What does “spiritual” mean to you? →
I think it’s a very good question and I had the chance to debate it many times with my friends and family. Recently, Vladimir, a good friend of mine posted the following on his Facebook wall: “do you consider yourself a spiritual person? and if so … what do you think makes someone spiritual?”
Here’s a visual summary of the topics that people used to reply to his question. As you can see, the conversation is associated with topics such as “God, Bible, Believe”.
I decided to join the conversation and write my answer in the form of a blogpost.
Why associations are important
Associations are important because they can define a certain range of behaviors and results. Let me share an example. If you place a simple carton box near a beggar, people will put money in it. It won’t be a simple carton box, but a charity box. People will have a certain behavior towards the box because it has been associated with a beggar.
It’s the same with spirituality. Think: what kind of behaviors and results does the Spirituality-God association create? Are they useful for your inner peace? Are they not? You should know better and if you don’t, think again. The most important thing is to be happy with the kind of associations that you make.
My perspective on spirituality
For me, spirituality has to do with awareness, inner exploration and freedom. These associations allow me to cultivate my behavior, my feelings and my relationships in a way that I consider to be authentic rather than in alignment with an external point of reference.
External points of reference can sometimes be useful and sometimes not. To better paint this argument, I’ll share with you a story that I’ve heard recently:
The Golden Eagle, a story about instilled beliefs:
A man found an eagle’s egg and placed it under a brooding hen. The eaglet hatched with the chickens and grew to be like them. He clucked and cackled; scratched the earth for worms; flapped his wings and managed to fly a few feet in the air.
Years passed. One day, the eagle, now grown old, saw a magnificent bird above high in the sky. It glided in graceful majesty against the powerful wind, with scarcely a movement of its golden wings.
Spellbound, the eagle asked, “Who’s that?”
“Thai’s the king of the birds, the eagle,” said his neighbour. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to earth—we’re chickens.”
So the eagle lived and died a chicken for that’s what he thought he was.
