I sometimes get asked whether I am spiritual and whether I see spirituality as an important pillar in the hormone factor concept. I actually find this quite difficult to answer....
Sprituality
Thus, the official meaning of spirituality is very broad. Actually, it can be described as anything to do with spirit. This makes it quite difficult for me to grasp from my background as a beta nerd. If it gets a bit too 'floaty' for my liking, I tend to give up. By woolly, I mean that a meaning can be stretched so far that you can no longer really grasp it yourself. At that point, you may have the tendency to look for a 'spiritual leader' or 'guru' to get a better grip.
At that point, I find myself getting a bit scary. After all, what makes someone who could call themselves a spiritual leader? In practice, however, there are plenty of people who feel called to take on this role both online and offline.
Spiritual narcissism
Sometimes I am really amazed at what I see in videos. Full of conviction, such a person often kicks in open doors and drops container concepts in a calm, sultry voice. Afterwards, I sometimes think: 'What did you actually say? I think only nice words and clichés were strung together and nothing authentic and of real value was shared.' Subsequently, I then marvel at all the positive comments under such a video from people who say it is so much help in their lives. Of course, this could also be just me and I'm just a hunk who puts everything in flat perspective.
If this is spirituality then I can't do much with it. I myself have a number of people around me who were a bit searching and attended one expensive seminar or spiritual programme after another. Actually, I didn't really see them improving and making beautiful strides in life. What especially struck me is that they also suddenly started sprinkling the same learned container terms and clichés and didn't really say much practical or substantive.
Once when I made a comment on that, I noticed irritation. The person did not address the substance of my comments and questions, but parried it with the following legendary line:
"Yes, Ralph, I can try to explain it to you, but if you have not immersed yourself in spirituality, it becomes very difficult. You're not that far along then!".
When I heard this, I thought to myself, "Am I not good enough? Is this person suddenly elevated by spirituality? This is actually a bit narcissistic what I am hearing here, isn't it? Surely spirituality is not enlightenment or a religion you have to convert to? It's not us and them, is it?"
Deepening the connection with yourself
When I see a role for spirituality within hormone factor, my analytical brain still needs a somewhat clearer definition. If you are spiritual you are working on being aware in the here and now. You are working on deepening the connection with yourself. So to do this well, you definitely don't need a positivity guru to then stick your head in the sand for everything negative.
It is a beautiful process To really get to know yourself better. Speaking for myself, I know myself so much better now that I am turning 50 than I did when I was 30. That really feels like wealth I must say. Perhaps I have been more spiritual than I thought myself after all.
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