The spiritual component of a human being is the part that is not tangible or physical in nature. Everyone has an ego and a spirit. The ego develops at a very young age and develops through parental and societal influences. It sees itself as separate from everyone and everything else. The ego tends to grow fearfully attached to its beliefs, cultural differences, societal influences, possessions, and expectations of itself and others, through which it falsely identifies itself. Thoughts, emotions, decisions, and reactions are a by-product of these mundane attachments. The ego only survives temporarily as long as the physical entity exists.
The spirit, on the other hand, is the TRUE you, all perfect, no conflict, compassionate, pure love, pure light, and everlasting beyond the physical. Spiritual wellness can be defined as the achievement of a higher state of consciousness through positive interaction with one’s self, others, and the environment. The spirit equates to love in its PUREST form. You can attain this state of wellness at various levels of development by establishing and utilizing your connection with your Higher Power, a Power far greater than your EGO self.
Spiritually focused individuals excel towards continuous internal growth with a deep sense of humility, always considering themselves a work in progress, but COMPLETE at the same time! Fear of living or dying does not exist in this realm at its deepest level. Instead, there is awareness and contentment that life and death are one continuous journey.
So essentially, YOU, the spirit, never dies, only the physical body will perish! Of course, when you first embark on this conscious journey it will take time to develop a new perspective and embrace your true identity. Increased awareness will come as you do your inner work. It’s like learning a new language. It takes practice and persistence. There is nothing more fulfilling than finding your “true self”. All the money in the world cannot buy this precious gift!
Spiritual wholeness incorporates all aspects of the physical, emotional, and mental being in unity.
Approaching total wellness means:
- Respecting our physical bodies
- Being good stewards of our planet
- Truly loving ourselves and being compassionate towards one another
- Changing our perception and gaining mental clarity
- Developing emotional stability
- Embracing our individuality to identify and align with our life’s purpose
- Maintaining human connectivity through healthy relationships
- Having the ability to see yourself in everyone and everything in unification
- Contentment
The word approaching is used because very few can say they have actually achieved total wellness at the highest level and remained in that state of pure enlightenment. Hence the term “work in progress”. However, one can experience contentment and a high level of wellness when practicing self-actualization as all of the areas listed above are brought into a conscious light.
With that being said, becoming conscious-minded does not mean you will never experience physical pain or illness. However, your commitment to doing your best with the knowledge and resources you acquire to maintain physical wellness will dramatically reduce the likelihood. There are few genetic and certain environmental factors to consider, and accidents do occur, although everything happens for a reason, so rest easy.
In addition, one can experience divine intervention or spontaneous healing of the physical body, but that does not make them spiritually well or aware. Jesus performed these types of miracles, like helping the blind to see again, or healing people from incurable diseases. However, Jesus did not do this to prove that He was in God-consciousness. The take away here, or lesson He was trying to teach, was that one can be physically healed, but that did not equate with spiritual wellness, which is far more rewarding. For the physical body will eventually wither and die, while the Spirit will live on forever! This type of physical healing is Divinely influenced exemplifying the power and permanence of the spirit. Everyone has the power to heal themselves when aligned in unbreakable faith, truth, light, and pure awareness, but few are willing to do the work.
The term spontaneous healing is used when a person with a diagnosed condition gets healed without any medical intervention or clinical explanation. Spontaneous healing has even been documented and recorded in medical literature.
Malghem et al. (1989) documented three cases of spontaneous healing of aneurysmal bone cysts (ABC). ABCs are blood-filled, fibrous cysts that expand the bone and cause pain, swelling, and fractures, which usually need to be removed surgically. The ABCs disappeared in the three patients, and the healed lesions remained stable at 12, 32, and 36 months.
Rosenthal et al. (1970) documented a case of spontaneous healing in a 10-year-old girl with the isolated interventricular septal defect. The condition was acquired by blunt force trauma to the chest, causing cardiac complications and a large defect in the septum (divides the 2 lower heart chambers). Six months after discharge from the hospital, she became asymptomatic, the murmur had disappeared, and her heart returned to normal size. These are just a few examples of the many clinical cases where individuals have spontaneously healed.
