The role of spirituality in journey of self-discovery
What is self-discovery? Self-discovery is a journey where one delves deep into understanding the truth about oneself. It is an ongoing and lengthy process wherein an individual sets out on a path to contemplate and introspect about themselves. One of the most pertinent questions asked is, “How can one start this journey of self-discovery?” The answer is as simple and as difficult as it can be: Spirituality. Spirituality is the ultimate answer to all questions about life. While the journey of self-discovery is about knowing and understanding oneself, the path of spirituality takes it a few notches up by leading an individual towards self-realisation—where one realises the truth of their existence and, ultimately, towards God-realisation.
How does spirituality help in the journey of self-discovery? Spirituality is the science of the spirit, the soul, or the Atman. Spirituality can aid self-discovery by revealing profound truths about life, birth, karma, death, and concepts of pleasure, peace, and true happiness, among many others. The two most important questions in life that one needs answers to are:
1. Who am I?
2. Why am I here? Hence, spirituality provides a sense of self and the purpose of one’s birth on this earth.
What are the ways of self-discovery through spirituality? Self-discovery is simply having knowledge of oneself. This can be achieved through deep introspection. Deep introspection and contemplation about the profound truths of life and self can be practiced through silence and meditation. Human beings usually direct all sensory perceptions outwards, taking in information from the outer world. Spirituality redirects our focus inward, to the core of our being. In silence and solitude, we start monitoring our thoughts. With meditation, one can become a witness to their thoughts and gradually slow down the mental thought rate. On average, our minds generate about 50 thoughts per minute, amounting to about 50,000 thoughts per day. Most of these thoughts are negative, causing anxiety, worry, and even depression. By slowing down our mental thought rate through silence and meditation, we can reach a state called thoughtlessness, mindfulness, or consciousness. In this state, our intellect shines, allowing us to discriminate our thoughts and transform negative ones into positive ones. Thus, through spiritual methods, we can discover and gain the power to discriminate our thoughts.
In the journey of self-discovery through meditation, silence, and solitude, we will also realise the truth of our being—that we are not merely our body, mind, and ego. We are a soul, a spark of unique life, part of the Supreme Immortal Power, SIP, which we call God. we are manifestations of the divine. this is the ultimate truth. knowledge of this truth about oneself falls under self-discovery, but self-realisation occurs only when we realise and live this truth. spiritual awakening is when we transcend self-discovery and reach a stage of self-realisation.
In conclusion, spirituality plays a major role in one’s journey or quest to discover and realise oneself. Spirituality reveals the purpose of life by explaining the concepts of karma and the relationship between karma, birth, death, and life. Spiritual awakening happens when one realises that they are a soul having a human experience, that this world is a cosmic drama—a Leela—where we play our parts and then depart. We are all a spark of unique life that emerges from SIP, the Supreme Immortal Power, and merges back into it after the death of the body. Therefore, the path towards ultimate spiritual awakening begins with self-discovery, followed by self-realisation, and ultimately, God-realisation.