Recently, someone asked me a very basic question: What is spirituality? I paused for a few seconds, and began to laugh. Despite running a blog that claims to be about spirituality, I honestly don’t know. Since then I’ve been reading up on that aspect, and the strange thing is, most people don’t really know either.
There are so many different definitions of spirituality. Someone once told me it is very hard to have a good conversation on the topic because everyone is on a different page; they’re all talking about different things!
Here are some of the definitions I’ve come across:
It is the same thing with the practices; what exactly is a spiritual practice? There are millions of different techniques and meditations. For some, a spiritual practice means an hour a week of yoga. For others, it means being unconditionally compassionate, or self-aware, or whatever, every waking moment.
And so this post – let’s share your spirituality. What is your definition, what is your goal, what is your practice, and how did you get started?
(I think all these are essentially one question anyway, if you really get down to it.)
In addition, I have also been getting a lot emails asking about my story, and my exact practices – you write about so many different practices, which do you use? – so this is to share some of that. It’s kind of a long read and definitely not needed for the discussion; I just had nowhere else to put my reply – so you can stop reading now if you are bored 
.
First of all, the below is just my practice and definition. It is “my” spirituality, that’s all. I know I contradict many concepts and traditions, and many serious practitioners will disagree with my approach (I’ve had some awesome debates), but that’s part of the fun of these discussion threads. Don’t be shy about disagreeing, hit me with it!
What is my definition? The end of suffering. That was what it started out as, and over the years made a big detour, and eventually ended up right back where it started. Except at the end, the basic definition has been slightly expanded.
A large percentage of seekers have begun simply because they were unhappy. That was certainly how I got started. I was miserable and I just couldn’t take it anymore. The funny thing was – I didn’t know it would be a life-consuming pursuit. I thought it was just a quick training process, and that it would be easy .
I approached it like physical training. Just work out hard, eat right, and get fit; all very mechanical and cold. I thought finding imperturbable inner peace would be the same thing – work at it intensely (and selfishly – more on this later) for a few months, then move on.
Except I didn’t know what happiness was. Like most people I thought it was external. It was around that time the whole Secret / Law of Attraction thing exploded in the media, a few years ago. I got sucked into it too, until I realised that happiness didn’t come from having all the material things I wanted. (On that note, I am still waiting for my supermodels. No joke. I honestly sat down and tried manifesting some supermodels. I refuse to write an article on the LOA until I have a supermodel girlfriend.)
However, the more I dedicated myself to happiness, the more aware I became, and the more aware I became, the more I realised happiness was internal. Beyond a basic level of comfort and security, material goods and sensual pleasures don’t make much difference in happiness. Our internal state of consciousness is the major factor in how happy we are.
This conclusion wasn’t because of any spiritual or religious teaching. It was simply my experience. No matter how much I got materially or pampered myself sensually, my thoughts and emotions were the same – horrible, repetitious, and painful.
Soon after, I came across the teaching that everything was either love or the lack of it. I had come across these teachings before, but like most in a sometimes dog-eat-dog world, I had discarded it as weak and soft. But it was true. All the lower states of mind, like hatred and sadness, simply indicated a lack of love. The practical application came when I met a Buddhist teacher who told me to welcome and love my pain, not to get rid of them.
And so I did, and found my grief began to dissolve. Slowly, I felt happier and freer. I was overjoyed, thinking I had found the one “technique” I had been looking for – I finally understood what it meant to love yourself. In every other tradition I’ve explored, including psychotherapy, the basic method of emotional work is the same – welcome your emotions without acting on them. But soon afterwards I was introduced to the Sedona Method
Then I discovered this love was not love if it was selfish. I reached a road block months after. My grief and anger, although much lessened, strangely refused to change. My beliefs and egotistical mental positions were in the way. I had to be right. I had to win. In other words, I wanted to be free while still seeing them as wrong and evil. But it was a contradiction. As long as I judged others I could not be happy.
To undo these positions, I tried many ways, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy but eventually settled on The Work of Byron Katie. It was the swiftest way I’ve found of undoing all my beliefs, judgements and mental positions.
