Living the Spiritual Life
Justice Flerida Ruth P. Romero
As I entered the elevator, the two ladies inside lowered their voices. One was saying, ”But I can’t believe she would do this sort of thing. Why, she’s such a religious woman! I can’t think of a more devout person. She often goes to church, not only on Sundays, but on holidays of obligation,too.” Replied the other, “Oo nga, manang na manang siya.( Yes, indeed, she’s such a pious person.) Now, I wonder if she’ll still be the hermana mayor (the person in charge of a religious festival) of our fiesta.” Their voices trailed off as they stepped out of the elevator.
What they said remained with me the whole day. The subject of their conversation must be a common friend who had done something to merit their condemnation. Unthinkable, they said, because she’s “so religious”, “so devout”.
I asked myself: Why should we consider the external acts of people like going to church regularly, bowing their heads on bent knees with rosaries entwined in their fingers as they mumble their prayers and joining the priests as they minister to the sick and the dying as signs of religiousity, even of spirituality?
So when such a seemingly pious person makes the mistake of crossing the borderline of sanctity, she becomes a target of criticism from the self-righteous. Indeed, many of us consider as synonymous the terms ”religious”, “pious”, “devout” and “spiritual”.
But didn’t even Jesus, the Christ, consider them hypocrites who raised their hands and voices to pray at street corners? They go through the motions of being pious in public; that is, they do acts marked by conspicuous religiousity. Does it follow that they are spiritual? Observe them and call to mind what a perceptive layman has said: “ A hypocrite will often pray on his knees on Sunday and prey on his neighbors on Monday.” A sincerely spiritual person will not exhibit such a dichotomy between his spiritual beliefs and his life in the outer world.
To my mind, the test of true spirituality is in how we live our lives, interact with others and relate to God. Transcending religious concepts and beliefs, a sage put it beautifully: “To be spiritual is a matter of looking into the hearts of men, sharing their joys and anguishes, and feeling that you can strengthen the weak and purify the muddy and ugly places of the world.” Only as we see ourselves reflected in others can this attitude be cultivated.
Oneness of Life - In the foregoing context, one can attain to spirituality if he fully realizes that all Life is One; that the Essence of Life is the Divine Life. This is the Life that pulsates in all human beings and animals, even in so-called inanimate things like plants and minerals.
The Pantheism of the Greeks captures best this sense. It equates God with all the matter and forces of the universe. Originating from the Greek “pan” meaning “involving all” and “theisme” which is to “pertain to the divine”, it discerns God in everything. It is to postulate that we are all interconnected with every other creature on earth.
What a world of wisdom is to be found in this simple verse of Tennyson:
“Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower – but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.”
To see beneath the color of the skin of everyone, probe beyond the nuances of language and understand dissimilarities in beliefs and practices in order to catch even a glimpse of the underlying Divinity in all, partakes of Spirituality. When the Good Word refers to us as brothers and joint-heirs with Christ, it was not referring only to those who profess to be Christians but to all mankind.
This underlying One Life is the basis of that moral quality called “harmlessness” or “non-violence”. It is so not to hurt others
for we thereby only hurt ourselves. By the same token, there should be no room for envy or jealousy at the successes of others, for their joy is ours, too. Could we but internalize this principle, the vicious trait of crab mentality often attributed to our people would have no place in our collective persona.
For those who have given up trying to make friends of their enemies or trying to “reform” the wayward character of a loved one, they should instead address their efforts to the Divine Fragment common to all. With tender compassion and understanding, try to invoke the Christ in each person. You profess to be a “Christian”, then turn to your brother and say to yourself, “Christ ‘yan, ah”(“ He’s also Christ”).
Brotherly love is not like Christmas décor that is polished and hang during the “Twelve Days of Christmas”, or much longer for Filipinos, but for all time.
Service – If the truly spiritual man lives the principle of Unity of Life by practicing the negative quality of harmlessness, he will, sooner or later, realize that his life is empty unless he recognizes its positive aspect of service. As Brotherly Love suffuses our whole being, its natural tendency is to manifest itself in acts of kindness, helpfulness and compassion rendered to others.
By being “outward-turned”, we shift the focus of our consciousness to others. Far too many of us live our lives absorbed in “I, myself and me”. The polestar by which we are guided in times of decision-making is : “What is there in it for me?” Yet all around us, so many are suffering and sending out signals for help. Unfortunately, in spite of our better judgment, times there are when we hesitate or are reluctant to assert our better natures. Maybe the sufferer is an enemy from the past and here is now an opportunity to even up the score.
At other times, we dream up excuses like: “Let him be. He has brought this punishment upon himself.” Or :“If I help him out, he will not learn to be independent. I’m actually doing him a favor by leaving him alone.”
Has it not occurred to us that if an erring brother crosses our path and appeals to us for help, it is a sign that we are duty bound to proffer a helping hand? On such occasions, the “sin” of inaction will be a karma on our part which we will have to work out in the future.
We may not be called upon to part with cherished possessions. Life presents us with numerous occasions to do unselfish acts of service, such as sharing scanty resources; or giving a little of our time to pause and cheer up an invalid or a depressed individual; or giving up something we are actually using to someone who is in greater need of it; or going what is called the “extra mile” – all done with a smile and not with an air of martyrdom. We may feel that we are sacrificing something, but do you know that the term “sacrifice” means “to make sacred?
As we start each day, therefore, let us resolve to be sensitive to pained cries for help. These may not be verbal, for body language can be more eloquent in sending out SOS signals.
Beyond language and actions, we can know in a flash if someone needs our help. Convinced that every other person is our brother, we can ignite the spark of intuition in our inner being to respond. For intuition is an attribute of the soul. Not being a product of the mind, it arrives at the truth underlying facts and circumstances unerringly without having recourse to reason, science or religion.
Aspiring After the Ideal – A man who seriously treads the spiritual path but keeps on stumbling over rocks and brambles will not so easily give up if he holds up before his spiritual eyes his Ideal. This may be the personification of his religion, whether he be a Christian, a Moslem, a Buddhist or a Hindu or any of such verities as Universal Love, Compassion, Justice or Truth. Whatever it may be, surely it eschews selfishness which, in our world, our culture and time, seems to be the norm and standard of our actions.
But the man who aspires to spirituality will be guided by another set of standards. The words of the Scriptures or the image of his Lord and Master will flash before his eyes if he but takes time to reflect, meditate and ponder upon these .
Etch these words in our hearts: “Build for yourself a great Ideal – the Ideal of that which you wish to be. Think of it, dream of it, try to love it. One day you will wonder that you have become that fair thing that your thought threw on the clouds of the future.” |
