spirituality
I’ve been thinking about this subject quite a bit lately. Honestly, I hear the word bandied about so much any more, it’s almost lost it’s meaning for me.
So I decided to consult the dictionary about the word. Like a lot of dictionary entries, it referred me to another entry - spirtual, which referred me to another entry - spirit. in the end, I decided that I really just need to use my own definition and forget the dictionary. The dictionary talks about spirtuality as pertaining to the spiritual, and spiritual as pertaining to spirit, or looking at things from a moral or religious viewpoint. There are others, but they’re pretty similar. Spirit pertains to matters that are not material in nature, also according to the dictionary. Well, if that’s true, then I’ve decided to redefine spirituality for me as a way of expressing my inner self through my outer life. Actually, I do that already. Everyone does, whether we realize it or not. But I’m finding that what I think isn’t always what’s being manifest, almost as if on a conscious level I’m thinking one thing, and on the level where I manifest things I’m thinking something else.
My spiritual concern lately has evolved into simply this: does it affect the way I live, express itself in my life? If not, like other obsolete things, I have no use for it any more. I want a practical spirituality, a pragmatic one that is intertwined and expressed in everything around me. Likely, the whole issue of separateness is really just in my consciousness and I just need to realize what is going on around me and start building those things into my life that I want one little piece at a time. The Buddhists say that to understand the events of the present, you must look at the past, and to understand the events of the future, you must look at the actions of the present. Simply, what you do will cause what will happen. Cause and effect.
I’ve noticed that lately I’ve been telling myself one thing and doing another. I’m not sure why, other than habit. Excuses aside, I realize now that when what I do matches up with what I tell myself, I’ll become the extremely powerful person I know I am. Simplify. Do what I tell myself I’m going to do. Find what matters and stick to it, and let everything else drop to the side.
“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of the nonessentials.” - Lin Yutang
I think it’s time to admit I only have so much time, focus on one thing at a time, and eliminate, or at least delay, the non-essentials.