Spiritual People

[seeyat]

I think there's something astounding about so-called spirituality which I love. Spiritualism seems to be defined in such a way that people who surrender themselves to it see the world with sort of a 'veil of acceptance' from which one doesn't really need to understand the world. One only need be receptive to it.

I've also noticed there are so many spiritual thinkers who appreciate and embrace nonviolent communication as a framework of connection... and there's something to be seen there. I just can't quite pinpoint it.

Spiritual appreciation for life? Spiritual acceptance of souls in all living things? Connection with plants, animals and humanity? Just knowing that we're all connected? From a scientific perspective, we are all connected... that's just not the layman's understanding. Society and capitalism in particular tend to tell us it's every man for themself. Capitalism says, "You're on your own. But this thing. Your life will be easier."

As a scientific, analytical thinker, constantly trying to understand through asking, "why?" and "to what end?" ...there's something divinely comforting about spiritual people.

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I think there's something astounding about so-called spirituality which I love.<<

Yes, I have met some impressively spiritual people over time.

>> Spiritualism seems to be defined in such a way that people who surrender themselves to it see the world with sort of a 'veil of acceptance' from which one doesn't really need to understand the world. One only need be receptive to it. <<

That's one approach. I see it most often with people whose contract with the Divine is along the lines of "Send me where I'm needed most." But not everyone with strong existential intelligence or connection with their patron(s) has that trait. There are some things for which the Universe will activate me -- like if a scribe is needed and I'm present, I will be tapped for the task -- but I'm not primarily a mobile service operative.

>> I've also noticed there are so many spiritual thinkers who appreciate and embrace nonviolent communication as a framework of connection... and there's something to be seen there. I just can't quite pinpoint it.<<

Yeah, it's the cluster of "Don't break what God(s) built" skills. Another impressive one is "nonanxious presence." Both serve as stabilizing influences for damage control. They rely on someone's ability to throw their aperture open wide enough that divine energy pools around them, which for most bystanders will feel calming and soothing.

Communication and connection have another advantage at higher levels, though. Bewteen lives, souls navigate through connections with other souls, kind of like pulling on a net of elastic strands. The effect while incarnate is subtler, but it is still possible to move people emotionally through a connection. It's just that most souls don't know how to do that while wearing a body. Think about how spiritual people often have a 'pull' to them, and it's stronger with their own flock.

>> Spiritual appreciation for life? <<

Is a hippie looking at a sunset, looking up, and saying, "Wow man, wow, this one is just beautiful." Or me admiring that Japanese beetles are gorgeous flying gems, even though they are pests; and even that the blue-winged wasps which prey on their larvae are also gorgeous; and that the resilience network of the ecosystem is stunning.

>> Spiritual acceptance of souls in all living things? <<

All things. Most people just don't notice souls in other things. But Hawaii is plastered with signs warning haole tourists not to pick up and move or take home the rocks, because those particular rocks are notorious for hitting back. A handful of rivers have been granted personhood, which is awesome.

>> Connection with plants, animals and humanity? Just knowing that we're all connected? <<

Central to some religions, but doesn't make it into all modern ones.

>> From a scientific perspective, we are all connected... that's just not the layman's understanding.<<

True fact. Everything is alive; everything is connected.

Not everyone has high existential intelligence; there are other intelligences and some of them rarely appear with others. Most people are good at writing (linguistic intelligence) or art (visual-spatial intelligence) but not both; they can appear together but rarely do. But even someone low in existential intelligence could do some of the same things with their other intelligence -- like how naturalistic intelligence will show you the connections in an ecosystem, so you could figure that the universe runs on connections because of that example.

>> Society and capitalism in particular tend to tell us it's every man for themself. Capitalism says, "You're on your own. But this thing. Your life will be easier." <<

Capitalism is stupid, and often parasitic.

>>As a scientific, analytical thinker, constantly trying to understand through asking, "why?" and "to what end?" ...there's something divinely comforting about spiritual people.<<

Ironically, I'm both. Science gives me the ability to ask questions and delight in finding answers, which I can use to take better care of the world. Spirituality lets me appreciate things that I don't understand and feel comfort that I'll never run out of new things to explore. And awareness of connection is how I spent a few years telling insectivores, "I know these Japanese beetles are new to you, but I swear they are indeed beetles and therefore edible for you," ... and then the parasitic wasps showed up, and now I have far fewer Japanese beetles. You can use the connections that you cultivate.

For all that there are a lot of very secular scientists, there's always a handful who go into it for spiritual reasons or at least with a sense of awe at beetles or galaxies or whatever.