Tuesday, April 17, 2012

OA is a Spiritual Program

OA is a spiritual program. So what does that really mean?

Spritiual:

Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material. 
Of, concerned with, or affecting the soul.
Of, from, or relating to God; deific.
Of or belonging to a church or religion; sacred.
Relating to or having the nature of spirits or a spirit; supernatural.


There seems to be a bit of variation, depending on who is defining spirituality. The dictionaries relate it to belief in a spirit, to scared, or tie it to religious values. That does not work for me.

Spiritual, as I understand it, is the belief in something that has no physical form. It is not a belief in a set of concepts, that is religion. Spirituality is some form of transformation of consciousness, sufficient to bring about a change in personality sufficient to end this problem of ours. It has nothing to do with beliefs, but has to do with a state of consciousness, an awareness of something in us but greater than just us, and outside of the mind. It is the essence of human, of life, of awareness, and is outside of the mind and specific beliefs.

If 'I' am what is watching the thoughts in my head, then that is the essence of me, as I understand it, but that I is the mind, not the I of essence. How confusing. I am two I's, the essence and the mind. But I can only be one; hence, I must be the essence, and my mind is therefore separate. Everything that it contains is the reflection of the world around me, mental objects, the collective information of society, my upbringing, and not me. How freeing. I can dump that which is wrong. It is not part of me, just junk the world has foisted onto me. I know some of it is just wrong. The ego is part of the mind. It is what the collective egos have pushed on to me. It is not me, it is impersonal reflection of collective ego junk. It can go. It contains errors. It is impermanent, and can be changed at will, or with effort. The essence is more permanent, or slower changing, within this lifetime at least.

So is that what the spirit is, the essence of human, of life, an awareness, and little else, residing in a body as a symbiotic identity? Or really just the right brain exercising control over everything, without judgements, without conditions?

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