**Working Intro**

Spirituality (author’s definition): The concept of convergent experience without an apparent or objective way to define it. Meaning, the sensations that we are aware of (sight, olfaction, auditory, touch, taste), their constituents, shared experience, our environmental conditioning, as well as our epigenetic alteration and genetic underpinnings, all combine to create an individual experience of the world, which cannot be defined due to the constrained and polarized nature of language. Using language to define something requires the separation of ideas in order to distinguish the difference between them. Every time we come up with an idea, we feel we are bridging the gap between thoughts. The reality is we can only do so by breaking a branch from the proverbial tree of knowledge. Many people would argue against this, but to define the qualities of a leaf is to take away from its relationship with the roots. There is a connection assumed, but in order to investigate the micro details of the leaf, knowledge of the whole must be put on the back burner. It is the age-old idiom of not being able to see the forest for the trees.  

Definitions are conditional. They are snapshots of a given moment and are dependent on all the conditions of that snapshot being met. If you’ve ever been to an art gallery, you’ll be well aware of how much information one painting can hold, and yet, be completely oblivious to what the artist truly meant. We might get the gist if we’re lucky, but the act of trying to explain experience is incredibly subjective. This is why spirituality continues to be so mysterious and variable. To try and define personally accumulated and combined experience, which cannot be explained by language, with a singular word or ideology is like trying to hold water in your hands, and then attempting to pass it to somebody else. What they have is still water, but the quantity and quality of the water has changed drastically. So, while you both may use the same terminology to describe the experience of holding water, they will be very different experiences.  

Which brings us back to spirituality itself. We know there is something going on within us, that makes us feel connected to everything else, but the inability to communicate connection with division is seemingly impossible. It makes sense that we would assign the spirituality definition to certain dogmatic practices, such as religion or misinterpreted Eastern exercises, for the purpose of eliminating the fear of the unknown. Faith allows us to forgive ourselves for our ignorance and by following a set of rules, which provide us with those unexplainable feelings, we are able to become one with our felt state. Albeit, with the same divergent mindset that they were trying to run away from in the first place. Nobody should be considered spiritual, just as they aren’t purely logical. These are definitions that miss the point of what they are trying to achieve. Living as a human being requires learning and growing, just as it involves finding purpose and specialization within a group. To only learn results in flakiness and undependability. To always trust without evidence results in a stagnant mind that is inflexible to change. To be open-minded does not mean you need to accept all the fringe ideas that come your way. In a sense, this is a form of closed-mindedness, by refusing to accept that the world changes, more often than not in a way that conflicts with our desires, and that we need to if we want to survive. Relying on evidence too heavily can also lead to inaction and the inability to change too.         

Finally, this brings us back to the whole point of defining spirituality in the first place: what is it and what part does it have to play in our lives? Personally, I think spirituality can be accepted as our felt experience and used as a guiding star for further investigation of the world. If we feel something is unexplainable, we don’t need to explain it, but it is usually a good sign that it is something worth investigating. Strive for joy, awe, and curiosity and resist unwarranted fear avoidance and stagnation.   

Before upsetting a lot of people, I’d like to begin with a caveat: Regardless of how much that I argue that modern day spirituality needs to be renovated, I still believe there is incredible value in the participation of spirituality practices. There is something out there that we don’t understand, which is influencing our existence. In fact, there is very little (if anything) that we can actually say is “the truth”. However, the belief in man-made theories, to the extent of constructing towers of dissonance to defend said theories, is inconsistent with the self-professed open-mindedness that spirituality so often bases its belief systems around. With this in mind, I would like to preface the next paragraph with the suggestion that there is a way that we can take the best of spirituality without investing wholeheartedly in the dogma. Before we do that, we need find the useful parts first and then reinvent them, so that we don’t throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. With that out of the way, let’s delve deep into the issue with hyper-spirituality.

The current definition of spirituality is slippery at best. A doctor’s definition of spirituality may be incredibly different to a scientist’s view, and perhaps even more variable than the weekend yoga practitioner’s definition. What makes this even more confusing is the acknowledgement that we don’t take on two-dimensional identities, based on our careers or hobbies, that assign predetermined ways of thinking into our consciousness. Meaning that an agreed upon belief about an intangible and globally variable concept like spirituality is quite challenging to establish when each of our lifetimes of environmental exposure to information shape our individual beliefs. Yet we all still use spirituality conversationally without reservation. An unknown and vaguely subjective understanding is fine if we are talking about what color we think a picture of a dress is. Spirituality, however, is tied into the very fabric of the history of humanity, and is often used as a way to unite extremely large groups of people with widespread culturally specific rules of morality. 

