Sponsor |  prozacmilkshake | Aug 13, 2004 3:52pm | | Spirituality is a term which refers to any set of ideas, methodologies, techniques or experiences whose sincere aim is to increase self-knowledge. In this context, not only does this term include the vast majority of the world's religions, it also includes so-called secular traditions such as psychology, philosophy and artistic expression. The essence of the spiritual path-- or any path of genuine self-inquiry, independence and liberation -- need not center around any god, deity or "official" religious schema. Rather, an authentic and courageous desire to know one's self is the only "required" basis for any true spiritual pursuit. Belief systems which seek primarily to enforce and calcify individual and collective boundaries rather than expand them, are not true vessels of mindfulness. Our highest goal, then, is the true and genuine acceptance of all individuals, despite their diverse and seemingly contrary beliefs, backgrounds and behaviors -- a goal which can only be achieved by recognizing, understanding and integrating all aspects of one's own ordinary self. |
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Sponsor | | Firebringer | Sep 12, 2004 6:16pm | Nicely said. I have always thought of religion as "frozen spirituality". A spiritual path that once had life, but is now a stagnant set of rules and beliefs accepted rather than experienced.
Spirituality, in my view, is exemplified by experimentation, risk, courage, compassion, tolerance and non-attachment. |
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| | | WizKryton | Sep 12, 2004 7:17pm | Agreed to both...
I have never believed that Being "Religious" was the same as being "Spiritual".
That's why (in my opinion) even listening to certain musics can be a very spiritual experience. They take you to places within the self that you may not have otherwise ventured to go. |
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Sponsor | | SlowHand | Sep 13, 2004 2:54am | | Fb, your description of religion as 'frozen spirituality' strikes a chord, as I would put freemasonry under the same description. The alchemy of personal transformation has been lost or discarded through expediency. |
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|  |  143741 | Sep 13, 2004 9:43pm | | Most respondents seem to agree about religion. My greatest desire is to understand spirit. Is it, in fact, the self? Is spirit separate from ego? Is spirit separate from self? Is self separate from ego? Are these all unanswerable questions? I have read many disciplines, and they all have answers to the above question and the answers are mostly different. Can we say what spirituality is before we know what spirit is? |
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Sponsor | | Statix | Sep 13, 2004 9:52pm | | Good question. To me one does not have a spirit, one IS a spirit, who runs his or her body as a sort of vehicle that others can recognize. There is also mind, which is a system of mental image-pictures of the whole past experience/existence in a simplified way. |
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Sponsor | | Biba | Sep 13, 2004 10:04pm | ''Belief systems which seek primarily to enforce and calcify individual and collective boundaries rather than expand them, are not true vessels of mindfulness.''
Well put...a system that separates mind and body, or humanity from other living organisms leads often to feelings of emptiness, as we are nothing without our environment and relationships with others. |
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| | | 143741 | Sep 13, 2004 10:09pm | | Statix, I gather you include self and spirit together in what you call "one". Where does the ego fit in. |
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Sponsor | | Statix | Sep 13, 2004 10:22pm | | Ego is a psychological term that one may or may not use. The essence of it is simply an awareness of awareness unit - You. We can call it in any way, the point is the same. You are always have YOU. Even when you "die". |
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Sponsor | | SlowHand | Sep 14, 2004 4:25am | To take Statix statement further, YOU pass through intraphysical 'death'(desoma),leaving behind your overcoat of flesh and bones with the rupture of the silver chord.
Individuals do not want to confront deactivation of the soma because their fear of biological death - thanatophobia - is too deep rooted. An ego defence mechanism of retrocession.
YOU can also pass through the second desoma, deactivation and discarding of the holochakra, the extraphysical consciousness thereby remaining in the mentalsoma (body) as wel as in the pyschosoma, which presents it's own aura.
The third desoma: dectivation and discarding of the psychosoma with the rupture of the golden chord (more like a t.v. remote than a chord) and the entrance of the extraphysical consciousness into the condition of free consciousness, from which point it permanently manifests only through the mentalsoma.
The three desomas merely represent severances of the vehicles of manifestation that can be deactivated, discarded and decomposed, in the light of the immortality of the consciousness. None of the three desomas imply a complete extinction or annihilation of the self.
I suggest that my fellow stumblers do not take the above as 'gospel' but look in to how to acquire the tools and break the conditioning allowing them to travel extraphysically, and thereby observe the desomas occuring first hand as others 'pass over' ;o) |
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Spirituality → Discussion