A question for anyone who considers themself a spiritual individual

What does spiritualism give you? How does it influence you positively in the physical?

I don't ask of what may be found internally and inside your mind, rather: what has your enlightened and balanced mind been able to create or accomplish in our physical reality? We could talk about the inner mind for eternity, but what have you harvested as a result of understanding your subconscious? If ones purpose is to perfect oneself, how do you use your inner knowledge and apply oneself in the physical?

From the wise to the generally knowledgeable, I am curious as to what everyone does with their understanding of their inner self. There are so many people out there that don't understand themselves but claim to understand everyone and everything else. Sometimes spiritualists can be overly general, and to the point of not explaining anything yet claiming to know everything. With such a deep understanding of life, where is the proof in the pudding?

I'm not putting myself on a podium or a puddle, but what would you say?

I like your question and I would give my understanding which is to say that being spiritual is not a title to end all titles. However it is merely a process that involves all facets of life and its understandings.
The understandings that I have come to in spirituality have made me as an outward person, One who is able to reflect on my behaviors as a symptom of my thoughts and so instead of being an Automaton that reacts to the external would in subconscious patterns of anxiety, dread, hate and conflict.
Instead I see that each moment in time and space is a chance to relearn again from everything and anything what is unity peace and love.
And so I work as a Security Officer at a Hospital and so I impart these understandings to the people I meet in my day to day work through my actions of being compassionate, appreciative and respectful of those I meet in each moment of time and space of each individuals aspect of life either in anxiety, stress, fear, anger or hate.

[edit on 17-8-2009 by Epsillion70]

hi,

good question S&F.

I think becoming more spiritual (although still new to me) has made me have more patience with people, to remain calmer than i used to, to show people more respect and get it back in return, and one other thing is that it has definatley taught me to take time during every day to really relax into deep meditation and appreciate everything.

g

First I want to comment that "spiritualism" is actually a religion in which people seek to contact the spirits of the dead. I *think* the word you meant was "spirituality". My answer is based on that assumption, so if it's wrong, just ignore me.

I think your question contains some assumptions that may not apply to all spiritual people. For example, you seek to restrict the question to physical benefits. For some spiritual people, there are few or no physical benefits. In fact, some spiritual practices consist of treating the body as an enemy, a trap that can ensnare the spirit, and that must be handled firmly. Such folks may undergo drastic fasts, painful practices, or other rigors, just to assert mastery over their bodies. While physical harm is not usually sought, if it happens it is considered an acceptable risk.

Beyond that, many other people live spiritual lives, not for any physical benefit, but simply for the emotional, mental, or spiritual benefits. While they may thrive physically, that is not their main goal. It can be considered a sort of "fringe benefit" of a spiritual life. So, for example, people who remain on a vegetarian diet may enjoy renewed health, but their goal may be completely non-physical.

Not every spiritual person tries to know themselves or explore their inner selves, or to learn about their subconscious. For example, a Buddhist may seek to live an ethical life, associate with other Buddhists, and perform mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness meditation isn't going to tell you anything about yourself. It's not meant to do that.

Living spiritually has mostly helped my mind - the emotional part of my mind in particular. This has saved my life, which I would say is a physical benefit. Spiritual living helped me to stop drinking and smoking cigarettes, which were both killing me. Had I not stopped drinking, I'd have died some 30 years ago.

Aside from that, spiritual living has helped me to be more relaxed. That, in turn, helps keep my blood pressure good. I have far fewer times when I am angry, which also helps blood pressure and the heart.

But to be honest with you, it's kind of hard for me to separate the physical from the mental, emotional, and spiritual. It all ties together. If you help improve one, the others also benefit. Clean up your diet, quit smoking or drinking or whatever, and your mind will become clearer, your emotions healthier. Develop a cheerful, optimistic attitude, and your health is likely to improve.

As for enlightenment - very few people attain that. I certainly haven't. I don't know how that would affect me physically.

As a spiritual person I have found my empathy exceeds most people I meet. I am able to connect with a person's true nature. It can be burdensome to have strangers tell you their most intimate feelings, and have people drawn to you. I feel responsible for people I meet, I am a caretaker of the wounded. I have an innate sense of wrong and right, that makes me very sensitive to suffering.

However, I have complete confidence in my higher power who guides and protects me despite my failings. I guess I have been blessed. My life, that could have been terrible, has been wonderful. I am not religious at all, I am spiritual because I am...I have no choice to be or not to be- because of the innate knowledge I have been given.

As a spiritual person I have found my empathy exceeds most people I meet. I am able to connect with a person's true nature. It can be burdensome to have strangers tell you their most intimate feelings, and have people drawn to you. I feel responsible for people I meet, I am a caretaker of the wounded. I have an innate sense of wrong and right, that makes me very sensitive to suffering.

