What is Spirituality?

I think most on this forum would agree that spirituality is not being a member of a certain religion or believing in a certain holy book. (Question 1) How would you define it?

My brief definition is that it is the sense of the underlying oneness of all life. It is the desire to raise all life instead of trying to only raise the separate self, one's own nation, one's own family, etc.

(Question 2)Can an atheistic materialist be spiritual?

I would say yes. Materialism is a belief held in what I would call the outer mind. It is not part of the most central beliefs. This is why a materialist is just as moral a person as anybody else and doesn't usually subscribe to "the law of the jungle". A materialist will often act in a way that is contrary to what materialism would logically have him or her do. Why? Because there are deeper beliefs than materialism in his or her being. It is doubtful that a materialist has had the outer belief of materialism for more than a life or two (assuming reincarnation if correct).
 
Question 1: Spirituality is to achieve Oneness with our creator; our father and lord and the desire to raise all life instead of raising the separation. Your assertion is correct.

Question 2: It can be. Please read the "Parables of the Prodigal Son".

The whole story revolved around 2 sons. One son followed his father's wishes (being in oneness) and the other son did not. The other son squandered his father's wealth in further lands by employing prostitutes and enjoying the material things until he basically ran out of money. When he begged his father to take him back and ask for forgiveness, not only his father welcomed him back, put on the best rob for him but killed a calf to celebrate his return. When the other son returned, he was stunned by the celebration put on by his father as to why, his brother's materialist atheist stances was rewarded by a celebration and yet his loyalty to his father was not. His father answered, all these things are always available to YOU. Which means, you can use your father's gifts to raise all life, people's life that were spent with prostitutes, material possessions etc...

The summary of this story is that, anyone can return to the oneness of our father (God) if we ask for his forgiveness. For those of us who are one with our father to be in full gratitude if we are in his service to raise all life and celebrate when we helped a soul seek forgiveness. But most spiritual seekers are bitter because their work aren't fully realized and then they too go on a quest to accuse God that they are not being rewarded. The reward comes from within, in a form gratitude which is what this parable talks about and is the path towards spirituality; the inner path.
 
My brief definition is that it is the sense of the underlying oneness of all life. It is the desire to raise all life instead of trying to only raise the separate self, one's own nation, one's own family, etc.

No. That is not spirituality. Oneness is a religious dogma.
 
Hello Raimo, I'm sorry but I don't follow you. How is feeling that all life is part of a greater whole religious dogma? How do you feel it is a negative thing?:)
 
Hello Raimo, I'm sorry but I don't follow you. How is feeling that all life is part of a greater whole religious dogma? How do you feel it is a negative thing?:)

Some New Agers believe that we must merge with "God" or become one with "God", lose our individuality, and thus be destroyed. It is merely a religious dogma, and there is zero evidence to support that detrimental belief. Evidence from survival related research disproves that malicious lie.

I feel it is my duty and purpose in this life to fight the doctrine of "oneness", and to protect and support individualism.

It is possible, that all life is part of a greater whole, but it still doesn't mean that everything is part of some collective slime. Individual parts in that system still retain their unique identities.
 
Some New Agers believe that we must merge with "God" or become one with "God", lose our individuality, and thus be destroyed. It is merely a religious dogma, and there is zero evidence to support that detrimental belief. Evidence from survival related research disproves that malicious lie.

I feel it is my duty and purpose in this life to fight the doctrine of "oneness", and to protect and support individualism.

It is possible, that all life is part of a greater whole, but it still doesn't mean that everything is part of some collective slime. Individual parts in that system still retain their unique identities.
I think there is a leap here, "lose our individuality, and thus be destroyed". The evidence from NDE reports for example shows that one can lose one's individuality, but not be destroyed. I feel you are railing against your own misunderstanding.
 
I think there is a leap here, "lose our individuality, and thus be destroyed". The evidence from NDE reports for example shows that one can lose one's individuality, but not be destroyed. I feel you are railing against your own misunderstanding.

Actually, the evidence from NDE reports shows that they don't lose their individuality.

For example, Andy Petro says this about his NDE: "I was aware that I was being "absorbed" into the Light, became One with the Light. But, at the same time never lost my "Andy-ness"!"
http://iands.org/publications/vital-signs/67-vs25no1petro.html?start=6

If you lose your individuality, you will be annihilated. Only a suicidal person would want that.

I recommend that you read this Michael Prescott's excellent blog post about this topic:
http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2009/05/the-simple-life.html
 
I think most on this forum would agree that spirituality is not being a member of a certain religion or believing in a certain holy book. (Question 1) How would you define it?

