That said, you don’t need a book to interpret in order to be under some kind of influence from teachers (who pass down their truth) or your own interpretations of whatever you are confronted with. It’s all about learning a particular truth.
Spirituality can, however, work differently: all those ways of passing on a truth must be based on some kind of personal experience that someone had at some point in the past, and THAT is where it’s at, really. That person had a spiritual experience that they felt strongly enough to shape into words and pass on to others in written or spoken form. The real question is: how did they come to have such experiences? As usual, things become less clear as soon as we stray from the path of the written word and what we perceive as a tradition within whichever faith we follow. Ultimately, if we lack the personal experience, we have to rely on scripture to ‘learn the path’. Unfortunately, an experience of this sort is hard to put into words, let alone allow others to experience whatever you have experienced. Words are not enough, a more visceral exposure is required. The mind is a powerful tool to interpret, but it’s the body that ultimately provides the means to register an experience. We need a brain, for starters, to think. But we also need a set of sensory organs to provide the input. Our bodies are made to register things that happen, a finely tuned instrument that sends readings to the brain at the speed of electricity. If you have ever been touched unexpectedly, or heard a small noise that made your hairs stand on end, you know what I mean. Some of this is in our imagination only, but who’s to say that what your brain imagines isn’t just as real as how you react to a physical encounter in the real world? Our sense of touch is a main channel that we often neglect: we humans focus on eyes and ears mainly to navigate the world, but besides our sense of smell and taste, our sense of touch is too amazing for words. It can take you to pain and ecstasy, often at the same time, and open your mind to possibilities and experiences that were unexpected, to say the least. Who’s to say that those experiences are not spiritual ones? What is your definition of the idea of a ‘spiritual experience’. To me, it’s anything that takes me out of my body and allows me to experience what is beyond the ability of my body to sense. A place where the mind starts to function on its own, without external input.
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About me
These are my own thoughts on aspects of my work I feel strongly about. Archives
September 2021
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