The old teachings – love your enemies – finally made sense. It was not some high-minded snobby ideal, it was strictly practical. As long as I saw someone as an enemy, I could not be free. Finding love and compassion for yourself and for others were one and the same.
And so that is my practice – two main methods of working with emotions and thoughts. There are always obstacles, and I always slip and fall. Guilt and shame often got in the way of unconditional self-acceptance. Some parts of myself I refuse to admit I have, let alone accept. Anger and righteousness still gets in the way of accepting and loving others.
In addition to the main methods, I use certain techniques to overcome these obstacles, such as the ones I blog about. But these supplementary methods come and go. Right now, I’m using Carl Jung’s shadow psychology and the dialogue / sub-personality work of Gestalt psychology, but as always they are just to let me “reach” previously denied places in my psyche with my two main practices. (Articles coming soon! I haven’t gotten good enough at them to write anything yet.)
I have no idea how much there is left. But the higher you go, the more glimpses of the end goal you see – being imperturbable and peaceful no matter what is happening around you.
And so it has all come full circle, except slightly expanded. It is still something selfish – if the end of suffering isn’t selfish, I don’t know what is. Except it isn’t quite so selfish – for you can’t find compassion for yourself if you don’t have compassion for others. Neither is it a high-minded, snobby ideal. It is practical, reachable goal.
And so that is my long-winded response. I would really love to hear your stories and contributions, in the comments below!
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Hi Albert,
This is a good question! On my blog ‘spirituality’ is the category for any post that is not about happiness, money, health or any of the other more ‘concrete’ categories, ha ha.
I guess for me the closest definition would be ‘what I believe about life’. It’s the journey towards happiness as you pointed out, or towards meaning.
All of life is spiritual to me, I learn from every experience and continue to grow and expand my consciousness through every step, I can’t say that any of it is not a step toward spirituality.
I like your list and how you see things indeed. That does express and cover most the bases.
Yes indeed, the word Spirituality is like the word God; there are way too many definitions. Language can be limiting in that manner.
I long as I can remember, I always have had a fascination with all levels of life, at 5 years old I can remember ask my mother questions about the consciousness (although I didn’t have the word to express fully what I was asking at that time). I first started growing and actually living a life of expanding my consciousness consciously when I started an experiment with sleep called: polyphasic sleep. I was sleeping only 1.5 hours in a 24 hour period (six 15 minute naps) and I did that for 273 days, I am on a new sleeping pattern now where I am only sleeping 45 minutes (three 15 minute naps) in a 24 hour period. Sleep like this opens the mind to many things and possibilities of creativeness. Ever since that day, I have been activity contributing to growth, which is why I started my website on this first place.
Thank you for sharing your story, it is always a pleasure to hear about someone else’s life on their path of growth
Hey Daphne and Nicholas, really good to have you guys here.
@ Daphne: It’s funny, isn’t it? That we have to work towards happiness (although some traditions say we already are it, just haven’t realised it).
@ Nick: Starting at 5? Holy cow. I wish I started that early. The polyphasic sleep sounds great… I’ve read a little on Steve Pavlina’s blog, and I’m going to read your experiments now
God has been impressing me with the scripture The great commandment-Love the Lord your God with all your heart all your mind and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself–if I can do that, i am good to go –sometimes it is hard to do that, as you know. I am christian, follow jesus and try to live a godly life! Why? Eternal salvation and help with the day to day stuff and help for my friends….
I got introduced to spirituality through this page.
I Thank you Albert for sharing this.
To me spirituality is simply finding out who you are.
I dont follow any path but I like listening to mooji.
Please try to check him out on youtube. He cuts away the traps of the mind and asks you: who is making the problem and who suffers from them?
I would say my spirituality is simply a Christ-centred one of faith, hope and love.
Thank you everyone. Great stuff, and I think it is wonderful that so many definitions include God and Jesus. I’ll go on YouTube to look for mooji now!