The answers depend on what you mean, whether as the actuality, a state or a practice

As a practice - I'd say it's any and all methods with the intent of becoming more aware of the non-physical aspects of self and existence. Realizing that the concept of separation from spirit is, although strong and affective, an illusion.

As a state - it's having a high degree of that awareness

As the actuality - it's every thing and every no-thing. Many make the mistake of viewing it as "spirituality vs the physical". No. Spirituality is. The physical is one of it's expressions. There is no physical without it. So spirituality = primary consciousness = all that exists.
 
There is a great misunderstanding about individuality; or loss of when you merge with the source. This is caused by the duality consciousness being taught by many so called Gurus in the New Age movement, who got their information from beings of the Astral Realm; also known as the Emotional Realm.

We are all unique individual spirits created by God; if you believe in the one god one source and we were all created by God, then we are a part of God. Think God as a tree and we are its branches and leaves. Each leaf is unique, which is you, but you can not exist as a leaf by itself without the tree. So basically, your individual existence is an EXTENSION of your Higher-Self, which is really YOU! All you understood now is that, you are a leaf, but as you begin to walk the spiritual path, you will eventually become aware of a branch of the tree (which is your Higher-Self), then other branches from the same tree (other Higher-Selves which are your brothers and sisters) and then the tree itself which is God. And when you realized this that you are actually a part of a tree and know that the tree needs you and you need the tree, you are all one.

The key to spirituality is to re-establish your connection with your Higher-Self or Self.

Your Higher-Self is pure and all knowing. In order to protect yourself from the negative energies on Earth, you sent an extension of yourself. If your extension is somehow corrupted or contaminated by the negative energies of this planet, then it is limited to that extension, which is the Conscious You. This is where the mechanism called "Re-incarnation" provides the means for these souls (Conscious You) to re-incarnate and resolve any Karma or misqualified energies you created in your past lives.
Sometimes, some Higher-Self can send MORE THAN ONE extension of you in parallel universes and dimensions and planes. There will be many more of the Conscious You; leaves instead of just one leaf.

What many spiritual Gurus and people in the New Age world tried to confuse some spiritual seekers is to inject fear that you will loose your identity as your merge with your higher-self or you must obey some higher authority (Higher-Self or the Ascended Masters). This is somewhat true in a sense that you will loose your human limited sense and regain more divine higher sense that you are actually a spiritual being and not limited by the things of this world. You will still keep to be who you are, what your place on Earth and the friends you associate with and the work you're proud of doing. But these associations will be more to serve God rather than Mammon. This shift is very real which manifests themselves in reality can be alarming to some people, but always rewarding. This has been my experience and observation thus far.

We are so afraid and fearful because we are limited by the resources on Earth and that you can't do anything about. It feels real, and it tastes real, so when you feel that, you don't feel like you have any power to change. But you do have the power to change and change your outer circumstances. But it's difficult to tell people that because the outside world, while being an illusion itself, is so real. You can only see it being fake when you reconnect with your Higher-Self and improve your situation. Isn't that a better deal than being a limited person with their hands tied?

The dark forces and dark beings however would love keeping you in this state of limitation and will stop you in any way possible to reconnect back to God/Higher-Self. They know full well who you are. Why do you think this world is full of these beings who are intent to stop you progressing in your spiritual path with a lot fear and doubt? Something that is not aligned with God's purpose, which is love and gratitude which are the polar opposites of fear and doubt?

Think about that.

This battle has been going on since the fall of man; Adam and Eve.
 
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I think that Spirituality consists of myth, morality, discipline, and integration.

Myth: the story of reality through which we find the meaning of life. Spirituality is about exploring myths to gain some insight into the real true story of our reality and our place in it. Edit: I should add that I consider the interpretations of scientific data to also be a myth to explore. And I mean myth in the sense of a story with deeper meaning rather than myth in the sense of a story that is factually untrue.

Morality: learning how to live in harmony with others and the environment. Learning to sacrifice the ego through service. Learning compassion and love.

Discipline: setting aside time for practice of meditation, prayer, worship, thanksgiving, or otherwise training one's mind in certain positive beneficial habits.

Integration: Using myth, morality, and discipline to fully understand one's self, and to become a more whole, consistent, stable, strong person with a persistent sense of connectedness to others and the universe and the mind behind the universe.

Spirituality can be practiced within or outside a religion. For some people at certain times of their life, religion is an aid. For others at other times, it is a hinderance.

Materialistic Atheists can practice some aspects of spirituality; however, their myth may hinder them from experiencing deeper levels of connectedness and integration.
 
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