EVER WONDERED WHAT SPIRITUALITY IS? -MAGIC, PHILOSOPHY OR A GUIDE BOOK TO LIFE?
Spirituality is ancient, but the buzz around it and the jarring amount of misconception around it are extremely new. The good thing is that the world has not experienced discussions and teachings on spirituality on such a huge scale before the internet and social media happened. Right now, people are finally starting to acknowledge the fact that there must be more to life than just survival and success.
But anything that becomes popular, becomes a product and spirituality is on the list now. The amount of definition floating around to explain what spirituality is can be confusing and you might have a difficult time understanding what it is, given the conflicting nature of the definitions available today.
And for that, we will start with clarifying two things.
1- Spirituality is subjective in its definition and universal in its experience.
Some say that spirituality is yoga. Some say that it is meditation. Some say that spirituality is about acknowledging that you are less of a person and more of a spirit and that spirit is boundary-less and one with the universe and hence spirituality is a process of getting more and more in touch with the spirit and hence the universe and be less and less bounded by the physical nature of our existence. But the definition of spirituality is subjective.
When people say that spirituality is meditation, yoga, work, awareness, enlightenment, etc., they are not wrong. They are basically defining the tools to practice spirituality and the goals that they wish to attain with spirituality. The truth is that it is impossible to give an accurate and technical definition of spirituality.
But, inexperience, is the same for everyone because that oneness with that around you is the goal of spirituality.
2- IT IS NOT A PHILOSOPHY; IT IS AN EXPERIENCE-
Spirituality, in the modern era, is being treated as some sort of philosophy and all philosophies can be challenged. It is absurd to make philosophies about spirituality and then keep debating about which perspective makes more sense and is factually more accurate than the other. By doing this, you have negated the point of spirituality.
Spirituality is an experience and the practices around it are meant to lead you to it.
Even with no accurate definitions, the first goal and the most basic meaning of spirituality can be this- the ability to see things for what they are. The ability to perceive truth without the influence of right and wrong.
Picture credit- medical news today
3- WHY WE NEED SPIRITUALITY AND WHAT IS THE NATURE OF IT?
Let us take this example. Human beings are obsessed with being right. Almost every society and every religion tell us how to be a good person and how to do the right things. This makes our life easier but then again this idea of right and wrong is never true.
What you consider right or even heroic might get you killed two countries away. What is right in your religion is sinful in another. What is the most accepted way of living right now, might be wrong 200 years ago.
So if the question of existence is -what is the purpose of life, then being a good person and doing the right thing is not the answer for it because what it means is largely dependent on where you come from and what time you live in.
We struggle to agree on a larger and mutually shared truth and when we arrive at some form of negotiation, we call it a culture, religion, country, and also a constitution.
By the very nature of human beings, we cannot agree on one universal reality because there is no such thing as a universal reality. So if you think about it, all conflict in the world from wars to political tension and just disagreement between two human beings exist because everybody is trying to represent their idea of reality and prove that it is better than someone else’s reality. Realer than the other reality.
Everything from communism versus capitalism, Hinduism versus Islam, upper versus lower, left versus right, and every other verse exists because we are trying to arrive at one universal truth and we all want it to be ours.
SPIRITUALITY in its most practical form helps a person differentiate between reality and the story. Reality and the truth. Reality is your perception. Reality is the difference between execution and murder. The truth is death.
The nature of human beings is to divide. Divide between right and wrong, real and fake, useful and waste, good and bad, good and evil, true and false, etc.
Spirituality teaches us to experience life, rather than to arrive at a conclusion about life. To live life and not taking the definition of life too seriously.
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Author: Shweta Singh
Originally published at https://www.fuzia.com.