Bear with me, as we dive into the cold waters of the indescribable. Thoughts muddle about it. Language doesn’t do it justice. We all know it. We’ve all felt it. But how do you explain this thing called spirituality?
The concept itself has existed for generations — across cultures, dialects, epochs and ages. But for such a unifying and universal part of the human experience, it’s hard as hell to explain what spirituality even is!
Why a Guide to Spirituality for the Y Generation?
Of course these concepts apply to all people. Why, then, specifically target the Y Generation? Because spirituality lacks a modern definition. We can look at old texts, scholars, and philosophers on their understandings, but the more digging around I did, the more I felt there lacked a modern take. Most of the current content out there simply sucks in my opinion.
Y Generation, in this context, isn’t about limiting this message to a particular age group, but rather to frame it in terms of modern dialect. Language is constantly evolving. Words may never be sufficient enough to describe something so complex. Ohh, and the long tail SEO keywords certainly doesn’t hurt either 😉
Getting Started with an Analogy
This is you.
A clear crystal glass filled with water. Notice the shape the water takes? It’s the exact same as the cup. Pour water into a cup, and it will take the form of a cup. Pour water in a kettle, and it will take the form of a kettle. Pour water on the ground, and well, you might create yourself a swimming pool. Water in our analogy is the spirit.
When we think of our concept of self, most will be inclined to think of themself as some entity that lies behind two eyes, in between two ears, and then dangles down to the ground; encapsulated behind a bag of skin. We picture ourselves as quite literally living inside of our own skulls. This is the cup, the kettle, and the swimming pool. All these act as containers for water. And that container is you.
With me so far? In this analogy:
1) water is spirituality
2) the container is you
When you regard yourself as being in the sense as most people do (I am my hands, my toes, arms, legs, ears, and feet), you place the spirituality in that container. The spirituality becomes encapsulated to take that shape. The water, by nature, pushes against the edges of the container. What the water really wants to do is flow extensively, but it can only go as far as you will permit it.
So when you stub your toe, gorge on an epic meal, or feeling lustful, you are locating yourself as an entity behind two eyes, in between two ears, and dangling down to the ground; encapsulated behind a bag of skin. Psychologists call this the ego. Christians describe this as the 7 deadly sins. In Sanskrit, it is the Ahaṃkāra. Could it once again be a problem with language and that they are all describing the same thing?
When the Container Changes Form
The container you use to hold water isn’t consistent. In fact, change is about the only thing that is constant. There comes a time when you have to eat, have to poop, have to find sexual release, and overall just think of yourself as an entity in that form. The point of this blog post isn’t to do away with that all together, but rather to shift your modus operandi to spending more time recognizing yourself as an all-inclusive being. We do this on our own, whether consciously aware of it or not.
When we lose sense of self and emerge with our surroundings, the glass container expands. Examples of this include: a charismatic person bouncing around the room while entertaining guests; a sun tanned surfer losing sense of self in a morning sunrise; the Dalai Lama experiencing full empathy in recognizing someones thoughts and feelings as part of his own.
We use words like charisma, ambience, or aura to describe this, and the people who demonstrate it best are very captivating. A seemingly magnetic field of energy surrounds them. Losing sense of self as a being that lies behind two eyes, in between two ears, and then dangles down to the ground behind a bag of skin is quintessential to experiencing full reality (that which is spirituality!). Interestingly enough, psychologist have to come to recognize that peak performance is performed in this state of flow. Literally where our best work as a species comes from.
Lucid Dreaming in Relation to Spirituality
It’s midnight, time to go to bed you decide. In your sleep, you have a dream of your first day of school. You board a yellow school bus, take a quick pit stop in Europe to pick up Captain Hook, and then promptly head off to class. You find a seat in the back of the room and quietly grab a seat. You shuffle through papers and homework from last night, as you slowly glance over and notice the student to your right is actually a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The professor calls you to the front of class to demonstrate a math problem on the board. As you take to the front of the room, the realization suddenly sinks in. Ohh crap, I’m naked! This often is such a startle, that you awake from your dream.
Upon awakening and thinking back to that dream. Would you regard yourself only as the physical person in your dream? The eyes, the feet, arms, legs, eyes, nose, and hair of your dream avatar? Of course not! The dream in its entirety was you. From the classroom, the books, the T-rex, the chalkboard, the teacher, and finally, the naked you. — all of that was an extension of you.
What Spirituality Looks Like Outside of the Container
When we awaken in our daily lives, we come to the realization that we are more than just our physical being. Much more. When we think of ourselves as our bodies, that is the ego stepping in the way. Open your hands and feel the pulsing magnetization that is flowing from you and everything else in existence. Spirituality is the full recognition of what you really are.
Your container can expand to any size. It can expand to fill your body, a 3 foot field extending around your body, the size of your city, solar system, or even the Universe in its entitreity!
I look at the clouds, green hillsides, and craters and recognize hey, that’s me! I am that thing. I am a congruent part of that reality and it all exists, here at this present moment, within me. I am the depth of the cosmos, the explosive basin of supernovas, and the single white grain of sand lying on a beach. I am all that, and more.
Spirituality is universal experience. And when we awaken to the realization that we are part of all, it becomes much more of an orgasmic experience.