For me, spirituality begins by recognizing that a force exists in the universe outside of ourselves. Upon recognizing this, ones goal should be to remove obstacles in our lives that block access to this force. As we remove these obstacles, (e.g. ego, selfishness, hate)we draw closer to the essense of our being and begin to experience happiness. A happiness from inside that enables you to transend so much of the pettiness of our daily lives. It doesn’t make the hardships disappear but it enables one to ride the storm and get through to the other side.
For me, spirituality is all about connecting with the Divine Source. It’s a way of exploring love; both love of myself and love for all of humanity. I find that by consciously trying to be more loving, compassionate, and kind to everyone, I grow closer to Goddess. Ultimately, I am seeing to reunite with Her on the other side, and the best way of doing that (for me) is to connect lovingly with as many people on this side as possible.
To me, spirituality is creating a relationship with my own Divinity, until there is no separation between “me” and “God.” In my book, we’re the same, and we are only operating here in this dimension under an illusion of separation.
Having said that, there’s no goal in spiritual development. The more we strive for things like enlightenment, the more elusive they become.
I just enjoy the heck out of being the conscious creator of my experience!!!
This is a great topic, there are so many various and colorful views on spirituality.
Being in recovery, I had to come to terms with my own spirituality many years ago. And after a lot of searching, studying, and prayer I now worship as a Christian and also practice Zen Mind. Christianity is my faith and strength, Zen Mind helps me focus and maintain peace in a crazy world.
Thanks for the post, I love your blog.
For me, spirituality, is a verb not a noun. It is a paradoxical process of becoming. In order to let go we need to embrace. For example, in order to let go of resentment we need to embrace it with a tender, loving care, come to understand it, sense for its point of view, then it lets go of whatever it is holding onto.
My sense of spirituality is that is not just “the path” either. So far,my main pathways have been my Buddhist practice, Byron Katie (for wonderful and eye-opening reality checks)but most of all Focusing. Through Focusing I come into an intimate,caring, observant relationship with my inner landscape. I can process new living experiences and allow old material to unfold and heal without feeling like I am forcing the process. Through Focusing (www.transformative.com.au) I am increasingly in touch with my own inner wisdom and my self-care and self-trust is gowing.
That said, I trust there are an unlimited number of paths which lead to the same place. The place where we feel at ease with ourselves, neither enmeshed nor disconnected. Where we see things as they are and not through the singular filters of our mind thereby morphing the world to fit our story and beliefs. The place where our well-being is as important and no more important than anyone elses. The place where we honour all life and the world in which we live and our body-mind is open and awake, resilient and vulnerable, intuitive and logical, restful and alert, compassionate and wise.
And, “this place” has the quality of flow. We flow and are in the flow. We connect to the flow of life and it flows through us and to us.
You asked what is spirituality. This is something about the spirit. Then what is the spirit? Does it exist at all? There are many definitions of what is the Spirit. Some of them point it as the only one reality, other ones describe it as something that could not be touched, felt, categorized, absolutely inactive and unconscious about himself.
I personally do not need to know whether Spirit exists and what is the impact of His eventual existence on me.
As far as I know, one of the main doctrines in Buddhism, is that there is no any individual or universal Spirit. Instead, Emptiness is the imperturbable base of the existence. Last suits to me better and make me feel better. Nothing is eternal, except the never ending change.
Self acquaintance, personal development and all that stuff is something that might be called spirituality but only if you believe that Spirit exists. If you do not believe in the Spirit, it’s just a set of human activities you like to do and need to do.
Best Regards
Best handy-dandy (and circular) definition of spirituality I know: Whatever feeds your spirit – spirit being your sense of purpose.
Wow, interesting post and interesting comments. There really are many different definitions of spirituality. William James wrote about spirituality as being an individual experience, and in my observation, that seems to be true. I am in 12-step recovery, where it is suggested to find a God of your own understanding. It is also suggested to keep it simple. Those are the things that resonate with me, and that have helped me with addictive behavior for many years now. Thanks.
Being Loving, Kind and Integrous to all life, including myself is a key part I try to include in my Spirituality.
