What is Spirituality?

Discussion of the nature of Ultimate Reality and the path to Enlightenment.
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Loki
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What is Spirituality?

Post by Loki »

To me spirituality is about two things.

1) Envisioning a better world beyond this one

2) Willing that world into being

The world as it presently is, hardly values truth at all, and so I envision a truthful world, and I plant the seeds to bring about that truthful world. The seeds I plant are my spirit. Of course I won't live to see the world become as such, but I can plant seeds to help the cause. I can become a spirit, even if it's a very, very small one. Great spirits are those whose unusual intellectual power renders them celebrated Hero's, centuries after their death. There are some individuals whose spirit is so great, that they drastically change the course of history for the better.

Am I spiritual?
brokenhead
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Re: What is Spirituality?

Post by brokenhead »

Loki wrote:To me spirituality is about two things.

1) Envisioning a better world beyond this one

2) Willing that world into being

The world as it presently is, hardly values truth at all, and so I envision a truthful world, and I plant the seeds to bring about that truthful world. The seeds I plant are my spirit. Of course I won't live to see the world become as such, but I can plant seeds to help the cause. I can become a spirit, even if it's a very, very small one. Great spirits are those whose unusual intellectual power renders them celebrated Hero's, centuries after their death. There are some individuals whose spirit is so great, that they drastically change the course of history for the better.

Am I spiritual?
It sounds like it.

But don't write off witnessing the fruits of your actions. You may be correct in saying "the world" will not become what you envision for it within your lifetime, but it is vitally important for you to pay close enough attention that you can indeed see the seeds which you plant - some of them, at least - take hold and produce something. It may not be in ways that you'd expect, but what things ever happen just like you expect? This is not solely for self-gratification that I say it is vitally important, but rather so you know your efforts are not in vain. You'll need this knowledge down the line when things look their bleakest, so you don't pack it in.
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Carl G
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Re: What is Spirituality?

Post by Carl G »

brokenhead wrote:
Loki wrote:
Am I spiritual?
It sounds like it.

But don't write off witnessing the fruits of your actions. You may be correct in saying "the world" will not become what you envision for it within your lifetime, but it is vitally important for you to pay close enough attention that you can indeed see the seeds which you plant - some of them, at least - take hold and produce something. It may not be in ways that you'd expect, but what things ever happen just like you expect? This is not solely for self-gratification that I say it is vitally important, but rather so you know your efforts are not in vain. You'll need this knowledge down the line when things look their bleakest, so you don't pack it in.
A stitch in time saves nine. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Don't cry over spilled milk. The darkest hour is just before the dawn. A journey begun is half won.

Milk and a sop of bread, and some pudding.
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divine focus
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Re: What is Spirituality?

Post by divine focus »

What isn't spirituality?
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Carl G
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Re: What is Spirituality?

Post by Carl G »

Platitudes. Pablum.
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BGen
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Re: What is Spirituality?

Post by BGen »

"You hear spiritual applied to just about anything and everything. The word has become meaningless, it's almost a Synonym for vague and abstract.

How can you go someplace when you don't know what or where it is? You need a definition.. and that is one of the greatest gifts of Kabbalah.


The Kabbalistic sages tell us that Spirituality is what creates influences and cares for all aspects of life, that's why it's called Lishma or the attribute of bestowal.. They tell us to know it we have to become like it, then we can enter it... but don't take their word for it, everything needs to be tested and confirmed, to do that we need to set aside our beliefs and assumptions and apply their method, just like in any science and see if it works or not."

Quote from Belief
Elizabeth Isabelle
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Re: What is Spirituality?

Post by Elizabeth Isabelle »

BGen wrote:The Kabbalistic sages tell us that Spirituality is what creates influences and cares for all aspects of life,
I'd say that spirituality is the sense of a higher purpose.
BGen wrote:You hear spiritual applied to just about anything and everything. The word has become meaningless, it's almost a Synonym for vague and abstract.
Spirituality is rather vague and abstract. The spirit, that which we truly are - not our bodies or our ideas, has to be vague and abstract in this material world because it is only the material which is considered concrete here. Nevertheless, spirituality is more real than anything "concrete" in this material world.

The bigger question is how to be more spiritual. Worldly matters can feel more pressing than spiritual matters, thus can draw us away from that which really matters - the immaterial. Nevertheless, we are in this material world to strengthen our spiritual selves through physical tools.

Some people only use specific physical tools to "get in touch" with their spiritual nature, those specific tools being religious artifacts. This draws people away from the truth that all things are meant to be spiritual tools.

As Yogi Bhajan once said "if you do not see God in all, you do not see God at all." Part of spirituality is also realizing that we are all One. Another part of spirituality is acting accordingly, and with higher ideals.

Determining which ideals are higher and which are more base takes wisdom, and since wisdom is and has been in short supply, it is fortunate that the average person only be wise enough to recognize the wisdom of others and follow those ideals. It is unfortunate that so many of the average people don't even have that much wisdom. It is also unfortunate that many of those with enough wisdom to see which ideals are higher are influenced by greed to take the more base road. The worldly has the home field advantage here, but mass achievement of the spiritual height would be ultimately more pleasing to each individual even in the worldly sense. This paradox must be resolved for those who can not resolve it on their own or it will be very bad for all of us.

The result of this experiment called "life" will either be very good or very bad. I think that more people are coming to realize what is very good and that we must do that, but the greedy minority still have enough power to control too much of society. The powerful minority see that we are growing, and are doing their best to squash us.What we need once there is a critical mass of us is a leader who is a spiritual/philosophical genius to guide the masses to take over and do what is right for everybody. Meanwhile it is the duty of all of us to keep spreading the wisdom so that the critical mass can be achieved.
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Cory Duchesne
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Re: What is Spirituality?

Post by Cory Duchesne »

Loki wrote:To me spirituality is about two things.

1) Envisioning a better world beyond this one

2) Willing that world into being

The world as it presently is, hardly values truth at all, and so I envision a truthful world, and I plant the seeds to bring about that truthful world. The seeds I plant are my spirit. Of course I won't live to see the world become as such, but I can plant seeds to help the cause. I can become a spirit, even if it's a very, very small one. Great spirits are those whose unusual intellectual power renders them celebrated Hero's, centuries after their death. There are some individuals whose spirit is so great, that they drastically change the course of history for the better.

Am I spiritual?

"The stars are symbolic for those who have conquered all but vanity. There is no symbol for the Good, unlike the
Beautiful, which is symbolized by the whole of nature. The problem of vanity is the problem of
individuality." (Otto Weininger, 1907)
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