By Lionel Ketchian
We have all heard of a "spiritual life," and "spiritual principles." What exactly is the spiritual? My thought about that question is that the spiritual is a direction to live your life. Let's see what the dictionary says. Webster defines spiritual as pertaining to the spirit, not the material. It also describes it as, intellectual, divine, and pure. I also looked up spirit and found it defined with, the breath of life, and the soul. Other meanings included mood; essence; real meaning; intent, and courage.
I think there are basic beliefs that make up the spiritual person. Actually rather than beliefs I would like to refer to them as opinions. They may be opinions that an after life exists, opinions that we are all interconnected, have an intelligent universal order, knowledge that there are laws governing the principles of existence, and understanding that an inward journey is an important aspect of life.
Spirituality is the way you treat yourself and others and the way you treat every object. Every single thought you have and what you do with it and how you live every moment of your life is the spiritual. All this is what makes up the spiritual. Spirituality is a way of experiencing the world. Whereas philosophy is a way of understanding the world, admittedly philosophy is important to a spiritual person, but it is treated as a step to go higher, not the object of a goal.
Their is so much knowledge in the world. We have created so much knowledge that it seems to be in excess. We need to develop a direct knowledge, which is wisdom. Wisdom is the power you possess through direct experience. Wisdom is a direct experience of understanding. Understanding is a much more useful quality than knowledge. You can read many books to gain knowledge, and we think of knowledge as something new. A good book is not written to give you knowledge, it is written to give you the experience of knowing the wisdom that is within you.
We seem to think that knowledge alone will make up for not trusting ourselves. Society encourages us not to trust ourselves. We have such great support systems that many don't believe they can rely on themselves. The more we can trust ourselves the more we can trust the world. The more we accept ourselves the more we accept the world. When we have self acceptance and trust we learn to work with ourselves instead of just our problems. That is the only way to deal with our problems effectively.
When truth is experienced from your own projection mechanism of feeling, than feelings can control us. When we use wisdom and insight than our thinking can work for us. You ultimately choose one or the other. The only problem is that by allowing feelings to lead, you have no choice. You will react to situations, people and problems. At least by thinking, you enable yourself to choose what is best for you. Thinking allows you to see where certain actions will take you. As a human being you think as well as feel. Thinking first rather than just feeling is the spiritual way. Think for yourself and be responsible for your own actions and your own happiness in life.
As Thaddeus Golas stated in his book, The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment, "It is quite natural, in pursuing enlightenment or just in trying to be happier, to look to your everyday experiences for signs of results. Indeed, your daily life is nothing else but an expression of your spiritual condition. Your life will change as you become more loving, but not in ways that you can exactly predict. What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens."
Choice allows you to think about what you want and it allows you to run your own mind. When you don't make your own choices you don't put your best choices to work. Your mind runs you, and that's very different from letting thinking work for you. You're not subject to the winds of fate because you're not allowing indiscriminate thoughts to run your mind. It gives you the chance to know that you can cope with whatever comes along.
Choice is the road we walk on and thought is our legs. Thought is what moves us forward and choice is our direction. Choice is the most important power we have. Making choices is the only real freedom there is. Most important things are as simple as making a choice. Life's answers are uncomplicated. Although choices may be simple it does not always follow that it's easy. The choice for happiness creates the right mind frame. As we learn to make the choice for happiness, we learn to discipline our mind and allow it to work for us. Being unhappy is just an incomplete way of telling yourself that you don't like the problem you think you have. Being happy allows you to make good choices to eliminate the problem.
It has been said that the biggest lessons in life come from making mistakes, and from our suffering. We learn more in this way than any other.
The greatest way to learn is from other people's mistakes and suffering. Then we can gain the wisdom while avoiding the pain. I think the spiritual life allows us to do that very thing. Spirituality and religion coexist together but people make them different. Actually, spirituality is present in every religion. The spiritual principles in each religion are incredibly the same. Most differences are a result of interpretation of beliefs. There are common spiritual principles like forgiveness, non-judgment, unconditional love and peace of mind. The spiritual expresses the concept of responsibility in one's own life. Ultimate spirituality is freedom, "Know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."
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