Inspiration Meditation And Spirituality. by Orna Ross

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Kira Kenley

• Tweet

• Tweet

“Spirituality” is the word given to the human search for meaning, engagement with ultimate questions about life and death, and the sense of an eternal, limitless formlessness within and beyond our perceived, material experience.

Those who are most spiritually attuned hold that this “something beyond”, commonly called soul or spirit, is eternal and infinite, a spark of divine love and creative force within us and every living thing — and also without. Beyond all.

This infinite, all-knowing, all-loving presence, commonly called God (but also given a host of other names: Yahweh, Allah, Ra, Jehovah, Krishna, Kali, Jesus, Yeshua, Tao, Shiva, the Universe, the Infinite, the All, the I Am and so on) surfaces in a variety of shapes and forms in the stories and beliefs of every human generation.

We may believe it to exist and regularly experience awareness of it. Or we may hold that all conceptions not just of a personified God but of any sort of unified and continuous consciousness distinct from human brain impulses are, in the words of psychologist and lecturer, Susan Blackmore in her book Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction, “a grand delusion… wrong, completely wrong”.

What we believe about this depends on a whole host of factors, from where we were born, to our stage of life, our experiences and our psychological development. But what we believe around this is far less important than what we experience.

• When we meditate, we strengthen awareness of all the dimensions of the life force within, including a deepened awareness of the consciousness that underlies everyday thoughts and feelings.

• When we meditate regularly, we experience how the same creative force present in us is present in all. We feel connected in a deeper way to other people, animals, the earth itself, the whole galaxy and universe and every atom in it.

• When we continue to meditate regularly over time, this deepening consciousness  blossoms into a sense of union not just with everything, but also with nothing. With the timeless, formless, infinitude of space that lies within, between and beyond form.

The point is that we don’t have to give this consciousness, this space, this presence in our lives a name or a form.  At least one sacred books goes so far as to say that the very act of naming it is destructive. “Those who name it do not know it”, says  Tao Te Ching, one of the oldest and most profound sacred texts.  “Those who know it do not name it.”

Human curiosity about this formlessness can be intense, especially among those who have strong opinions about its existence, or non-existence, or a particular belief system about it.  We who choose the creative way choose practice over debate; experience over opinion; and presence in our own life over speculation about what might lie beyond.

Rather than wasting energy hypothesising answers to unfathomable questions, we harness energy by experiencing our creative source within as a resource.

“Do not become distracted by attempting to analyse Divine Mystery,” says Ramakrishna, a nineteenth century Indian mystic. “A few sips of the precious wine of Love will thoroughly intoxicate you. Why leave the glass untouched on the table while inquiring how the wine was produced or estimating how many gallons may exist in the infinite wine cellar?”

When there is this feeling of connection, words become irrelevant. The indescribable happens and as its mystery unfolds, it dispels our need to know the unknowable.