Faith healing through ritualistic prayer and “laying on of hands” has been used to spontaneously cure diseases and disabilities in Pentecostal churches in the US and around the world. There are also certain individuals or healers who are gifted and worked to acquire the power to heal as well. Even though science wants to dismiss these actual real-life events (due to lack of tangible cause and effect), many people are still on board with these Divine occurrences even though they haven’t witnessed them. In fact, 72 percent of Americans say they believe that praying to God can cure someone, per a 2004 Newsweek poll.
It is seen that a positive faith filled spiritual nature, or “the power of belief” has positive outcomes on many levels. This ideal nature can enhance the physical being and actually play a significant role in the healing process. However, spiritual wholeness, or total wellness, requires conscious action in all areas encompassing the mind, body, emotions, and spirit. Becoming more conscious, aware, or present can ease the mind and help you face and process any complications encountered in life. There is a conscious solution to every problem! Conscious living is both empowering and completely fulfilling and can only be seen as an indispensable asset for daily life and beyond.
SPIRITUALITY & RELIGION
Often times we identify organized religions and spirituality as one and the same. However, although affiliated with spirituality, religion does not necessarily equate to being spiritual, at least at a higher level of consciousness, devoid of fear and limitation. An “organized religion” is defined as a faith-based system with an over-arching structure in place to define doctrine, standardize worship practices, and administrate the organization. Each individual religious organization believes that their image of God is the right one and that the God they worship should be universally honored. As you can see, most religion rejects the world based on attachment to beliefs, while spirituality disregards beliefs, expressing acceptance based on unity.
Most religious folk are indoctrinated, meaning they are conditioned to adopt a specific set of beliefs without thinking for themselves, dogmatic in their ways. These ingrained beliefs are acquired mostly through education (memory and recall), not knowledge (intuition). There is no critical thinking involved, instead closed-mindedness or over analytical ego dominated thinking. This type of blind faith, void of unity, lacking self-awareness, and resistance to truth, can be very misleading, although ALL happens for a reason.
This ‘my God is better than yours’ perception only breeds adversity, even hatred, and war. Religion tries to instill fear into its followers, manipulating its members to remain loyal. They claim that if these specific beliefs are not followed, eternal damnation is your choice based on rejecting the particular doctrines.
Theology tries to convince us that there is life after death, but since that claim has to be taken on faith, religion exacts obedience by holding the afterlife over our heads. If we lack faith, if we worship the wrong God or sin against the right God, our chances for a reward after we die are ruined. Religious wars continue to erupt over this issue, which is so anxiety provoking that fanatics would rather die for the faith than live with the admission that someone else’s faith has a right to exist.” “I die so that you may not believe in your God”. This view exemplifies that of insanity, twisted perception, and non-reality. –Deepak Chopra
The cognitive dissonance here or conflicting beliefs associated with religion is grossly apparent. There is a severe disconnect between what the mind believes and what is actually experienced in real life. This means even if there is substantial evidence discrediting the belief, the individual is so cemented in dogma that they will still deny the obvious truth. Religion says that God=love, but provokes much internal conflict, animosity, and even violence. God=being connected, but religion promotes disconnect from our fellow beings and separates us from our true selves, therefore creating distance from a God you “beLIEve” you are connecting with. To know, love, and feel God, one must know and love themselves, as well as ALL others regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, or form of worship.
Additionally, many people are brought up in religious groups that are based on rewards and punishments. Their God loves them when they do right and condemns them when they do wrong. This type of religion exhibits a love that is dependent on one’s actions or works, instead of a love that is unconditional. Some of these fear-based religions put more stress on the negatives rather than on the positives, placing too much focus on the external self, based on social structure, values, and specific practices. This is yet another example of cognitive dissonance. Religion says that true love and contentment cannot be found outside oneself, but then fixates on external conditioning which is very confusing and misleading.
In the past few decades, many people have awakened to all the many contradictions that follow religion. The fire and brimstone mentality and fear-mongering have driven many people away from organized religion. Their scare tactics no longer seem to intimidate most people into active participation. Fortunately, due to religious freedom in today’s society, many people who were raised to worship one specific Deity no longer feel the need to belong to a fear-based organized religion that segregates others, and begets adversity towards “non-believers” in order to attain spiritual riches. It is only unconditional love, true compassion, open-mindedness, and unity that exemplifies a genuine spiritual nature.
