Spirituality means changing your perception

The first step of any spiritual path is the acknowledgement that we don’t need to change our circumstances as much as we need to transform ourselves. We realise that working on the inside is a better investment than working on the outside. This is a radical shift in perception.

Most people look for the cause of problems in the external world. They believe that if things, events and people were different, they would be fine. When we awake spiritually, we know better. Spirituality teaches us to take a step back; we develop the reflex to look inside first.

Practising spirituality is completely different from any other type of practice. It is not about acting enlightened, or about doing something “saintly”. The aim of any spiritual practice is to transform human beings, to bring them to a new way of being. An enlightened life can flow from that, but it isn’t forced. It emerges naturally from the wisdom within. Spirituality is not about doing, it’s about being.

Spirituality involves non-reaction

Take a minute and look inside yourself; you’ll notice a lot of reactions taking place. As soon as some thought or sensation arises, a reaction takes place. You might feel desire, aversion or even neutrality. Everything is judged, and this pushes us to act. Spirituality teaches us to introduce a dimension of space in this reactive process. We do this by being aware, by looking at what’s going on inside. If we’re aware of the reactions, we’re not caught in them. This is the key to inner freedom.

Spirituality is completely inclusive. It doesn’t see things as “good” or “bad”. It goes beyond that, and sees the true nature of phenomena. Practising spirituality allows us to think and act from a clear point of view. Instead of being predictable and reactive, we act in accordance with our deeper wisdom. We stop being determined by circumstances.

Practical effects of spirituality in different spheres of life

Family

In family life, spirituality helps us to let go of our expectations and see our family as it is, not as we would like it to be. By introducing openness into our family, we help everyone, including ourselves, to grow as unique and authentic human beings. By giving our full acceptance and compassion to our family members, we provide them with a baseline of self-confidence and trust that most people are sadly deprived of.

Business and work

In our business and work, spirituality tells us to trust our inner intuition, and this opens our mind to new and exciting opportunities. We stop looking for excuses when we fail. We quickly learn and accept the lessons bad results have to teach us. We develop a genuine relationship with our partners and associates. Our whole work environment is enriched by our presence, which translates into better performance.

Money

In personal finance, spirituality teaches us to operate from an abundance mentality, not a scarcity one. Instead of being anxious about our financial situation, we feel grateful for what we already have. We enjoy a healthy relationship with money and, instead of seeing it as risky, we see the immense opportunities it provides us. If money is lacking, instead of being paralysed by fear, we take lucid actions from a place of clarity. This positive mindset empowers us, and helps us enjoy a wealthier and freer life.

Education

In education, spirituality teaches us to be autonomous and to work on ourselves. Knowing ourselves well, we’re aware of our weaknesses and strengths, and can use this knowledge to our advantage. We don’t hesitate to benefit from every learning opportunity, and develop strong confidence in our ability to succeed. We know we can grow. Our minds are less concerned with trivial stuff; we let go of anxiety and let our profound creativity shine through.

Relationships

In relationships, spirituality helps us to open, to go beyond our insecurities and to consider others as valuable and unique human beings. By leaving our expectations behind, true, open and authentic relationships can develop. We operate from the heart rather than from the mind. The heart doesn’t try to control anything; it understands and accepts beings as they are. It doesn’t see the weaknesses and strengths of others as a problem. It sees them as fundamental richness.

Spirituality offers us the most empowering mindset there can be: change is possible and accessible to everyone. When we practise spirituality, we take responsibility for our actions and work towards a better version of ourselves. Circumstances can’t be used as an excuse; our destiny is determined by who we are and what we do. We are here to grow, and everything can be used as an opportunity for growth.

Spirituality is your most precious friend. It aligns perfectly with daily life and empowers you from the inside. When you practise spirituality, problems are often solved before they even start; where others see blocks, you see opportunities. You see right through situations.

This article first appeared in the September 2015 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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Procreation vs Recreation

The procreation vs recreation debate is ancient. Sex for procreation came under social and religious domain and there were rituals built around it by priests. The procreative aspect of sex was accepted so naturally that when the husband died childless, his elder brother or a trusted sage was asked to have intercourse with the woman and produce children. Manusmruti called this process Niyoga. This act was a religious ritual and the couple was not supposed to enjoy it! They used to apply oil on their bodies so that they remain detached during the act.

However, the human being is not only a body; he/she also has emotions and intelligence. So his higher sensibilities motivated him to seek pleasure out of sex. The Indian name for sex is Kama which is expansive and all-inclusive. Kama means desire, the lust for life. Lust is yet again a condemned word; in fact, all that allows people to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh and the senses is condemned by moral custodians because they are afraid that people will get lost in sensuous delights. Kama is the libido, the life energy, not necessarily sexual. All creativity is motivated by Kama, it is the desire to create as well as procreate.

Sex as a Natural Instinct

If we want sex to be accepted as a natural instinct, we have to drop the moral firewall built around it. In this nuclear age, sex can be understood as pure energy because we have developed scientific understanding. Once we acknowledge that sex is the bio energy, we can make efforts to transform it. Just as water when boiled becomes vapour, and the vapour travels upwards and becomes clouds, sexual energy can be transformed into higher states. The higher forms of sex energy are love, compassion and enlightened consciousness.

Tantra’s greatest contribution to humanity is that it has created many devices to sublimate the sexual energy and turn it into an experience of higher consciousness.

The Disaster of Repressed Sexuality

Osho is the first master who saw the disaster of repressed sexuality. And the disaster is that human sex has become cerebral. The distorted and perverted humanity of today is the end result of repression. No animal rapes its females like man does. No animal needs artificial stimulants like viagra. Have you ever seen any clinic of sexologists for animals or birds? The whole porno literature is a sign of a sick attitude towards sex.

Sex used for reproduction is biological, and sex as recreation belongs to the human world alone because it has arisen out of the human need for love, sensuality, aesthetics, relating, pleasure and ecstasy. This has always been the case. The art of sex developed due to this need. Men always had two kinds of mates: the housewife and the mistress. The roles of these women were clearly marked. We can divide them into procreation and recreation. Those women who could procreate were usually not so good at recreating their husbands because their total focus was on rearing children. Their bodies changed after the childbirth.

Sex as recreation is a special art, and women were trained to master it. The word is self-explanatory: re-creation: creating again. Recreation is not entertainment, which is the conventional meaning of the word. The flowering of physical sex becomes love which is re-creative. When love is fulfilled, its fragrance is creativity. It is observed that a sexually fulfilled person becomes extremely creative.

Pleasure and Pain Are a Package Deal

If people only seek pleasure out of sex, they are bound to be frustrated sooner or later. Because every pleasure has its opposite: the pain. Sex can really recreate and rejuvenate people, if experienced with consciousness.

Now, women can participate in sex without fear, as contraceptives have dissociated intercourse with pregnancy. Modern women can enjoy the intricacies of lovemaking and transmit their joy to their partners. But the question is: are there sensitive, sexually-trained men who are expert partners of the evolved women?

Normally, girls and boys are conditioned to be husbands and wives, which involves procreative sex. Sex as recreation needs sharpened sensitivity and refined sensuality; it is a skilled job. Just as a trained musician plays on the musical instrument with love and care, a skilled lover has to play on the body of his beloved sensitively, and vice versa.

Here, Osho will be immensely helpful. If you allow me to say so, he alone can redeem humanity from sexual inhibitions. He has brought a new dimension to sexuality. His basic contention is: sex is neither moral, nor immoral, it is amoral. It is a wild, boundless, existential energy. Drop your inhibitions and go natural. Clean your mind of all the perverted ideas about sexuality.

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