The biggest flaw in spirituality is its exclusive focus on the inner. In spirituality everything that needs to be fixed is inside the person.
Suffering is intrinsic to our existence. There's no escape from the human condition for anyone; and a spiritual person is no exception. He also suffers. As long as the spiritual person suffers (which is always, like any other person) his focus would be fixated on the inner, that is, himself. When there is always something to fix on the inside, naturally, one won't be interested in the problems external to one. A spiritual person looks at the problems of the world, and internalizes them. Meaning, he views everything that causes man to suffer as man's inner weakness. If you are suffering in love, he would tell you: you need to develop from the inside. Feeling anger and jealousy? Develop from the inside. The more a spiritual person suffers, the stronger his obsession with the self gets.
What is this focus on the inner? Spirituality views the world as a part of the whole. A spiritualist believes that his true nature is not his ego-self which is just an illusion created in consciousness. His true nature is the nature of the universe, the whole. Any man trapped in his consciousness, i.e. having ego-identity (which by the way includes every normal, functional human being) is imperfect and needs to develop. The state of perfectness is when one loses one's ego-self and experiences oneness or unity with Nature or the universe, or the whole, whatever that means. Both "true nature" and "the whole" are terms so fuzzy that one must be stupid to take them seriously.
Spirituality's focus is so much on the whole that it never really connects with the problems of the world. Only (non-)remedy it offers is for people to stop being people and merge into the whole. Spirituality therefore is hokum.
So called enlightened people are not free of suffering. If anything, they have built thick walls around themselves cutting them off from every element of the human world. Through reclusive practices they have mastered the art of deluding the self. At best, they have achieved unwavering focus on the self, and their obsession with the self has overridden every other drive they might have. They appear to have concern with the problems of the world, but not really. For every suffering they encounter, they view it as a sign of their imperfectness and obsess more with the self, through isolation and meditation and what not. And they offer the same to others. That's not really a concern for the world but their self-affirmation. They have effectively noting to offer the world but their own madness and narcissism.
It is impossible to care and not suffer. If there is a truly enlightened person who is free of suffering (which I don't think is possible in a normal, functional human being) then he must be a narcissist of the highest rank. He cares squat about life, the world, and other people's suffering. He is happy in his delusions. The king in the empty kingdom. He is no more alive than a piece of vegetable. Pinch him and he will crawl ever deeper into his self.
Existential awareness does make one strong from inside by enabling one have a right perspective, and that's important too. But that is philosophy. Spirituality is different in that it involves obsessing with the development of the self to the point of viewing the world as illusion and seeking the end of suffering. That is bullshit. Since there's no such thing as oneness with the whole or perpetual bliss as long as we are alive and conscious, he who believes he is there is deluding himself. And his apathy towards everything but the inner/self reeks of narcissism.
Suffering is intrinsic to our existence. There's no escape from the human condition for anyone; and a spiritual person is no exception. He also suffers. As long as the spiritual person suffers (which is always, like any other person) his focus would be fixated on the inner, that is, himself. When there is always something to fix on the inside, naturally, one won't be interested in the problems external to one. A spiritual person looks at the problems of the world, and internalizes them. Meaning, he views everything that causes man to suffer as man's inner weakness. If you are suffering in love, he would tell you: you need to develop from the inside. Feeling anger and jealousy? Develop from the inside. The more a spiritual person suffers, the stronger his obsession with the self gets.
What is this focus on the inner? Spirituality views the world as a part of the whole. A spiritualist believes that his true nature is not his ego-self which is just an illusion created in consciousness. His true nature is the nature of the universe, the whole. Any man trapped in his consciousness, i.e. having ego-identity (which by the way includes every normal, functional human being) is imperfect and needs to develop. The state of perfectness is when one loses one's ego-self and experiences oneness or unity with Nature or the universe, or the whole, whatever that means. Both "true nature" and "the whole" are terms so fuzzy that one must be stupid to take them seriously.
Spirituality's focus is so much on the whole that it never really connects with the problems of the world. Only (non-)remedy it offers is for people to stop being people and merge into the whole. Spirituality therefore is hokum.
So called enlightened people are not free of suffering. If anything, they have built thick walls around themselves cutting them off from every element of the human world. Through reclusive practices they have mastered the art of deluding the self. At best, they have achieved unwavering focus on the self, and their obsession with the self has overridden every other drive they might have. They appear to have concern with the problems of the world, but not really. For every suffering they encounter, they view it as a sign of their imperfectness and obsess more with the self, through isolation and meditation and what not. And they offer the same to others. That's not really a concern for the world but their self-affirmation. They have effectively noting to offer the world but their own madness and narcissism.
It is impossible to care and not suffer. If there is a truly enlightened person who is free of suffering (which I don't think is possible in a normal, functional human being) then he must be a narcissist of the highest rank. He cares squat about life, the world, and other people's suffering. He is happy in his delusions. The king in the empty kingdom. He is no more alive than a piece of vegetable. Pinch him and he will crawl ever deeper into his self.