Spirituality is the daily practice of self-awareness that incorporates positive thought processes with applied action, is shared with all others, and does not require an organized group to participate. It doesn’t matter what path you follow (Jesus Christ, Buddha, God, Allah, Mohammad, Universal Spirit, Mother Earth, the sun, etc.) all humans are connected to a Universal Spirit.
Spiritual consciousness represents unconditional love and unity, as opposed to discord and separatism. Our Higher Power, Higher-self, God-self, or Creator does not care to rate one religion over another. The aspiration instead should focus on how we can bring each other closer to their Universal Power, and how we can better know, love, and serve ourselves first, as well as our fellow men.
Faith cannot be genuine if one is not able to identify with their true selves. Blind faith can be very powerful, but regurgitated faith can be very blinding. Indoctrinated faith is lacking in wholeness, promotes separatism, and will blind you from the ultimate TRUTH!
Conscious spiritual principles should be integrated into with whatever religious assembly you belong to with an acceptance and understanding that equality exists no matter how you choose to worship!
UNITY & WORSHIP
As civilized beings, everyone knows (or should know) the difference between right and wrong. Ideally, individuals belonging to a particular religious group or culture will establish a moral system that allows them to live peacefully and happily, even if they don’t always adhere to that system perfectly. Then to demonstrate unity, each religious group would develop an understanding that whatever path one chooses to follow is their right and choice, and should be respected and not judged in any way to avoid conflict and establish peace among all!
One commonality in any religion is extending thanks, praise, and worship. It seems that a desire to believe in something bigger and more permanent than this physical world is an innate part of human nature. As part of a shared belief system, mankind also has an innately basic need to worship. Worship doesn’t have to be difficult and can be done alone or in the accompaniment of others.
There are many practices that can be used as forms of worship to help you develop a spiritually focused life:
- Some people choose to meditate and practice yoga and visualization.
- Others walk in the forest, hike, or canoe in the wilderness.
- Some individuals recite mantras, novenas and the Stations of the Cross.
- Other people read, chant, and sing.
- Some worship in temples, mosques, and monasteries.
- Some people face Mecca and pray five times a day.
- Some others fast during certain periods of the year.
- Others burn candles, incense, or sage to dissolve negative energies and purify themselves and their surroundings.
Worship can be so diverse, with each individual approach being so unique and beautiful. The form that worship takes is not important, what matters is the intention and the act of giving thanks and bringing your spirit in connection with your Higher Self.
In order to be truly healthy and approach enlightenment, the spiritual component of your life must be cultivated. A genuine unified belief system needs to be integrated into your home, job, and social life. This excludes the closed-minded ego-centered belief system most were raised with that values an individual based on their net worth, social status, how they look, their occupation, and their race or nationality. This blurred perception, or non-reality breeds insecurity, separatism, attachment, and a false self-image that is responsible for all unconscious adversity and all of the suicides these days. Our precious little children are killing themselves because they don’t know who they really are outside of a mundane existence. In 2012, more than 5,000 teens and young adults died by suicide, per the CDC. This is extremely disturbing and reiterates the vital importance of developing self-awareness, acceptance, and unity.
The practice of conscious spirituality needs to be a personal foundation and incorporated into the curriculum at a very young age. Then instead of having a bunch of resentful, confused, ADD, ADHD, depressed children running around, kids would be more centered, secure, and stable minded. All in conjunction with a healthy diet and lifestyle of course!
Ideally, one should focus on EQUALITY, their individual relationship with themselves (self-love), and how they treat and interact with their family, friends, co-workers, community, nature and the world as a whole. People who live devoid of spiritual connectivity seem to live less fulfilling lives, needing more material wealth or worldly attachments to fill that void. Dismissing this critical aspect of humanity ultimately leaves people feeling fearful, angry, lonely, anxious and depressed, which leads to poor health – mentally, physically, emotionally and of course spiritually.
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/suicide-rates-have-soared-u-s-n560486