Jail doesn't exist even if you seem to be inside it.
Spirituality became a fashion the last years because many self-improvement and new age movements, not only use the term but also create new modules and directions. But unlike religions and politics, spirituality is a personal and inner process, not something to show off or fight about it.
All religions include parts from previous religions, since people cannot change the way they are thinking even though a teacher said that they could. Funny enough many spiritual movements keep parts from religions, even though they have nothing to do with each other.
This is the limiting way of thinking.
So in many spiritual movements you will find bits (words, phrases or beliefs) that take away the unlimited character of the spirit and lower it down to earth.
Some of them are
Faith:
Faith means to believe in something you have been told. A teacher, a priest or if you are a child, grownups have told you something you have to take as truth. Something about God, about soul, about spirit or mostly about behavior. A very strong part of religions is that if you behave good you will have a great time after death. Unfortunately many spiritual and self-improvement teachers are using faith as the main ingredient of their teaching.
Spirituality is not about believing to the sacred, the holy or the divine, it is to connect to it. Actually it is to remember your real nature and slowly, or fast, it's up to you, to return to it. So faith fills your mind and heart with ready-made patterns and doesn't let you explore, make mistakes, experience and connect with the divine, which is what you are. But don't believe in my words, explore it yourself.
Positive thinking:
This has nothing to do with spirituality whatsoever. The only positive thinking you can do is remove your complaints and your victim attitude, not because you will go to hell but because it limits you. Positive thinking is a great limiting action, like a magic act where you keep repeating positive affirmations (magic spells) and lovely things happen (rubbish becomes gold). It's closer to "be a good child and stop cursing, than a way to get more spiritual.
Positive attitude is something else, the common sense "if someone was doing this to me would I like it?" is a guide to make your life better and more interesting. It's a tool that you can help you spiritually but not spirituality.
Universe:
Let's put things in order, universe is something that includes everything, in the limiting way of course. The universe is a place, big but not infinitive and this is exactly the difference from the spirit, it's limitations.
Also the universe is not something that will serve you or give you wonderful messages and instructions, it's more than media, a telephone through which you can get messages. And not all messages are good, you have to listen to your inner guidance and your intuition and not to take everything by faith (yes this again)
In two words you can compare the universe with the internet. They are both big and limited, have many things inside but not the whole, are full of details and can be dangerous if you believe what people tell you.
Karma:
This is another leftover from old religions, another limiting belief that tells you "be good or else". The same thing became heaven and hell in other religions, with many different names. Alright karma is something that comes to you soon, not in your next life, but this is also not very spiritual, if you break a law they made, and they catch you, you will be punished, we all know that.
Warrior:
Spiritual warrior? Are you serious? Crusade I understand, you believe in some ideas and you go to die for them. Well no, I don't understand it but anyway, you know what I mean. But a war for spirit is the most ridiculous thing anyone can imagine. It's like warrior for peace, for happiness, for better life and many more. No war will ever give you that, unless you will be the first in world history to manage it.
Spirit doesn't need and doesn't have warriors.
Reward:
This is big. Most people "perform" spirituality because they expect something from it. Either now or...later. And of course they play with magic, rituals and affirmations.
There is no reward, there is no life improvement, at least not as primary goal, there is nothing to expect.
Let's see the parallelism:
You are in jail,
Reward, you do something nice and get a cigarette.
Spirituality, jail doesn't exist even if you seem to be inside.
Love
Antonis
