Spirituality

What does spirituality mean to you?

A quick, off-the-cuff, answer for me would be to see through the "crude matter" and realize there is more to me than my physical self.

My realization of that is spiritual.

And the more I realize it, i.e. experience it, the greater those spiritual experiences become.

from my old blog: http://projectjediblog.org/2012/07/16/day-twenty-six-is-spirituality-necessary-to-be-a-jedi-hmmm/

I don’t know. It’s hard to speak for an entire movement of people ESPECIALLY when you don’t really know them all and there is no set doctrine for the Path. To say that Spirituality is a necessity could be misleading because it doesn’t specify to what degree. But, I can make a really good guess.

But, I DO remember reading the interviews from a week ago, and the results were startling, yeah? Pretty much everybody answered the question: “what is the Force to you?” and they answered it fully and well. The infamous Opie MacLeod has been known to shunt spiritual healing practices in favor of practical first aid training for use of healing. But, he also doesn’t disdain spiritual practices because they do have their place. Of course, for me, I completely think energy work is a viable self-healing and good preventative medicine for all people. I also believe that Western Medicine is more applicable in some cases because of the “tried and true” methods that do not rely on the personal energy and allow for good healing without involvement or exertion. Reiki teaches that synthetic medicines of ANY kind can disrupt energy flow and are “less” healthy. I don’t really agree with that. Seems like a generalization to me. But, I do see the sentiment on how it alters the body from the outside-in.

So, there are various opinions. A lot of people see the Force as interactive with the Universe. Some see it as a distant guiding principle. Some see it as “energy”, like everything from kinetic energy to the energy that cannot be measured. And, even, some don’t even see the Force as interactive, they see it as just… there. A tool to be used. And, we have NO way of completely knowing what the Force actually is.

Some people think they can heal with their hands (I do), and others do not share that opinion. Some think that healing can only be done through prayer and the influence of a higher power (I don’t). Some even think that ONLY the physical body deals in illness, and not even the mind. Of course, with the physical body and the mind as connected as they are, it would be foolish (I think) to make that distinction.

The key word in all of these is “some”. Never “all”. And, I think that is hard for “some” people to grasp.

We are in a movement of people who were once dissatisfied with the current state of the world. These people took the archetypes and ideals presented in Star Wars and developed their lives around it. Made it a lifestyle. But, all these people came to Jedi Realism/Jediism/Jedi Pragmatism on their own. People who are “recruited” to the path are not indoctrinated, so they choose to stay or leave. But, in reality, we do not “teach” anything other than interpretations and life skills. It is our choice as to what we believe and as to what we do.

To be honest, it’s not perfect. Nobody agrees on anything. So, to even bring UP the question of whether or not “Spirituality” is “necessary” to a “Jedi” is probably foolish. To a lot of people, Jedi is a JOB. And, by that, they mean just being a good person and helping the lady cross the street. Others believe it is stopping robberies.

Others believe it is fighting with diplomacy and words.

But, we don’t have a “Jedi” definition. We don’t have a union. All we have binding us is Community, Discussion, and Star Wars (and the other source materials).

So, I guess, for now, you need to ask yourself the question: “Is spirituality necessary to YOU?”

Also from that same blog:

"Spirituality: is a term that has been around forever, I’m sure. I don’t know precisely when its use became effective, but it is a word common to anybody who was brought up in a faith-based environment. To be honest, the population who was NOT brought up in this milieu is a small minority. I was brought up in the Christian Faith, and my first encounter with the term Spirituality was, of course, the Holy Spirit. Growing up in a Judeo-Christian household, the Holy Spirit was a big part of my childhood and adulthood. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (spirit) are the Trinity. I am a United Methodist, and our insignia (cross and flame) shows two of these things. The Father is not shown because the Father is manifested in the form of the Son and the Holy Ghost. Spirits, in a way, were not a part of my childhood. Spirits were not talked about in my house because the only talk really allowed was talk of God. This is NOT to say that other forms of religion were not discussed, but serious talk of other faiths was not a part of my childhood. I wouldn’t even say that my house was closed-minded: my father is Jewish and my mother is Methodist. So, you cannot say they aren’t open. Now that you know this, I can say: we just didn’t ever talk about it. Spirits and other metaphysical phenomenon just never came up for me until I was in my early teens.