Hey, Albert have you heard of ‘A Course in Miracles’?
Ah man, what a great question.
I like your response to it, Albert.
For me it is everything. Literally. It’s about remembering who you are and then being that.
Realizing your true Self. Self-realization as it were.
It’s about going within to discover your true nature as that which is, beyond name and form. The realization that you are All That Is. Literally. Everything that is, is, and you are that.
This, that, no separation. Not even one thing. No thing. Just beingness.
You are that.
Wow this is a really great discussion. Thanks for sharing, everyone.
@Ashley: Funny, I was just discussing ACIM with a few of my spiritual-type friends. I’m working my way through the workbook slowly (on Day 10 only though), although the text just confuses me and I’m not reading it. What are your experiences?
My spiritual connection to god is strong and no one can break it.
The definition of Spirituality –
is THAT which cannot be broken.
I see spirituality as the evolvement of my consciousness to an awareness of who I really am at Source. Spirituality and religion is also not the same thing. Spirituality is also experiential knowing; an inner knowing that often does not come from books. Spirituality is also something hard to explain to people who are not willing to keep an open mind (and therefore these are the people who will think of me as nuts). I’ve often found it difficult to tell my friends what my recent spiritual inclinations are. Writing my comments here is providing me some clarity. Thanks for opening up this discussion!
What a wonderful discussion!
For me spirituality is
TO BE ONE WITH EXISTENCE AND LIVE IN THIS AWARENESS.
For me it is the process of merging ‘my seperate entity’ into ‘void’.
It is devine romance between ‘me’ and ‘Nothingness’
Thanks again everyone. It’s really great to be able to discuss it like this.
Your web page doesn’t correctly work in safari browser
Fabulous post and comments! Spirituality, to me, is about finding my true core and discovering how it relates to EVERYTHING. We’re all on the same journey, heading towards the same destination – just taking different steps and wearing different shoes.
@HauseNusGat: Thank you! Can you give me more details, as I just used Safari for PC and saw no problems? Are you on the Mac? I didn’t have a chance to test it on the Mac.
@ Irene: Yes that’s exactly what I noticed too from this discussion! Some of the replies were from traditions I wasn’t familiar with, and yet I realised we were talking about the same thing.
Love your work, Albert. I’ve been lurking for many months and have learned so much of real, lasting value. Thank you.
My answer is consciousness. Full awareness of what IS.
Mike, that is a big compliment, thanks heaps!
My spirituality is that I do what ever Albert tells me to do
Well, as tongue-in-cheek as that sounds, um, that’s actually pretty close to the truth. I was raised without any spirituality at all; my parents were recovering Catholics who became hardcore cynics during Vietnam.
Long story made short: necessity is the mother of invention, and spiritual necessity swooped in and struck when I least expected it. …But why reinvent the wheel
That’s where Albert came in.
I knew nothing… I had an academic understanding of the ‘Tao, but that was about it. I knew the ancient Western Greeks, from college, but very little of their work can be considered spiritual …And then, this abrupt and desperate *need* imposed itself upon my life, and I was completely unprepared.
Although, I’ll mention that I had a dream that completely clarified the puzzle of this being “the best of all possible worlds”. Simply stated, like it or not, this is the world that works. If mountain lions couldn’t occasionally eat hikers, we never would have evolved beyond tadpoles. There’s more to it… the feeling I had, that woke me, was intense, like waterboarding heroin. The actual dream had me literally vibrating for hours afterward.
So, I re-read the Tao, read the Secret, read Power of Now, and read our glorious benefactor, Al. From the Secret, I learned that positive thinking feels much better than the alternative, and that’s good enough, even if super-models don’t rain from the sky. And…I manifested an Allen-wrench
Hey, it’s a start. But really, I learned that feeling good is enough, even if some things don’t make complete sense. And, that there are some classic Western stepping stones, to help a born and raised cynic find a path to the mystic. Briefly, the path to the Secret runs through George Berkeley, …but I’m giving too much away 
Pow/Now is an interesting book. While reading it, there were times when I was intensely aware of the pages, the ink, the time it took for the specs of black to form words and travel from the book, across 15 inches of space into my eyes and head, to form words and sentences and ideas. Now I’m more aware of the impact of the images around me, and why something like feng shui could really be important. I took off my head-phones at the gym, and just listen to my mantra while the weights go up and down.
