Stay connected to self, to the divine
As an artist who stays busy 365 days of the year, I have realised that in today’s day and age where life is busy and time is running fast, it is crucial for each one of us to try and touch base with Spirituality so we stay rooted and calm. I speak more for highly educated, sharp and motivated professionals who have often walked up to me after my seminars asking extremely pertinent questions. But it has been surprising to note that beyond the sense of not having understood the concept of Spirituality, most people I interact with carry brilliantly erroneous notions about spirituality.
The most common misrepresentation is regarding Spirituality and Religion. For most people, spirituality is seen as practically equivalent to religion. They feel that only the believers can experience spirituality. Conversely, if someone is a non-believer, the spiritual experience must be alien to them, something they can't possibly understand. But there is nothing that could be further from the truth. The spiritual experience is human and one can feel it without the slightest belief in any religion or ritual. Love, beauty, friendship, the exploration of the self, none of these things requires religion. Nor do they require any religious identity.
For some people, spirituality is all about devotion to a religious faith. Others seek out a more broad based definition to the term. In my belief, it is wrong to brand either as the correct analysis of Spirituality. In this case, I would rather say, each to his own. Whatever works for you to bring peace of mind and enhance the quality of life is good.
Though I am a firm believer in God, for me, spirituality and religion are interconnected at a deeper level but at the practical level, they stand way apart. Spirituality focuses on harnessing humanistic qualities such as love, compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment and harmony, rather than any ritualistic dealing. It is more a personal relationship with the energy of the universe, the love that surrounds us all but which we fail to recognize, and the attempt to go with the inner good self. Spirituality is not in the inevitability of pain or the evasion of consequences or errors, but the art of learning how to live with them in a conscious way. Practicing Spirituality takes time and practice but as the heart opens up, relationships - personal, professional and with the self get smoother and better. I say this purely by personal experience and speak as a seeker, not a preacher. I have seen practical changes happening inside and around me with mere mental effort so I say Spirituality works.