I briefly dated a girl who believed in spirits, and she talked about them a lot. Granted, she was also a big fan of fairies…. but, that’s not the point. She had opened my “internal ear” to the word Spirit, and I began to pay attention to it. I saw it everywhere, but most of all: I began to realize what it meant. Life after death… not in heaven? I watched Psychic Medium shows (Chip Coffey is awesome, albeit dramatic!), and I thought about those seance shows I had seen as a kid and dismissed as fake.

You may recall, if you are around my age, a show called Courage the Cowardly Dog. There was a Medium on that show who was NOTHING like a true medium. She was… evil in a way, but in a “fair” sense. If you wronged her, she would use the spirit world to commandeer the real world and make it useful for her revenge. Of course, I know better than to believe that’s viable or possible. I did back then too… so I dismissed it, yeah? Makes sense. So, “Courage…” ruined my sense of Spirits for a while. But, recently, Jackie had invited me to read a book called Messages of Hope by Suzanne Giesemann. (psst… that’s a plug for a friend of mine… buy and read it please!) And, not to say my views have changed, I just realized more of what I think about life after death. Spirits can manifest themselves to us through tuning into frequencies. That makes perfect sense because all spirits have a frequency (just like the rest of the things in the universe do), and if you can tap into them, then you can channel them like a radio… all the experiences, memories, etc. It provides comfort to those in our world. Granted, I wouldn’t go so far as to say there is a physical world in the life after death. To be honest, I think the spirits are in OUR world, but not manifested into humanoid form. I think this comes with our need to view things in human form to identify objects. This is why Angels appear to be human in the mythology. Why Kami looked human. Why Chinese Ancestors were animals and humans. This rich history of communication with the spirit world is Universal. What I want to get across is this: there is probably NOT a physical Heaven after death. Our human bodies are a product of evolution, but the Life Force inside of us comes from the Spirits.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “But, Connor… haven’t you gone crazy already? Why are you spouting all this Spiritualism stuff now?” Why? Because it’s important for you to Understand the Universal Perspective that I will discuss in the coming days, doofus. Let me explain myself. Spirits are the Universe. There is nothing bigger than the Universe itself (that we need to consider, anyway, for this to be). Therefore, when the first organic thing came into being (like an organism ), there must have been a wisdom instilled in it: reality. There is a distinct reality of things. If you need help with this, consider going back and reading Day Twenty Three’s essay on the Universality of all things and Meditation. Reality shows us that we are all Star Dust, and are all one… so why wouldn’t we consider that Wisdom and Knowledge aren’t already there? They must be. We just have to discover it. So, this Universal Conscious is made up of infinite vibrations around all things. Different levels, different understandings. You must understand that, like Light (and the visible spectrum), there are an endless amount of colors we cannot see. But, just like radio waves, we can interact with them on a different level. Well, Spirits could very well be a Collective Conscious that lives on various vibrational levels. Like Chi, when we learn to interact with these vibrations, we can commune with these Spirits. Suzanne’s book solidified this hypothesis for me. I cannot wait to try it out in my meditations.

When you feel tingly in your meditations, could you attribute that to tuning into higher frequencies? I think so. I think it could also be using Chi to transform this vibration.

WHAT, then, does this have to do with being a Jedi? Nothing directly, I don’t think, unless you are interested in the Universal Perspective. I akin this to God because people need labels. But, don’t think for a second that I believe the Christian God is this Collective Consciousness. That’s why I am always changing the names around. No need to put a real label on it. So, for now, think about how we could apply these vibrational ideologies to the Jedi Path.

