What is spirituality?

I recently saw a request from someone who was wondering about becoming "more spiritual", and they had come up with a list of various "shoulds" and "shouldn'ts", about what they were supposed to do to become more spiritual. It was a pretty standard list: no meat, no sex, no drugs, no modern technology, avoid conflict, practice meditation, fasting and discipline. All these things are pretty par for the course when it comes to mainstream ideas about spirituality, but is this really what it means to be "spiritual"? If it is, I'm not a "spiritual" person, nor do I want to be.

Seems to me that a whole lot of conflict occurs over the definition of words. Two different people use the same word in two different ways, and then argue over which one is "right". In some ways, both people are "right", and in some ways, neither person is "right". It's a foolish thing to argue over in the first place, we all see things a little differently. We should seek to understand each other without expecting the other person to conform to our own understandings.

If I look in the dictionary to tell me what "spiritual" means, I see two main definitions that in many ways contradict each other. One simply means "of Spirit", while the other means "concerning religious values". I like the first definition, "of Spirit", but Everything is of Spirit, so calling anything spiritual is a little redundant. That makes the term "spiritual" all inclusive, which is not the way I see most people using the word. People talk about their "spiritual life" as something being separate from their "normal life". This is a very limited way of thinking, people are using this belief about "spirituality" to cut their life in half. Do not cut your Life in half, seek to make it Whole.

The definition, "concerned with religious values", doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Spirit. This is where all the rules come from that I was talking about originally. Because Guru Shama Lama Ding Dong is a vegan, and he's supposedly enlightened, we're all supposed to be vegans if we want to be enlightened. This is a very religious type of thinking, that there's a "right" path to God that you're supposed to follow. I got nothing against veganism, but that's a choice for each individual to make, the belief that being vegan makes you more "spiritual" is very much a religious idea. I want nothing to do with that brand of spirituality.

For many, the spirituality they practice is nothing but a more elitist form a religion. One set of limitations is traded in for another set of limitations. One's religious dogma is simply "upgraded" into a spiritual dogma and often only requires superficial changes to their belief systems. One can walk the path to God infinitely, yet actually reaching God is another matter entirely, it takes a complete paradigm shift. God is not somewhere in the "future", at the end of some path, God Is Here and God Is Now. Searching for God is like searching for water when you're standing in a Lake. The original premise is deeply flawed, and the search itself denies the Reality of the matter.

I'm not sure you can divide mainstream spirituality from the spiritual ego either, and for many that's part of the appeal of being spiritual. To the ego, being spiritual makes it superior to all those "unspiritual" egos. It knows the "truth", it's on the "right path", and it doesn't have to listen to anybody else. For many this is reinforced by the fact that a big spiritual ego can also lead directly to illusionary wealth and power. Spiritual egos are in high demand, and it's quite common for them to sell tickets so people can come watch the ego promote its belief systems. Upgrading a regular ego into a spiritual ego can be very expensive, and often requires numerous spiritual retreats, books, and other assorted spiritual paraphernalia. On the other hand, letting go of the ego is completely Free.

If your thought about what "spirituality" means is all-inclusive, if it simply means "of Spirit", that's wonderful, and that's not the definition of "spirituality" I'm addressing here. Someone that recognizes God in All Things, and acts with Love, is this person "spiritual"? I'd simply call them an intelligent Human Being, I wouldn't group them in the same category as the people who meditate all day long and do things like fasting or the various other spiritual practices. If Love and God are your spirituality, go for it, if your spirituality is made up of a bunch of rules and rituals, I don't recommend it. None of those things, in and of themselves, get one closer to Spirit. It's not about what you are doing, it's about Who You Are, Being. A tree is not spiritual, a rock is not spiritual, the whole concept of "spiritual" is a belief within the mind. Another idea rooted in the illusion of separation.

Blessings,
Will & The Galactic Free Press
http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/

I, Will, the author of this piece, release it into Public Domain. You are free to share it, and even modify it, without any conditions.