Comments on: Spiritual virtues / values / norms: perspective on alternative spirituality

By: Metaphysical Junkie » BLOGS!

Metaphysical Junkie » BLOGS! — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:34:52 +0000

[...] All Considering always gives her readers some interesting food for thought in her introspective posts on spirituality and metaphysics. Recently she wrote an interesting series of articles on the seven virtues of alternative spirituality. [...]

By: katinka - spiritual

katinka - spiritual — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:06:49 +0000

Boshemia: that makes a lot of sense. I like it ‘spirituality minimizes the me part of the world and maximizes the world part of me’

Metaphysical Junkie: it also depends on the place one has IN that religion. A lot of what we call spirituality was everyday practice for monks and nuns, some time ago. Much of it still is (though I’m told church reform did away with a lot of meditation practice).

By: Metaphysical Junkie

Metaphysical Junkie — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:10:26 +0000

I agree with Saint Brian on the difference between spirituality and religion. I’ve always seen spirituality as primarily focused on inner guidance and religion primarily focused on outer guidance. Even spiritual guidance that is external (a guru, self-help book, metaphysical chapel, etc) usually steers people back to their inner selves somehow. I suppose religion strives to do this to some degree, but it depends on the type of religion.

By: Boshemia

Boshemia — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:31:56 +0000

I can’t say much about alternative spirituality, but spirituality in general perhaps. There is a wonderful feeling of peace that comes over me when I even thing of the word spirituality. A connection between something deep in my soul and being a greater part of the universe surrounding me.

Even though I am but one small part of a great big universe I feel connected to all of the people in it. To their joys, to their sorrows, to their hopes and dreams.

Spirituality minimizes the “me” part of the world, but it maximized the world part of the me. Does that make any sense at all? Well, it’s just my own personal feeling on the subject.

Peace!

Love this place BTW!

By: katinka - spiritual

katinka - spiritual — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:09:45 +0000

Hi Saint Brian – glad to see this post sparked something

By: Saint Brian

Saint Brian — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:21:23 +0000

And something like religion can be logical-side-based and not real-world “logical” at all. If the logical side in question is a faulty one, incorectly developed by a lack of appropriate desire from the incorrectly developed Yin side. It may be a hugely developed logical side, but not one in conformity with concensual reality due to self-delusion because of internal imbalance.

A system of mathematics that always produces incorrect results, is still a system of mathematics. A faulty one, but still…

By: Saint Brian

Saint Brian — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:16:07 +0000

Incidentally, I also see the dichotomy of religion and spirituality as a duality, religion being Yang, masculine side, and spirituality being Yin, feminine side.
Religion relies on thoughts, concepts, words, sayings, gospels, apologists, and verbal appeal to something outside of yourself.
Spirituality is feeling-based. Or so I see it. It relies on “knowing.” In the sense of Gnosis. It’s personal, private, and no two spiritualities are alike. Real spirituality develops your intuitive side and your higher emotions where religion develops your memory and little else.

By: Saint Brian

Saint Brian — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:10:28 +0000

And even before the “I AM” came the desire to utter the words, the “feeling” of “am-ness.”

We are, at our most basic level, a feeling and not a thought.

By: Saint Brian

Saint Brian — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:52:46 +0000

Even if you ask yourself if you love someone else, it’s still your emotional side desiring to know, and it’s still asking your logical side for an evaluation of the emotional side.

Or let’s say that you want to learn calculus. Calculus is totally based in the logical side, but you still *desire* to learn it, and whatever caused that desire, it’s still a desire, and thus an emotion. Evevn if the desire is merely to pass the class so that you graduate. Even if the desire is to be able to solve complex mathematical problems so as to be able to do research. All desire is emotional.

By: Saint Brian

Saint Brian — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:40:16 +0000

A person’s own duality, their balance between their rational/intellectual side and the emotional/intuitive side, is I think imperative to the self-knowledge necessary to develop one’s spiritual side.

Everybody has the lower emotional side. We all get that. We start with that, and develop our intellectual side based on desires generated within the lower emotional side. (Lower = Self-Focused)
As the intellectual side develops, hopefully it does so on such a way so as to perceive the necessity of developing empathy toward others and other higher (other-focused) emotional modalities. Of course, once the higher emotions are developed, they in turn affect the further development of the intellectual side, shaping it more in line with the higher emotional desires rather than the lower ones. At this point each side starts to shape and mold the other producing a “vicious cycle” of development. Of course, when the situation is one of IM-Balance and not balance, both sides still shape each other but instead produce a “vicious cycle” of deterioration toward egotism.

We are based in the emotional side, all of us. We use our logical sides like a tool, but we “live” in our emotional sides. All desire is generated there, even the desire to be logical. We think of logic, but we ARE emotions.

Thus, every single time that you (or anybody) ask yourself a question, it is your emotional (desire) side asking it, and it’s asking your logical/rational side for the answer. Your inner dialogue is one between your emotional and your rational side. Every single time.