The True Meaning of Spirituality

The title of this article "The True Meaning of Spirituality" implies that there is a not so true or FALSE meaning of spirituality. There is indeed a FALSE meaning of spirituality and we get rid of this first so that we can focus on the true meaning of spirituality.

Spirituality is not spirits, although both words contain the word "spirit". Spirits is a system of beliefs based on the works of Rhyolite Leon Denial Rival who used the name Allan Ardency. These works reported stances he pointed as originating from incorporeal intelligence or spirits. In spirituality we are not dealing with stances or communication with spirits.

Spirituality is not spiritualism. Spiritualism is the system of beliefs and opinions about the dead communicating with the living through mediums. Spirituality is about the living more than about the dead. Spirituality is not the practice of communicating with the dead.

Spirituality is not supernaturalism which is the system of belief in beings superior to human beings such as God and angels. In spirituality we are dealing more with human beings rather than with beings above them. Spirituality can be compatible with atheism, the belief that there is no God.

Spirituality is not at all related to witchcraft although this practice involves the use of spiritual powers, purposely to harm others for one's own benefit.

Spirituality has nothing to do with Satanism, although Satan is a spirit. The task of spirituality is not to propagate or combat Satanism. It does not deny his existence, but it does not deal principally with how to deal with his works.

Spirituality is not related to the art or practice of exorcism, the expulsion of Satan or his demons from a person.

Nor is spirituality related even remotely to magic or sorcery, the practice of manipulating the consciousness to obtain a desired objective.

Spirituality is not engaging in the practice of psychic phenomena, such as Extra Sensory Powers or ESP, telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, channeling, Ouija boards and other means.

Those are the FALSE meanings of spirituality. They all deal with spiritual matters but not in the way we know what real spirituality is.

The true meaning of spirituality is that it is way of life that gives proper value to the spiritual dimension of our existence and creation.

This means that we acknowledge the primary of the spiritual in our life, its essentiality, and its finality, and act accordingly.

We acknowledge the primacy of the spiritual in our life. This means that we are certain that we came from a spiritual source, one that is not perceivable by our senses. This spiritual source has real connection with us even now and is really in charge of our life. We cannot get out of this connection with our spiritual source. If we are believers in God, we call this God. If we are atheists but live a life of spirituality, we may call this source Ultimate Energy.

Secondly, we acknowledge the essentiality of the spiritual in our life. This means that what is most important in our life is not material things or money, fame or position of authority, but the possession of spiritual qualities which make us more human. For us to be human is to be spiritual. Spirituality is an essential component of our humanity. Without spirituality we are no longer human beings. It is that essential.

Thirdly, we acknowledge the finality of the spiritual. Our goal in life is a spiritual goal, not the accumulation of riches or material rewards such as lands and buildings. The goal of our life is union with the Ultimate Spirit. In this our real and genuine happiness consists.

Not only do we acknowledge these three fundamental truths of spirituality. We act accordingly. In acting accordingly we do not have a problem because the spirit in us makes us, as it were, flow with his waves and gently pushes us to act accordingly.

Jose Bulla, a lay Carmelite, wants to help you attain a higher degree of spirituality. He is a Carmelite format, helping other Carmelites in their spiritual growth. Prior to this work he taught philosophy, theology or religious studies at Notre Dame University and Gentian College in Catawba City, Philippines. To learn about the various aspects of spirituality and how you can benefit from these click this site http://spirituality4now.blogspot.com/

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Developing Your Spirituality - Basic Exercises

What is spirituality, and why and how would someone want to develop it?

Spirituality is nothing less than a conscious awareness of your own basic nature, which is essential sprit, and not material. Why to develop it?

We develop our spirituality in order to bring ourselves closer to all creation and the creator. How to develop it? The answer is easily within you.

Considering the Creation

Perhaps there is not a man (or woman) alive or that has ever lived that has not marveled at one time or another at various signs of creation.

Creation being the entire observable and unobservable phenomenon in our universe.

The macro cosmos (larger creation; the stars and our earth) or the micro cosmos, the great miniature universe within ourselves; for example our cells, and our structure and its function.

A simple consideration of its complexity and the number of exact combinations that would have to be met for life to exist can bring the greatest skeptic and atheist to their knees.

Impossibility of Creation

Physicists are now at a basic common agreement that the principles of Quantum physics are about as close as we can understand the mechanics of creation.

They have come to the conclusion the entire universe is made up of thinking (intelligent) non-stuff (particles or waves) with no matter or mass. They further equate this non-stuff with thought. So our entire universe is only thought?

Creation then is impossible. Yet with our intelligent non-stuff and the impossible number of co-incidences required for creation (yet alone "life") to exist, we have our universe in its entire splendor.

Spirituality in our Everyday Lives

We live, we are told, in a material world. Yet, our material world bounds with so-called miracles, miracle workers, and contradiction. These are no more than signposts to indicate the "real" is not so real as we suppose.

Taking that for granted, we must develop our own spirituality so we become closer to what is real rather than what is not.

Do we fix our consciousness on a creation made up of thinking non-stuff, or do find our own basic nature, align ourselves with that, and start to harmonize ourselves with our basic nature?

Certainly the latter is correct.

Exercise for Developing Your Spirituality

Sitting in a quiet place, and in a comfortable position, close your eyes, and watch your breath. Watch mentally the air coming in and out.

After a few moments, and when you are relaxed, imagine you are free to travel wherever you wish. To another city, to the moon, to the stars.

Feel yourself free in this travel and marvel at the beauty and perfection of the creation all around you.

Try to feel allied to creation, and be a casual observer. Let your imagination run where it will. Let your imagination be a sort of cosmic gypsy, and wander where your imagination takes you.

