JULY 26, 2020
Being spiritual is not just following a specific set of rituals to attain freedom, it is a way of living where you feel happiness and fulilment throughout.
-Prabhsimrat Gill
Spirituality is one word that is widely related to self-growth, religion, mindfulness and many other aspects of mental health. Some believe that spirituality is something related to religions where performing a certain set of rituals in an arduous manner will lead to freedom of self from the material world and open up the pathways to heaven and the universal truth. Well, this is not wrong, but spirituality is not just about performing rituals to attain a certain level of maturity and awareness beyond the physical world. Spirituality is a continuous process which entails growth and well-being all throughout, making spirituality a way of life, not just a set of rituals.
In order to attain the way of life we call spirituality, we need to understand the deep, core meaning of the word spirituality. To understand the meaning of this word, let’s break it down into smaller parts: spirit-ual-ity. The main word we need to concentrate on here is spirit. The suffix ‘-ual’ is added to talk about a person or thing that is considered to be in the sphere of spirituality. And the suffix ‘-ity’ is used to make spirituality a noun and a process. Spirit is the core of spirituality and this core is what gives meaning to the suffixes that follow it. But first, we must understand what this spirit is.
Spirit is synonymous to many other words like the soul, higher self, true self etc. and is the energy that constitutes for who we are. This spirit or soul comes into the material world and covers itself with what we know as our bodies. In the material world, the spirit houses in our bodies and collects experiences and knowledge. Our soul is connected with the universe all the time and it maintains that connection in a manner that is invisible in the material world. It continuously collects and stores every incident in something we know as the subconscious mind. So, to summarise, the ‘spirit’ in the word spirituality is who we truly are and our bodies are the representation of ourselves in the physical world.
Now that we know what the spirit is, we can go deeper to understand what spirituality is. If the spirit or the soul is who we actually are, then spirituality is nothing but living a life where we know who we are and acknowledge it accordingly. Everyone knows their name and everyone can see and feel their body, because of which they think that the body and the name constitute for who they truly are, and that their brain is an organ that produces thoughts, feelings and emotions. This approach is not based on the truth, but on the limited realms of the material world that bind us from looking beyond its limits. The body is the house in which the spirit stays for a certain period of time and the name is the proper address of this house, not of the spirit.
If the body is just a representation of the soul in the material world and the name is a label for this body, then does the soul or the spirit have any name which is used to address it? The answer is, NO. The spirit purely exists in the form of energy, and it does not have a specific recognition or attachment to a label or name, because of which it can experience unlimited abundance. With a label, there are limits. Without it, there aren’t any.
We can experience unlimited abundance and live in a world beyond the realms of physical sight and feel; then why don’t we do that? The answer is that we are not aware. To be aware is not just to live in the moment and consciously take in everything that is happening to you and around you. You don’t need to fill yourself up with conscious data, you need to understand the important things which will help you learn deep lessons from the most insignificant experiences in life. That is the importance of being aware – it gives you the ability to learn anywhere, everywhere and from anything or anyone.
To attain spirituality, or to become spiritual, or to live a life being who you truly are, you need to be aware, you need to learn consciously and constantly, and you need to understand that your body and the fluctuating feelings you experience in it, and your name or label don’t constitute for who you are, they are just your house and address in the world. When you understand the third thing, you will not feel irrationally attached to the physicality and materialistic things in the world. Then, no matter how much abundance or lack you have in your material world, in the world beyond that, you will always remain smiling and positive. When you realise that everything in the material world is perishable, including your body, you will be fully content with your basic needs being fulfilled, and when your hard work and commitment will reap more fruits from life in the material form, you will be truly grateful for every extra thing that you are being provided with. The universe always listens to your soul, and through the gratitude it receives, it will give you more abundance, in both the material and spiritual form, thus growing this cycle of growth and learning…
To become spiritual and to live your life spiritually in this material world, you need to be mindful. Mindfulness is not just understanding your emotions and linking different events of your life and being aware of every incident. Mindfulness is letting go of the past, living in awareness in the present and working towards making a fulfilling future, and understanding that it is important to keep the cycle of fulfillment growing when you are in the future. When you are mindful, you won’t feel anger bubble up inside you, you won’t let regret or guilt eat you up, you won’t let physical pain affect you but you will learn from it, you won’t be frustrated when you are stuck in traffic and when you are running late, because you will know that the physical world and its happenings make up the vehicle you are using to achieve a spiritually fulfilling future. A spiritually fulfilling future does not mean having material wealth; it means having more learning, more experiences and more happiness…
When you detach yourself from the material world, work towards a spiritually fulfilling future and remain mindful of the hurdles and small, unimportant happenings in your path, you will not only be living spirituality, but you will be living in life with something everyone hopes to get as a result of their hard work and arduous efforts. It is happiness. Happiness is the pure feeling of fulfillment and love for oneself and others. Happiness is when you feel truly content and satisfied, beyond the limits of the material world.
Live a spiritual life, in which you know who you are and you will go beyond physicality, and you will be happy, satisfied, and feeling abundance all throughout. Remember, you only have limited time in this labeled house of your spirit, make the most fond and truly great memories in this house, make it the best house you would ever have lived in, and surprisingly, you can make it the best right now! Start living the real life, NOW!
Thank you so much for reading!
Well wishes,
Prabhsimrat.