The standard Western definition of spirituality (which we will focus on as it appears to be the vaguest) tends to be defined as either a mystical force within the believer that gives them a sense purpose, a clear moral compass, or even a connection to some unknown force that is in control of their fate. So far so good. These definitions can all help the individual to feel in control of their lives and connected to someone or something that has everything under control. As mentioned earlier, spiritual beliefs and dogma are an excellent way of getting a population of strangers to agree upon a set of rules, which helps to prevent unnecessary individual conflict and promotes adherence to authority (for the greater good).

With the explosion of technological advancement and the complete upheaval of our traditional ways of living, our stress levels have escalated dramatically. The obsession with capitalistic values and the individualistic pursuit of happiness has made us especially susceptible to accepting whatever belief system appears out of nowhere, which tend to fulfill our desperate tribal needs for acceptance and communal participation. Finding a group or a charismatic leader in an unprecedented time of isolation and instability can feel both synchronous and personal. It only makes sense that the person would want to display gratitude for their savior, not to mention restructuring their identity and belief system to easier integrate it into their lives (observed in the born-again spiritual warriors). Often confessing that this new way of living must be the TRUTH, because of how much meaning it provides compared to their old dysfunctional way of living. Any evidence on the contrary may cause discomfort and cognitive dissonance, which quickly gets brushed aside as a test of faith. Otherwise, the crutch that saved them could be at risk of being lost, leaving them to defend themselves against the scary world again. Now, I’m not saying that we intentionally choose ignorance over reality. Reality just isn’t the highest priority for our brains. We attach ourselves to any information that makes our lives easier and guards us from pain. An excellent strategy if the goal is survival in the wilderness and to save as much energy as possible.   

These are all potentially very painful statements that will often get dismissed as information from the uninformed, unenlightened, or at the very extreme end, the devil testing your faith. As far as I’m aware, ignorance, spiritual bypassing, and repressed anger don’t seem to be very spiritually enlightened responses to new information in my opinion. Luckily, there is another way of allowing the core of spirituality to still guide our lives without needing to deny ourselves our true authenticity. First of all, we need to assign a new meaning to spirituality, so that it no longer gets used as an excuse for willful ignorance. 

What I propose, is that “tapping into our spiritual side” can be seen as the process of alleviating our anxiety and fear, by accepting reality for what it is. Which can be achieved by cognitive reappraisal and the acceptance of impermanence. The understanding that we are transient beings that are brief expressions of energy, and by proxy the universe, should disconnect us from the inevitability of suffering and give us the freedom to express ourselves in a positive manner. In such a way that allows us to see past the differences in human expression and create a better world, without defaulting to reliance on dogma to cover up the fear of the unknown and perceived lack of control.   

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-spiritual-bypassing-5081640

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-empowerment-diary/201901/what-is-spiritual-bypassing

Using spirituality/religious identity to facilitate an avoidance strategy. Useful for transitioning into a more favorable lifestyle or to be accepted within a new group without acknowledging the traits that harbor self-hate. Resulting in a festering pit of cognitive dissonance that slowly eats away at their mind and body in the form of chronic stress. The reminder of the thoughts that inspire self-hate lock that trauma in by using the new identity as a way to bypass self-truth. Concepts like the ego are constructed as an intelligent self-defense system, developed during a lifetime of interactions in a hostile environment. Generally, of a social/relationship nature. Whatever your environment was, your body adapted with these self-defense mechanisms to survive. They are not to be hated, just acknowledged so that you can give yourself permission for the freedom to change. Ego mimics essential qualities for survival. 

Alternative Definition of Spirituality: Burning off all that is false (heard from Rebel Wisdom: Growth and Awakening – Rafia Morgan. Aisha as the source?).

Another comment from that film was: Joy is the radiation of the heart when truth is appreciated. 

• The purpose and benefits
  • Binding large groups with the commonality of belief that inspires a set of rules that everyone can agree upon. Ascends Dunbar’s Number.
• The difficulty of explaining why it is useless when people find positive effects as a side effect. Such as having somebody attend to you whilst distributing homeopathic remedies.
• The negative side and restrictions on personal development. If you blindly follow the worlds of spiritual warriors, you’ve put a cap on your growth. There is no enlightenment. Too much positive thinking results in a disconnection from reality. Negative appraisal can be useful. Use critical thinking rather than absolute vulnerability.
• The charlatans
• The “death”/rebranding of spirituality. Awe as a definition rather than faith in the absence of evidence.

If I was to make a complete guess as to what makes the concept of spirituality persist, I would assume that there is an unrecognized electromagnetic sense between humans, as it is not detected via receptors and mapped onto the brain, but felt at the level of “consciousness.” The experience of being exposed to the electromagnetic field of another human may be a way to interact and pick up on subtle emotional cues. This could have been a way for tribe members to feel a greater attachment to others and to detect when something is going wrong. However, because this “sense” is emergent behavior of the cellular conditions of the body and possibly evolutionarily selected for so that tribes could interact at a deeper level and have greater survival odds, it requires additional stories to understand the cause of this sense. We don’t exactly have a field sensor like how we have ears for sound, so an invisible feeling seems mystical. 