Existential awareness does make one strong from inside by enabling one have a right perspective, and that's important too. But that is philosophy. Spirituality is different in that it involves obsessing with the development of the self to the point of viewing the world as illusion and seeking the end of suffering. That is bullshit. Since there's no such thing as oneness with the whole or perpetual bliss as long as we are alive and conscious, he who believes he is there is deluding himself. And his apathy towards everything but the inner/self reeks of narcissism.
I consider myself interested in both philosophy and spirituality,but I am quite surprised by this rather skewed view. Spirituality never said anything about not helping others or retreating to a cave.In fact it is philosophy which is based on cold logic and rational thinking(though it is true) and tends to breed intellectualism and smug superiority over those poor souls who believe in the old man above the clouds.
ReplyDelete"All evils are the effects of unconscious.You can ALLEVIATE the effects of unconscious,but you cannot ELIMINATE them unless you eliminate their cause"
"If you feel called upon to alleviate the suffering in the world,that is a very noble thing to do,but remember not to focus exclusively on the outer,otherwise you will encounter frustration and despair.Without a profound change in human consciousness,the worlds suffering is a bottomless pit"
Only then you can work on the level of cause and effect simultaneously.
Exclusive focus on the outer is never suggested here. One has to develop from the inside too. Balanced growth. But the problem with spirituality is its exclusive focus on the inner.
DeleteCommon notion is that philosophy is all about logic, rationality and outer world, while spirituality is about the inner. That needs to be corrected first. Philosophy is a vast field. There are myriad philosophers and their philosophies. Everything - inner and outer - of human condition has been dealt with by one or the other philosopher. Take Aristotle's Virtue Ethics, for example. His concept of Golden Mean is the same as the Middle Way of Buddha. What philosophy does not deal with - and that's spirituality's main focus - is enlightenment and oneness with the whole, et al of spirituality.
What message a spiritual master gives that is not there in philosophy? It's non-attachment, enlightenment, world-is-illusion, elimination of suffering and freedom from the human condition. If one points to any other wisdom, it's just philosophy. When one mentions spirituality, it's essentially all those things mentioned above. Just as when one says one is religious, I would assume one believes in God; when one says one is into spirituality I would assume one pursues all those things. And every one of those ideas is a poor way to live, to say the least about it.
Suffering is not to be eliminated. The very idea of everlasting happiness is narcissistic; not to mention it's not possible. Existential wisdom (which comes through philosophical development) is to understand the human condition and live life as worthwhile as one can, and let happiness (or no-suffering) be the by-product of good life, instead of the goal. To be focused on eliminating one's suffering is to be self-focused. And since the goal is never to be attained, the self-focus always remains in a spiritualist. Freedom from the human condition is the only ultimate goal of spirituality. It's easy to see then that a spiritualist (spiritual master) doesn't really deal with anything within the human condition other than of enforcing the delusional goal of ultimate self-fulfillment.
Here is my 2 cents. Ithink u kind of misinterpreted this whole thing. .But i understand where you are coming from. U r right on saying suffering is intrinsic to our existence and it is part of human condition.But suffering can e eliminated atleast unnecessary suffering can be eliminated.
ReplyDeletePoint of spirituality is not to cut urself from the world or build walls around u but to not the world affect u .Lool - we all percieve the world through our beliefs, bias and judgements. Each time when reality doesn't conform to these beliefs , we kind of suffer mentally. What we just learned to percieve the world as it is without any labelling and judgements , wouldn't it be easier.
Just think about it , the we suffer is when life or reality doesn't conform to what we think it should be. Hence when we focus on inner growth , we reduce suffering.
When we all finally learn to be peaceful inside , the world outside will know peace.
//Point of spirituality is not to cut urself from the world or build walls around u but to not the world affect u .Lool - we all percieve the world through our beliefs, bias and judgements. Each time when reality doesn't conform to these beliefs , we kind of suffer mentally. What we just learned to percieve the world as it is without any labelling and judgements , wouldn't it be easier.//
DeleteHow is that^ different from philosophical development? How do you differentiate spirituality from philosophy?
Here: Spirituality
The focus of life should not be to eliminate/reduce suffering. That's the point. The focus should be to live a worthwhile and virtuous life. There are similarities between spirituality and philosophy, as both involve truth-seeking. But spirituality's main goal, elimination of suffering, is narcissistic. Philosophy strives at making life good, not eliminate one's suffering. The difference is subtle, but the implications are vast, if perceived.
I like ur blog. I just wanted to say this because i think u might be interested. Since i assume u r interested in removing suffering ,can i recommend u this book - ' power of now ' by eckhart tolle which helped me to reduce my suffering and eliminate all the unnecessary suffering. I warn u it will challenge ur beliefs and might make u angry , but once u understand his message it will change ur life.google him and see if u like him.
