I’ve watched many many people go through their machinations with spirituality. They are looking to explore it, but the explosion of information that is now available is so incredibly overwhelming that it leaves most with a lack of direction and focus.
The world today has embraced the phrase “I’m spiritual, but not religious.” A total knee-jerk reaction towards the all-encompassing “accept-our-way-of-life-beyond-all-others” world religions that have often flexed their authoritative arm, bringing with it an incredible lack of freeflow in spiritual thought, as any exploration is confined to the dogmatic box of the religion. This attracts those that appreciate such things, but frightens those who shy away.
So many are left with a vague idea of what is spiritual, but not any practical appreciation or application. Many are left with a simple issue, whether they actually know to address it or not: “What is the difference between fantasy and spirituality?” ” What really is spiritual?”
There are many definitions of spirituality we can look at and research, though my favorite is that spirituality is simply “our experiential walk through life.”
Our “experiential walk.” This cleans up alot of extraneous parts of our experience. It leaves out the physical, the psychological, the material, and the social. And yet it somehow includes them. Our experiential walk is made up of 3 portions: our sense of self, where our attention is at the moment, and what acts on us to make up the details and changes in our experience. So while we can disregard the physical as being “our experience”, if our attention is in the physical world at that moment, then our spiritual experience is there as well. Each moment of our experience makes up our walk as a whole. This is the starting point for spirituality.
How that experience is guided is the next angle to approach. That guidance may come from other individuals, from a book or DVD, or from the self. There are benefits to each, and drawbacks. The danger is that if the information that is at the root of the spiritual practice is not grounded in some real aspect of reality, it quickly flies off into fantasy. It easily leaves the realm of being useful and life enhancing, and instead splits the person further from reality, taking them into the perception of higher levels of spirit, yet disconnecting them from their healthly walk.
A spiritual path that is not grounded in reality is fantasy. The more reality that one stands and immerses themselves in, the more one can explore the true possibilities of spirituality, the possibilities where they can expand themselves and become more.
If your practice at its very root is based on assumptions and fantasies, merging with reality will be very difficult. Reality abides by sets of rules and laws, and if a person is not grounded in those rules suffering occurs. As step #2 on the Take Giant Steps Steps Ladder™ states “Reality wins… every time.”
Once we determine reality the best we can we are able to merge with it and be in oneness with it. From that place we can begin to explore the possibilities that spirituality has to offer, bringing our experience of reality to higher levels, with less suffering and without the possibility of things falling apart. Anything created that reduces suffering is useful. The greater the “less suffering” created the more viable the practice. Choose your directions, your teachers, and your practice wisely with this is mind.
