What is Spiritual Life?

Anandajay
Apr 3
3 min read

Updated: May 2

In the foreground a pile of stones in balance, with in the background a barren desert landscape and a distant mountain range under a clear blue sky.

People often talk about a spiritual way of life, but what exactly is spiritual living? Of course it is a way of life where more than just the surface plays a role, but why, how and does this make you a better person?

Spiritual living is not a way of life that rises above the realities of life. Nor is it a process toward wholeness, because if spiritual living were a process toward wholeness, you would be constantly emphasizing that you don't have, feel, or are that wholeness, and that is depressing and form-oriented rather than grounded in substance. Being preoccupied with becoming emphasizes the things you are not or are not experiencing. Spiritual life is much more about living from now on with what you can experience as valuable within yourself.

To live a spiritual life, it is important that you open yourself to the deeper, invisible, but still experienceable values within you, as far as you can experience them at this moment. Don't assume that you still have to find them or reach them, for then your ego as a tour operator will only respond to your lack of wholeness as an unpleasant feeling of hunger.

A person sits cross-legged on the floor wearing a white sleeveless shirt and floral pants. They hold their hands together in a prayer position, with closed eyes, in front of a stone structure. Petals are scattered on the ground.

~ * ~

Spiritual life

is not about a journey to the Promised Land,

but about nurturing

the truth, love, peace, harmony, authenticity, wholeness, and soulfulness

that you experience within yourself

and in the life around you.

~ * ~

It is not about what you like or dislike

about what you encounter within yourself in these areas.

~ * ~

Spiritual life

is about the light within you,

not the light you seek.

~ * ~

It is about living with sensitivity and openness,

not about reaching a goal that resembles enlightenment.

~ * ~

Spiritual life

is about affection and love

as a result of deeper insights into your spiritual reality,

not some kind of remarkable success of your ego

in knowing or being able to do certain things.

~ * ~

Spiritual life

is about participating in what is essentially in the depths of your "being here,"

not about acquiring special qualities.

~ * ~

A pile of smooth, flat stones in a pyramid shape against a background of snow-covered mountains and a clear blue sky. The focus is on the stones, with the majestic mountains faded in the background.

And not everyone has the same clarity in this regard, because the spiritual seeker can have a strong ego and feel a great need to escape from this painful world.

When you stop focusing on fragments and open yourself to be receptive, you allow everything to enter your experience simultaneously and you experience yourself more as a whole. When you allow everything to enter at the same time, you can and will no longer track it or interpret it, and this frees you mentally and makes you emotionally and spiritually sensitive and accessible.

The more open you are to this wholeness, the more clearly you will experience that there is a center. This central core could be called your soul or your experience of being. And the more you open yourself to it, the more you will become aware that this source, your essence, is the essence of life and the source of your spiritual happiness.

Spiritual living is living with and from this source through which everything is embedded in value, fullness, and essence. You then experience yourself as a soulful whole, and through your soul you are connected to the essence of everything. Life is the same for everyone, but what makes you feel at home, what inspires you, and what you trust in is the spiritual authenticity you carry within. That makes your life and your way of living completely different.

* Translated from Dutch using DeepL (AI)

Book cover 'Bezieling door Inzicht - 200 levensthema's voor innerlijke groei' by Anandajay

Translation of the text: Bezieling door Inzicht - 200 levensthema's voor innerlijke groei, thema: 38. Wat is spiritueel leven? (Only available in Dutch.)

Anandajay dressed in white, sitting on a reed braided chair with white pillow

Anandajay (which means “blessing from the heart”) has been dedicated to integrating the spiritual essence into daily life for over 50 years. He has developed twelve teachings (spiritual practices), 50 music albums (mantras, pujas and ragas) and twenty books (written in Dutch) to bring you closer to the natural basis of your existence, your spiritual authenticity, and its wholesome, joyful essence, so that it can also be your shining, spiritual guide in your life. He expresses the core value of his work as: The Light of Being.