Spirituality - this word is often associated with religion, rituals, some kind of severe asceticism, vows and generally something that has nothing to do with real everyday life. We live today in a world where spirituality, as they say, is “not in trend.” However, if we think deeply about what spirituality is, we can come to a very simple conclusion: spirituality is simply a harmonious life. Remember Professor Preobrazhensky from the legendary “Heart of a Dog”? “Devastation in our heads,” the professor said an epoch-making phrase. So, the lack of spirituality is the same devastation in the minds. If a person does not respect the people who surround him, if he does not live in harmony with himself, with the world, with nature, if his motivations are consumer, and his goals in life do not go beyond sensual pleasures, will such a person be happy? Short term - maybe. But in any long term, such happiness will only lead him to suffering and nothing more. Therefore, no matter what modern “culture” instills in us, spirituality is not a luxury, but a necessity for a harmonious life.
Spirituality in Western Psychology
Western psychology, which was formed and gained recognition in the post-war years of the twentieth century, includes several areas:
- transpersonal (not denying the influence of religion on human consciousness);
- humanistic (at the center of its study is the individual, as a unique holistic system);
- existential (related to humanistic psychology, affects various aspects of human life). For her, everything matters: a person’s individual world, his personal experiences, and so on.
According to Maslow, a person who has spirituality is at a high evolutionary stage. These people are free from primitive desires, dirty thoughts and actions, they sow goodness around and show condescension to those who do not deserve it. Psychologists and psychotherapists at the beginning of the twentieth century believed that the lack of morality is a disease and needs to be gotten rid of. But many undeveloped cultures also engaged in so-called healing of the soul, performing various shamanic rituals, sacrifices, and so on.
Criteria for spiritual wealth
Let's figure out what it means to be a spiritually rich person. Even the word rich makes it clear that truly rich is the one in whom there is a lot of God. What can be classified as real spiritual wealth, some of which will remain with a person even after his physical death?
This:
- humanity;
- education;
- history of the family and homeland;
- faith;
- awareness;
- unconditional love;
- inner peace.
Humanity
Expressed in a humane attitude towards living beings. Humanism often acts as a lifeline when public opinion reaches a dead end. Continue the war until a victorious end or stop, thereby saving thousands of lives. Even if it means sacrificing something, taking control of your ambitions.
Education and sophistication
A truly educated person already has the necessary qualities for spiritual development: hard work, responsibility for his actions, a broad outlook that will help him not to become a slave, but also not to be a slave owner. And, of course, the desire to create through constant improvement of oneself as an individual and acquiring true knowledge that strengthens and improves not only his life.
History of the family and homeland
Not only the desire to understand oneself, but also the awareness of oneself as part of something larger: a race, a people, humanity. Careful attitude towards the heritage of ancestors, the history of one’s family and the Motherland as a whole. Understanding that we are connected to our ancestors by a long chain of continuity, and that the mistakes of the past can be eliminated not by condemning those who made them, but by not repeating these mistakes in the present and preventing them in the future.
Faith
Not to be confused with religiosity. Faith is not a set of ritual techniques and techniques, it is true knowledge that lives in the heart of everyone. The knowledge that there is something greater than this world itself is all-wise, all-loving, capable of containing everyone, comforting and warming in times of serious trials, guiding one to goodness. And it doesn’t matter what church a person attends, what philosophy he professes, what worldview he is guided by.
The main thing is that he knows: this power can be turned to. She will guide you and advise you, reward you according to your deeds and show you the right path. And here the main thing is not in a person’s faith, but in his trust in this powerful force. Trust arises from knowledge, personal experience of interaction with this force, tested by time.
Mindfulness
Awareness of all your actions and deeds, constant observation of yourself: behavior, emotions, reactions to external stimuli, comparison of yourself yesterday with those who we are today. A deep understanding that we are beings of a spiritual order, a desire for our own internal improvement.
Unconditional love
Love that does not require anything in return, love that does not take, but gives. Not affection, not falling in love, but great unselfish love. This world is influenced by powerful light forces; it penetrates our window with the sun's rays, with which the Sun absolutely disinterestedly warms us.
