirituality, as I believe spirituality represents different ideas and perspectives to all races of people and the individual. To me the concept of spirituality, encompasses that higher and more aware part of my consciousness that is separate from my ego or lower self. Unlike the ego which sees itself as disconnected from everything and everyone and constantly feels the need to react to all events, the higher self or true self embraces all manner of things and understands that everything in the universe is made of energy and everything is connected. When I consider what is spirituality I see it as my true source of freedom, my right to choose, it is what connects me to the all, higher consciousness, the creator, God, Buddha, the higher spirit, life energy, this force has many names but they all represent the same power. You don’t need to be religious to be spiritual, you don’t need to force your views onto anyone else, in fact you don’t even need to talk about it, I don’t follow any organized religion and have never been to church but I am a spiritual being and once I became aware of spirituality my entire life gained purpose beyond that of my ego.
Unlike religion, spirituality cannot be taught in school or church, it is derived from experience not learnt through a teacher. Of course we can observe others and the world around us and this will help develop our own sense of what is spirituality but this knowing comes when it comes it is not learnt from pages in a book. It’s difficult to give a clear and concise answer to the question, what is spirituality? Spiritual feelings affect us from within and fill us with a greater awareness, these feelings are different from those which affect us externally and cause our egoic self to feel happy, sad or angry. For example if you see someone littering on your front lawn, your spiritual self may get an inner feeling that this is not good for the environment and from this event you feel you have learned from the experience and this causes you to be respectful to the environment so you go out and pick up the litter. However, your egoic self may walk out to the front lawn and start abusing the one who dropped the mess, feeling as though the perpetrator has done something hurtful to you as a person. The ego looks at this situation from the standpoint of how it affects “me” whereas the spiritual self looks at it from the perspective of how “we” can make it better. The idea of what is spirituality is difficult to put your finger on.
So what is spirituality? Spirituality is a pure, youthful yet wise, a fresh and abundant energy that flows when we flow. It allows us to let go and trust in the process of life and understand and enjoy the never ending changes constantly occurring moment to moment. It is our fears that block the flow of this wonderful and creative energy and through fear we may lose our connection to what is spirituality. When we release our fears and negative thoughts and give in to this higher level of consciousness we allow all that we need to flow to us. The universe is a constant source of abundance and there is and always will be enough to go around, it is only our fear of lack, poverty and loss that keeps us connected to the material plane of wanting. By clinging on too tight to anything in life we suffocate the life right out of it, whether it is a relationship, job, money, or any material possession. By getting in tune with your spiritual self you release the need to be clingy, desperate and stingy and understand the more you give the more you open yourself up to receive.
As you raise your spiritual awareness you come to accept the only person who could ever hold you back, is you. Any limiting beliefs you may have are only projections of fear from your past experiences and by holding your thoughts on the endless possibilities available to you, your higher spiritual self will guide you towards the light. The spiritual person always takes full responsibility for their actions and accepts all consequences without judgment of others. At the same time they know that what may seem unpleasant or wrong on the surface will undoubtedly hold a greater life lesson in the long run. Experiencing the ups and downs and seeing these experiences as necessary lessons is just another aspect of sprituality.
Perhaps the greatest liberation of all that comes from our exploration of spirituality is knowing that everything and everyone within the universe is connected. Birth, life and death are all necessary parts of a never ending experience of consciousness. We are not our bodies we are a consciousness and consciousness is energy and energy cannot be created or destroyed. When our human body dies our consciousness and our connection to what is spirituality will continue like it always has and always will. Although the journey can sometimes be rough it is through hardship that we gain wisdom and wisdom will come in handy on a journey that lasts forever.
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January 6th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Dear John,
Your writing is truly moving and inspirational. This post gets to the heart of the matter as to who we really, really are. I look forward to sharing your site with others on the path to deeper meaning and greater wisdom.
Thank you.
Warmly,
Cindy
www.wisdomofhealing.com
February 10th, 2007 at 7:29 am
I think you’re right on in contrasting spirituality, difficult as it is to define, with egoism as its opposite.
March 2nd, 2007 at 11:51 pm
This is a beautiful definition. We all have different ideas of spirituality and this is okay, I think the whole point is that we are all headed in the same direction but we need to find our own path. Whether we are conscious of where we are going or not is up to us…
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<strong>September 6th Carnival of Lightwork…</strong>
Welcome to the September 6, 2007 edition of carnival of lightwork. Another edition of interesting theory, story and things to ponder. Enjoy!