Spirituality

To grow spiritually in a time defined by power, money, and influence is a monumental task. Todays conveniences such as electronic toys, gadgets, and tools as well as entertainment through video, magazines, and the web have lead us to confine our attention mostly to physical needs and wants. As a result, our concepts of self-worth and self-meaning are clouded How can we achieve a balance between the material and spiritual aspects of our lives? To grow spiritually is to look inside.Focusing inward goes beyond recalling the things that happened in a day, week, or month. You need to look closely and examine your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and motivations. Periodically examining your experiences, the decisions you make, the relationships you have, and the things you engage in provide useful insights on your life goals, on the good traits you must sustain and the bad traits you have to throw away. Moreover, it gives you clues on how to act, react, and conduct yourself in the middle of any situation. Like any skill, focusing inward can be learned; all it takes is the courage and willingness to look for the truths that rest inside you. Here are some pointers when you introspect: be objective, be forgiving of yourself, and focus on your areas for improvement.To grow spiritually is to develop your potentials.Religion and science have sometimes conflicting views on matters of the human spirit. Religion views people as spiritual beings temporarily existing on Earth, while science views the spirit as just a single dimension of an individual. Mastery of the self is a recurring theme in both Christian (Western) and Islamic (Eastern) teachings. The needs of the body are recognized but placed under the needs of the spirit. Beliefs, values, morality, rules, experiences, and good works gives us the blueprint to ensure the growth of the spiritual being. In Psychology, realizing one’s full potential is to self-actualize. Maslow discovered several human needs: physiological, security, belongingness, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization, and self-transcendence. James earlier categorized these needs into three: material, emotional, and spiritual. When you have satisfied the basic physiological and emotional needs, spiritual or existential needs come next. Obtaining each need leads to the ultimate development of the individual. Maybe the difference between these two religions and psychology is the end of self-development: Christianity and Islam see that self-development is a means toward serving God, while psychology looks at self-development is an end by itself.To grow spiritually is to look for meaning.Religions that believe in the existence of God such as Christianism, Judaism, and Islam think that the purpose of the human life is to serve the Creator of all things. Many theories in psychology propose that we ultimately give meaning to our lives. Whether we believe that life’s meaning is already set for us or self-directed, to grow in spirit is to realize that we do not merely exist. We do not understand the meaning of our lives at birth; but we gain knowledge and wisdom from our dealings with people and from our actions and reactions to the situations we are in. As we discover this meaning, there are specific beliefs and values that we throw away and accept. Our lives have purpose. This purpose puts all our physical, emotional, and intellectual potential into use; picks us up during difficult times; and gives us something to look forward to—a goal to achieve, a destination to look forward to. A person without purpose or meaning is like a drifting ship at sea.To grow spiritually is to understand interconnections.Religions emphasize the concept of our relatedness to all creation, live and not living. So we call other people “brothers and sisters” even if there are no direct blood relations. Moreover, deity-centered religions such as Christianity and Islam speak of the relationship between humans and a higher being. On the other hand, science relys on our link to other living things through the evolution theory. This relatedness is clearly understood in the concept of ecology, the interaction between living and non-living things. In psychology, connectedness is a characteristic of self-transcendence, the highest human need according to Maslow. Recognizing your connection to all things makes you more humble and respectful of people, animals, plants, and things in nature. It makes you appreciate everything around you. It encourages you to go beyond your comfort zone and reach out to other people, and become helpers of all other things around you.Growth is a journey. So to grow in spirit is a day-to-day process. We win some we lose some, but the important thing is that we learn, and from this knowledge, further spiritual growth is made possible.

Dana is a lady who is totally dedicated to her spiritual work. She knows all about Indian spirit guides, angels, crystals and is a Reiki Master – amongst other things. She takes every opportunity to help anyone – a kind, lively and passionate woman.

With little concern for her own wellbeing and financial situation she will generously give advice, treatments and time. The fact that she is struggling with her health, her finances and is in an unhappy relationship doesn’t ever deter her from her spiritual mission. When we met a few weeks ago and she was stressed and unwell, I invited her to come to one of my courses at a special rate.

She pondered for a while and then said to me, that she thought right now, my work wasn’t ‘spiritual’ enough for her. Her interest was in spirit guides, heavenly energies and helping others and what I was offering was ‘only’ about self. I respected her opinion and left wondering what it is that people consider to be truly ‘spiritual’.

My hunch is, that her definition is a very literal one; to do with ‘spirits’ and being in touch with what descends from the heavenly realm, rather than what creeps out from the grotty, stressful confines of this crowded planet.

