What Do Spirits Have To Do With Spirituality?

Have you ever wondered what people mean when they describe themselves as “spiritual?” Not in the esoteric sense, but really, what does it mean? There is a sense that spirituality represents something good, something positive, but in what way exactly? Do we even know?

Certainly, we’ve all heard about the Holy Spirit central to Christianity, a deity worshipped and beloved for its goodness and power. But religion and goodness often have nothing to do with one another. And, holy never enters the equation. Not by a long shot. So it’s not that, necessarily.

Case in point: I recently watched Shiny Happy People which is a documentary about the Duggar family. Correction: I tried to watch but had to stop because I felt sick halfway through episode 2. I thought I was going to throw up.

You may know the Duggars for their TLC reality show, 19 Kids and Counting, which was cancelled after Josh Duggar (one of the 19) was accused and convicted of molesting children - his sisters. Before that happened in 2015 you could follow this large, Baptist family pop out babies while espousing faith and family values.

The sickest, twisted perversions play out, all in the name of love and God. That, there, was a bunch of perverted people. Chicken or egg, though? Which came first? Evil that was shaped in a cult of the physical world or a menacing spirit that was born that way?

And, what about other spirits, like of the haunted-house variety or those that movies are made of where a supernatural being decides to inhabit the body of another? Or how about when they come from the dead and try to communicate with the living? Or the reality shows that try to capture them on camera?

It seems fair to say that, despite personal claims of "spirituality," we share a universal understanding that spirits are generally “things” no longer part of the physical world, that emerge from our bodies after we die. This implies, though, that they have lived within us first.

This is where I have a lot of questions.

Are spirits something we feel? Sometimes see? Is it a world where a parallel universe exists? And, if we believe spirits have life once they are free from our bodies, do we sufficiently understand them, now, as they occupy space in us while we live?

I don't have an answer, but I feel like it would be a good thing if we did.

Our current reality is a world where fighting for"facts"and twisting" truths" has become a sport. The Internet has come between us and what makes us human. Artificial this, fake that, smoke, mirrors, filters, lies and influencers. Not just in our relationships with others, I might add, but we are increasingly being separated from ourselves.

I personally like to think of spirit as a life force, not something that comes to life when we die, but rather something that gives us life while we live. From there, I wonder about what kind of life. Is the life inside us warm and light or cold and dark? 

We all feel it. The world is upside down, though I would argue that exchanging more light, brighter light and warmer light, from within our own personal orbits, is going to be our best shot at turning it right-side up.