What is spirituality? and how did it grow to become a mainstream topic? The present chapter is an attempt to define keywords and concepts and to answer this question. But notwithstanding it seems well to make a short prefatory statement in as plain language as possible so as to open the door of the soul, as it were, for the more elaborate exposition to be attempted in the body of the work.
Spirituality then, is an umbrella term meant to englobe teachings and doctrines that came to pierce the mind of a whole generation. This generation is set in a time where materialism is at its peak. Spiritualism is in certain cases an alternative for religion, the term spiritual but not religious is widely used nowadays in dating apps and websites and it’s meant to give a vague explanation of the individual’s mind and perspective about life. In this view, spirituality is a set of beliefs that are coherent to its beholder, you may find a group of spiritual advocates who all claim to be part of the same movement but their beliefs are widely different. Yet what holds them in the altogether in their usage of this term, is a passive feeling of connectedness and an unlimited open-mindness to any belief or idea introduced to them. But what was the first cause of this sudden open mindness and collective acceptance and acknowledgement of their connectedness?
Most of these advocates of spirituality, had claimed that they went through many childhood traumas that forged their spirit. They genuinely refused to conform to the social norms and their alienation reached its peak somewhere during their early teenagerhood age. What added to their visionary burden was the belief that they went through what they call “Spiritual Awakening” An intense era of questioning and shattering of beliefs that harshly made them who they are today. A process that is supposed to happen repeatedly along their life.
They the spiritual lads now possess and not superiorly, a higher self of consciousness. To be conscious is to be cognizant and aware of the what is beyond the material glance from an intuitive approach and never through a societal glance. But what these people are perhaps incognizant of is that whatever they’re feeling or are going through had always been felt by most of the writers/thinkers/philosophers from the Hellenic times to postmodernism. Indeed, Pythagoras was the first among these fellow advocates and he challenged the teachings of his time-thinkers. Some claim that he traveled to Egypt, Babylon and other cities in quest for knowledge and had successfully amassed ample information to create his own set of beliefs. This philosopher is a simile to what our journey could be, if we follow the path of ascendance.
I have stated that these persons are intuitive, intuition an extraordinary gift that gives outlook and insight, it revels in the garden of magical possibilities as if they were real, according to Carl Jung intuition is one of the four basic psychological functions along with thinking feeling and sensing and he went to define it as :
“Intuition is Perception via the unconscious that brings forth ideas, images, new possibilities and ways out of blocked sense”
Intuition is a combination of our Philosophy, Traditional values, Principles, feeling and thinking. It’s a mechanical process that resides in the depth of our consciousness. It can be an opposing method to Logical thinking as Edgar Allan Poe called it: Inductive Reasoning. Without further ado, Intuition is the graphic card that will accompany you through your spiritual journey, it’s a tool of reasoning and in some philosophies, intuition can rarely be wrong. Therefore, trust your intuition in grasping the remaining information that I am about to display.
Spirituality can be vividly felt by artists and they live in it, the ability to create is the endgame to a spiritual journey but along with it comes a myriad of disappointments and tragedies, these latter are essential for the shaping of one's persona since a spiritual lad is constantly connected with his feelings and is in a constant war with his ego. He will learn to develop a set of ethics and principles that will coordinate the information between his ego and soul. In this view, he will be pursuing nobility a state of mind where your existence is valuable for the growth of others, a concept that I emphasized strongly on in my first book Sons of Algiers. On the other hand The Flower of Anis was written for the purpose of giving to the reader :
A spiritual progression of the soul from the spiritual awakening to philosophical discovering.
An initiation to Esotericism and other metaphysical philosophies.
A methodology to follow from the spiritual awakening to the power to create through divine imagination (In respect to Ibn Arabi ideologies)
An academic definition of vague concepts that comes through us unconsciously.
The spiritual world is a world of senses and feelings. Most thinkers and writers emphasized on the human sentiment and William Blake went to define it as the natural of man. Indeed, in the pantheistic view nature is divine and part of a greater consciousness that is God. However, our social identity, status and class are at second hand mundane and the excess belief in theses concepts may create a schism between the soul and the ego creating a frustrating life and an long quest of belonging. The arch-enemy of enlightenment is Conformity, to conform to the social norms is to give up this quest of self-discovery which will create a resistance to anyone daring to change his mindset and a fear of not being validated by society. In my Master thesis, and on the analysis of the mysticism of Morella one of Edgar Allan Poe's most intriguing tales. I unconsciously came across a revelation throughout my analysis of the tale and I quote :
"Once a person is faced by a mystical experience or a knowledge of the divine, he will forever be faced with it and this mystical knowledge will forever be called to be availed. If a person gives up this quest that will lead him to his higher purpose then he is likely to lead a life of regret and remorse of not having answered to the higher call"
In conclusion, and to translate my last point. Being spiritual is using one's five senses in a coherent way and to acknowledge that one's existence is rooted to another. This was the universal oneness call that I introduced in Sons of Algiers, the conformity that I fought in Sins of Algiers and the leniency that I preached for in Seeds of Algiers. I was uncertain of the outcome of my books, but what I did faithfully was to answer their call for creation all this was possible because I was in a constant connection with the spiritual world of inspiration and from it I was able to create and cast on the material world. A universe of oneness and Pantheism that is the second part of this chapter.
What is Spirituality?
Chapter I: Inner Worlds.
The Flower of Anis © 2022
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