Spirituality

A church in Kottayam, Kerala

Frederick Douglas was a slave in in the 19^th century America. After emancipation, he wrote a book titled Narrative (1845) in which he mentions his master’s spirituality. His master experienced a religious transformation at a Methodist revival programme. Douglas naturally thought that his master would become a kind and magnanimous person after his religious transformation. What good is religion and spirituality if they don’t make you at least a person with basic human kindness? Douglas found, however, that his master became “more cruel and hateful in all his ways.”

We are living in a time when a lot of atrocities are being perpetrated in the name of gods and religions. Don’t they make you wonder what good religion is, gods are, if they bring more agony and evil into our world? I gave up religion long ago precisely because of this problem. I noticed that religions bring more evil into the human affairs than anything else – with the exception of politics, maybe. (Politics and religion go hand in hand and so the distinction is not worth making.)

Just have a glance at what Hinduism did to its widows, low caste and casteless people, young girls who were dedicated to the temple in the name of the devadasi system, and so on. What did Christianity do to millions of people who were labelled as heretics in the medieval period? What is Islam doing in the name of jihad?

If you still think that these religions are going to save humankind, well, what can I say?

Long ago, I lost faith in gods and their religions. But spirituality is a different matter. I stand in awe at the sight of a flower that blooms in my garden pot. When the scent of jasmines waft in the evenings into my living room. When I think of the billions of galaxies out there each of which has billions of stars and planets and other celestial bodies. Mountains and rivers make me gasp in wonder. I think that wonder, that awe, is spirituality.

Spirituality is a particular kind of relationship with your reality. It is a way of experiencing reality. A non-intellectual way, I’d say. You don’t sit and think intellectually about the majesty or beauty or any other quality of the reality. You just feel it. You experience it somewhere within you and it makes you gentle, kind, noble.

Many eminent people have described spiritual experience as moments of “heightened aliveness.” You feel most intensely alive in those moments. Psychologist Abraham Maslow called it peak experience which he described as “moments of pure joy and elation.” Many others who have studied this in great detail have described it in similar terms. For example: “Peak experiences involve a heightened sense of wonder, awe, or ecstasy over an experience” [G Privette]. “A highly valued experience which is characterised by such intensity of perception, depth of feeling, or sense of profound significance…” [D Leach]

Privette identifies three salient characteristics of peak experiences:

1.     Fulfilment: peak experiences generate positive emotions and are intrinsically rewarding.

2.     Significance: Peak experiences lead to an increase in personal awareness and understanding and can serve as a turning point in a person’s life.

3.     Spiritual: During a peak experience, people feel at one with the world and often experience a sense of losing track of time.

I don’t want to make this post technical and jargonish. In simple words, spirituality is your personal experience. It transforms you into a good individual. It makes you see good around and do good to others. It gives you the feeling that you are one with the whole reality around you.

You can identify a spiritual person by the serene happiness he/she enjoys in life. 

PS. This post is part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023

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