Big Toe, Wow – that is a really big compliment. Really. Like wow…. thank you for sharing your story as well. And isn’t it interesting how we both tried to manifest some super-models? Haha!
@al:
I think everyone goes through their “supermodel” stage when reading the Secret. There is a subliminal secret to the Secret though; when you’re actualized enough, your goals and desires change away from purely tangible things, which makes the manifestations a little easier. But still, the Allen-wrench was cool.
Seriously, the old posts on forgiveness, ego, and managing the monkey-mind were really great.
Ah, lovely question.
For me, spirituality is conciousness. I am spiritual anytime I look not from my eyes, but from my body, from me.
When I think behind the thoughts, that’s spirituality for me.
And creativity, well, that’s when those thoughts get expressed.
What a great theme! You almost have to wish everyone was sitting around the camp fire for the discussion. Here is my two cents: When we begin to mature in life and to define ourselves, we come to a crossroads of sorts. We feel pressure to stand for something, to pick a side, to find where we fit in with others. All of our questions we have had from childhood come into play, as well as our conditioning. I was never satisfied with the readymade answers that were given to me. Nor was I content to do what others were doing by forgetting about it and focusing on the day to day. I think it boils down to whether we want to accept someone else as our authority, or let our own experience be our authority. It’s too risky for most people, they don’t want the responsibility. It can be scary to go it on your own. Without the responsibility though, there is no freedom. Besides, why should someone else’s experience be more valid in our lives than our own? If we do decide to remain open, to be our own authority, to see life as it is, and to take the responsibility on ourselves, then we step onto a path. A path filled with danger, mystery, risk, paradox, and possibly even answers. If there is something more to life than eating and reproducing, we mean to find out for ourselves. Are we innately good, evil, or indifferent? Who are we really? To me this meant sorting out what wasn’t me, sometimes referred to as the negative way. Removing all the things that have been tacked on by society, culture, the educational system, propaganda, etc. Not to mention the parts of my identity that may be driven by biological urges to survive and to reproduce. Is there anyone left? If I don’t have a stick behind me or a carrot in front of me, what are my motivations to be good? That is to say, if I don’t consider the fear of hell, or the payoff of heaven, will I still love others and have compassion? Can I be content without choosing sides of belief or dis-belief, in matters that cannot be known? Is it possible to truly know thyself? This is what spirituality is for me, being my own authority, my own author.
@ big toe: Thank you so much. I sometimes feel a pressure to put out an “epic” post like those old posts, but I can’t
@ Alex: You know what I’ve been reading spiritual books for the past couple years and have never heard it expressed so wonderfully simply before.
@ JJP: Hey buddy! This discussion thread is fantastic, I really liked your response. You know I was talking to a friend about the day-to-day.
I used to look back to the times when I was just sleep-walking and think that was a horrible existence. But he told me, in his paradoxical Zen way, that what if that sleep-walking type existence was also it?
Like the Zen saying: “Before enlightenment, chop wood carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood carry water.”
I don’t know if anyone is still reading this discussion, but I just got something in my RSS that touched on much of what JJP was saying:
http://kentonwhitman.com/2009/.....-collapse/
Spirituality to me is everything, the connectiveness to all life and everything exists in consciousness.
Every moment is spiritual, as everything in the world is all truly amazing, magical and the experience of consciousness..
For me, spirituality is not about anything in particular. It is more about opening oneself up to the full nature of who we are. So to limit itself to, say, perceptions of God, would only be a small part of that. It encompasses being fully present in sniffing a flower, as if for the first time. It encompasses channeling and communicating with other planes of existence. It encompasses being more expansive and compassionate when interacting with business associates.
It is, all in all, about going beyond perceptual limitations.
