Being Spiritual - an exclusivity of being all inclusive!

Being spiritual,

is neither being exclusive nor all inclusive!

 

It’s the willingness to accept,

and, an intent ‘to find the truth’ in

everything/everyone, we come across;

With a goal to achieve the always elusive “Ultimate Truth”,

by overriding everything which limits us!!

 

©iimran

 

We all are brought up with a set of beliefs, and come to identify ourselves with those set of belief systems. Some of us are so rigid about them that our existence seems to lose meaning, without them. We shouldn’t forget that our beliefs are something that was handed over to us after we were born. We are much bigger than those set of beliefs.

We are spiritual beings who chose to be on earth for a mission; we have a purpose to fulfill, lessons to learn. Our life on earth is temporary, but our identity as a soul is not. When we recognize & justify our existence only around physical aspects and manmade systems, we are consciously letting go of our “true identity” as a soul.

Our own organized beliefs help us differentiate right from wrong, teach us love, also define a set of laws for a peaceful and meaningful existence. While there are many such groups, each of the groups adheres to a particular set of beliefs, which teach us more or less the same; but the way we arrive at & interpret them, may not always be the same.

Then there are atheists, who deny the existence of any of the deities; and yet all the concepts around right, wrong, humanity, love, peace, and meaningful existence are acknowledged by them, in their own separate ways. Their failure to see a bigger force at action doesn’t automatically nullify its existence. Their sustenance and continued existence are still governed by the same force, which works through everyone & everything. Even if a child refuses to recognize its father, for whatever reason, still the father remains the father; just a misplaced belief cannot wholly deny the existence of the father.

Our understanding of the universe is expanding every day, what was believed a century ago is no longer fully valid, perhaps even more depth and more aspects get added every now & then. Facts & concepts which were never thought possible come to startle us, and keep questioning our intellects. Our understanding of selves & the universe is one great elusive treasure hunt, where every time we think, we finally found the treasure, it always turns out to be just another clue. Even so, our incessant obsession to contain the creator in a set of “the man identified” laws, which were in reality placed into work by the creator, never ceases.

Even the staunchest of believers of science do come to, at some point; reluctantly accept the presence of some greater force at work. Nevertheless, we refrain to openly bow to the idea, just because we fail to explain it in terms of “the man identified” physical laws. 

With quantum mechanics, we have come to believe that atoms & subatomic particles may not be defined as some physical particles, but in fact, they are energy fields. Hence all the matter we see and even we, at the most basic level are made up of energy.

We are still adamant on believing only what we can observe & quantify, and continuously keep failing to define the creator in a set of laws. We are like a kid who has been given a toy to play with and come to learn how it works & sometimes even repair it when it breaks down. But, we can never ignore the fact that no matter how much the kid is successful in comprehending the toy, it is only acknowledging the existence & function of the toy. It can in no way define the creator by studying the creation.

And, we also have an indigenous set of people who lead nomadic lives as tribes in forests. No matter how primitive and basic their necessities of life may seem; they still have their own set of beliefs, which define the right & wrongs and everything else as does in our so-called normal, advanced human societies.

Being spiritual is not about ignoring all religious beliefs, neither being an atheist nor being a skeptic of science. It is all about “accepting the truth” in everything & every aspect of our lives, encompassing every point of view; and mostly letting loose our rigid beliefs & stances.

Identifying and acknowledging the truth in everything/everyone requires a broader, all-inclusive outlook which engulfs; what we can comprehend, what we yet cannot & some of which we will never be able to comprehend.

If our goal is to evolve ourselves and grow to be as close as possible to the truth; our stubbornness inherently becomes an impediment to our objective.

When we rigidly adhere to something, we limit ourselves and seem to get offended at something or everything which goes against that. Everything/everyone we come across is a potential clue in the humongous treasure hunt of the universe; each clue when properly assimilated & integrated will get us a step closer! In order to approach the ultimate truth, we need to keep evolving with each clue.

Behold, the ultimate truth is just an illusion! In the end, we can only go to a limited extent, as explained earlier, a kid with a toy; can only understand the creation and perhaps make a feeble attempt to define the “Ultimate” by extrapolating its interpretation. However, that in all ways cannot be the right way; perhaps there is no right way. Perhaps in our effort to understand the creator, the grand force at work, we will only come closer to understanding our true selves; “WE”, being just a “tiny creation” in the grand scale of the universe.