Victor Frankle believed that the striving to find significance and meaning in our lives is man’s primary motivational force; nevertheless, this innate striving for life purpose can also be impeded due to ordinary existential adversity. Unfortunately, this can also result in spiritual depletion.
Recovering the spiritual dimension in our lives, in search of transcending one’s life challenges, demands a new form of intervention, one which includes a discipline towards reclaiming our spiritual beingness.
The diversity of religious and spiritual experience today, is evidence of people’s attempts to understand our universe. The mystics, saints, sages, scientists, and artists who have emerged throughout the ages, all made contact with a level of consciousness that transcended what society believes life was. All cultures throughout history have tried to capture these transcendental experiences through symbols, ceremonies, paintings, poems, songs, and dance. These experiences give evidence to the transpersonal aspect (beyond personality) of human nature. This spiritual aspect of our common human nature is reflected within the myriad of ordinary spiritual experiences such as:
- A sense of unity among the living
- A profound inner silence
- The deep sense of gratitude
- Feeling oneself to be a vessel for a stronger force to flow through
- Exuberance and Ecstasy
- A sense of profound awe, mystery, and wonder
- Apprehension of some truth concerning the nature of the universe
- Appreciating beauty and creative inspiration
- Compassion for others
- Transcendence of time and space
- Intuition
Spiritual awakening refers to a realization that what appears to be isolated individuals are human spirits participating in a universe of divine intention and order. This spiritual phenomenon that has been recognized and validated by every wisdom tradition on earth, and include such terms as:
- The soul (Judeo Christian)
- The guest(sufi)
- The still a voice within (Quaker)
- The big mind (Zen)
- The self (Jung)
- The higher power (Alcoholics Anonymous)
- The oneness with Brahman (Hinduism)
- The one great spirit (Native American)
With all this inherited wisdom passed down through millennia, one could only wonder why such spiritual conversations are strikingly missing from our everyday conversations.
Maybe if we begin getting more creative with such spiritual discussions on Facebook, iPhone text messages, BBMs and current day song lyrics we might stand a chance at awakening the Spirit within – A Spirit that has existed since the dawn of humanity.