Inner peace
This is expressed in internal balance or balance of all its internal opposites. A person consists of a complex of mutually opposite energies (anger - kindness, generosity - stinginess, hard work - laziness). If in our life we come at least in some way closer to our internal balance, we will take these achievements, albeit very modest, into the unknown.
Perhaps now it has become clearer to us what true enrichment is.
Spirituality in German and Christian psychology
The founders of the German, or “understanding” movement (German psychologists Spranger, Dilthey) fought for the use of understanding means of penetration into human souls (the human mental world). According to their theory, all cultural heritage, history, and art influence the emergence of spirituality in an individual.
The opposite point of view is defended by Christian psychology: morality in everyone is from God, it is manifested in faith, actions towards others and lifestyle. It is wrong to equate serving God with spirituality. Those who have achieved success in moral development are not always religious. He:
- considers himself free from unquestioning obedience to the church, will not observe certain laws (fasts, church rituals) if they contradict his views;
- does not feel fear of higher powers, but receives support by turning to God;
- inquisitive, seeks answers in science, not content with religious doctrine alone;
- totalitarian towards another religion;
- does not force himself to be condescending and kind only out of necessity. Helps others because his conscience dictates so;
- does not imitate others and lives according to someone else's orders. It’s normal for him to make mistakes and draw conclusions.
Summarizing all the above definitions of spirituality, we see that it relates to the inner world of a person and contains individual prerequisites. It is associated with world cultural values or divine teachings.
What does it mean to be a spiritually developed person?
Anyone who devotes himself to something for the benefit of his life will certainly develop and improve in this.
If we want to develop spiritually, we need to understand three golden rules:
- value your life as a great gift;
- do not encroach on someone else’s life, as well as on someone else’s experience;
- be grateful.
Through them, our three teachers teach us by creating certain life circumstances, leading us along the path of personal and spiritual growth. Development consists precisely in following these instructions to come to your original spiritual nature.
A person may become a person, or he may not. Is a person capable of following the path of spiritual growth or is the state of social realization in the awareness of what material wealth and volitional qualities she still lacks sufficient?
Society is the best platform for testing a person’s degree of spirituality.
There is a place for everyone:
- morally flawed and astray;
- advancing in development and degrading;
- simply living and socially realized;
- those beginning their first steps on a long ascent to the heights of the spirit and the spiritually enlightened.
However, no matter what stage of social or spiritual development you are at, life will always push you towards development - often with difficulties and problems. She will mirror people, their attitude towards you, and will also show something that is not at all easy to discern in yourself - the degree of your selfishness.
Hard work on yourself is precisely the most valuable because, having taken control of your egoism, curbing the beast in yourself with its passions and belligerence, you begin to develop faster in the spiritual direction.
Improving spiritually means being attentive to the world, listening to what it wants to tell you: be it the actions of people, their attitude towards you, other phenomena and events. However, it is not only your observation, but also your attitude shown in action.
To be spiritually developed means to work on character qualities that correspond to the characteristics discussed above. It is also the ability to stay at the newly discovered stage of development in yourself, becoming a wise explorer of a new ocean unknown to you.
A person has seven main energy centers, seven internal oceans of energy, located from bottom to top - from the tailbone to the crown. Each of them is responsible for the vital activity of certain organs, body systems, and the work of subtle mechanisms of consciousness and subconsciousness.
By exploring these centers, turning to certain practices, and improving in this, we move along the path of knowing not only ourselves, but also something more in ourselves. Gradually we begin to understand that there is no limit to improvement, that it has a beginning, but no end. Consequently, to be developed in this direction means to continuously improve oneself, focusing on inner harmony.
How to determine spirituality in a person
Is it true that a person gains spirituality after becoming mature, an adult and having accumulated rich life experience? One thing is for sure: they are not born this way. It takes time to become spiritual. To acquire specific moral and ethical qualities, you need to go through a certain school of life and acquire a store of knowledge.
Spirituality is expressed:
- in an effort to answer eternal questions: what is good and evil; what is truth; how to recognize love; what is true beauty?
