What is Spirituality?

“Spirituality is not doing anything, it is just seeing life for what it is, rather than imagining it some other way.” -Jaggi Sadhguru Vasudev.

There are many misconceptions about what spiritual really is. The word spiritual literally implied that it is beyond physicality. When we talk about being spiritual, it should mean that we are beyond the physical aspects of who we think we are created by the mind and body: our identity, our compulsions, our emotions and more. There is still a monkey inside of the human being that is always attempting to make its way to the surface. Spirituality is about mastery over the monkey inside us. Mastery over the mind, body, emotion, and life energy that makes us beings, instead of just animals. To always be conscious and present. To take action and not reaction. To create our own destiny is a definite possibility for a human being. Spirituality is a way to overcome the more primitive urges of the human being (resent, anger, desire, the ego, pleasure) and drawing out the higher faculties (love, compassion, discipline, stillness, bliss, joy.) As an example, chocolate is pleasurable, we have a desire for the chemical reaction that happens when eating sweets. It will stimulate your body and mind into a state of pleasure, but all the chocolate in the world will never bring you real joy or bliss. These come from within. The external world is primarily physical, your internal world is metaphysical. There is a whole universe inside you to explore in the depths of you mind and emotion, that you will learn more about existence from than anything outside of you. Whatever force that is creating the universe, mother nature, has given humans the ability to create. The creator has created us to CREATE. The power of creation is your imagination and is within you. To direct this power consciously is the point of being human. It doesn’t quite matter what you do with it, as long as it is of your choosing. When it does it’s own things is the most common source of suffering because we want life to happen our own way. Mastery of mind, is mastery of emotion, which is mastering our destiny. This is what true spirituality is about. Taking control of our own faculties.

Some might say that sounds unheard of. A lot of ‘spiritual‘ teachings come from the idea of accepting things the way they are, which has some truth. But do I have to be upset about the way things are to attempt to improve them? No, I can accept life for what it is and still hope things go another way. Spirituality is about perseverance. When things seem to not be improving you still try anyway, because that is acting beyond fear or doubt which are just illusions created by the mind to keep you safe. With safety comes boundaries, with boundaries you are trapped; in a prison of you own making. Spirituality is seeking freedom, boundlessness that is available to all of us. So I can accept things, understand things, and hope for those same things to improve.