What Does It Mean To Be Spiritual?

11:06

11:06

What Does It Mean To Be Spiritual?

by Brooks Palmer

Rated

4.5

Type

talks

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Everyone

Plays

109

In this talk, we go deep into what does it mean to be spiritual. We naturally explore what it means to be alive. We discover that simple feeling of life within us. We gain a kind and intimate connection with life. This brings us a deep feeling of peace.

Self Inquiry Curiosity Awareness Connection Heart Experience Peace Self Investigation Heart Inquiry Spirituality Definitions Spirits

Meet your Teacher

Sebastopol, CA, USA

Meet your Teacher

Sebastopol, CA, USA

Transcript

Hi, It's Brooks, And it's good to be here with you. Today we're gonna talk about what does it mean to be spiritual? So I thought we'd start off with what I feel spirituality means. I feel spirituality means about the spirit, About life. Like quite spirit with life. So spirituality is about being alive. It's being curious about being alive. And the great thing about curiosity is it's not these are the 10 things you need to know or memorize whatever particular thing. Curiosity means openness. It means looking, A curious looking. Curiosity means openness, It means looking, A curious looking. Spirituality is a curious looking at life. And the great thing is you've got yourself to investigate. You get to look at you since you're alive, Right? Your heart's beating, You're breathing. You can think, You're thinking, You're feeling things, You're experiencing things through your senses. There's a vitality here. So you're alive. And that's great. You get to investigate this aliveness that's in you. But you are basically. And with curiosity you get to see what comes up. You know, What does it mean to be alive? What does it feel like to be alive? I've been alive my whole life. What is it? What is it? You know, What is it, Right? And then you see, You see what gets revealed. Because the interesting thing is that life itself, Once you put your attention on it, On the basic aliveness, On the life force, It starts to reveal its secrets to you. It unfolds itself to you. It unfolds itself to you. Because it's an intimate look. And the interesting thing is it's an intimate look because you're not separate from life. It's not like you're something other than life and you're looking at life. You're life, You're alive, You're aware, You're looking, You're curious. So basically you're looking at yourself. It's an intimate look at you as life, As being alive. I'm alive. And that's spirituality. So there's no like, I have to be like this to be spiritual or I have to do this to be spiritual. I have to do this a certain amount of times or a certain amount of years or I have to reach this particular level and then I'm gonna be spiritual. You're spiritual because you're alive. And because you're alive, And because it's a curious investigation of life itself, Everything is included. There's nothing that's left out. Every thought, Every feeling, Every experience is a wave of life. Life itself is an ocean. Imagine an ocean with nothing but ocean. There's no sky, There's no space, Outer space. There's just ocean. And the waves that rise up are aspects of life itself. So here's this investigative tool that you have of yourself and you're looking at the aspects of life that rise up within you. And maybe it's a feeling of joy or maybe it's a feeling of anger or maybe it's a judgment. Maybe it's a imaginative fantasy thought. Or maybe it's what am I gonna make for dinner? Or maybe it's I wanna watch the TV show or maybe it's looking at a tree or maybe it's hugging someone or maybe it's yelling at someone. Every possible experience. And you're curious about it. There's an animating mechanism there's an animating force that moves everything. Propels every thought that we have and every feeling that we have and every action that we take. It's kind of like if you had a washing machine and a refrigerator and a toaster and they're all in the same room and they're all working and they're all doing different things but they're all run by electricity. Without electricity they're just cold metal. With electricity they run. It's the primary force motivating all their actions. And the same goes with us. There's a primary force that breathes you, That beats your heart, That produces your thoughts, Produces your inspirations and your actions. Whether they're actions or thoughts or experiences that you like or dislike. There's a primary animating force that moves everything. There's a primary animating force. So spirituality is looking at that. Curiously. With that openness. And the great thing about that openness is there's love in that. Because you're investigating with your heart rather than your mind. I mean your mind is involved but your heart is a primary aspect of curiosity. So there's love in the looking regardless if it's something beautiful or ugly or something that you like or don't like. Okay. This is a very gentle and kind approach. There's no pushing yourself, There's no, You can't do it wrong. You can't do it wrong. No matter where you look, You're looking. If you're aware, If you're experiencing things, You're looking. Because awareness is noticing, Awareness is experiencing, Awareness is seeing. So basically you're always investigating. If you're alive, You're investigating, You're looking, You're experiencing. And what you're experiencing is life itself. And like I was saying before, The more you look, The more you recognize I'm not separate from this life. There isn't life and me. And me. And you're a part of life. And then you don't feel lonely anymore. You feel connected with things regardless of what's happening. And that's a very satisfying and fulfilling life. And you don't find yourself separating out, Oh, I just want the happy stuff, You know? Because life is a pendulum experience of the full spectrum of experiences. So I'm very excited for you. I think you could really like this. This looking, This curious investigation, This spirituality that you are, That you already are, That you're already doing by being alive. It's life investigating life. And I wish you the best in your looking, In your curious looking. Take care. Bye.