A True Spirituality

What makes up the essence of a true spiritual life? When is one truly religious? How often should one pray or meditate? Just how much good must one do unto others? You can do a lot of good deeds, but you may do it just for reputation. Some people seem to be very devout, but there prayer may be shallow. In fact, one can meditate the whole day and not do any real spiritual practice. And I have met taxi drivers and shopkeepers in my life that were much more religious than some of the monks I have met.

I think the core of religious life is not in how much one prays or meditates, not even in how much time you devote to selfless service, rather it stems from the attitude in which these things are done. This is for instance why Jesus says (Mt 6:5) only hypocrites are praying on the street corner in order to be seen. He knows when one’s spiritual life is shallow.

Then what makes up this religious attitude? What is the core of a religious life? To me, to be really spiritual means to no longer place oneself in the center of one’s own universe. To be really religious means to undergo a Copernican revolution where everything no longer revolves around oneself. One has to go from being self-centered to being connected to all that is around you and the higher powers that rule this life, whatever one believes those to be.

This attitude can be found in all world religions. When the Pharisees ask Jesus what the greatest commandment is (Mk 12:28-31), Jesus replies: ‘Love your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.’ This very clearly implies a life where you are not at the center but rather God and your fellowman. Islam might be even more explicit. The world Islam itself means ‘to surrender’ and a muslim is he who wholly surrenders himself unto the Lord. In Buddhism this is expressed most clearly in the idea of ‘non-self’ (anatman). There is no separate self. One has to let go of seeing oneself as a separate, unchanging identity in order to arrive at the insight of ‘interbeing’, the truth that all is connected and nothing stands alone. ‘This is because that is,’ my Buddhist teacher used to say.

No longer thinking that live revolves around you. Whether is it through love, surrender to God or letting go of the self, it allows you to no longer be swept away by the ups and downs of life and to open your heart freely to others. As long as one sees one’s religion as a means to separate oneself from others, it will just cause conflict and suffering. True religion is about overcoming ourselves, connecting to what is more important than our own little individual lives, and wholly devoting oneself to it.