Thursday, February 23, 2012

Spiritual Growth and Why It Matters

By Therese Yemana


Spiritual growth has for a long time a significant component of a person's sense of wellbeing, even before man has conceptualized the idea and broke it down in many ways that ultimately ended up in numerous ways on how to build upon it. You name it - yoga, karma, or even reincarnation. There are so many that they range from the most mystical to the most practical. But even when you're treading your own "spiritual path", or in deep need of what spiritual fulfillment, an in-depth knowledge of what spirituality is can be very helpful in more ways than one.

In order for us to fully comprehend what spirituality means, perhaps it is essential that we discuss the meaning of the root word itself, which is spirit. Spirit is an intangible property, one that alludes to something incorporeal, something mysterious and not bound by the material world. The most hailed scholar and physicist, Albert Einstein, alluded to spirituality through these words: "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious - the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science." This brings us to the two things that he mentioned - art and science. These two indulgences have dominated human's consciousness in the process of achieving answers to the mysteries that have confounded us about the universe. These two distinct establishments, polar opposites they may be, have paved the way to advancement in the realm of technology and human awareness.

The quest for answers is deeply rooted to our inherent need to achieve knowledge about ourselves, and how we're connected to everything around us. Ordinary routines such as fixing a car engine or observing an ant farm are unconscious manifestations of this need, and as a result, connected to spirituality. You only have to read Robert M. Pirsig's magnum opus, Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance, to know what I'm talking about. While this disagrees with the concept of spirituality as something not bound in the material world, these physical avenues are useful channels that let us achieve that transcendence, and as a result provide us a glance into the unexplainable.

Some people achieve spiritual sustenance through meditation. Meditation is a process of serious contemplation, or turning inward to achieve a profound condition of peacefulness, focus and awareness. The concept of meditation has originated in the Eastern cultures, and has been adapted by the West a form of prayer. Buddhist monks are astute in their belief that meditation is the way to Enlightenment, which describes the sanguine temperament by which they deal with other people.

A typical false impression many people make is having the notion that spirituality is exclusive to religion. While it's true that religion has helped many people to lead spiritual lives, it only suggests a few aspects that constitute the whole concept of spirituality. Spirituality is a confluence, a heightened understanding of what we are and how we are connected to the whole spectrum of life, and the discernment that everything is equally important and dependent on each other.




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