However, I have complete confidence in my higher power who guides and protects me despite my failings. I guess I have been blessed. My life, that could have been terrible, has been wonderful. I am not religious at all, I am spiritual because I am...I have no choice to be or not to be- because of the innate knowledge I have been given.

reply to post by semidiablan


proof in the pudding...

What has spirituality gotten anybody?

is inner peace an answer?

Great question...one worth pondering...

How about....the spirituality that leads to the reflection of ones inner self leading to the ability to make decisions more wisely and therefore affecting all aspects of life.

Does a religious spirituality have the same affect?

I believe those that have over come many of the man made dogmas associated with thier faith have been affected by their spirituality...sadly this is a very narrow minority and very hard to accomplish...

star and flag...

reply to post by lostviking

because of the innate knowledge I have been given.

What "innate" knowledge have you been "given?" If you dont mind me asking...

Person A: Has a refined taste in the arts. Travels a lot. Is interested in the sciences of life and all kinds of other things. Has mastered some skill, sports or ability. Has enough energy to be humorous, kind and productive. Is interested in making a creative contribution to society.

Person B: Has read some new-age book and now calls himself "spiritual" so that he can appear superiour to others. Follows some cult or belief-system. Has not mastered much of anything, does not have knowledge of much of anything.


While Person B may appear to be a spiritual person, he is not imo. Person A is.

Originally posted by semidiablan
What does spiritualism give you? How does it influence you positively in the physical?

Understanding, peace, serenity, love, all of which effect the ways I feel physically.

Also the more I increase my awareness, the better understanding I have of the choices I make in life. The quicker I am able to get around to fixing those things about me that need fixing, unless they are to cause more of the same trouble.

When I make strides in my spirituality I become much more efficient at communicating with people, and reading others' thoughts and intentions through their words, tone, body language, and other information I become more sensitive to. Under the influence of psychedelics I once had a real epiphany with getting so much more information out of your environment than just the words people are speaking to you. Ever since then I've been aware of much more than just what people are saying at any given point in time, and not only their tone and general body language but even muscular tension in their face and all the other circumstantial information about the person that you are aware of.

I have become more aware of corporate/government attempts at manipulation on various levels, mental and emotional manipulation being especially evident. Because as I learn more about myself, how I work, what I am here for, I see more and more "coincidental" arrangements of systems that appear to actively discourage these changes in me and actually set themselves up as direct obstacles to my further development.

I no longer see things as "good" or "bad," or "right" or "wrong," which may sound like something that would only affect things 'in my head' but as it turns out, what is 'in my head' has a direct and unavoidable effect on what I produce outside of my head.


All in all my spirituality has given me the most important things in my life, which I would be unable to express in so many words. Material things were never that important to me, but how much less so they become.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Well said. Can you agree more than 100%?

it gives me divine wisdom of rightiousness, responsability, and a great will to live. it was an amazing journey that led me to believe this, i remember before i envied religious people, because they thought of life after death as a definite. now i do as well, and it makes me happier than ever. when i say i do, i do not believe in heaven or hell, but the eternal soul.

reply to post by gandhi


ive heard the suggestion that energy can not end..it just transforms into something else..if that makes sense...

if the soul is energy, then supposedly it can not end...but that begs the question..what does the soul turn into?

maybe that is an impossible question to answer definitively for this physical realm we live in?

do the bones of a dead man return to some potential energy for this world?

do the cycles of electricity within our brains and bodies form some other function (or form of energy) in a different "dimension"?

edit for typos


[edit on 17-8-2009 by open_eyeballs]

reply to post by Skyfloating


i agree to a certain extent. in this case, surely its safe to say that every one of us is a "spiritual Person" to different degrees.

Even the person who has just read the New Age book has a spiritual side, maybe not as natural as the other person though.

Being spiritual in my opinion has no basic definition. It is many things, some of which some people show qualities in, and others show a different spiritual side.

Some are more in touch than others. Some of the wisest people i have ever met have never been religious in any way, never meditated and never even spoke of spirituality, but they were hugely spiritual in lots of ways.



[edit on 17-8-2009 by grantbeed]

Originally posted by grantbeed
Some are more in touch than others. Some of the wisest people i have ever met have never been religious in any way, never meditated and never even spoke of spirituality, but they were hugely spiritual in lots of ways.

To put it a bit differently: Everyone is spirit but only some have a spiritual lifestyle.

I wish I could be concise and specific, but I'm afraid that the path of spirituality and enlightenment (and all that comes after that) is something you just have to experience for yourself. Imagine setting out to read every book ever written. You start with one genre, move to another, through all the time periods and then to all the other languages...you see where this is going? That's what spirituality and enlightenment require. It never ends. The more you think you know, the more you know nothing. You will certainly have your "Ahaa!" moments, but they will fade, like every flower of summer, and you will be left with yet more to discover.

