Paul Gauguin said, “ I close my eyes to see.” Once in a while you must close your eyes to delve deeper inside to see yourself.
During my recent Lhasa trip climbing vertical steps inside Potala palace, we the travelers energetically discussed Buddhism, Religion and Spirituality, which resulted in following words as per request from some friends.
“Spirituality is the art of keeping your internal fire alive.” Maxim Legace.
Oprah Winfrey: “Know what sparks the light in you.”
“You’re greater and more powerful than you have ever imagined. A divine light exists inside of you. You may think you’re limited to just your physical body and state of affairs — including your gender, race, family, job, and status in life — but spirituality comes in and says “there is more than this.”
Spirit rings with internal energy one feels with the inspiration to live, search for meaning, connect with life and nature. Spiritual journey translates into love, joy, wisdom, peaceful service, and connection with others. (Sharon Janis)
Spirituality goes way deeper into the heart of every matter, that connects and resonates within you whether you’re looking for worldly success, inner peace, or enlightenment or knowledge that can propel you to achieve your goals and provide meaning to life.
There are two approaches:
The materialistic approach relies primarily on empirical evidence furnished by five senses — what can be seen, heard, tasted, touched, or smelled. The outer appearances of things help you to decide how and what to think and feel about them.
Imparting life lessons
The spiritual approach is to foresee beyond senses to an intuitive perception of the causes behind perceived conditions. This approach may change and uplift your world by first transforming your perception and vision consequently altering subjective reality to broader perspective and leave an imprint on who you nourished and what you left behind-the flower and the tree, the pets and the people, the magical touch you felt and the ways you connected.
A sense of spirituality is to look deeper into the internal world, explore and find what you seek within. The visible external world is ephemeral, temporary, and ever changing! The physical body will die one day, sweeping all those worldly ‘things’ like piles of dust. Your inner realm, on the other hand, is timeless, eternal, and deeply profound!
Spirituality and Religion:
Often used interchangeably, they are two different aspects of the human experience. Religion is tied with rituals, practices and sermons whereas spirituality is a result of your personal search, pursuit to find greater meaning and purpose in your existence.
The elements of spirituality include the following:
• Looking beyond outer appearances to the deeper significance and meaning of everything connecting you to the vastness of universes, its inhabitants and objects.
• Compassion and respect for yourself and all life forms that are linked with you.
Religion is often used to describe an organized group or a culture that is sparked by the fire of a divine soul, with a mission of presenting specific teachings and doctrines while nurturing and propagating a prescribed way of life. Different religions may practice different rituals. Some bow to colorful statues of deities, others listen to inspired sermons and hymns dressed in colorful garbs, and yet others set out their prayer rugs five times a day to bow their heads to the ground. Some may view that the kernel of religion is spirituality, and the essence of spirituality is God or the Supreme Being while the others might view spirituality without tracing it to any form of God, such as Buddhism.
Buddhist monk Younge Mingyur Rinpoche was recently interviewed by Manisha Koirala. His answers, are as follows:
Manisha: What is spirituality? Is religion spirituality?
Rinpoche: Religion is ritual! Spirituality is looking for purpose exploring the essence of life.
Manisha: Can an atheist be spiritual?
Rinpoche: Why not ? Love and compassion are universal!
Spirituality in essence is: Beyond all religions yet containing all religions, beyond all science yet containing all science, beyond all philosophy yet containing all philosophy. (Sharon Janis)
As one becomes more spiritual, some opine: trying to control the beliefs of other people can be cast off like an old set of clothes that no longer fits. Many seekers, especially believers, begin to feel that every image of divinity is just one more face of their own, eternally ever-present God.
Loving and respecting all religions and images of God doesn’t mean that one must agree with all their doctrines. This goes for any teachings one may encounter along her path.
Some believe in philosophy, in the doctrine that the spirit exists as distinct from matter, or that spirit is the only reality and that it is spiritual.
Some others connect spiritualism with ghosts and spirits. Boscawen, the famous anthropologist, states: "In dreams and visions the primitive Akkadians no doubt saw, as they declared, the shadowy forms of departed human beings." He further adds, "Inscriptions as early as 3800 BC on tablets show their beliefs in ghosts and spirits."
Personally, for me, when I go to explore nature, smell a flower on the way, listen to the jazz or classical music, a classic song that soothes my soul, look at the ocean and the rolling waves, climb a hill, gaze on a painting that captivates me I lose track of time. My mind starts flowing like a wave in an ocean and gradually the ripples of the waves become slower, smoother and peaceful. Meanwhile my anxiety has disappeared and I’m calm, cool, composed, fresh and energetic! I feel connected to the whale playing in pacific-ocean, beautifully colored bird hopping on trees sucking the nectar of a fruit, the bright rising multi-colored sun on the mountain and sinking/plunging inside the ocean I feel connected to life its numerous forms and feel my link with the cosmos. I feel fresh, and focused when I’m looking at snow covered mountain peaks (at Mustang, Rupakot, Pokhara, peaks of Kanchenjunga, Colorado and Wyoming) lush green hills and waves in picturesque vast Michigan Lake! Yes, I’m connected with the Universe and realize All I have is this, MOMENT and nothing beyond it.
Denis Waitley said, “ Happiness is the spiritual experience of loving every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”
Scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson: “We all are connected; to each other biologically. To the Earth chemically. To the rest of the Universe atomically.”
Albert Einstein said, “There are two ways to live. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.”
