What is Spirituality? One Hero’s Journey towards understanding, connection, and love

Increasingly, more people talk about “Spirituality.” You hear of yoga retreats, rituals, mantras, crystals, Reiki healing, and meditations. But what actually is Spirituality? Is it linked to religions? Is it related to some cults? Is it a kind of magic stuff that sounds kind of cool, but nobody really understands or believes in it? 

Spirituality is a journey. And it is a never-ending, ever-expanding, beautiful, and tender one; but it’s not easy – not at all. The reasons we undertake it and the paths we follow can be different, but they all take us through to the same intangible, yet very real place. 

How do we enter the dimension of Spirituality? What are we looking for? What dictates a start for our journey?

It can go smoothly, gradually – we hear about “spiritual stuff” from others; we read about celebrities and their practices. We start attending a yoga class and get inspired by the energy we feel there. We follow courses on meditations, mindfulness; we spend time in nature. What those experiences give us – they make us pause in silence. We connect as we get in touch with ourselves, and this starts a process of expanding our inner, spiritual dimension. We receive guidance and find connections within us and outside of us – plants, animals, earth, and cosmos. People and situations can become our mirrors, reflections and teachers. Finally, we are able to connect the dots, connect our stars.

Another way to embark on the journey can be more sudden, and often painful, where the connection is created through life challenges. There are those difficult moments such as break-ups, illnesses or events that shake us and make us look at life from a new perspective; when we eliminate distractions and superficial external stimuli. All of a sudden, we feel like Tarot’s Major Arcana Hanged Man. We go into ourselves and we connect. When we are suspended, we have to surrender and let go, then a deeper vision and understanding come; through pain and life lessons we reach stages of growth.

So in those two ways we connect. With what though? First of all, with a vulnerable inner self,  yet a true and powerful self. When we feel the flame that unites our hearts, minds, and souls, we get in touch with something within us that is more than the stories of our lifetime, or what we have been told or taught. Something that is beyond religions and cultures we were born into. We connect to an inner knowing that comes from a place of non-words and no logic. It is a place of love, compassion, trust, and surrender. What we understand then is that the “Higher Dimension”, the Universe, God, Spirit (or whatever word comes to mind) is inside us, around us and for us. 

It is a pure energy of Love, but it is also very serious. It teaches us to acknowledge our existence, to honour ourselves, and to prove it through taking responsibility and making conscious choices. Because this life we have is a gift and our job is to make it valid the best that we can. Living our lives fully involves going through all we have to go through to learn and evolve. This is the Hero’s Journey, during which we become familiar with the magic of our human condition – we discover the polarity of it all – moments of joy and sorrows, triumphs and failures, richness and poverty. We experience feelings of acceptance and rejection, belonging and loneliness and so much more. We start as Tarot’s Fool and make a full circle; taking us through stages of adventures, challenges, and celebrations. We come to an understanding that our goal is to look for balance; then true Joy, Peace and Happiness will come.

It is often our greatest sorrows that give us the biggest opportunities to grow, learn, and evolve as spiritual beings. Because what we often receive in return are beautiful lessons of acceptance, forgiveness, and compassion. We learn to truly love and honour ourselves and others, and only then will we be ready to walk through the gates of glory and joy. Coming to this awareness that leads to seeing, understanding, and creating love for ourselves and others is Spirituality to me. The Fool is who we once were and again will be.

During  recent events, we started looking at the world from a different perspective. Like in the Tarot’s Tower, when some constructions seem to be falling apart, and we need to re-evaluate our ways of thinking and begin to create new, solid foundations. The world has more time for reflection; more and more people are getting in touch with themselves.

And we are lucky with  all of our technology because now  we have so much magic available to us, and we can get access to great teachers and find ways to connect. It is very important to choose carefully, follow our hearts and intuition, and find those voices that speak most clearly to us. Spiritual coaching is one of the ways. You are your own hero and you need to do it on your own – but never alone. Trust the process; surrender and love. The growth will come and lead you to more joy, freedom, abundance, and truth. Your spiritual path is your life.