Without wanting to interfere with any higher purpose or show disrespect for someone else’s journey, I do want to challenge this strange, almost childlike and wide-spread notion of spirituality. So many healers, therapists and counsellors concentrate all their energies on the ‘higher’ and ‘better’ aspect of life, that they seem to completely forget that they have a body, a mind and very earthly needs.

I believe that to really successfully work with those ‘other’ energies, we have to fulfil our own needs and master our physical existence first – or at least simultaneously. Otherwise spirituality becomes nothing but an escape mechanism, a displacement activity and another trend to follow.

Have you ever heard of Abraham Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’? Maslow was a prominent psychologist who coined the phrase of ‘self-actualisation’ in the 1950’s and developed a concept of how a person evolves to the highest level of being, spirituality and self-fulfilment.

According to this ‘Hierarchy of Needs’, although the ultimate and highest level is the spiritual, the most fundamental needs must be met first. To simplify, if someone is constantly struggling to meet their most basic requirements of food and shelter, it’s unlikely that they will put much thought into their education. They’re busy just surviving.

It seems to me that the concept of spirituality is often misunderstood. To some, it’s more like escapism from the trials and tribulations of life. They cling to rituals and strive for something higher and better, without first having mastered the basic levels of existence. We reach for the stars without first standing firmly on the ground. How can that work?

Being spiritual is not about escaping the real world, it isn’t about renouncing physical needs and the fact that we are human. The real art of spiritual being is not to transcend being human, it is to achieve understanding and harmony between all aspects of who we are. Once you have that harmony of body, mind and soul, then you can truly tune into and use the higher realms.

People at peace with themselves exude calm confidence, happiness and tolerance. They are generally healthier, more resilient and successful than those who find day-to-day life too mundane to deal with.

In my work of helping clients to lead the lives they want to lead and release limiting beliefs, fears and traumas that have held them back so far, I like to be practical, down-to-earth and light-hearted because to me that’s the perfect antidote to all the heaviness of theoretical concepts. Spirituality has to be practical as well – it has to make us and those we encounter happy, healthy and in harmony with who we are. Otherwise you will feel as though you are doing every possible spiritual thing you can and are still getting nowhere.

Wishing you balance, harmony and healthy happiness.

And by the way, although the person is very real and the story true, I have chosen a different name.

SPIRITUALISM IS….a way of life combining religion, philosophy, science to manifest love in living. Spiritualism operates as a way of life from the basis of 7 principles for life.
The development of Spiritualism during the last hundred and fifty+ years as a new science, philosoophy, religion as well as a social movement has far greater significance and importance for the entire future of humanity than even the majority of Spiritualists realize. It was not an accident that Spiritualism was inaugurated in 1848 when the Industrial Revolution was in the process of changing human lives forever, when science was rising triumphantly, when the rule of Orthodox Christianity was shaken to its foundations and when materialism was rapidly gaining a great influence over the outlook of humanity. It was obviously a period of crisis in human history.
The forces of materialism spread like a fire, sweeping away the errors and superstitions of orthodoxy from the minds of individuals. Reason supplanted belief. Materialism alone, however, failed to fill the spiritual void created by the changing world.
Gradually the inherent spiritual desires of humanity slowly re-asserted themselves and a conscious need for a new spiritual value slowly emerged. The origins of the beliefs of Spiritualism are a matter of growth, a matter of reason, as well as an appreciation of and application to the actual historical records found in the pages of experience.
It did not spring from the activities or teachings of any one individual or group of banded followers, but it is the composite of many approaches made by philosophers, scientists and religionists in the various ages of humanity’s existence.
The main reason Spiritualism does not claim that the 7 principles are a creed is because they are not subservient to an already established form of worship. They are not approached through a particular religious book, but are studied through the channels of science and philosophy, as well as religion.
The value of their personal application is developed through the natural law, a force and power as eternal as time. Self-realization does not come through an outside channel, such as religious literature, nor a personalized God, but through the combination of natural forces inside and outside of any individual. It is the result of EFFORT and the recognition of the law of cause and effect.
The mission of Spiritualism is to teach every person how to live, not how to die. It takes a deep thinker to apply the many facets of spiritual growth to fully comprehend our philosophy and our religion.
And as we continue to grow, we recognize that materialism has faded and spirituality is taking a firmer hold on the human condition. Change is ever so unsettling, but change we have and must continue. When spirituality is learned and acknowledged in all human beings, it will automatically outlaw the ignoble traits of man and find its level in human society.