spiritual mindset

Many a times, a question comes to my mind. Whether spirituality is about running away in to Himalayas? An offshoot of this question is another question whether a person can remain spiritually minded in this world running at a very high speed?

I have been trying to understand the question and have also been trying to find out the answer. Let us first try to explore what spiritual mindset is and then to see whether spiritual mindset is possible in this fast life or not. spirituality means living in close contact with spirit. But now the question arises as to what is this spirit and who is to live in close contact with?

Spirit is the fundamental energy giving birth to life. But what is the evidence of any such fundamental force existing in this universe? We all are living in this universe with the just right balance of all the factors leading to life. For example just think of body. It is such a delicate and complicated system that slightest of the dis-balance in this system may lead to very disastrous outcomes for the body. For example, if the muscles stop obeying the brain, a person gets paralysed, if the eyes stop sending the signals to the brain, the person is not able to see, if the left brain and the right brain stop working in coordination, the behaviour of an individual changes drastically. Another example, just think of the solar system. Life is possible on this Earth because it is at the just right distance from the Sun, tilted at just right degree, of just right size, composed of just right matter, having right amount of water and so on. By common sense, existence of all these factors can not be sheer coincidence and has to be the creation of a fundamental force of life which has been termed by the humans civilisations as spirit.

Now question arises, who is to live in contact with this spirit and how a person moves away from it? We all, while living in this universe, also create our own universe. This universe comprises whatever we identify ourselves with. For example out thoughts, emotions, body and so on. The moment a person is born on this earth, there is a sense of separation which is also called "maya" in Vedic scriptures. This sense of separation leads to insecurities because "The individual" wants to survive. To ensure its survival, first of all, it tries to accumulate whatever it feels will ensure its existence for example money, house, food, land, and so on. At this stage, the individual is so insecure that the sole focus remains on gathering security, and the actions and reactions of the individual at this stage are generally guided by animal instincts which are regulated by the brain stem, the oldest brain in terms of evolution. That is the reason, the behaviour of the individual at this stage looks like animal.

With the evolution of humanity, as these needs were taken care of, human beings came together in the form of societies and the same survival instinct of the humans took over them in different forms i.e. emotions. It led to the development of the limbic system which contains the emotional memories. The same separated ego now tried to ensure its survival by getting associated with bigger and bigger groups and also by dominating and ruling them in one form or another. The limbic brain plays the same role in the modern human as well and this portion of the brain tries to get connected, influence others, and dominate them.

The most evolved part of the brain is the cortical brain. This is the part of the brain that thinks, imagines, and explores. At this stage, a person explores the world with curiosity to understand it. Even at this stage, since the sense of separation continues, by such exploration, the individual wants to know everything so that it can dominate nature. The drive for such explorations generally comes from the emotion to become all-powerful.

However, in the process of his exploration, the individual may realize that it is not possible to be the king of nature and the fundamental force giving life. With this realization, the passion to inflate and rule the world may give way to surrender to the force of life. At this stage, the individual may surrender to the whole and try to understand this force by realizing oneness with it. When there is no separation, one starts creating with this force and that, to me is the spiritual mindset. So it is like living with a fundamental spirit, exploring this universe with it, and creating with it.

Now the question arises, whether a spiritual mindset is possible in this fast life or not. I feel that with survival being challenged each moment, the primitive brain remains in a state of constant activation and it's generally not possible for an individual to live with the spiritual mindset. periodical sabbaticals may help individuals regain contact with nature and spirit. Also, if a person, with practice, develops close and strong contact with the spirit, then routine disturbances may hurt less.