- avoiding the influence of bad people, not allowing one to assert themselves at the expense of others;
- helping those in need;
- sociality and openness to society;
- lack of desire to earn as much as possible and try;
- calmness and balance.
In everyday life, spirituality manifests itself in small things. This is commitment to religion (affirmation of faith is a good impetus for positive internal changes), charity work (helping a stray dog find owners, donating things to an orphanage, becoming a blood donor), respectful attitude towards your spouse and children, honoring parents, craving to gain new knowledge, ethics and compliance with laws, interest in objects of art.
There is no superman who perfectly combines these virtues. The main thing is to answer an important question. How to turn from an ordinary person into a moral hero? Where can I get a transformative magic elixir? Any psychoanalyst will say that such a reboot is prompted by the difficulties and sorrows experienced. If you stand on your feet and don’t break, everything worldly and vain will no longer take such large-scale forms.
A developed person is constantly engaged in self-knowledge, explores his strengths and weaknesses, feels like a part of something larger, not just an employee of some organization, a member of a large family. Mastering meditation techniques will help you find ways to understand your essence and establish your purpose.
“What would Love do?” The main question of spirituality
So, spirituality is Love. However, Love is not some kind of abstraction. “To love” means first of all to express oneself in our world.
The essence of the spiritual path is to reveal yourself as Love through your own specific thoughts, words and actions.
Read about how to find yourself by consciously moving along the spiritual path here.
The spiritual path is a constant search for answers to two main questions: “Who am I?” and “How can I express myself in the world?”
The highest answer to the first question is “I am Love.”
And to express yourself as Love in the world, you need to ask the second question differently. It will sound very simple:
“What would Love do now?”
This question will be the answer.
To enlarge the diagram, click on it.
Always ask it! When you won a competition and when you were kicked out of your job. When you fell in love and when your friend betrayed you. When you sell a car, and when your child gets a bad grade. Ask it in any life situation, and strive to follow the answer you gave yourself. And then you will be able to feel and express your true essence... And this is the only true purpose of your existence! And the more fully and sincerely you express yourself, the more happiness you will have in your life!
Why is it important to be spiritual?
If spirituality can be developed in oneself over time, then it would be fair to understand what it ultimately gives.
- Everyone wants to feel special. Spirituality gives a huge advantage - to have this quality means to be at the peak of your development.
- The ability to love and appreciate others increases significantly. Love for people opens up new opportunities, strong connections are established, and a feeling of need and importance appears.
- You begin to see the beauty around you, the pace of life slows down, and there is less chance of losing sight of something significant.
- Feelings of anxiety and injustice recede, decisions come quickly, and the mood is always cheerful.
- Some people say that the basis of life is patience and humility. A highly moral person has a strong will and self-control, which helps him avoid getting into a hopeless situation.
- The irresistible desire to improve does not leave you, more energy, more fuel to fulfill your desires.
- Life without guilt and with a sense of freedom.
There is a so-called measure of spirituality. Everything has a threshold, and here it is important not to be deceived, because there is also pseudo-spirituality. We cannot be completely sinless and never make mistakes (the Bible says that man is sinful from birth). Perfectionism (from the English perfect - “ideal”), a tendency towards the ideal, etc. significantly poison life. In all this, simple human egoism occupies a special place. How then can one consider oneself a morally developed person?
Spiritual development of personality
A person who has managed to become an individual is not immune from the fact that, thanks to willpower and the ability to “step over the line,” he chooses the path of a destroyer rather than a creator.
Even if a person is an individual, his willpower is very great, allowing him to implement large-scale business projects with fabulous profits, but his egoism pushes his mind into the far corner, clearing the territory for the activity of a strong mind; this person is still fast asleep spiritually. And perhaps he will break more than one someone’s life before the law of retribution and justice knocks on his contaminated window of the soul with the most difficult trials, pushing a strong personality to the beginning of a spiritual search, and it does not matter whether he is a man or a woman.
We will try to answer what the spiritual development of the individual consists of.
Why does a person need this?
