I’ve known quite a few people who claim to prize some amorphous concept called “spirituality,” which they define as springing from the mystical premise that the divine is in everything, and consequently, inseparable from all phenomena and all points of reference.
These people go on to deem one particular object “spiritual,” and another not, one mode of living “spiritual,” and another not, never realizing that the premise they adore is nested in an uncomfortable implication: if everything is divine, then everything is “spiritual” as well.
I realized that for these people (who never seem to venture beyond the comfort of their obscure “spiritual” practices, justifying lack of results with more time on the meditation cushion, or reading/evangelizing some centuries-old text) it was never about embodying an omnipresent truth; it was about defining a certain way of being that allowed them to play the untenable game of one thing being “spiritual,” and another not.
In other words, it was merely about feeling good; transcendence was a smokescreen.
It is easies to avoid taking action than to actually do things. I guess, what you say is one way of displaying this tendency of humans. If so, spirituality is not very different from just pure inaction.
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Which is appropriate at times, but not so much at others. That’s why I like to just—ironically—have faith that all that is “spiritual” is taken care of, and to focus on the problems in front of me, and taking care of other people as best I can.
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That is actually a good way of looking at it. I also don’t mean that spiritual things are unnecessary. I do some of the practices myself. But making them the only way to deal with things might be problematic.
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Absolutely. It’s a widespread phenomenon which has even garnered it’s own official term: “Spiritual bypass.”
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I didn’t know that! Thanks!
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Self actualization!
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Indeed!
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Ha! Call us out, boss. LMAO I love it. If you’re going to preach, THEN PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH!!! If you are uncertain, THEN BE UNCERTAIN!!! If you’re going to do, THEN DO!!! BUT DON’T SIT THERE SAYING YOU DID WHEN THAT IS NOT THE TRUTH!!!
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Yes, ABSOLUTELY! More importantly—unless there is good, articulable, strategic reason for it—admit failings (or when you’ve failed to live up to the methodology/standard you espouse) and learn from them.
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Preach it caveman.
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Woot woot!😊
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There is little point in prizing something which one believes to be omni-present. If it can’t not be then it doesn’t need to be treated as something precious.
To me spirituality is simply about immaterial connection. Ideas, for instance, are spiritual in that they provide a means for connection while having no material existence. And we can have an emotional reaction to them – a material, i.e. physical, response to something immaterial.
When it comes to what is generally classed as personal spirituality, it is about freeing ourselves, however temporarily, from the bonds and blinders of ego-embattlement – by means which may range from meditation to day-dreaming to taking LSD.
The problem arises when someone comes to consider themselves to be a spiritual person – i.e. becomes egotistical about being “spiritual”. That’s the disease calling itself the cure.
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Or when someone becomes unduly attached to meditation or psychedelics. I met someone who was constantly late for appointments and missed multiple deadlines for enrolling in school, and implied that because he was meditating, he was being “spiritual” and that it was justified. And his definition of “spiritual” sprung from the omnipresent, nondual premise, meaning it was unable to serve as a justification. But he kept using it anyway.
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Good point. Spirituality is the choice of “within” over “without”. This includes focusing on what’s within you as opposed to pointing out what others are without.
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Wait…what? The mask of spirituality is often donned by the self-serving? Say it ain’t so!
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Ha! I know, right??
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