A spiritual life can only be achieved by consciously striving toward one.
Many people feel that spirituality is a major factor in leading a healthy and fulfilling life. But what exactly does this mean? It’s easy to say you would like to live a spiritual life, but it is much harder to practice it. A recent entry on the Huffington Post Spirituality blog gives some insight into what living spiritually actually entails.
The author, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is the founder of the Art of Living Foundation. One of his most important tenets for living spiritually is working on comprehension. This sounds opaque without an explanation, but it is actually an extremely important concept to grasp. He says you must understand how you understand. Knowing that both your spirit and your mind are keys to comprehension are essential.
Spirituality is often thought of as a a solitary experience, but solitude is only one small element of spirituality. Shankar says spirituality can be felt by interacting with others. Not only does a spiritual life require human interaction, but spiritual experiences become much richer by feeling compassion and acting on that feeling by helping others. Spirituality is also a great equalizer. Spiritual moments are felt by people of all races and socioeconomic situations and this shared experience can help people to appreciate one another on a deeper level.
You must not treat a spiritual life as an escape. This conjures images of monks retreating from society to become closer to the spirit world, but the average person must incorporate spirituality into their everyday lives. Not only is this not an escape from the trials and tribulations of life, it is also another discipline that must be learned.
Living spiritually can be difficult to master. It requires discipline, practice, and a constantly conscious mind. If you follow these steps however, you will be on the path to a more fulfilling existence.
