Spiritual

Spirituality

There is a wise old saying that states, “you should never discuss politics and religion with people you don’t know and I think sometimes you shouldn’t even with people you DO know”.  At the outset, I would like to make one thing perfectly clear, this is not a discussion about religion.  In fact, it is my belief that God is far more interested in a “relationship” with you, than He is religion, organ solos and stained glass windows. 
On the contrary, in this section we will deal strictly with the subject of spirituality and its importance to your happiness as a human being.  Please note: all opinions discussed herein are those of the authors alone.  I make no bones about the fact that my approach in life is from a Christian perspective.  Also, please note: there is no “make wrong” on my part if you believe differently than I do.  My goal is to insure that you understand how important your spirituality is to your happiness.  With that being said, let’s begin. 
Each human being is made up four unique parts.  There is your physical body, your emotional self, your thoughts or your mental self, and there’s your spiritual self.  Each of us is made up of these four components, but only ONE is real and eternally lasting… the others are temporary tools you use in this lifetime and then discard them when you are done with them.
Let’s be perfectly clear, YOU are not your body.  YOU are not your thoughts.  YOU are not your emotions.  YOU are Spirit child of God, made in His likeness and image and it is this spiritual part of you that we’re going to discuss in this section. 
When your body dies it’s “LIFE” is gone and along with it will go your thoughts and your emotions.  The only part of you that will exist beyond death is the real you, the Spiritual YOU.  Let’s do a little exercise shall we?  Please take the index finger on your right hand and point to yourself … Go Ahead… Do it now… I’ll wait…
 My guess is that you are pointing somewhere in the neighborhood of your chest.  In the thousands of times that I had asked someone to do this, never have I had any one point to their head. 
We’re going to talk about your spirit, the one that exists inside of you right now somewhere there in the neighborhood of your chest.  The one that writers, painters, musicians and YOU “connect to” when you’re inspired. By the way, the word inspired comes from the Latin word “Inspiritu” which means “in the spirit.”  When someone says “How did you come up with that?”  The person says “I don’t know, I was inspired”, now you know.
I’d like to use analogies, I always have.  I think the use of analogies paints a vivid picture for those who are visual learners.  I understand that some people are auditory learners and some are kinesthetic learners, and the use of analogies drives and some people crazy.  My apologies to you in advance if you’re one of these people.
Let’s discuss the components of YOU.  Your body is like your car.  It is the physical part of YOU, it is the vehicle through which you travel through this life.  You may be a 40 year old Asian man or a 59 year old Black Female or a 16 year old Caucasian female, what I am describing is the age, made, and model of your vehicle …  It is not who YOU are, do you get it?  Disliking someone because of the color of their skin, their gender, or their age is as silly as not liking someone because they drive up 2006, RED, F-150 pickup truck.
If you don’t take care of this vehicle (your body) it will break down just like any other vehicle.  I’m often amazed at how well Americans care for their cars and how poorly they care for their bodies. You can read more on that in the physical section of this website. 
For now, suffice to say that your body is NOT who YOU are, but merely the vehicle you are traveling through this life in.  Sometimes your emotions are driving the car.  When this happens, we usually say you are an emotional wreck.  Most of the time, it is your mind or your thoughts that are driving the car.  We’ll call this your Pseudo-Self. 
You know that little voice in your head that’s constantly speaking to you.  You say, “What little voice?”  THAT voice….  The one that just said “What little voice?” that’s the one we’re talking about.  That’s your Pseudo-Self (it’s not REALLY YOU … you just THINK it’s YOU).  Your Pseudo-Self drives the car over 90% of the time.  When you’re on autopilot in your life, it is your Pseudo-Self that is driving the car.  You could also call the Pseudo-Self your Ego.  Here I don’t mean ego in the sense of “WOW, look at her she has a huge ego.” I only say Ego to help identify that part of you that does the thinking.
So let’s get his picture clear, your body is the car, your Pseudo-Self is the driver, your emotions are riding shotgun, ready to take over a moment’s notice should someone decide to cut you off in 5:00 traffic and all the while your Spirit (THE REAL YOU) is sitting comfortably in the back seat watching everything from an eternal perspective. 
The Pseudo-Self part of you is the one that fears death, is afraid of Heights, afraid of flying, spiders, snakes, deep water and anything else it perceives as something that may cause death.  Why is this?  Because the Pseudo-Self knows that if the body dies, it dies.
Pay attention now because this is the really important part.  Your Pseudo-Self functions mostly in the past and in the future.  You find yourself driving down the road and your mind begins to wander it usually becomes upset over something that just happened or worried about something that has yet to happen. 
The emotions that usually live in the past and the future are most often anger and fear.  Anger and guilt are passed emotions.  You can’t be angry or guilty about something that hasn’t happened yet, it’s always about something that has happened in the past.  Fear and doubt are emotions that trouble us about the future.  Worrying about everything from what will I serve for dinner, to how will I pay the bills, to what if this happens or what if that happens.  The Pseudo-Self totally thrives by keeping your thoughts in the past and in the future.
When you spend your time in the past and the future you rarely experience love, peace, joy and happiness.  Those emotions can only be found in a moment of NOW.  And the part of you that understands and lives in a moment of NOW is your Spirit.  We deal much deeper into this subject during our Compass for Life seminars.  For more information on the seminars please refer to the seminar page on this website.