This would explain why we “vibe,” resonate, or be “on the same frequency” of others. Or how we can influence the behavior of animals without using verbal cues. The positive emotional valence and certainty of an individual provides comfort to the receiver of the electromagnetic frequency and entrains their frequency. Which implies that the average frequency of a group can influence behavior of the participants, unless there is complete disagreement or a confusion as to the state of the other participants. It would be a great way of influencing group cohesion. 

Now that we are isolated (other than nuclear family systems) and the deprivation of social acceptance and authenticity is rife, when we feel the frequency of somebody or a group that is confident/certain, we find them incredibly appealing and mistake their confidence for safety. This now seemingly rare feeling can be misinterpreted as love or as a spiritual bond, where you feel like you have known them forever (home = safety). In the past we would have been exposed to this feeling constantly. Now that we are made to fend for ourselves, we are more likely to fall for the overconfident and arrogant individuals, unless we spot a reason to doubt them early on. The longer you place your trust in that individual or group, the harder it is to disconnect your life from them. The fear of loss is a way stronger motivation than the potential to gain, resulting in us staying in unfavorable conditions regardless of obvious discomfort. It is much easier to believe that the person or group has the answers and has yet to explain them to you. It is all part of their master plan that we aren’t ready for. A trait that narcissistic cult leaders are quick to take advantage of. Their misplaced belief in themselves as a messiah or ordained purpose gives them the self-assigned authority to do what they want. Especially when they start to accrue followers that hang off their every word, supporting their overconfidence.   

Let’s get back to the idea of feeling another’s electromagnetic wave at the level of consciousness… If you recognize consciousness as a byproduct of the analysis of sensory data for the greater prediction of future events, rather than a mystical soul-force that represents your identity, it becomes much easier to understand how the influence of another’s emotional valence can be detected as an overall expression of their intentions. A healthy and calm individual will give the impression that they have things under control and may possess information that could also assist you in reaching a similar state. Whereas an anxious or agitated individual is repellent to another being who wants to avoid trouble, unless they are sympathetic to that person. Then they will be more likely to want to help the anxious being to increase the overall wellbeing of the “group”. Every cell has a certain electromagnetic charge, that represents the health of that cell. As a consequence of this, the overall state of the individual will be expressed as a different frequency of electromagnetic wave around them.       

Bear with me as I go really far out into my fringe theory, by addressing the effect on indigenous populations and their colonization by populations who completely destabilized them with unrecognizable frequencies (I’m riffing here so don’t take this seriously). What if, the act of using religion as motivation for claiming land and “educating the savages” was enough to give the invaders the confidence to believe in their cause? If you were part of an indigenous community that was in touch with their spiritual roots and was confronted by a strange but confident human that was seemingly powerful, you would be taken aback. Especially if they come with the purpose of showing the ways of their god that they claim has given them this power. Many would distrust these invaders, but all it takes is a few younger, less educated, and more ambitious members of your group to trust them. Once that happens, they may be convinced to adopt destructive and selfish behaviors that result in a destabilization of the group coherence. Distrust narrows the perspective and makes an individual more hyper focused and vigilant. A state that is highly predictable and easy to take advantage off. If the invader is able to create a rift within the tribe (divide and conquer) they can fuel the destruction and make economic deals that are rash on the part of the emotionally charged party. Once the battle is over, the community is left in tatters and the invader is able to “help” restabilize them with their values and resources. Resulting in a community that has lost their culture and given up all that was valuable to them. The last thing the “winners” of the cultural war would want to do is to admit that they shouldn’t have trusted the invaders and to try and boot them out. Especially after accepting their help. 

The indigenous victims of colonization are left feeling disenfranchised and unexplainably empty. Something is not right but they can’t explain what it is. Those who rebuild their communal systems and learn about their history and culture often get a glimpse of purpose and meaning again. This then becomes their spiritual belief system that they tie deeply into their identity and associate as truth. This seems to be what is happening all over the world now. We are beginning to celebrate cultural differences now that the internet has allowed us to connect on a ridiculously huge level. Unfortunately, we have been raised with Western views woven into us from early on, so the act of reintegrating the “old ways” is seen as mystical ancient wisdom and becomes packaged in a Westernized fashion. Businesses that use indigenous methods for example, often feel homely and do well, but they are difficult to accept for most people. 

I will mention, that this is not the fault of the Westernized public. We are all stuck living in this system, due to the greed and ignorance of our predecessors. It just so happens that the people who have benefitted from their indiscretions are the offspring of those power hungry and ignorantly confident few. However, the unfortunate reality is that it is those who are the victims of institutionalized racism suffer more from health problems and economic disparity. This is why we need to learn to understand the different aspects of spirituality and to discard any inefficiencies. If we can create cultural rituals without the dogma, we can unite under the banner of humanity and reshape the way we live and to destroy the broken power structure that rewards selfishness and greed.