Spirituality in Healing and Life

The working of anatomy and physiology and the effects that emotions have on you are quite blatant, and for the most part well understood. Elusiveness prevails when we reach the spiritual ingredient due to the abstract and disconnected way that we perceive it. It has been my observation that this lack of stability within the spiritual process comes from our inability to accept anything that is not based on atoms, molecules, and structure. Intellect, with all of its ritualistic and systematic trappings is generally the first approach to a spiritual life. But only an open consciousness, not intellectual formulas, has the potential to permit the freedom of spirit.

This knowledge has come to me through working with thousands of people who are embracing enormous change and reaching out for grand accomplishments. Their spirit is the pinnacle ingredient in their evolving life. From those who have healed themselves from catastrophic disease to those who have taken an ordinary acceptable life and molded it into a happy life – the enormity of spirit is a constant in the process. Too often the unseen is easy to forget.

Spirituality and religion have become synonymous thoughts within humanity today. Religion has given a format and a goal for people to comprehend and apply the principles and practices of religious teachings. However, we often find ourselves caught in a mechanical response to the principles and rituals, which prevents a spiritual experience.

Religion can offer good assistance in elevating individual and universal understandings, yet sadly, throughout history we have watched people manipulate great teachings and eradicate any spirit that dwelled within them. We must put theology into the action of real life. Our spirit needs continual usage to empower us with the profound potential of human experience. Within each of our souls we have the ability to sensitize ourselves to all that exists. By doing so, we will vigorously raise our integrity so that from the heart to the environment we are creating a spiritual experience. Our environment may then return this favor to us as long as we are willing to allow this level of freedom into our hearts.

We are given endless opportunities for enjoying the spirit through every thought and action that we permit. The understanding that all involvement is as spiritual as it is physical and emotional can bring a feeling of relief, or a burden beyond comprehension. Relief prevails when you truly see how the wisdom of your heart gives you complete reign over all that occurs. It is perceived as a burden when the mind believes that it alone has responsibility for creating a good life.

I remember years ago a lady with a serious illness who came to Hippocrates. During a conversation with me she discussed the forty-nine years of her life. Her eyes sparkled, her words elevated both of our spirits as she talked about how privileged and secure she felt that her parents, her husband, and her children were all her best friends. Together they had created the many successes that she knew as life. At the end of this eulogy of happiness, she took a deep breath, and then began to sob as the next words blurted out… “And then six months ago the doctor gave me six months to live.”

For the first time in my decades of work I saw with clarity how most of use view our problems. I asked her, “Is who you are the forty-nine years of success or the six months of disease.” Today, years later, this lady has not only fully recovered, she is flourishing beyond her highest goals.

Our acceptance of problems as “reality” and success as “lack of” is the greatest preventer of true spirituality. When people have elevated themselves to a place of fulfilled contentment, they will not permit the strife of non-awareness to eat them alive. Within each of our worlds there is a constant higher place. Our only deterrent from living with this is our own inability to accept unconditional love.

We can get stuck in a merry-go-round of history. With the world moving more rapidly each day, individual security is melting like ice in August. This expeditious phenomenon is our starting point to move forward into an existence without pain and suffering, further, without disease and disorder, and ultimately, with happiness every minute of life. Is this not the essence that each of us truly desires? Only the most avid intellectual would have difficulty accepting this deep within themselves.

There are countless ways to reach this state of happiness. Reaching it is not difficult. But one must muster the courage to leave behind all preconceived ideas which encourage limitation and boundaries. Can we go beyond a set of rules, and allow the living force of spirituality to govern our very existence? Granted our largest excuse is that worldly practices and daily routines call us back from this place of consciousness to a less aware level. Challenge yourself to the possibility that these everyday activities also contain a higher purpose. When people see their jobs, obligations and matter-of-fact acts as important as a time in prayer, they will capture the full warmth of living spiritually.

In spite of the physical and emotional things that may be occurring, we know from the heart of consciousness that we can capture happiness and gain from embracing the spirit. Transforming your life is not about safety. It is surely about courage. Each thought that we transform into action will give us an opportunity to find joy in our pursuits. When asking yourself why you’re doing something, question further if your true desire is to gain happiness from it.

Young children are the best representatives of human possibility. Freethinking, limitless, authentic openness governs their every act until they slowly incorporate the ritualistic thought from their elders. We have often been told that we become wiser as time passes. Yet, is it not that we become more conditioned and mold ourselves into a smoother and more acceptable member of society? Wisdom is not taught or learned. It permeates true consciousness and is ever-present for us to utilize.

