Once in a Blue Moon.

The Mystery in "Spiritual" Growth

The word spiritual has been made much too broad in modern culture.
With the advent of mass information via the internet,
the normalcy of emotional identification and growth has changed.

Millions of stories are shared and read about,
concepts one normally learns through experience,
now understood through ponderance of other's words and ideas through various mediums.

So, what does spirituality really entail
—that is to say,
how does it manifest in reality?

Even this question is much too broad,
so let's refine it.

By spirituality,
I am referring not to the beholdenment of metaphysical beliefs,
rather, learning of the behaviors associated with inner emotional stability, wellness, and fulfillment.

This concept is shown in a variety of ways:
one's path toward personal enlightenment,
discovery and pursuit of one's own ideals,
and developing/identifying the feeling of purpose, belonging, and/or generally strong positive emotions.

What has eluded my understanding for a great many years
is how the experiences others have bring them to associate these newfound (or even sometimes seemingly innate)
feelings to the concept, the word "spiritual/spirituality."

Now, over much time and through my own such experiences,
I believe this correlation is derived from the innate mysteriousness of the origins, fundamentality, and innateness
of these developed self-discoveries.
(Note that "developed" and "self-discovery" are contextually contradictory; however, I might discuss this in greater detail later.)

So, this mysteriousness is the source fundamental to the ties of emotional wellness
to the concept of spirituality.
We can defog this mystery, however,
by pondering two main ideas:
complex emotions,
and self-alignment.

Complex emotions sound intuitive enough, however,
there are virtually infinite ways emotions can be complicated.
Simple emotions like sorrow, joy, or fear
are easily understandable and identifiable.

More complex emotions may combine two or more of these.
(The movie Inside Out directly hit on this concept.)
Words that come to mind are
bittersweet,
contempt,
saudade,
disillusionment,
or awe.

Even these, through their experience, can be digested, reflected upon, and understood.
However, we do not have a word for every complex emotion,
and many elude identification,
as they become more unique to each individual, the more complex they become.

Some authors, I daresay, write entire stories
just to sum up one single, very strong, extremely complex emotion
they may experience or imagine.

The other concept to consider is self-alignment.
What I mean by this term is the identification of behaviors and emotions
that correlate most to your ideal self.

Many of us, if not all,
throughout life, experience inspiration at one point or another
to achieve,
to do,
to act,
to think,
or to behave in some particular way that we believe will bring us some level of fulfillment.

The simplest of these is hunger,
which is a more instinctual/physiological form of motivation.

Just as with emotions,
there are levels of complexity unique to each individual.
Much of life is spent (for many) just pursuing the discovery of such inspiration;
seeking what it is that one wants out of life,
what will fulfill them.

But it does not end with the discovery,
it is then one behaves in the newly discovered ideal way,
and this can be different for every individual,
though it isn't necessarily.
And with these differences come varying levels of difficulty and so on.

Where this mystery becomes a little clearer
is in understanding that the discovery process of self-alignment,
of seeking what it is to be who you believe you ought to be,
relies upon the infinitude of complex emotions that most of us experience throughout life.
So for many of us,
comprehension of exactly what constitutes our ideal self is seemingly impossible.

However,
every once in a blue moon,
we experience that moment of clarity
that reveals us to ourselves;

that moment in which importance and meaning itself are gleaned.

It is different for all of us,
yet there remain striking similarities in these discoveries between people:
the value of family and friends,
empathy for others,
the sheer scale of the universe,
the interconnectedness of life,
the need for humility,
one's own capabilities,
etc., etc.

Again, many of these are characterized by the stories we tell,
and when we have these experiences for ourselves,
regardless of those we've read of other's,
they can and often do feel so intrinsically and fundamentally true,
that we find the feelings to be too far removed from our own comprehension to express or even contend with;
they often feel "higher" or from a source "greater than ourselves."

So, dear reader mine, rejoice that there remains such an unsolvable mystery as our mind,
for contending with that very fact forces us all to keep an open one
and belies our infinite potential for spiritual growth.

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