Spiritual, The: Journal of Natural Spirituality:

To make an attempt to define "spirituality" in words will be a self-defeating exercise. If we try to put a meaning or a definition around something that is beyond words, languages, concepts, ideas, logic, thinking mind and perceptions, we will end up with mere words in hand, empty in their essence. And to add “Natural” to spirituality is even more ironic. Does it mean that “spirituality” in its own existence is not “natural” enough? So why have we used the term “Natural Spirituality” as a core inspiration of this website? What is “Natural Spirituality”?

There was a time when spiritual wisdom and key spiritual insights used to be silently whispered into the ears of the pupils by their masters. No books were written and no need was felt for one because spiritual journey began only when the books ended. Mental baggage was an obstruction. The Zen masters always warned their pupils not to get caught up in just the meaning of the words and concepts but rather develop an inner awareness of the things. Today, our world is dominated by the word-based information in form of contracts, agreements, theories, models, rationale, logic, interpretation, theology, ideas and anything else we can throw in the name of freedom of thoughts and expressions. The advent of telecommunication and information technology has made it even more difficult to rise above the maze of data and information. How can then, one find solace and spiritual sanctity amidst all this commotion? Mind you, to take an opposite stance and go against something will also be futile, spiritually speaking. By proving or winning an argument will not make one enlightened. The idea here is not to say that one way of living the life is better than any other way. And it is certainly not to imply that one must shun the modern world and revert back to the ways of the ancients. That would be a mistake.

Some people talk about shutting the outside world in order to reach out to the inner self. The reality is just the opposite. The key is in staying un-fluttered, un-touched and un-affected by things and events in the midst of all the commotion. The key is in developing awareness, a natural awareness that will not be a result of a mental conviction or a theory but self-realisation, of the true cause and nature of the things. I must quote Zen’s third patriarch Sosan (Sengstan), "To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality; to assert the emptiness of things is to miss their reality. The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you wander from the truth. Stop talking and thinking and there is nothing you will not be able to know." Natural Spirituality is not a concept or a theory. It is an attempt to create awareness towards that subtle spark of spirituality that stays alive in each individual, each things, no matter what they think and do. There is a possibility of seeing the ultimate truth of existence in each human being. Natural Spirituality is that possibility. The ego seeks the information and the answers. Yet there is a part of us that is naturally spiritual but not accesible by the thinking mind. When all questions and answers stop, the natural process becomes visible. Such process is naturally spiritual. Thus Natural Spirituality.

Vivek Sharma
Editor

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