Be Spiritual, Then

Be Spiritual, Then

Quickly, I am going to cover a few ideas about being "spiritual". What it is and isn't. And what's useful and what's useless.

Spirituality as Holism

First, being religious is not necessarily being spiritual but it is being religious, for sure. Holism is the best definition of being spiritual which means:

"theory that parts of a whole are in intimate interconnection, such that they cannot exist independently of the whole, or cannot be understood without reference to the whole, which is thus regarded as greater than the sum of its parts. Holism is often applied to mental states, language, and ecology."

Now, the question you need to ask yourself is, Who am I? What am I here to do? How can I be a healthy part of a larger system? What does an unhealthy part of a larger system look like? And so on.

There are various "spaces" for your analysis and introspection, including relationships to yourself; relationships to others; relationships to the world (environment) around you.

The great Buddhist teacher, Ken Wilber, delineated several areas for fine tuning in his writings, from a person's interior (mind, emotions, physical health, etc.) to the outer (relationships, technology, career,etc.). He called this his AQAL model. Which means All Quadrants, All Levels. Which is pretty bad-ass if you ask me.

Science is always an attempt to delineate how things work or might work. Once these are known, they become the rules. To be spiritual or ecological, means getting yourself in sync with the rules so that you are a healthy part of a larger system.

Spirituality Works

Countries: There are some fantastic examples of ecology at work. Right now, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and other countries are taking stray dogs off of the street, declaring some towns automobile free and are recycling so much trash they have run out of trash to recycle. These moves won't stop global warming, stop animal cruelty or keep millions of pounds of plastic from being dumped into the ocean, but they are the intelligent, spiritual thing to do.

Communities: Religious communities come to mind and some have accomplished already what some highly educated philosophers and policy makers cannot. Take for example a religious group like the Jehovah's Witnesses.  This is a group of people that has virtually no drug addicts. No one doing hard time. A divorce rate that is closer to three percent than the national average which is closer to fifty percent. No suicides. No one taking prescription meds that doesn't honestly need it. Very, very few cases of alcoholism and so on. Absolutely no hate crimes or hate speech. No hate crimes or irresponsible behavior against the earth itself or wildlife.This is not a group of a hundred people who are all African or all Caucasion but an international group of some three million people (during the 1990's--a group 1.5 times the size of Phoenix) that spans the entire globe. Contrast those numbers against the population at large and you will see a large accomplishment. Their philosophies are simple and bible-based. Jurgen Habermas doesn't write their study material.

The rulers and governors of our countries have no idea how to create a society of people that work to gether so harmoniously (unless the entire country was Caucasian or Jewish like Israel) but it can be done. There are many examples to take something from. You don't have to be as naïve or devout as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Individuals: There are too many gurus out there to choose from. Find one who embodies what you want to become (even if it's a fictional character). Which brings me to my next section:

Prayer, Worship, Meditation and Ritual

There are many purposes that a religious group or a secular philosophy study group can facilitate, including community and personal development. At the "end" of your personal development, you are supposed to achieve a stage of maturation. In Christianity, this is referred to as the "Christ Consciousness" in Buddhism, the "Buddha-Nature". In philosophy, "Enlightenment".

Prayer, worship, meditating, participating in rituals etc. is intended to solidify your commitment to the group, show appreciation for your teacher (or God) and help you redefine yourself as a student or member of a school of thought. At the end of your training (which never ends) you will achieve what all groups call "non-duality". Which means there is no difference between yourself and the guru or yourself and the scriptures or yourself and whatever school of thought you subscribe to.

Those who achieve non-duality are often so congruent that they are charismatic and attract followers. These people also stand in stark contrast to most politicians and cops, who are one person in front of you but somebody else in secret (like on Skynet, for example). And no one wants to emulate them. Most presidents and politicians cannot get on television and tell you to live a conservative, mindful lifestyle because they don't do it themselves.

(Speaking of meditating there are excellent cd's by Dr. Lloyd Glauberman that help with influencing your subconscious mind. You listen to one side of the cd per night using headphones ONLY. They are very inexpensive and very effective. I don't make anything for this endorsement.)

Nihilism, Me-ism, and Narcissism

There is really no place for narcissism or me-ism in spirituality. People who are full of greed or fear or pride tend to act irrationally even if it's costly to the group. Sometimes they are a danger to themselves.

With regards to Friedrich Nietzsche's ideas on nihilism, he was advocating the judgement of a superman--not the judgement of a spoiled kid or an irrational adult--but one who had achieved "mastery over oneself" and one who had escaped the herd mentality. I think he would balk at the idea of those who live extravagant lifestyles at the cost of everyone else around them. It's not sustainable. Even now we have to out-innovate our levels of consumption otherwise we will run out of oxygen and clean drinking water and possibly food. After tens of thousands of years of lush green vegetation and blue oceans, we have managed to set the world on course for an ecological disaster with just the last seventy five years of consumption habits.

Obstacles to Spirituality

Obstacles to your "non-duality" are usually the choices you make. Who do you hang out with? Do they have the same goals? What kind of entertainment do you watch? Is there any kind of entertainment that you refuse to watch because it disagrees with your philosophy (or vows)? Do you have a regular routine in place for meditating or practicing? What do you do if a supervisor or employer asks you to do something that is immoral? Is there any kind of material that would adulterate your mind, body or spirit? Do you read material that inspires hate or irrational fear?

Don't balk at the idea of studying a philosophy or a religion with a group. A surprising number of mensans are Christian or conscientiously practice some formal type of philosophy or religion. It's the idiots or immature who believe they don't need to listen to anyone else.

Once you have achieved your stage of maturation you can then make your own decisions based on your own judgement. "Beyond good and evil" as Nietzsche said.

In Conclusion

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Galatians 5: 22-26

Late,

-Nietzsche

BTW, if you want to donate to support, you can! Whoa!

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=B5PDBHY8L88AJ