Fortunately, we cannot control or manipulate wisdom as so many in the past have tried to do. This is why children who use the tool of instinct with their lack of experience can move forward without fear. We, as maturing individuals, are restrained from instinct and wisdom due to the ever-haunting influence of intellect. How often have you found yourself analyzing whether you should move forward as an opportunity flies away? While the child would not only be seated on the flight, he may even be piloting the plane.

Sometimes this level of open understanding is assessed as a dangerous and overly simple theory in human awareness. But there is no reason that we should evaluate such clarity as negative. It is for us to develop passion, which enlarges promise. This boundless arena of expansive spirituality is the real remedy for an unhappy life.

There are many dimensions within a single thought. This is a matter of perception. Two people can be involved in the same occurrence and evaluate the experience in different ways. For instance, when one is playing a sport, they conclude that this act is a physical enhancement, whereas the person sitting in the bleachers may feel it to be inspirational. How often are you aware of which areas or dimensions you are now pursuing? Limited perception can limit your life.

One of the most interesting events I have ever witnessed was a spiritual healing gathering at a large Catholic cathedral. People came from all corners of the globe to meet the frail young Father with the quiet voice. There was none of the inspirational singing or fiery demonstrations from this soulful spirit, but as people came to see him there was often one who left their wheelchair or dropped their cane. Outwardly, it appeared that the priest was physically healing people, but in terms of spirit, what was occurring was that some of the reciprocants were letting go of the physical and emotional anchors and embracing an expanded awareness. Yet today, I see too many people still searching for the healer rather than utilizing the wisdom of their hearts.

People close to me have devoted their entire lives to spiritual practice. Without hesitation I will say that they are contributing to a heightening of life. But I have conjectured that they would be assisting this process even more if they joined society and supported all the faithful, rather than trying to persuade others to participate in their own perception.

Years ago, while lecturing in Jerusalem, I had spent time with one of the high Rabbis, who explained that there was nothing mystical in life, there was only the inability for us to see something as possible. In spite of all the difficulties, which pervade the holy part of life, we are individually capable of fulfilling our own dreams. When truly searching for your place, do not wander beyond the room that houses fulfillment.

As Gandhi and Martin Luther King demonstrated, personal elevation engages global change. Each drop of goodness that you create will bring your spirit to a more usable level. Using the spirit is the essence of our existence. We come from the invisible as a spark of life, and we leave to the invisible once again. Through understanding the enormity of this very thought, we may gather enough faith to let go of who we think we are and BE who we really are.

This is difficult in a world of illusion, which is based on what we see, touch, feel, smell, and taste. Our significance on a physical level is no more than a gathering of endless electrons. How dare we make ourselves into concrete! An endless stream of invisible life flows like the greatest waterfall for us to bath in, and we still stand on the shore, dry as a bone.

Be kind to yourself so that all your encounters will be enriched by your own possibility. Do not wait for mighty acts and far-away saviors to participate in who you are. There are no walls you cannot walk through or worlds that you cannot reach.

Are you feeling the profound importance of self-elevation at this moment? If you are still experiencing just words on paper, go get a recording of Bach’s baroque music. Turn it up as loud as is comfortable. Close all the doors. Shut your eyes. Slowly and freely move around, letting the music quiet your mind and fill your heart. Or take yourself to a beach at dawn and in the quiet, walk alone until the full sun warms your skin. Find a place in the center of a forest and sit in peace, observing feeling and allowing all to occur. These are but a few ways of capturing where you should be all of the time. In the middle of a day of busy work, your heart should feel that it is bathing in the light of God. These feelings are often so foreign to us that we find ways to denounce them. Individually hundreds of millions of us have created negative personas through our own pain, and cannot validate the pleasure of the spirit as anything more than illusion.

In modern times the quest for spiritual life is often misguided. We search for structure and once again become entrapped in the practice of theology. For each and every one of the billions of people that reside on this incredible planet, our spirituality is personal. It can be reached through the better-known ways as long as you perceive them as just a springboard, not as a foundation. God has endless ability, and most of us are still struggling with a fraction of 1% of the 100% that is possible.

Our own arrogance permits us to believe that we know enough to put words in the mouth of God when, in all earnestness, there are no words necessary. Reaching into your soul will do more for you than searching outside of your awareness. Without hesitation you should strive for blind faith. This is the only true faith that does not demand proof on physically based occurrences. We practice blind faith many times in our life without acknowledging it. For instance, if you have ever fully loved someone, you trusted your feelings completely, and although you have physically never seen love, did you not absolutely believe in it, and want more of it?

As we move forward, it is our obligation to expand our limited faith and to gather true strength from the very act of surrender. Spirituality is not only achievable; it is your birthright. Be humble enough, brave enough and secure enough to utilize it with every breath.

Vol 27 Issue 2 Page 12