Timon and Matthew, beautiful stuff
Excellent post! I recently asked a similar question on my blog. One reader named Ian left me this great comment. “Spirituality is the journey. All religions are just sign posts. The trouble with religion is that if you only focus on the sign posts, you miss out on experiencing the journey. The good thing about spirituality is that you can pick your own path for your journey and don’t necessarily need any sign posts”
Thanks for sharing, I will be back again soon.
Hey Jonathan, good to have you here.
Thanks for that quote.
Wow what a good thought worth to ponder daily. Truly correct “Love restricted is not love”. Love should be “free to choose, no restrictions whatsoever”.
Thanks RG.
I think a discussion like this can go on forever. To me spirituality is looking inward first and then consciously outward. Recognizing that everything is one and inter-connected. That the universe is multi-dimensional and infinite. With that my comment has come full circle.
I consider myself spiritual, but not religious. I believe that all religions are correct. I believe that we all believe in the same things in the way that is the easiest to comprehend to each of us and that ultimately we all worship one entity of ‘energy’ that we all go into when we die.
I believe that we all manipulate this energy in the way that is the most influential for us. For examples, Christians pray and in that way they manipulate the energy of the world. When a ‘miracle’ happens, they are the ones who caused it, but it is easier for them to comprehend that a higher being such as God did so.
Theistic Satanists worship this energy through Satanic rituals and when those rituals take effect they credit Satan for making them happen when it was actually their own doing.
“I believe that all religions are correct.” That is a great statement. I think at their core they all teach the same thing, except they use different terminology and approaches due to the era, the speaker’s preferences, etc, etc. Theistic Satanists? Wow, I gotta go read up on that now.
Albert,
Thanks so much for you wonderful insights and honesty. I’m thankful for “stumbling” onto your blog! I think what this all boils down to is just love, isn’t it? Loving others, loving ourselves, creating love. I’m happy to be on this “spiritual journey”.
Hi Stef, I’m happy to have you here too
Thanks for your comment.
I’ve come to understand spirituality as simply response to life. My physical body responds to the physical world around me – cold, heat, wind and water. I fall down and my body’s response is to bruise, break or bleed. My mind, or self, or soul, or spirit (pick as you will) is capable of responding as well. I respond to truth and deception, meaning and beauty, grief, drama, despair and fear. Spirituality as I see it, is really just awareness of, and response to, all those many things beyond our physical experience.
Sex is a physical thing, but it can certainly be spiritual too – joining two beings with non-physical bonds that are painful to tear apart.
You can develop a habit of inattention, and therefore become “less spiritual” or you can seek purpose in every moment, find joy in dark and quiet spaces, rejoice in truth and lust after compassion.
Being “spiritual” does not necessarily mean ascribing to manmade religious systems, but chances are pretty good that the God who is there is not silent. I cannot accept the idea that *all* belief systems are equal, or true, or for that matter, beneficial- the logic behind that kind of thinking is twisted as most religions directly contradict another at vital points.
I love discovering truth, but I also realize my tendency to make &*#! up in order to justify or console myself. I know this… somewhere out beyond the reaches of known space, something is true and it would be true regardless of which humans know it or believe it.
Although I find myself flowing with the Tao quite often, I also cannot accept that evil somehow belongs. Evil has been found in my own heart acting as a native but it is not – it is usurper. My response to evil will not be acceptance, but anger, hatred and revolt.
So shall I find spiritually in the smile on a dog? Perhaps yes… and in petals bathing in sunlight, and in sparrows mating on the wind and in a shared milkshake and fries. I will also find spirituality in the death of my friend, the hunger of my neighbor, the lonely cries of my elders if I am aware and I respond.
Shea, that is a very beautiful post. You do have the heart of a poet. Thank you for sharing that, really!
Everthing involve Deus, but my Espirituality is Spiritism.
=)
Thanks Edgar!
