The Spiritual Goes Beyond The Psychological

It is not easy to define the spiritual. It is a word widely used in religion, where it is defined as that area of ​​life where the presence of God is. However, religion is not the only one that speaks of the spiritual and, from a philosophical point of view, this word can have other meanings. We are going to concentrate on precisely those other meanings.

Outside of religion, it is usual for us to think that the spiritual is the same as the psychological. From that point of view, what makes up this spirituality would be all the thoughts, feelings and emotions that inhabit us. However, this is not entirely accurate: the spiritual goes beyond the psychological.

There are many philosophies and practices that define the spiritual as everything that gives us a sense of transcendence for life. In this perspective, the spiritual has to do with the practice of virtue, with the purpose of reaching a state of freedom or liberation or, in any case, of greater evolution.

Being spiritual outside of religion

You don’t have to believe in God to be spiritual. There are those who are not satisfied simply with being good people or good citizens, but want to go further. They want their life to become a reflection of the great human virtues or the great purposes of humanity.

This, of course, involves the world of the psychological, but it goes beyond it. The realm of the spiritual is what we might call the realm of the ethical. Be careful, not the moral, but the ethical. Spirituality does not seek to fulfill social or moral mandates, but to bring values ​​to their maximum expression.

Many of those who exalt spirituality in their lives speak of “a higher power”, but do not necessarily understand it as a specific being. That higher power eventually is nature itself, freedom, understanding, humanity, and countless higher concepts.

The importance of spirituality

Spirituality goes beyond a search for psychological well-being. It is not a method, or a way to overcome depression, anxiety and all those problems that plague many people’s minds today. However, one of the results of spirituality is a more balanced psychological state.

The spiritual has an important role in, for example, the rehabilitation of addicted people. Those who live imprisoned by this type of problem tend to suffer a process of decline in their values, in their ethics. They can get to a point where they are capable of anything to get the drug. For this reason, a good part of their rehabilitation consists of re-giving value to the great human virtues.

Spirituality has enormous power: it gives strength to achieve achievements or goals. It is much more than willpower. Rather, it is based on conviction and the desire to overcome levels and achieve greater significance.

Many of the great men and women of history have found spiritually the strength to perform real feats. Their adherence to certain principles is so strong that they are capable of overcoming great obstacles to achieve goals that they consider transcendent.

The spiritual in everyday life

To make a genuine connection to those values ​​that you truly believe in, you don’t have to sign up for a yoga course, or ask for an audience with the Dalai Lama. Nor should your purpose be to change humanity or be a model of goodness. The only thing you have to do, in principle, is listen to your inner voice.

What it is about, finally, is to promote an awakening to the consciousness of yourself and your place in the world. Beyond being a father or mother, you are an educator of a new being. Besides being a worker, you are a piece in the progress of a community, of a country, of a planet. And beyond being a citizen, you are part of a story in which the consequences of tomorrow are the result of your actions today.

Being spiritual is a way of seeing, but it translates into a way of being. Opening your eyes to see yourself and see the world around you is something that gives you an unusual strength. It is not achieved overnight, but is the fruit of long musings and deep confrontations with yourself. But it is also, without a doubt, the safest way to give a real and deep meaning to your passage through this planet.

Images courtesy of Carl Stephan, Nosticc, and Beverly Ash Gilbert