What Actually Is Spirituality?

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We speak of spirituality and we
have a conception in our minds

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about what it actually is.
We vaguely sense that it

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encompasses A devotion and focus
on something other than our

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daily external life and
relationships.

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Many people state that they are
spiritual, not religious.

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We sometimes conceive of it as a
deep devotional sense in our

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being.
Others may conceive of it as the

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ability to put aside all worldly
concerns and cares and focus 1

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pointed attention on the
Infinite.

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By whatever name and in whatever
form we may conceive of the

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Infinite, we may associate it on
occasion with the deeper

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movements of the religious
temperament when we have an

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experience of a sense of
consecration or a flame of

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aspiration welling up from our
heart centre.

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Or we may sense that it is some
kind of dedicated, selfless work

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that we do for the benefit of
the larger whole, whether that

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is conceived of as the entirety
of humankind or something wider

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and more encompassing even than
that.

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We have unusual or even
extraordinary experiences of

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consciousness which we quickly
identify as spiritual

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experiences, whether it is a
sense of existing outside the

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body, or having the descent of a
deep and immovable peace into

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our being.
Or the opening up and activation

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of a force, whether from below
moving upwards or from above

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moving downwards, opening the
energy centers, chakras,

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actualizing powers of knowledge,
insight, consecration, devotion

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that are normally quite absent.
To the extent we conceive of

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spirituality as any of these
things, we may believe that by

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our mind's attention and
acceptance of a particular idea

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or formation that we are being
spiritual.

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Even having spiritual
experiences from time to time

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does not, however, make us
spiritual.

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These mental formations and
special experiences are

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essentially there to awaken us
to the reality, the need, the

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opportunity, and the path before
us.

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It is then up to us to take
those next steps and work on the

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transformation of human nature
that represents the next stage

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in human evolution and thereby
helps us embody in our thoughts,

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our words and our deeds, in our
very perceptions, reactions and

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impulses, the essence of
spirituality.

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Spirituality brings with it the
experience of Oneness,

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transcending the fixation we
have on the ego, personality and

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the body, life mind complex we
inhabit during our current short

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lifetimes.
This transcendence removes the

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barriers of space-time and
circumstance.

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We respond entirely differently
than the ego consciousness, as

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we are no longer centered in
that small and artificially

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distinct through the illusion of
separation, Nexus of experience.

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From this basis it is possible
to effectuate real change in

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human nature, an evolutionary
change that impacts every aspect

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of our lives.
Triorro Bindo notes quote Talk

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of surrender or a mere idea or
tepid wish for integral

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consecration will not do.
There must be the push for a

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radical and total change.
It is not by taking a mere

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mental attitude that this can be
done, or even by any number of

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inner experiences which leave
the outer man as he was.

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It is this outer man who has to
open, to surrender and to

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change.
His every least movement, habit,

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action has to be surrendered,
seen, held up and exposed to the

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Divine Light, offered to the
Divine Force for its old forms

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and motives to be destroyed, and
the Divine Truth and the action

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of the transforming
consciousness of the Divine

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Mother to take their place.
End Quote Reference Sri Oro

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Bindu and the Mother Looking
from Within, Chapter 5,

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Attitudes on the Path, pages 125
to 126.