We are to train in Mind, Body, and Spirit. But, in reality, if you think about all this: the Mind and Body ARE part of the Spirit, yes? There is no separation except by what your sight, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling tell you. Those senses are limited. This is why I am starting with Spirituality. I want you to know that when I leave this behind to go into the other two fields, NEVER let go of the Truth that we are all Spirit, and the division is mainly for human convenience and lack of understanding. So, why is it that hard to conceive that you could talk to deceased? I think it would be a fabulous way to gain true Knowledge while in life. Bring the truth to the people. Speed up the growth process. Spirituality is important to a Jedi because it provides a link to greater growth and wisdom. Would you really be ok turning that down? I know I wouldn’t."

Rickie The Grey wrote: What does spirituality mean to you?

That's a very tough question to answer.

Let me tell you a story about caterpillars instead.







There once was an inquisitive caterpillar, who ventured off exploring instead of munching leaves all day. He saw the most beautiful flower and climbed to the top to admire it. When he reached the summit he found an amazing creature, a butterfly. He watched it fly around and land on the flower and drink it's nectar.

He spoke to the butterfly: "oh it must be wonderful to be a creature like you, not earthbound like I, no need to waste all day eating leaves."


The butterfly replied: "if are willing to work hard enough for it, I can show you how you can become as I am."

The caterpillar could hardly believe his ears, could this be true? Surely not. Still he listened carefully and learned all the methods by which he would need to undergo the process of metamorphosis, to become as the butterfly was.

He returned having memorized the methods, and tried his hardest to share what he had learned with his fellow caterpillars.

Among those he tried to tell the first group of caterpillars, the hippypillars they were too busy smoking dandelion puffs to listen, some of them listened partially but thought it would be cooler to try and do something different, so they all got together once a week to discuss how to become ladybugs, and grasshoppers, some even wanted to become spiders but they didn't actually do anything but talk, and none of their methods actually would have made them ladybugs, grasshoppers or spiders anyway, they were just a bunch of sillypillars playing make believe really hard.

He gave up on the hippypillars, and went to the the skeptipillars an angry bunch of loud and obnoxious caterpillars, who yelled at him, and told him: "butterflys do not and cannot scientifically exist, and even if they did it isn't possible to become something other than a caterpillar, when winter comes everyone will freeze and fall to the ground as the generations before have. This is truth and fact!" He tried to take a few to the flowers to see for themselves, but they refused saying it was silly and pointless and would prove nothing anyway. He had been smoking too many dandelion puffs with the hippypillars they said.

Dejected and alone he followed the instructions the butterfly had given him, both the hippypillars and the skeptipillars thought he was weird and avoided him as much as possible. He ate and ate and ate and ate more than any caterpillar thought possible, he spun his own house from his own silk, and hid it where no one could see, and as the seasons began to turn he entered and remained till spring.

When spring came he emerged and could feel wings, and took flight!
It was the most amazing experience he could imagine possible, he looked for the most beautiful flower he could find and landed. He noticed the head of a young caterpillar poke over the petals, and it spoke to him: "It must be amazing to be a creature like you......"

Spirituality is mental transcendence of physicality. To put it simply, the old adage "I think, therefore I am" begs the question: "Well if you are, then what are you?". So you see, you are whatever you think you are, so why not be all you can be? Be something that transcends a brain made of neurons and axons and dendrites. Be a spiritual being.

Bump

For me, personally, spirituality isn't something that you learn. It's a byproduct of learning. What I mean by that is, when we learn more about the world we begin to question our place in the world. Once you start doing that you suddenly realise that you know nothing about yourself. Spirituality is the realisation, from self exploration and outward thinking, that everything in nature is connected in a symbiotic connection. Knowing this is not enough. Spirituality is feeling it, and wanting to explore that connection. That's how I feel.