What you're left with, in a nutshell, is "it's all the same", "it doesn't matter". This is not apathy. Not at all. You will still keep up the search for deeper understanding, for more "Ahaa!" moments, and the result will be understanding which then becomes "it's all the same then", "it doesn't matter then". This brings great joy, peace and contentment. Understand? If not, you see what I mean. =)

[edit on 17/8/2009 by CosmicEgg]

reply to post by semidiablan


After contemplating your questions and notions under thoughtful analysis and mulling the idea over in my mind for sometime, I feel that, regarding the accomplishments that my personal spirituality has allowed me to achieve, I must consider the concept of 'reflexive spirituality'. This is understood as involving a process of detachment or distanciation, and of mentally 'stepping back' from one's own perspective to locate it within a range of other valid perspectives which, sequentially, involves not only reflection but self-confrontation.

I believe strongly that this concept of spirituality has enabled me to better understand other peoples' perspectives concerning the spiritual and then, in turn, why they choose to make the choices that they do. This is in respect to my personal belief that the majority of peoples' lives are preoccupied with their quest for meaning. It has also enabled me to measure my own knowledge and belief against others' in terms of similarities, differences and insight and to continually reform my own ideals about many things, facilitating in daily self-transformations.

I feel that one of my chief callings in this life is to quite simply understand the nature of human beings and the nature of our existence and everything in between. I have observed nowadays that too many people are quick to judge before simply asking the question "why" (and, in a sense, allow them to understand the reason behind it) and, in that moment, I wonder how different or similar their quest for meaning is to mine...
All in all, honing in on my spiritual side has allowed me to form and exercise greater understanding of 'outer' experiences, establish meaning from them and learn from them, in order to make the choices that construct the type of person that I would like to be in this life.



[edit on 17/8/09 by pretty_vacant]

I would have to say that eternity is the only real reality where we are one in totality.
However in psychological egoic time here on the physical plane We are indeed at different educational levels of knowledge this doesnt make anyone more better or superior to anyone else as some might be surmising here. Hence If you know someone who is in 1st year Uni and you are in 3rd That doesnt mean you are any better than them as a person. You might however have more knowledge Buts that it
Because at the end of the day spirituality is not about doing its about Being.
As one cannot do peace and happiness. One can only be at peace and be happy.
Look at the mystic Gurus of India some just sit silent doing nothing except meditating all their life. But within there Oneself they are changing the universe

I don't think I can speak for myself, as a bit of a bullshiiter, a spiritual wannabe really, with maybe a touch of it at most, not having yet become fully self realized or individuated, but as to what a spiritual person might be like, I think that they are or would be

a nobody, who is only a something, by being a nothing

someone who is never a victim of circumstance, ever grateful for the smallest of things

no need to prove, be right, or to be accepted

fully committed to the truth and reality at all cost except at the cost of truth and reality itself

I think they would be prone to smiling and laughing a lot for no apparent reason, without being crazy

yet, someone who is willing to go insane to be in sanity

a friend of everyone, loving everyone, judging no one

passionate about the highest ideals - always framing things in terms of the affirmative, and rarely affirming the negative except as a foil against which to illuminate the greater good.

a person of great faith, and a tree of the "fruit of the spirit" which are:

love, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control - against which there is no law

therefore, they would be entirely spontaneous and fully self expressed, very charming, in an authentic way, and completely and utterly free, free to love and be loved for nothing other than the sake of love itself.

possessed of immense wisdom, knowledge and awareness, they would yet leave self behind seeking always first to listen, to understand, and to love, than to speak, be understood and to be loved by.

again, they would be a nobody, a nothing of themselves, with the only valid point of view, which suspends judgement while taking in the full impact, from the perspective of the big BIG picture.

And to encounter such a person, even in passing, would involve being impacted by them, by their light.

They would be fun, playful, creative, passionate, and spontaneous.

And I don't think you would find them in meditation, or in worshipful adoration, no, you would find them either in solitude, or deeply immersed in community, but never one of those at the expense of the other.

person of balance - would best describe such a person.

and there would be no grandiosity in them - to them, the sacred is in every thing, and nowhere in particular. They have chosen, after much struggle and deep evaluative discernment, to simply choose, to be, and to be an ordinary human being.

Such a person is any man, so he could be found anywhere, he could be a garbage man or a subway car driver, a cosmologist, or a bum on the street (his choice).

And they are the stones in the temple of the living God. They uphold the earth and banish igorance with a radiant light the ignorant cannot see

and to hear their VOICE, would be like wonderful music to the ears. To spend time with a truly spiritual person, who's evolved spiritually, would be to hang out in the present of God via the sphere of God and of God's love which is their eternal and humble abode.

and humbled, and ever humble, they would be a person of exalted stature, ever exalted.

and when it would come their turn to speak, they would speak with an authority and a conviction which to hear, would resonate to the very bone, and there would be NO DOUBT whatsoever, that you are in the presence

[edit on 18-8-2009 by OmegaPoint]