I as a person have trouble exploring myself. Over a year ago
I affirmed myself as an atheist or at least as a person who rejects organized
religion at least and I was satisfied. I never felt the need to pray, except in
a few situations out of despair, like every single person in this world, and my
world made perfect sense without a divine figure.
But what was missing was actually what I hastily rejected
along with the religion: my spirituality. Like it or not, I was born and raised
in a very spiritual family who manifested its spirituality through Christianity,
and this spirituality at least is a big part of my education and the “spiritual
part of my brain” is irreversibly developed.
Standing here, I don’t feel capable of defining
spirituality, since I am a materialist who denies the existence of spirit. We are
all just molecules. So defining spirituality relatively to a “spirit” would be
contradictory with my convictions. And just to be clear, I only call it “spirituality”
for the lack of a better word…
In order to define something we can try comparing it to
other things or placing it in contexts. Spirituality clearly can be taught, and
even without the use of religious texts; it can provide a person with
fulfillment on an emotional level; it can be achieved through diverse processes
like meditation or prayer, not really to a god, or anything really; it’s more
of a dialog between one and oneself... I used to define religion as one part
morals and rules and one part spirituality, and by that I meant the comfort,
the fulfillment that it gives humans who have this instinctual need to believe
in something… so can I really talk about spirituality which isn’t based on
belief? I’M LOST.
YES, YES WE CAN. Religious people pray to a god asking for
help, for forgiveness of their sins, or thanking him for his blessings. If we
ignore god in that equation we obtain people who have analyzed their obstacles
and their capacities and feel they need an extra push in order to achieve their
goals, people who want to make up for their errors, and people who appreciate
what they have, and that is what spirituality is all about: people who are
conscious enough to know what they need, what they have, and what they should do.
Spirituality is consciousness. Cultivating a spirit helps in
achieving goals and results in a smart person, who isn’t deluded, and truthful
to oneself. Spirituality is consequently an infallible key to happiness.
