Every day we use words without ever thinking about what exactly they mean. Often we only have a vague idea of it. But the idea that I have from the term “soul”, for example, may differ far from your idea. So it can happen that we talk past each other. Misunderstandings and sometimes even conflicts arise. In order to prevent this, it is important to define terms as precisely as possible. A term that is particularly important in my work is “spirituality”. In today’s tangle of voice, a lot is associated with this idea, which often has little to do with it on a closer look. That is why it is important to me to give you a clear idea of what I mean by spirituality. Let’s take a quick look at Wikipedia. There spirituality is defined as follows:

In the broadest sense, spirituality (from Latin “spiritus”, spirit, breath) describes an attitude oriented towards the spiritual of all kinds.

Thus, spirituality clearly distinguishes itself from its opposite, the material. To take a simple example: A stone is material, whereas a thought is spiritual. That may be obvious, but it seems to be forgotten over and over again. For example, when we visit an esoteric shop, we find crystals, sound shells, dream catchers, essences and so on. By definition, these things are material and not spiritual. In themselves, these objects are nothing spiritual, even if they are sold as such. You shouldn’t make the mistake to believe just because a flower of life sticks to your door and a dream catcher hangs in your bedroom, you would be „spiritual”.

Objects can never be a substitute for true spirituality. They can only serve as a tool to build a certain atmosphere or to promote the inner focus, but nothing more. A visit to an esoteric fair conveys exactly the opposite. There it is teeming with material „aids“. The inexperienced could be lead to believe that it would be all very “spiritual” and that they needed it all to be „spiritual“. In truth, you need very little for real spirituality. In truth, it is all about redirecting your view away from matter and towards your own spirit. Anyone who embarks on the path of spiritual development will gradually remove external aids. He has learned to work with his inner powers. Now what are these inner powers? In our example of stone and thought, the separation is quite clear. It gets more complicated when we look at man. He is not either matter or spirit, but both and.

On the one hand, we have a material body, on the other hand this body is animate. We have thoughts, feelings, memories, visions, a will and sometimes even spiritual experiences. Where is the exact border between spiritual and material? This is a difficult question that generations of philosophers and mystics have broken their heads. I found a definition that is very accurate and at the same time leaves a lot open:

Everything in man that is not material belongs in the realm of the spiritual.

To illustrate it even more drastically:

Everything that remains of a deceased person is material, while everything else is spiritual.

Of course, this leaves a large scope for everything spiritual. And with that we will deal in many videos to come. My point is: “Spiritual objects” alone do not make us spiritual people.

So what distinguishes a spiritual from a “non-spiritual” person? If we have not yet discovered spirituality for ourselves, our mind processes largely follow a stimulus-reaction mechanism. This means that to an external stimulus an inner reaction follows quite automatically. For example, if we don’t really like our boss and suddenly he shows up at the door, we will immediately feel uncomfortable. He triggered something in us that we apparently cannot control. If someone takes our right of way on the street, some of us immediately get into rage. Sometimes we meet people in whom we spontaneously fall in love with without really knowing why.

Our whole life runs in an endless circle of external stimuli and inner reactions. We constantly react to people and situations in certain patterns. The non-spiritual person accepts this as a given and says: “I’m just like that.” He perceives himself as a static personality who will never change. Yes, he even goes so far as to define himself over his peculiarities. He accepts his strengths and weaknesses as given and does not even try to alter them. The spiritual person, on the other hand, discovers that her personality is not carved in stone. She steps out of herself and becomes her own observer. Instead of remaining in the old stimulus-reaction mechanism, she begins to question herself. Why am I falling in love with particularly this person? Why don’t I like my boss? Why do certain situations drive me crazy? Does this have something to do with me?

As soon as we start to watch ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses come to light more and more. We become aware of ourselves. That was what the ancient Greeks meant with the famous saying Know thyself. When we see our strengths and weaknesses so clearly before our eyes the need to improve awakens within us. We can put this in practice, for example, if we promote positive thoughts and let go of negative ones. This is where the non-spiritual person begins to transform into a spiritual one. She studies her own mind and actively works on its orientation. That is the definition of true spirituality:

A spiritual person consciously deals with its mental powers.

In particular, these are the thinking processes and emotional perceptions. Both go hand in hand and determine our being. We discover that we can gain freedom by consciously perceiving and shaping our thoughts and feelings. Doors that have been closed up to now suddenly open and lead us to completely new realms. If we then realize how our life changes for the positive, we naturally want more. The most powerful tool to promote this process is meditation. Anyone who learns to use meditation effectively opens up to unlimited possibilities. In meditation you do nothing other than study and shape your inner world and thus, as a result, shape your outer world. It couldn’t be more effective than that. It’s all about your own thinking, feeling and the consequent action. You become the conscious creator of your own reality.