Do not force your thoughts, let them flow of themselves.

Sitting as long as you can, slowly bring your consciousness back to your here and now. When in the here and now, consider the greatness of creation and the creator, whatever religion you have, use your own zymology.

When you arise from this exercise, your spirituality will have been enhanced.

The more your ponder and wonder, the more your spirituality will develop. Your own beliefs will be reinforced, and you will see even your mundane life improved by this harmonization with creation

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Two Qualities In A Person and The Spiritual Breakthrough In Between

Every one of us consists of two contrasting qualities: darkness and light, evening and morning. These states represent our spiritual ascents and descents. The entry into spirituality is found in between them.

Understanding "Day-Night" in Its Spiritual Meaning

When the notions of "day-night" and "morning- evening" are mentioned in Genesis, know that they refer to your changing states. The goal in spiritual progress is to find ways to keep the descents short-lived, and swiftly shift to the next phase--one of ascent, of morning.

The secret of good and bad states can be defined by proximity to the Creator: when I am close to His quality of Love, I enjoy a state of ascent, and feel good. The farther I am from this Law, the more I suffer a state of descent, and feel bad.

Although I always look to attribute my despair to corporeal factors, these justifications are FALSE. The situation appears that way to me from my uncorrected state, when the root--the force that's really pulling the strings--is concealed from me. Thus, I find myself immersed in my "I," in my egoism, instead of trying with all my might to come out of it.

The truth is that no matter how hard I try, I am powerless to escape. However, this fervent striving is what leads me to the true prayer, found not in the mind but in the heart. This is precisely the prayer the Creator wants from me, one that He answers instantly and without fail.

Prayer as a Demand from the Heart

A "prayer" is a plea, a demand that is born in my heart. It is "inscribed" in it, rather than read in a prayer book. A prayer is my desperate plea for help, for deliverance, an appeal to the Creator, not to abandon me to the bondage of egoism.

When does such a prayer arise? Only when I come to realize that I cannot escape the ego's deadly grip by myself.

That is precisely the prayer that the Torah teaches me. It tells me that all these states are necessary for the development of my soul. I cannot feel an ascent if I haven't experienced descent. Hence, together they comprise the whole spiritual desire; together they are "evening and morning," descent and ascent which unite into "one day."

Recognition of Evil Leading to Spirituality

The separation of "Heaven" and "Earth"--light thoughts from dark thoughts--is called the "recognition of evil." It is a state where you clearly realize that within you lies evil that must be corrected, or you will never reach the spiritual world. And if the desire to obtain the spiritual world lives within your heart, haunting you, you will do whatever it takes to cleanse yourself of this evil. However, your first step is to expose and recognize the evil within.

Recognition of evil happens by studying Cabala books written by Cabalists at high spiritual levels. These books contain a special luminescence that you invariably draw by trying to understand the meaning of the texts. Shortly into the study, you begin to feel how opposite you are from this luminescence, which represents selfless love and bestowal.

You want to merge with the Light. You make that your goal, you know that it's possible, but how do you cleanse yourself and become similar to the Light?!

If you continue to apply to yourself all that these books speak of, if you try to realize that they are written for you and about you, you will feel the world around you beginning to change.

This path is fraught with inevitable states of descent. But gradually you will learn how to analyze which of your qualities pertains to the spiritual, and which to the animal. Your recognition of evil will grow until it becomes absolute. That will be the real breakthrough into the spiritual dimension, when you will be granted a remedy.

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Spirituality And Fanaticism - No, They Are Not The Same!

There are people who humbly say that they are highly religious. There is yet another group of people who claim proudly that religion means nothing to them. The second class is called Atheists. But this article is definitely not about them. Here we are going to scrutinize only the first class- those who claim to be AA€˜pious and god fearing€™.
God fearing? Did we hear it right? But ISA€™t that just the opposite of what a religious person should be? Should€™t he/ she be god loving instead? The answers to all these questions hide in one simple concept. A concept which dives into the difference between being spiritual and being superstitious and fanatic. The first group approach religion with the right mind set. They question and learn through experience before accepting or rejecting anything. For them god is love, protection, knowledge and enlightenment which leads to ultimate salvation. They love god, rather than fearing him... IA€™m sorry IT (Yes, obviously the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient god cannot be a mere human HIM or HER. It is a power way beyond GENDER, class, race, symbols and rituals. The second group discussed above, who can be rightly labeled as superstitious and fanatic try to force religion upon oneself and others by blindly following and aping things. For them god is a dictator with a heavy ego, who is hell bent upon finding small mistakes to punish them. They fear god, and in most cases for such people, god is a man with human qualities like ego and anger. If at all they realize otherwise, their hypocrisy still OA€™t accept the fact. They just prefer being stuck in their world of meaningless rituals, fearing to come out and look up to the true enlightening power called god, which is nothing but pure love. The presence of such people in large numbers in societies has resulted in the formation of a large number of religions. They generally have two reasons for forming or becoming a part of a particular religion or religious outfit. Either they are too scared to question things, or they prefer using religion, religious laws and values etc as weapons to be imposed upon other to subjugate and exploit them. Such fanatics behave as if they have acquired the copyright for any particular religion and IA€™s values. They then come up with new religion based political outfits and new laws every other day according to their own convenience, and try to impose them upon others in the society, calling them AA€˜cultural and religious€˜ values.
So much said about those who live in the darkness, let us take an oath that we would not become one among them, but instead follow the path of those truly spiritual and proud people like Swami Vivian, Guru Nana, Swami China and Scree Maryland Guru among others who truly approached and found god through the right kind of questioning, learning and reasoning. Let us declare from the heart that we would follow their footsteps.
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