First of all, in order to evolve and move on. Even if a person has extraordinary strong-willed qualities, has managed to make a dizzying career, but does not really take into account the world around him, often contributing to the destruction of life not only within himself, but also outside himself, it is possible that he is not even standing at the doors of his inner temple . To tell the truth, there is no temple yet; perhaps even the foundation is missing. And even if he donates to some parish, but in his head there is self-interest with the intention of getting solid dividends from the investment - such a “believer” is difficult to rank even among the spiritually oriented.
The path of creation and deep awareness begins with the first step. Inner teachers can first allow a person to go down the road of passions and temptations, allowing him to commit crooked actions, perhaps even large-scale mistakes, and sometimes even crimes. After all, sometimes a person, in order to realize the level of his spiritual fall, needs to repent very deeply.
And sometimes it is with repentance that a gradual spiritual ascent begins for someone who has managed to become a person, but has not yet mastered even the basics of spiritual life.
In our materially oriented world, there are certain patterns for achieving personal growth that are not at all oriented towards spiritual values. And it is all the more valuable for the spiritual development of a person to follow true, enduring guidelines. For only thanks to them, a person will be able to get rid of the ballast that pulls him to the bottom with vicious attachments, destructive habits, obsessions and other burdens of excess materiality.
Where to start
You need to start by rethinking your life, accepting that we are not only the body.
It is necessary to recognize that in addition to our material being, there lives in us a spiritual person, who, perhaps, can become an entity of a spiritual order.
You must not be afraid to take a step forward - towards the unknown and the far shore that has not yet been discovered by you. When the winds of change begin to blow in your life, be prepared for the beginning of trials, because this is where your real development will begin.
What factors make a person human?
Humanity and behavior patterns are not passed on to us genetically. Children who grew up among animals never became human from a psychological point of view. A person is shaped by the environment in which he lives.
People differ from animals:
- abstract thinking;
- developed spiritual world;
- restraint.
These factors are formed gradually over the years. Compassion, mercy, understanding and kindness make a person human.
Modern society is chasing material wealth, which is accompanied by aggression and greed. Having forgotten about spiritual morality, people become akin to predators looking for their prey.
The soul is one of the factors influencing human behavior. This is matter that cannot be seen or felt physically.
The study of personality, its actions and feelings has always been of interest to society. Throughout history, the soul has been viewed as a separate entity - something separate from the body and at the same time connected with it. There are numerous interpretations of the concept of “soul”, different points of view on this matter. One thing is clear: the soul is something incomprehensible to science and human consciousness. One can only guess about its essence and purpose.
Motive
If you look at Wikipedia, we will read: motive is a dynamic physiological and psychological process that controls human behavior, determining its direction, organization, activity and stability. In Russian science it is often defined as “objectified need”. How brilliantly the plot was twisted!! An objectified need! But let's be serious. We must understand that the reason why this or that action is performed and the motive for the action itself are two completely different differences. A motive is the deepest roots from which, and first the intention (trunk) to do something grows, then the desire (branches), and only then the act itself (fruits). By the way, leaves are plugs for the conscience, which are designed to hide the fruits from unclean motives.
The recommendation is simple: before doing anything, always try to understand and understand your motive as deeply as possible. Even if he is very doubtful, forewarned means forearmed. Having complete information about what your lower ego intends to do, you are already in control of the situation. Remember, you, and only you yourself, give any thing on Earth one or another pole, positive or negative.
The more honestly you define your motive, the easier it will be for you to cope with the temptation to do something that goes against the Higher Laws. This will not always work out right away; it will take quite a while until you learn to have pure, bright motives for your future actions. But I assure you, having committed another act with a pure motive, and having received the consequences over time, you will be so amazed, pleasantly surprised, and filled internally that each time it will be easier for you to do good deeds, and you will hardly want to go back into the darkness ignorance.
Question: How to become spiritually rich? Answer: Gain experience of the Spirit.
That's it. From now on, you are not your body, you are your soul and your spirit. With whom you talk directly without any intermediaries in robes or on meditation mats. You know what you want, most importantly you know why you need it. You no longer strive for happiness, but already live in joy. I will not list all the emotions accompanying this state, because no words will be enough anyway. And it will look like an advertisement
