Jan
De-Mystifying Spirituality
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After a walk around the lake the other day, I decided to go down to the barge to meditate. As I sat on the water, I felt the wind wisp around me, I heard the seagulls overhead and children shrieking in the background, I felt the barge bob with the flow of the water, and I could smell the earth after the early morning rains. I had a soothing feeling of Spirit. Then it dawned on me, actually it came as an impression, this is spirituality.
Spirituality is being aware of expressing and experiencing Spirit.
Why then, do we make Spirit into some mystifying, complicated concept? It’s a feeling to be sure, and it’s individual and personal. Maybe, it’s because we really can’t describe the feeling to anyone else. It’s like trying to explain water to a fish. It’s all around. It’s in them. It is them, but because they are immersed in it they don’t even know that it’s there. Or a better analogy would be air to us. We know it’s there, it’s all around us, it’s in us, it is us, but we can’t see it or hold it.
The beauty of life is that it’s all about expressing and experiencing Spirit. You can do it whereever you are, whatever the task is, there Spirit is. You don’t have to go anywhere. You do it whether or not you are aware of it. Sometimes, we might stifle it. You know, you might get the feeling to turn up the radio and sing out loud to your favorite song at the traffic light (that’s Spirit), but then you don’t want the people in the car next to you thinking that you’re crazy. Or you want to go splash in the puddles with your daughter, but you’re afraid of setting a bad example and making her rebellious for life.
Spirit is itching to burst out of you. It’s pushing on your edges. Daring you to have life and have it abundantly.
Practice spirituality today. Revel in the experience of Spirit all around you and allow it to flow freely through you out into the world. Have fun with it!
In Spirit,
Nneka
January 9th, 2007 at 6:09 am
Thank you for the reminder. And it did come timely, because I just decided to skip meditation today. Which is okay, but it doesn’t mean that I have to go on auto-pilot for the rest of the day.
January 9th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Glad to hear that it helped. Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic day
January 14th, 2007 at 2:53 am
[...] My contribution this week is a post on taking the complications out of spirituality called De-Mystifying Spirituality. [...]
January 14th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
“Why then, do we make Spirit into some mystifying, complicated concept?”
I hear this often in regards to various facets of martial arts: dim mak, empty force, etc. Usually the complainant wants to prove they know as much about the subject as . Then, they proceed to show that their understanding is quite shallow, and that “mysticism” was their code-word for “wisdom and experience”.
I don’t mean to imply this describes you or your post above. Just some food for thought.
January 15th, 2007 at 12:11 am
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment MD.
I see your point. However, I believe that Spirit is an individual experience and everyone can relish in it. The more people are able to experience it for themselves, the better off we will all be.
I would like to see more people feel that it is attainable for lack of a better word.
In Spirit,
Nneka
August 27th, 2007 at 12:42 am
Well written article, it is amazing how much more color you add to your life when you practice spirituality.