![]() | |
![]() | |
![]() |
Spirituality Information |
|
![]() |
Real Spirituality
My fiancee' and I frequent a restaurant in L.A. called Real Food Daily. The concept behind the name is that their food -- which is unprocessed, abundantly nutritious, and lovingly prepared -- is more authentic, more "real," than most other food. This claim is at once silly and wise. Silly because philosophers have argued about the true nature of "reality" for centuries. Wise because it's an admissible philosophy that the closer something is to its source, the more "real" it is. This principle has universal applications. Original paintings are deemed more "real" than prints. Linguistically inventive people are deemed more "real" than those who repeat one-liners from TV. A head of lettuce is more "real" than a hot dog. My interest here is to compare organized spirituality to improvised spirituality. Is either one more real? Needless to say, comparing these two entities is trickier (and more controversial) than comparing paintings and prints. Every moment of every day, a gentle battle occurs between those that attend religious ceremonies and those that just "believe in something." How many people do you know that just "believe in something"? I've met far too many to keep count (and I myself belong, for the most part, to this group). They're a raw and ragtag bunch that's curious enough for exploration but too impatient for formalities. Which begs the question: do formalities enhance "real spirituality" or detract from it? Let's cast aside our existential leanings (if any) and assume that there is in fact -- for lack of a more evocative term -- a spirit world. If this is the case, then all of us are intrinsically connected to it, which means that accessing the spirit world (via prayer, visualization, intuition, etc.) requires no special passkeys. No torahs or rosary beads. No church walls or bemas. By this standard, we can kneel before garden hoses and find God in the pages of a phone directory. Many of those that just "believe in something" like the sound of this. They tend to scoff in the face of organized religion. For them, all formally religious chants, prayers, rituals, and clothing are empty ornaments standing between the plain flesh of humanity and the sparkling blue rivers of eternity. I steer clear of such thinking. To my mind, such formalities do not detract from real spirituality. Nor do they enhance it. Whereas the concept behind Real Food Daily is both silly and wise, the concept of Real Spirituality is just plain silly. All spirituality -- be it improvised, half-assed, or out of focus -- is authentic. Assuming, of course, that there is a spirit world. Consider the realm of the spirit as a house with many doors. Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islamism are widely practiced, so perhaps they enter through the front door. Modes like Scientology and Wicca are less conventional, so perhaps they enter through the side. And as for those of us that just "believe in something," we may lack a formal name, and we may enter through the back, but I've no doubt that we reach the same place. About The Author Eric Shapiro is the author of "Short of a Picnic," a collection of fiction about people living with mental disorders. He is at work on his first novel.
MORE RESOURCES:
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
RELATED ARTICLES
Connect With the Moon Phases to Manifest Your Desires Connecting with the Moon phases, the Full and New Moon phases in particular, is something anyone can do very easily. It is all about energy (isn't everything?) and directing the energies in a positive way. Getting to Spiritual Enlightenment The expression "Spiritual Enlightenment" has been used often in reference to personal spiritual development. What exactly is meant by this term however has been vaguely defined. Discipline of Prayer: Always Connected Every workday, five days a week, I take the light rail into downtown Dallas. Only last week, this routine finally taught me a lesson about prayer. Drifting Like a Summer Breeze He knew it was going to happen. He wasn't really surprised. The Key to a Clear Conscience I have discovered as I grow older in Christ Jesus and wiser in all things spiritual, that one of the best possessions any person can have is a clear conscience. You feel good. Why Is Your Prayer Of Faith Lacking Results? About a month ago I opened up my bible in boredom trying to see if the lord had a word for me. Well, it just so happened that I landed in first kings the page with chapter three right there just staring me in the face. Chakras 101 The chakras are different coloured energy centres that originate from seven different points in our body. Chakra is a Sanskrit (East Indian) word that means "Wheel". The Recipe for Love - Christmas Special "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:12-13) KJVGod is love. Abundance As Spiritual Birthright I am going to remind of some simple, yet important things, that you should already know, but perhaps need a reminding of just now. I know that I need reminding from time to time and suspect that you may also need the same 'straight to the point' reminders. The Search for Gods Intention I believe in the source we refer to as 'God'. This is the powerful Universal Energy from which all that is manifests. The Shamanic Approach to Healing for Animals On Shamans and Shamanism .. Jesus wants A Few Good Men! Living A Life You Always Wanted! Jack Nicholson (Col. Jessup) (marine cornel) YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH ?. A Testimony of an Ex-Mormon Mormons like to give testimonies. Unlike Mormon testimonies, I will seek to show that the testimony of my conversion to Christianity is based upon the teaching of Scripture. Are you Addicted to 'NO'? Locating the YES! of the Heart It seems to me that our moment to moment relationship to Life can basically be reduced to a 'YES' or a 'NO'. Let me explain?This moment and everything in it, IS as it IS, ALREADY. Kachina Doll To a shaman a kachina isn't really a doll or a child's toy. Also, it isn't a collector's piece of art or a decoration. Lectio Divina -- Reading the Bible for Spiritual Growth Lectio divina is a very useful and practical discipline for spiritual growth. Rooted in ancient monasticism, the practice is a fourfold cycle: Reading, Meditation, Prayer, and Contemplation. Stress Strategy: Flex Your Spiritual Muscles In his book, Stress Without Distress, Dr. Selye suggests that a person's interpretation of stress is not dependent solely on an external event, but also depends upon the perception of the event and the meaning he or she assigns it. Giving From the Heart I thought for sometime that I was hard done bye with having to produce this newsletter and manage my web site with old computer equipment that was so slow that I could have cat naps between the time one program would close and another opened. This had a mixed blessing in that I could work for hours without having to stop and rest so there were some advantages to having archaic equipment. Existence of God: Facts and Figures Does God Exist? Existence of God: facts and figures Does God exist?If you are a theist.. God's Message to You As I sat down today to write this article, I went through my usual routine of sitting still and listening to that voice that comes from inside of me. I do this all the time when I sit down to write an article, or before I give a speech, or before I answer an email or before I coach someone, or before I do anything basically. ![]() |
home | site map |
© 2006 |