What Is pschospirituality?
Spirituality refers to the pursuit of truth and happiness. Psychology is “the study of the human mind and its functions”. Psychospirituality is the practice of studying our own mind in pursuit of this. This approach allows us to explore impersonal ultimate truths while honouring personal subjective truths.
What is Psychospirituality...
Psychospirituality is the science of spirituality. Spirituality is, in essence, the pursuit of truth and happiness. Religion and psychological theories present philosophies by which to make sense of the world. And they often present us with moral rules to live by. Spirituality isn’t based on rules or theories. It is based on the direct and immediate observation of our own experience. Ex: how do my thoughts affect me?
In spiritual practice you’re not asked to “believe in” anything. You’re encouraged to question everything you know and how you know it. The purpose is to cultivate an open mind that’s comfortable “not-knowing”. In psychospirituality, we counsel ourselves using psychological theories and spiritual practices in a practical way.
The Philosophy of Science and Spirituality...
Many people who consider themselves “spiritual” are simply superstitious. They adopt the theories of spiritual traditions just because they “make sense” or are appealing to them without having any first hand experience. Other people like to think of themselves as scientific. They reject spiritual ideas; like that of the soul, chakras and so forth. They fail to realise all experience is real. What we see and feel in dreams, we really see and feel. In devaluing subjective, personal experiences, they cannot understand the power, or nature of the mind.
Psychospirituality is about embracing uncertainty. It involves asking, what do I know for certain? Do my thoughts and beliefs lead to peace and happiness?
The Need for Logic, Reason and Critical Thinking...
Where do our feelings come from and how do our thoughts affect us? What defines the truth, and what defines reality? To answer this we must be logical; reasonable. We don’t want to form beliefs, we want to know the truth!
When it comes to ourselves, and our feelings, most of us are anything but logical. We believe getting what we want will make us happy, that not getting what we want will make us unhappy. But how do relationships, possessions or events make us, feel, anything at all? After all, there are no “feeling molecules” entering our body from the outside. In truth it is our thoughts, beliefs and attitudes that give rise to the way we feel.
Psychology versus Spirituality...
Traditional psychology assumes a separation between the observer (individual) and the observed (other). In spiritual practice we explore the possibility of a non-dual reality.
While psychotherapy looks at how the past has made us who we are today, spirituality asks us to discover our unchanging nature.
While psychotherapy works with thoughts, a spiritual practice asks, what is a thought? While psychotherapy addresses self-esteem, a spiritual practice asks, who (or what) am I?
Combining the Approaches...
Psychospirituality honours our ego and its protective mechanisms while not reducing our sense of Self to the small and limited ego. It brings what we have been, what we seem to be, what we will become, and what we’ve always been, into focus. It doesn’t make the ego into an enemy.
For spiritual knowledge to become spiritual wisdom, we need to examine our own mind and work through all its layers. A psychospiritual practice combines examination of the ego with the practices of mindfulness and meditation. There’s no doubt we’ll discover childhood traumas and defensive mechanisms. Our approach to finding peace mustn’t resist or deny any aspect of our experience.
A Reality Beyond Thoughts, Ideas and Philosophy...
In meditation, we deconstruct beliefs without forming new ones. Meditation doesn’t always provide answers to our questions. But our questions may lose their relevance as we see more clearly. Spiritual inquiry doesn’t lead to a thought, idea or belief; it leads to an intuitive non-conceptual experience of reality. This understanding doesn’t depend on thoughts, ideas or beliefs at all. It all begins with curiosity and the desire to see things as they “really are”, unclouded by opinions, fears and desires. This is accomplished by embracing uncertainty and impermanence
Spiritual practice doesn’t lead to faith, but freedom. It is not the freedom to believe but rather, the freedom to not believe ones thoughts.
