Spirituality - a personal view

ladybirdirl

I was reading a thread recently in this forum (can't find link to it now sorry) about spirituality & what it means.Some really articulate & eloquent views expressed which got me thinking

Recently in taking stock & trying to put pieces together around my own path I've come to a conclusion around spirituality, I'd welcome any views people have.

1. I do think the best way to experience spirituality is to observe it in the people in your world.

2. My view on spirituality is now fairly simple. I did spend a lot of time doing all the courses,reading the right books etc but then I realised that I was going the wrong way.

Now I try to live spirituality by doing the following

I try to take each day & each situation as it comes. I try to not associate a positive or negative connotation with anything in the situation, I try to live through it & from the living through it I can create a set of my responses as opposed to a set of defined responses. For example, my Dad is gravely ill, I try not to associate that as totally negative, I try to look at it in the way that as I go through it I learn something more about my Dad (his heart is as big as a lion's) & I learn about myself (I'm not anyway as tough or as detached as I like to think & I do panic with bad news)

The benefits of this approach

1. I can be vulnerable, I don't have to fit to what I think a 'standard' response to the situation should be. I didn't allow myself to do that before

2. I get to formulate my own version of a spiritual life for me

3. I don't ( I hope) put my own impressions of the need I think I must meet onto anyone else in my world. I can see that their response may be different but no less valid than mine.

The risks of this approach

1. Being vulnerable

2. Making mistakes & reverting to being defensive/overly positive/overly negative

What's interesting though is that I've quickly got to the point where I recognise if I'm falling back & I can say out loud or to myself ' I'm doing the wrong thing here, sorry about that' or people can point out to me things I do & I'm now more able to see this.

This is a very simplistic view, I'm not talking about cosmos,deity,universe or purpose, I'm truly just talking about surviving day to day in this world of action & reaction.


LB

Oryx

Why should it be anything other than simplistic? We look out at this world from the one pair of eyes our whole lives, the world rolls on around us, the only thing we truly have the power to change is what is within us.

I agree that spirituality is not about reaching out, its about reaching in. For me, its about understanding how I react to things, not about how things affect me.

Its also about recognising in myself the eternal and divine aspect of me, call it spirit, soul, divine light or Dust*. When you begin to see that within yourself, you also begin to see how you share that same divinity with everyone else. It changes how you feel about people and how they behave.

Spirituality has taught me that life is a journey, where we discover and learn about ourselves. Regardless of what occurs, good or bad, all are lessons that teach us and develop the depth of who we are.

Unfortunately I have yet to reach nirvana, the minute I think I have this blessed state sussed, I get cut up in traffic, and forget. But its about continuing to go back and remind yourself, so that the peace stays with you more, (and you get road rage less).

Anyone Ive ever spoken to who was strong and very spiritual, has been through the roughest times, wouldnt change any of it, because they are stronger from it, they learned from it. Youve got to look at hard times as a lesson and not shrink from them, or anaesthetise them with distractions or addictions. Hard to do, in fact I fail at this all the time. But then I remember and try again.


*forgive me, Ive been reading Philip Pullman.