Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Spirituality - What is it?

What is spirituality? What can we consider as spiritual?

When I first got to thinking about spirituality, the stereotype images popped in my head of ghostly spirits floating out of bodies. But after thinking about it for a period of time, I found many different forms that spirituality takes.

Practises such as meditation, Ti-Chi and yoga are considered a spiritual medium. They all rely on the presence of peace, silence and contempt, and aim to improve the body and soul. Being at one with yourself gives the oportunity for self reflection.
This could suggest spirituality could be found in peace. Being happy in a moment, carefree and weightless. Not living, just being.

Of course, spirituality can be and is linked to the spirit or the soul. My first thought is that anything spiritual must in some connection to your own or someone else's spirit/soul. This could be through some form of ritual or ceremony, an event, an activity etc.

When I got to thinking into this a little more, I discovered more ways to open a gateway to the soul.

Drugs are a way for users to experience feeling and emotions through pharmaceutical means. LSD and the likes are renowned for the 'trips' they take you on. One can experience visions, out of body experiences, epiphanies and such through the use of drugs. And although the use of these substances is dangerous (and in many cases illegal), users continue to produce and use them as an entry to higher spirituality.
Many people, races and religions have been known to partake in all forms of drugs from ecstasy to cannabis to achieve this spiritual enlightenment.

One such set of people I find interesting are the Native American Indians.
The Indians were very spiritual people, and believed that this life was just a test for the spirit to enter heaven. They practised many activities in an attempt to achieve a higher means of living and to reach out to the spirit world.

One thing that did catch my attention from the Indians was the Dream Catcher.


 These are designed to trap the evil spirits which bring you bad dreams, preventing them from entering your body.
This triggered a thought in my head which reminded me of the Evil Eye.
This charm wards away evil spirits. It is found in many foreign countries, particularly Turkey, where I first encountered it earlier this year. 
So could spirituality be found simply by believing in the power of an item to grant peace to its owner?

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