ReplyDeleteJust one more question,I have here.If you answer this,I can figure out the road you are taking to arrive at this conclusion
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me what you mean by 'outer development'.Spirituality is all about inner and reducing one's suffering.Agreed.It needs to be balanced by outer development,you say by leading a 'virtuous life'
By 'virtuous life', you mean morals,ethics,honesty ??
Spirituality has helped me a lot through tough times,reduced my suffering.Maybe even saved my life.So its wrong/narcissistic?
It shouldn't be the goal you say
The sad truth is most of the world is neither spiritual nor into philosophy.Its is in a state of decadence in every possible aspect except of course technology and GDP.The number of human beings who claim(note I used the word claim)to be spiritually enlightened is 0.0001 % of the population.No matter how hard we try,normal folk are too attached to their ego's to attain anything close to that state.
Most philosophers seem to belong to another world,if you consider the things they propound.Aristotle says in a decent society,traders would not be granted citizenship.In Plato's last work "Laws" he calls for citizens who engage in commerce to be punished.For Homer,the virtue of courage was the most important,idealizing a solider!Socrates saw as virtuous the man who has he inner strength to detach himself from bodily pleasures.
"Philosophy strives at making life good, not eliminate one's suffering."
making life good meaning??
PS:Your responses are highly appreciated as they stimulate a healthy discussion.No one here is claiming to know all the answers,all of us are on a journey of discovery.Do post this comment too as a context for others.Thanks.
It is for the sake of convenience that I allow the dichotomy of spirituality and philosophy. If we go deeper, it has to break down, because spirituality is one system of living (the aim of which is elimination of suffering), while philosophy is a collection of opinions about what truth is. A system (or worldview) under the label "philosophy" that could be compared to spirituality (which is, as I said, a system) could then be a particular worldview proposed/advocated by one or more philosopher(s). Examples: Nihilism, Absurdism, etc. It's for keeping it simple I say "philosophical development" when I mean "personal development through truth-seeking and critical thinking". Of course, absurdism and nihilism (and many others) are worse ways to live than spirituality. But that's not what I am suggesting by "philosophy". Hope this much is clear. And when I said philosophy strives at making life good, it's this broad label "philosophy" I referred to. Why else would we seek-truth if it didn't provide any utility (good life)? The propensity to understand life is the propensity to make it better. For the likes of nihilists, then, I would say, bad luck that they struck the dead end.
DeleteOne has to develop from the inside, yes. And that would be in the form of strong spirit after knowing the truth of existence, involving ego/self, what consciousness is, and how ego and consciousness give rise to suffering etc. It does make one strong to face adversities. And it IS necessary. But that's nothing that is not explored by "philosophy" (back to the broad label). Now, outer development is being able to see meaning and worth in the material life (as opposed to spiritual, which is the exclusive reality in spirituality), because materialism has always been a fact of life. Instead of running away inwards, one has to live a NORMAL LIFE balancing one's inner life (spiritual) with outer (material). And suffering is a part of "normal life".
Avoiding suffering is only right and logical. But making it life's focus is narcissistic. Again, the difference is subtle, but its implications are great. Certain suffering is necessary. A life without suffering would be worse than hell. Because without suffering, happiness can't be. So, what is one to do? Not avoid suffering when it is talking place? That would be absurd. Fight suffering when it's taking place, but be aware of and own the fact that it's the part of life and it will come back in one form or another, and THAT'S ALRIGHT. Happiness and suffering are not really different things. One should not shut oneself out of suffering, which is exactly what spirituality purports. That's what continuous focus on elimination of suffering means. Shutting oneself out of suffering is shutting oneself out of life. For suffering is a part of life.
Consider this example for clarity: Should I not run from the dog when it's coming towards me to bite me and give me suffering? I must run. But should I permanently shut myself inside my house because the dog is out there? A spiritualist would say "yes"! He would say, the world is an illusion anyway, everything you need is inside!
Don't believe it? Why do you think hardcore spiritualists don't participate in the society?
Also, might like to read this parable: Seeking
one question why you think that avoiding suffering is narcissistic ?
ReplyDeletei may be not so experienced in field of philosophy or spirituality... but i want u to give some logical reasons..
we don't know how this random life started ,we born there is no control... we certainly die one day (if one is attempting suicide then its different thing).. there is no escape between these two..
if death is end .. then life is meaningless
there comes spirituality which claims that there is something beyond death i.e suffering stops ...
this is something which cant be explain .. free from suffering is experience not a bunch of thoughts which can be written in blog... spirituality is beyond philosophy ...
there are some hardcore spiritualist like Buddha , Mahavira, Krishna, Jesus.. are they all fake? and if not then definitely they all achieve something which is beyond thoughts and philosophy...
please explain your side.. why shouldn't person can only work on inner life ?
why shouldn't there is escape from suffering?
what is the need of having suffering?
please reply...
Spirituality, Eliminating Suffering, and Narcissism
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