What is spirituality? (a shallow dive)
When we start our spiritual journey, what exactly are we searching for?
As humans we have an innate drive to understand things and make sense of our world. But the truth is, all we can do is say what we believe to be true, at this moment, with the information available to us. Since there’s always more to learn and we can never see the entire picture, we’re left to put our faith in something, but what? God, science, ourselves? Our brains would prefer something that “EXPLAINS” it all. But again, we all just take ideas, try to “prove” them and then believe what we’ve learned.
The point I’m trying to make is that we don’t know shit, we just choose to believe something. And those beliefs become the foundation for our lives. Not just our belief in God but our beliefs in everything.
So when we begin to explore that something bigger than us, we’re looking for answers where none really exist. At least not in the sense that there are definite one size fits all irrefutable truths. The answers we’re seeking are the ones that resonate with us. According to Judith E. Glaser with the Harvard Business Review, our brains are wired to release dopamine when we think we’re right about something. We’re desperately seeking agreement and rightness. Being right feels good, it feels comforting and safe. And when it comes to discovering the meaning of life we’re going to choose something that feels right, that make US feel right.
What is spirituality?
Wikipedia provides these curated insights.
a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape of man"…[note 2] oriented at "the image of God"[4][5].
Modern usages tend to refer to a subjective experience of a sacred dimension[10] and the "deepest values and meanings by which people live",[11][12]
* Koenig et al.: "There is no widely agreed on definition of spirituality today".[2]
* Cobb et al.: "The spiritual dimension is deeply subjective and there is no authoritative definition of spirituality".[3] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality]
The entry goes on to say that spirituality has expanded beyond religion to “refer to a wider range of experiences”.
Is it any wonder that spirituality is confusing? Even those who study it are hard pressed to clearly define it.
I think most of us have a sense of what spirituality is. Everything from organized religion to Wicca can be considered spirituality, and since it covers such a broad range of ideas, we are left to define it for ourselves.
I’ll share my sense of it. To me, spirituality is my belief in the unseen something greater than myself that connects me to all of life, and specifically to love. I like the terms Source, Universe, and God. However, I am also open to other terms like Goddess, the Quantum Field, etc.
I identify with spirituality as a set of beliefs and practices that ultimately lead me to a deep-felt sense of connection with my truest self, with the truth of others and with all particles in the universe. My spirituality connects me to everything and everyone. It’s what I believe, what I feel, and how I live in integrity with my soul.
It’s all about connection baby and about feeling. Not feelings like emotions, rather the sensations occurring in my body.
Many have stated that the goal of spirituality is enlightenment. Enlightenment has its own slew of ambiguous definitions, but I relate to it as the ever-growing lightness I feel in my body and my mind as I continue on my spiritual path. And like many things in life, our spiritual progress is not bound by our time in practice but by our experiences and how deeply we’re willing to explore, learn and excavate that which separates us from Source, love, ourselves, and one another. I also believe it is not a hierarchy or like a set of stairs where you start at the bottom and end at the top. We are all on a unique spiritual journey and we’re here to learn together, with each other, from each other. The journey looks more like squiggles on a page where we run around learning new things in a very nonlinear way.
This is what I consider to be the work. The true work of our lives is to jump into the deep undercurrent running through us whispering there’s something more.
That voice inside is always pointing to the next learning, the next depth, the next healing and the next truth. It moves us into love and compassion for ourselves and others. It helps us unwind the pain of our past. And it helps us envision a new future, one in which we are truly connected, engaged, sovereign and enlightened.
Your spirituality may include your participation in an organized religion, currently mine does not. It did in the past which is a story for another time. One of the most freeing things I ever read was in the book The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani. He suggests making up your own religion if there’s not one that fits you and says that his beliefs are a combination of many different ideologies. It was the first time I heard something that fully aligned with my own spiritual beliefs. I love so many concepts from Buddhism, Taoism, Muslim, Christianity, Native Cultures and many more. Yet I never had a framework that was inclusive of them all. For me, spirituality is that umbrella. It’s the place where I can collect new beliefs, shed old ones that no longer serve. Spirituality is not a set of rigid rules to follow, it’s a connection from my heart to yours, from my heart to the heart of all that is. It’s fluid, like me and it feels like home always, not like a place of shame and guilt. It’s freedom, it’s joy, it’s pain and it’s purpose. It’s basking in the wonders of manifestation and miracles.
Spirituality is…
How that sentence ends is up to you!
If you believe you’re experiencing a spiritual awakening and would like some support, reach out for a free chat, coaching session or Angel Reiki healing session! I’d love to explore with you.