Activity

I think the word “spiritual” is damaged good. It comes along with too much baggage, including highly religious rituals, some fairly dangerous forms of spirituality like hyper-fasting and mental manipulation (not always so safe) and the practice of alternative medicine (which can even be deadly). I think what you’d be wise to do is simply do the corresponding secular activity per spirituality that is constructive (and I’d say much much much better every time).

Meditation. Some forms have been deemed beneficial. That doesn’t mean you should hop on the bandwagon and do any kind. There are a few methods that are not just a waste of time but are less than constructive. Research a little on methods that have been tested (demonstrated to reduce blood pressure, back pain, reduce healing time etc) and practice it while enjoying it (not struggling to do it perfectly). It’s true, letting your mind go (when done safely) is an “out of this world experience”. Unfortunately a lot of people lose their shit in these mental states and start to believe the universe is conscious and communicates with them or that they can be one with the universe through transcendental telepathy or such. Mostly harmless but not always harmless. Definitely time wasting. Yes you are right, we were programmed to invent narratives to explain things we don’t understand and to change these narratives quite slowly. That doesn’t mean we were programmed to be religious or even cuckoo spiritual. That’s a toxic by-product of it that usually leads to little good…all of the good being quite easily achievable through non-religious or spiritual means.

Awe of the universe: I think as Robert pointed out marveling at the wonders of the natural universe is so much more incredible than contemplating your “previous life as a catepillar” or communicating with things that don’t exist like “mother nature”. Robert’s example of “we are all made of star dust” is a fantastic one. It’s also amazing to think of how utterly empty the universe is. If our Sun was shrunk to the size of a ping pong ball placed in London…the nearest star system (Alpha Centauri) would be 2 (or three) ping pong balls in New York. Everything in between is viritual emptiness with a tiny bit of dust and passing particles. We cannot even concieve of this kind of emptiness. Yes that is the essence of the universe. It is even more extreme when you consider the relative distance between the nucleus of an atom and the electrons around it. More unbelievable emptiness. Contemplating how utterly solid and real we seem to be with the fact that we are virtually empty space inside a virtually empty universe…is so much more amazing than stupid old folk-games.

Good will: You can easily support causes, charities, activism and “good vibes” and help others without putting your two hands together and closing your eyes as though you are in REM sleep.

Rituals: If you like incense or candles or waterfalls or natural settings then enjoy them. You don’t need to paste some bogus meaning into the experience of enjoying light, sounds, smells and music. Part of the struggle is to be content knowing there is no inherant meaning, and that that is okay. It’s fine to not know what is behind it, what it means and the deeper questions like why are we here, who what where and why did I ever happen at all? Etc.

Finding your true potential: This can be achieved by diverse life experience, visiting a cognitive therapist (we ALL would find this exercise extremely valuable), reducing bad mental habits, empathizing more, strengthening skills, removing toxic people and toxic enviroments from your life and so on. You don’t have to believe that if you repeat out to the universe “I will succeed” that the universe will make you succeed. We have to embrace self confidence as well as realise the extreme role that chance plays in our daily lives…and to get over dissapointments. I think this lesson is so much more valuable than anything you’d get out of reading any Paul Coelho book or Deepak Chopra trash books.

In any case…good luck! 🙂