How do you manage to find life spiritual?

Originally Posted by Jainarayan

I can't say I'm always successful but I try to keep in mind a few verses from the Bhagavad Gita:

"I am seated in the heart of all living entities. I am the beginning, middle, and end of all beings."

"But what need is there, Arjuna [the friend to whom Krishna just explained his divine glories], for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe."

My denomination/sect of Hinduism is pantheistic and panentheistic. The divine pervades everything, and everything is divine.

Very beautiful..

Originally Posted by shivatar

I practice meditation and do some pondering from time to time but it's not something that is on my mind all the time, I just live my life.

As it should be really.

Thanks,

JL

[Miss Hepburn]

Talking in general here...'spiritual' translates to me as being high and happy and clear and strong. (Short version)

I have observed it is difficult for a person in any kind of struggle
to accept or agree with the mentioning of choice.

But, we must buckle down, I have to, and say, No.
"I do not choose this...this feeling.
I will do what I must to be happy, fostering kindness, developing
selflessness and generosity of my time and money...to take
my attention off any sort of unwanted, undesirable feeling that the ego has
created for me to keep me in these darn paper chains of imaginary limitation!!!!

I feel strongly about this, and this is the spiritual warrior in me and how I talk to myself...
This crying and splashing around in knee deep water ..."Save me! I'm so helpless!"....
Has got to be controlled...and we have that control...(unless we are clinically diagnosed as
having a mental disability no matter how small...then ignore what I'm saying.)

I'm talking to the average guy that wants to stop being 'stuck' in unhappy feelings and desires to feel Joy
and an enthusiastic spirit each day. Ya gotta actually 'do' something differently.
As in, there comes a time of getting off your duff and taking back your power...who else is going to do it for you?

I don't mean to offend anyone, if I'm being too strong...and this usually does offend people that
really do think 'things are done to them"....Ooo, they get mad!

I usually don't say anything...I mean, go ahead and splash around feeling helpless...not much I can do....
Not even giving them a book, seems to do anything. They don't read it...they choose to stay in a complaining mode.
Different Paths....so, ok.



* And yes...2 sentences of the Gita does it for me, too.

[Altair]

Originally Posted by LadyMay

Life is inherently spiritual to me, as physical reality is an emanation of That. There is not any other way I can see it.

Yes, beautifully said. I feel this strongly..

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Talking in general here...'spiritual' translates to me as being high and happy and clear and strong. (Short version)

Haha.. yes, it often seems like you are on a high, Miss Hepburn..!
But I do like that enthusiastic devotion you have..

[Busby]

Originally Posted by LadyMay

Life is inherently spiritual to me, as physical reality is an emanation of That. There is not any other way I can see it.

I agree. You have, in my opinion, a good idea of how things 'work'. However the understanding of the word 'spirituality' seems to me to be confusing. I find myself shying away from this and similar words as they are used so haphazardly. I prefer to think of mind and matter, it gives the same result but doesn't get people floating off into 'heavenly spheres' and removes any supposed supernatural interference from those universal laws which form our worlds.

Every physical 'appearance' on this planet results from what we know as consciousness, we still have to get to the point where we can comprehend that the universe's greatest power lies in individual and collective imagination(s).

[Found Goat]

In life there is, of course, obvious factors that may cause one to feel within certain situations, environments, or during certain periods, that a sense of spirituality is missing or altogether absent at a precise moment and place. The key is whether one’s inner spiritual foundation is strong and well-equipped enough to hold up amid the lows or discouraging forces that one is expected to encounter and experience along his path of inner development.

Spirituality, for the most part, within this increasingly materialistic world, is sorely lacking and seemingly on the decline. It’s not a matter of one who has been attempting to be, or who is, spiritual of giving up perceiving this base world for what it really is. If anything, it is the opposite: Those who are soul-aware observe with tremendous accuracy the state of the world in general, and sigh and moan over what is being done to the planet and the environment, over the rampant greed and corruption, and the selfishness and mean-spirited behavior of those they read about in the news or perhaps even encounter at school or at work.

Whether a person in our postmodern age interprets what is profane to be relative to each individual is moot as it nevertheless and sadly exists in the world. There is still profanity to be found, as there has always been – in profane language and in desecrating deeds and conduct, for example.

