How to be more spiritual?

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I used to really be critical of other people, and what they say. I wanted perfection in thought, and if others do not hold up to my ideal, then i see them as less than the ideal. Similarly, i expected the highest ideal for myself, and hold the highest amount of respect toward learning about the world. I read technical books in philosophy, mathematics, and physics just so to understand what i felt was something deep, and certain, but what i got, and obtain is the ability to easily understand and formulate hair spliting arguments on very complicated ideas in a short amount of time. I honest find more comfort in the formalism of mathematical physics than i so with the most simplest thing like getting along with people. In all honesty, i feel nothing is beyond analytical mind. If there is something i don` t know, then i could read all about it from books, and internalized it in a short about of time. I could practice, improve, and be better than everyone. Lately, i feel more "spiritual". It is weird to me, because i started to focus not so much on the specific details of what other people say, but on their underlying motivation.

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@vectorcube,

vectorcube;79587 wrote:

I used to really be critical of other people......

........Lately, i feel more "spiritual". It is weird to me, because i started to focus not so much on the specific details of what other people say, but on their underlying motivation.

Hello vectorcube, how profound, bravo! In doing that it helps you reach a temperance of your own, as you begin to understand where "critism" comes from and it's offensive and destructive nature. Congratulations.:a-ok:

William

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@William,

Hi there,

Spirituality comes when it comes. Jung thought that it happens during the second part of one's life, after one has learned how to deal with the external world and begins to look deeper into oneself.

I was always philosophical but not necessarily spiritual. My journey began, ironically, when I began reading about modern physics, Rhodes' Making of the Atomic Bomb, and Hawking's A Brief History. There was no goal to become spiritual, but slowly I was brought into a more complex world as my awareness of all that surrounded me began to grow. I began to notice things and have experiences (e.g. synchronicity, dreams, Taijiquan), that began to make me think much more about everything I use to take for granted: e.g. where did inherited characteristics really come from? How does a four year old play Mozart with no lessons?

A lot of awareness came from my health practices, and my study of how the body naturally keeps itself health. So slowly, I became less physical and more spiritual in my view of the universe and it came from many directions, sort of coalescing in a new way of looking at things so that everything work together and was very symmetrical - sports, health, perspective on life, hobbies, etc. The puzzle all fit together.

I think for most people it comes naturally at its own time and own pace, and everyone seems to be different.

Rich

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@richrf,

Volunteer at nursing homes, homeless shelters, ect. Anywhere that pain and suffering might be more acute and pervasive than you are used to, go and see for yourself.

Whether the result will be what you call "spiritual" or something else, it is the same thing. The language is not important.

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@William,

William;79594 wrote:

Hello vectorcube, how profound, bravo! In doing that it helps you reach a temperance of your own, as you begin to understand where "critism" comes from and it's offensive and destructive nature. Congratulations.:a-ok:

William

I embrace criticism and all that I am.

Part of accepting one's whole self, is what Jung called the process of individualization, whereby one looks at one's own shadow and accepts all that one is. Everything that we see in the outside, external universe is within us. Jung called this projection. But the self has a funny way of coming to accept all that is within it, and criticism is certainly part of it.

Look at criticism of others (projection in Jungian terms) as a way of better understanding what is within oneself. A technique or a path toward accepting the whole of oneself - individualization. This is what I do. When others criticize me, I understand they are informing themselves. And when I criticize others, I realize I am informing myself. I do not run away from my Shadow. I embrace it as part of me.

Quote:

The highest, as the lowest, form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.
Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde

Rich

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@vectorcube,

Think harder, look deeper.
Reflect beyond the material aspects of the world.
The universe is alive and enchanted to the very core.

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@prothero,

I want to say i changed, but that would be a lie. What i have now is a set of new analytical tools by which i gain control over the social world. People are still people, but i gain insight to how to interact, what to do, and what not to do around people. I think most people are not deep thinkers, so i am more forgiving than what i once was. I realize i just cannot expect such high ideals for other people, or for myself. There are times that i really try to "love" people for what they are. All i feel, or rather see in my mind` s eys is a set of instructions to deal with people. I am a really troubled person!

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@vectorcube,

If you're not troubled, then you're not paying attention.

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@vectorcube,

Hi Vectorcube - I salute your grappling with this issue. I think you are feeling something in the heart which undoes all the machinations of your (obviously highly intelligent) mind. Bravo. Learn to sit - this might help you. Learn to be still. It is worth practising it formally, with a teacher. The heart really has its own intelligence. This is not just a metaphor but you need to learn how to awaken it. This can only be done through being still.

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@vectorcube,

vectorcube;80482 wrote:

I want to say i changed, but that would be a lie. What i have now is a set of new analytical tools by which i gain control over the social world. People are still people, but i gain insight to how to interact, what to do, and what not to do around people. I think most people are not deep thinkers, so i am more forgiving than what i once was. I realize i just cannot expect such high ideals for other people, or for myself. There are times that i really try to "love" people for what they are. All i feel, or rather see in my mind` s eys is a set of instructions to deal with people. I am a really troubled person!

"Thats the terror of knowing what this world is about, watching some good friends scream let me out":flowers:

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@Joe,

vectorcube;79587 wrote:

Lately, i feel more "spiritual". It is weird to me, because i started to focus not so much on the specific details of what other people say, but on their underlying motivation.

What exactly do you mean by 'feel more spiritual'? I hope this is relevent since you asks, how to be more spiritual. And i see, that except richrf no one has answered that.

William;79594 wrote:

In doing that it helps you reach a temperance of your own, as you begin to understand where "critism" comes from and it's offensive and destructive nature. Congratulations.:a-ok:
William

Very agreeable comment. Just to add to that, i think any or all wise person would like criticisms to some extent while the commoners will detest it or reject it outright.

richrf;79681 wrote:

I embrace criticism and all that I am.
Rich

Rich is a wise guy, i know.

vectorcube;80482 wrote:

I am a really troubled person!

I suppose you are not alone.......we all are in one way or the other. :a-ok:

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