Ramana Maharshi once used the analogy of a projector and a screen. The the images seen on the screen are the images of your life, all of which is made up of light. The screen itself is the window in which you see the world. We get taken in so deeply by these images that we forget that we are the screen in which the whole drama plays. Forms obscure reality, which is ever-present, from our perception. Then we go to science and it says that all objects are in fact made up of 99% empty space. This to me means that we can see through the world of fluctuating forms to see the infinate eternal. We need only pay attention to find it. Seeing the world as it is rather that how we conceptualize it to be, is a great place to start.
Most thoughts are made up of words, word in themselves all have definitions (and typically they are different depending on who you ask) made up of more words. So no matter how hard you look at the world of conceptualization (ideas, words, thoughts) it always goes deeper and deeper, more words to describe words.
This completely overlooks the fact that none of this can exist without us to perceive it. Words cannot be if not for the mouths that speak them or the hands that write them. Particles and matter cannot be proven to exist without a perceiving consciousness to catagorize and name them.
Just a unique way in which the universe, (god, life, the divine, spirit, the source) experiences itself.
One with the universe… life doesn’t seem so bad after all.
That is a beautiful description Dustin. Thank you for that comment.
In fact I was studying the physiological side of human perception. It’s interesting that, as far as my very limited knowledge goes, scientists still don’t know how perception works beyond a certain point. What is really out there? What are we really seeing and touching and hearing? “Who” is perceiving it? Many parts have been clarified and investigated, but there are so many blank spots. Maybe one day they’ll conclude that there isn’t any “one” to perceive any “thing”.
Loved reading your post on Cognitive Behavioral thinking and about going deep and uncovering layers. I believe that every person has their own journey and the call of the heart to follow.I’ve just begun to creep towards spirituality, which for me means being acutely aware and conscious of myself and my presence, like the absolutely super-white clarity of light..the ‘sharpen’ tool of photography so to speak. It’s exploring, constantly searching, it’s a journey – a challenging one, but exciting all the same and full of wonder – the wonder of being an ‘onion’ and peeling off layers to reach the white centre
My hugest block in this is the ‘me’ feeling that creeps up, preventing me from enjoying the moment, critiquing and analyzing even while participating, and getting full of myself whenever I or people around me decide ‘hey, that’s good’ as in, self-praise without sometimes being aware of it. Spirituality right now for me means trying to find the balance, that equilibrium that allows me to participate fully, without reservations, with consciousness but without that ‘I’ feeling that’s always there like a shadow. (for instance, even while I’m writing this, I’m thinking, ‘wow I think so well/this word sounds so good’) – it’s a huge struggle but I’m trying at least to develop a consciousness whenever I’m doing it so that could be the first step. I read this awesome story of a sage surrounded by his students on his deathbed and even as he lay dying, he was praying – to impress his students about how holy he was.I fully know that feeling.
Thanks Priyanka – I remember that dying sage story too (although it might have been slightly different), and it has remained strong in my memory as well.
Very interesting to read all the different points of view on this. I’ve found that everyones spiritual path is entirely individual.
For me it begins by turning off the inner chatter of the mind, as I like to call it “Zen Out” in whatever particular thing you are doing. I’ve read many books and listened to many people on this subject but in the end it’s entirely personal. No one can walk your path except for yourself. What is true for you might not be for somebody else.
A simple example for me, swimming. At first I tried counting lengths and it was great but then one day I just let go and began to listen to the rhythm of my breathing, the beat of my heart, the flow of water around me and the movement of my body. I had stopped thinking and just was and it was beautiful, at one with myself.
Now I could be walking, singing, climbing, cooking, music that touches your soul or anything else and I try tap into myself and the endless energy of the universe and am at peace. No books, no preachers just me and the path I’m on.
My journey has just begun and am happy to grow and learn along the way.
I’m finding it difficult to express this in words so I hope I’ve made some sense
@Dustin, for me thats bang on.
@Shea, beautifully put.
@Albert thanks for all your wisdom.
Peace and love to all my brothers and sisters.
Snow Crash, that is really a beautiful description. Sounds like you’re well on your way, states you have just described are very rare and very much sought after. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the compliment Alex, I’m still a work in progress and hope to be so for the rest of my life
Your site gets better and better as I read through the articles!
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