There is also, outside of forums like this one, a lot of negativity in the world that a person sometimes has to contend with, as with those who feel it’s no use trying to be a positive force in the world when there’s so much negativity around. There’s a relative of mine, for example, who in his younger days used to be rather upbeat and had an inner glow to his countenance but over the years gave in to nihilistic thinking and perpetual scowls. It could be said that the cold, harsh world got to him and hence got the better of him. One has certainly reached a pitiable spiritual condition if one takes to being critical of the need for Light and positivity in this otherwise benighted world.

Outside of making a living, one can often choose how and with whom he or she spends his free time with. For some, this may be getting out in nature; for others, it may be listening to some uplifting music. Some find encouragement in inspirational affirmations or in the words of high-minded authors. There are creative pursuits for one to get lost in, like painting. One person may try and keep on the bright side of life by going dancing while another may simply want to be tickled.

Yes, people do have slightly different definitions of what it means to be spiritual but I think pretty much all would agree that it’s important for one to keep on either seeking or practicing positive qualities, like joy and hope, regardless of what one’s life situation or surroundings might be like.

[little.nation]

Originally Posted by iamthat

At heart there is a centre of stillness which is naturally peaceful, joyful, loving and compassionate. Resting in this centre, all of life becomes an expression of spirituality. Nothing is profane. The challenge is to find this centre and then learn to rest within.

Peace.

If it is possible to be not in this center space, then clearly much is profane. It wouldn't be profane if people were in the place you describe but clearly they're not and so we get profane as a result.

[little.nation]

Originally Posted by Honza

There are so many influences at work which seem to stop life being spiritual. It is like I exist within a void which repels light. In many ways life seems very profane.

How do you manage to keep your life spiritual? Do you find it comes naturally? With me it is a constant struggle.

Everything mercilessly has a meaning. I have to make an effort to assert boundaries for the sake of my mind. If I'm walking down the street and I hear or see something (the eyes and ears are gates) I have to contend with spirit, spiritual orchestration, influence, manipulation, communication, sign, symbol, trigger, provocation, meaning, etc.. which keeps me as a puppet on strings and causes me so much aggravation and frustration that it takes serious effort to push things out of my awareness. They will still be there but I've been able to push things aside so that it does not dominate my focus and attention.

It doesn't even have to be walking outside. It can be an email, a piece of junk mail, an advertisement, a direct spiritual message in telepathic form, overhearing people talk, a car or train horn, any environmental sound, the rain, a bird, a beam of sunlight, a color, a number, a word, a doppelganger, etc..

It's constant.

To me, spirit is the most profane thing there is.

Originally Posted by Honza

There are so many influences at work which seem to stop life being spiritual. It is like I exist within a void which repels light. In many ways life seems very profane.

How do you manage to keep your life spiritual? Do you find it comes naturally? With me it is a constant struggle.

Perhaps, everything is spiritual, but we cannot experience it as such when we are instead judging it, as we experience our judgement of it instead. If you fall into the rapids and face upstream to swim against the current, you will grow tired, panic, and drown. But turn downstream, feet first, and go with the flow until you get to calm water, you may find the going much easier, maybe have a thrill along the way, and appreciate the calm water much more when you finally get there.

I have found that some of the most spiritually moving experiences are sometimes the most unpleasant and miserable, although such an appreciation always seems to come in hindsight. Life is a dance of dualism. Without dark there cannot be light. Without sorrow there cannot be joy. Opposites define each other. Even in physics, scientists expect that for each particle discovered, there will be a corresponding “opposite” antiparticle. A wave must have both a peak and a trough to be a wave.

Is it a void that swallows up the light, or perhaps it is being blocked by the polarized lenses of the glasses we choose to look at it with. Always, yin and yang exist together, dependent on each other for their definition.

When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad. Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other. Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess,
acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.
[Tao Te Ching chapter 2]

[edithaint]

Spirit is breath. Life. Every person, place, or thing is a gear in an infinite machine of possibility. For every world like our own, there is another world absolutely beyond our comprehension. As it is often said, we are spiritual beings having a human experience, and our perception of spacetime is limited by the computing power of these fleshy animal brains. But that doesn't make you any less important in the Great Machine.

Consider your own power. Held within your atoms are vast amounts of energy, enough to decimate a nation or provide power for a year, although releasing even a fraction of this energy would probably require your annihilation. Meditate upon this potential, feel and relish the mind-bogglingly bright light within the cosmic dust of your flesh and bones, savoring the ancient air you breath and the primordial water that flows through your veins. Relax however necessary to allow yourself full immersion in....yourself. Once you sink deep enough, you rise up into the realization of everything else. Even if only temporarily.