A Spiritual Life?
Sunday, February 24, 2008
♥ Sunday, February 24, 2008
My friend and i had a conversation once about miracles. He was trying to make sense out of this phenomenon of "levitation". He said something along the lines of ,"i read somewhere that there is a certain way to explain levitation. It is that when those spiritual gurus get into that state of mind, they operate at a different frequency from that of the world's..." it was alot more profound than that, of course. But basically he was trying to make a physics argument.Today's discussion wont be so much a physics argument more than a well..spiritual and hopefully intellectual one. But it kicks off from the sentence my friend left us with- "a different frequency from that of the world's." While we use the word "world", let us assume that it means the secular (since that is the language we tend to understand).The life of the strangely spiritual. A different wavelength from that which the world operates- an image of Spring and rainbow, of endless meadows and golden sun. Of great literary images that no langugage can completely encapsulate. A state of being that transcends the ordinary; because the ordinary is one that is chaotic. The transcedence lies in the order that the state of being creates- one that cannot be found without, one that can only be found within. Peace in the abyss, silent and holy night. The life of the sordidly secular .A peace in a foreseeablely certain future. A hope entrenched in reason, behind the calculation of probabilties and possibilities. The firm stability of logic and comprehension; and the serenity of the rationale. Literature is an instrument of pragmatism and life is bound by the laws of cause and effect, demand and supply. A state of being that is governed by the responsibilties and consequences of choice. The above 2 paragraphs give a very concise and debatably inadequate account of 2 different philosophies..and to make the discussion easy, i've thrown it into two extreme ends, for us to maybe work out where we actually stand ( i am guessing we slant towards the secular and will move even further into it, if not for the gravity of the spiritual). Yet, you can see how life works on a different plane for different philosophies. Why even a physical observation or an inquiry into the science behind 'levitation' can have such profound answers for us. What i believe is that there is a gradual movement of each individual in his or her life from one extreme to another. And the resorting of balance, meaning the amalgamation of both philosophies, is quite debatably the perfect example of how Man have de-evolved.Movement:The life of an individual begins with strange spiritualities: one of complete creativity, hardly any rationality, one bound by necessities and one of complete humility. That is the snow white innocence of an infant. Rationality at some point in time kicks in, with that the Adam's apple of practicality and logic is eaten. These set the parameters to creativity, the leash on mental flexibility and the glass ceiling to spirituality. The ominous onslaught of education kicks in. The rat race begins.One will not know when spirituality ends and cold hard pragmatism begins. But life takes on a different dimension. No more the genuine smiles and the warm hearts. No more the hugs and selflessness. No more the candour and honesty. In its place, is a chess player's mind- calculating, anticipating and manipulating. Amalgamation:This is the incorporation of the spiritual and the secular. Whether or not being spiritual is in itself a form of secularism, or secularism is an attribute of spirituality is not the purpose of this discussion. This discussion is to make the observation that Man as we know them, walk out of the realms of spirituality, and then into the land of the secular, and then live life in this organised chaos- the no man's land between spirituality and secularism. Coming to church? only on sundays. Helping the community? Only when its convenient. Donating money? Only as far as it assuages my guilt. And the anthopormorphic expectation of Man these days, would have dropped dramatically. Without surprise really. For no words like "pretense" and "facade" have been used on Man as often. The spiritual life demands so much more actually.The living on a different existential plane, not void of reason or logic, but where reason and logic brings one to the notions of faith and hope. A faith and hope not immersed in the pragmatic confines of comprehension, but a faith and hope that liberates. If life itself were to serve a particular purpose, it would be for a purpose that is so huge and perhaps incomprehensible the only instruments that one could use to accept or view would be faith and hope. And spirituality, is the platform for which one attains that. A different frequency from the world...
