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Spiritual Growth And Why It Matters

By Therese Yemana


Spiritual growth has for a long time a significant component of a person's sense of wellbeing, even before man has conceptualized the idea and broke it down in many ways that ultimately ended up in numerous ways on how to build upon it. You name it - yoga, karma, or even reincarnation. There are so many that they range from the most mystical to the most practical. But even when you're treading your own "spiritual path", or in deep need of what spiritual fulfillment, an in-depth knowledge of what spirituality is can be very helpful in more ways than one.

To ensure that we completely understand what spirituality is, maybe it is important that we discuss the meaning of the root word itself; Spirit is an intangible property, one that refers to something incorporeal, something mysterious and never bound by the material world. The most acclaimed scholar and physicist, Albert Einstein, referred to spirituality with these words: "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious - the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science". This brings us to the 2 things that he pointed out - science and art. Both of these have dominated human's awareness while achieving answers to the mysteries that have confounded us about the world. These two indulgences, polar opposites as they may be, have paved the way to the development of technology and human awareness.

The search for solutions is deeply rooted to our natural tendency to gain knowledge about ourselves, and how we are connected to everything around us. Typical activities such as fixing a car engine or observing an ant farm are unconscious manifestations of that need, and consequently, connected to spirituality. You only have to read Robert M. Pasig's magnum opus, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, to know what I am talking about. Although this does not agree with the concept of spirituality as something not bound in the material world, these physical avenues are helpful channels that allow us to achieve that transcendence, and consequently provide us a glimpse into the mysterious.

Many people achieve spiritual sustenance through meditation. Meditation is a process of serious contemplation, or turning inward to attain a profound condition of peacefulness, focus and awareness. The idea of meditation came from the Eastern cultures, and it has been developed by the West as a form of prayer. Buddhist monks are astute in their belief that meditation is the best way to Enlightenment, which explains the sanguine temperament through which they deal with others.

A common misconception most individuals make is having the notion that spirituality is exclusive to religion. While it's true that religion has helped a lot of people to lead spiritual lives, it only represents a few facets that constitute the full meaning of spirituality. Spirituality is a confluence, a heightened understanding of what we are and how we are connected to the whole spectrum of existence, and the discernment that every little thing is equally essential and dependent on each other.




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