If you want to know what Spirituality isn’t, then go and look up the word. You’ll find definitions all over the internet and none of them give any insight into the real meaning. There are hundreds of thousands of websites dedicated to spirituality and no two are the same.
Ultimately Spiritualty is the application of wisdom and wisdom comes only from knowledge and experience. There are many groups who claim to have esoteric knowledge, passed down through the ages from generation to generation, which when applied successfully leads to enlightenment and enlightenment as we all know, leads to happiness. It’s all nonsense of course.
The one thing that all of these groups have in common is that they are willing to sell you this information. Once you have joined their group and promised never to tell another soul, you will be told certain truths to entice you but you will never learn anything of great significance.
I’m not surprised anymore by the things that people will believe, there are those who actually believe that they are Gods and if they’ll just subscribe to a certain philosophy and pay obviously, they will be shown how to activate their Chakras or their Pineal Gland and they will become Godlike. While the process itself is genuine, those with sincere knowledge will not share it with everyone who asks.
A simple question: why would a person who has achieved Godhood need to sell such knowledge? More to the point, why would someone who has achieved Godhood sell the knowledge to any Tom, Dick or Harry who will part with a relatively small amount of money? Doesn’t that sound quite dangerous? Imagine a madman with the abilities of a God. If anyone is offering to sell enlightenment, they have nothing worth knowing.
There is knowledge that is hidden from the masses that can be bought, it is often known as occult or esoteric knowledge and it is not knowledge that will bring enlightenment. It will do the opposite of that. Unfortunately, this is the knowledge that those seeking Spirituality and enlightenment are drawn to and many lose their way.
There are religions which offer true knowledge in order to draw followers: Forget everything that you have ever been told and learn it for yourself, is from Buddhism which then goes on to teach; rather than encouraging its followers to learn by themselves. Most groups do the same, hook their followers with a single truth and then brainwash them with nonsense.
Enlightenment and Spirituality come from seeing the world as it actually is, trusting what we see with our own eyes rather than what someone else says is true. One of the more ridiculous beliefs is Evolution, which if not taught in schools, would never have gained traction as a serious theory. The whole notion is preposterous, a human being could no more evolve from a single cell than a mobile phone and a mobile phone simply coming into being and evolving from nothing is far more likely than a person. Yet we believe because we are told, though common sense tells us differently.
Knowledge is not wisdom and knowledge for the sake of knowing is a waste of time. Learning though, even things that are not true is part of the journey and it is only as we approach understanding that we realise why the Buddhism “truth” of learning for ourselves and other similarly profound facts are not just worthless but deceptive. It is not about learning what is true and what is not but what is important and relevant.
Did NASA put Astronauts on the Moon in 1969? This is a much debated topic and those who question it are called conspiracy theorists. The truth is that it makes no difference one way or another whether they did or not. There are countless topics of this nature, all of them intriguing, none with conclusive evidence of anything and none of them worth knowing.
They are distractions. Worldly knowledge has nothing of any worth to offer, knowledge of the world is a pointless pursuit. History is meaningless, it doesn’t matter who ruled England in 1588, this will never affect me in any way.
People have knowledge, they write it down and pass it on, people have wisdom but they won’t force you to listen. People have talents, they write music and books but the best books are never read and the best music never heard by those who need them the most.
Spirituality is the knowledge that I am alone, I came here alone and I will leave here alone. Everything that I know is contained with this mind of mine. Everything that I am is within. My thoughts and emotions are mine alone and nothing that I think or feel has any effect on anyone but me. I am what I have consumed, the music of Beethoven resides in my soul, the works of Dante rattle around my mind, my spirit is filled with the trials of the poets and the artists and I carry these with me, wherever I go but I am alone.
When I hate, I hate myself, no one else. The hatred that I feel for those things stolen from me, affects only me, it destroys me and those who took from me feel nothing. The anger that I feel, the rage for wrongs done, destroy me and no one else. Who can I love? Only myself, when I love my one true love, I love myself, she feels none of it.
Wisdom then is knowing that without self-control I will destroy myself. Spirituality is accepting that people behave the way that they do because they know no better, it is the compassion that we feel as we watch those angry, furious commuters elbow their way through the crowds as their rage boils inside them, the elbow in the ribs is nothing compared with the damage they do to themselves.
Spirituality is a state of awareness and compassion is unavoidable. Enlightenment, true enlightenment is not an achievement, it is not a state of delight, it is a burden and it is the first step of a long journey.