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So 'SPIRITUALITY' is a word that is used a lot these days. Some people love it and can't get enough of it, some people shy away from it, some people think it's fluff, and some people recoil at it's use.

I'm going to use it in a similar way to the terms: 'personality', and 'sexuality'. It is a dimension of our humanity that is really important; and finding healthy expression for it, is a way of experiencing and exploring the life that we have as people.
Spiritual things have been variously defined as things that cannot be explained scientifically; or the whole 'unseen' proportion of the world, (which would include dreams, imagination, art, relationships, angels, spirits, wisdom, faith, love, trust, God). Spirituality can involve an interaction and exploration with these things, as well as recognising that to be human is to be spiritual, we have spirit (as well as body and mind), and this part of us can be exercised and enjoyed, and it remains part of us through the whole work, rest, and play of our lives.

In much of Western cultures there has been wide scale repression of spirituality, the spiritual dimension of humanity, over the past decades and even centuries, back to 'the Enlightenment': age of reason, science, and things making sense in a controllable way. This means that generally we are 'Spiritually Repressed People'. However, despite years of education under communism and/or capitalism, it has been found that although you can try to ignore the spiritual side of being human, and deny anything outside 'everything making sense and being controllable'; you cannot indefinitely suppress a whole aspect of what it means to be human and alive. This suppression never fully occurred, but there is now a rebounding..

So.. in recent decades there has been an accelerating interest and exploration in Western cultures of all things spiritual, including paranormal and supernatural, as well as holistic approaches to health, and spiritual exercises such as meditation, yoga, etc. There has also been a reaction to all this 'new age weirdness' with it's frequently esoteric language and subcultures that can leave outsiders alienated; though maybe this is because many people on this exploration are on a REBELLION against the spiritual sterility in the culture, they don't necessarly care about looking/being considered different; and it can feel good to be 'in the know' and 'above the masses'.

But a SPIRITUAL AWAKENING, is exciting in any form, individually or on greater scales, to wake up to having a spiritual side to our humanity, living in a world with a spiritual side, and to explore the new possibilities this presents.

And this is the scenario in which many of our cultures find themselves..
We are becoming MORE ALIVE again, it's not new, it just got repressed..

.. but what are the possibilities??

Western culture at the moment is like: a small child from the countriside who one day goes for a really long walk, and finds themself entering a great city. They had never dreamed that this could be possible, towering buildings, when before all they knew were small cottages; bustling streets, and deafening new noises, rich smells and vibrant colour everywhere. Market stalls of exotic foods, and clothes and tools, furnishings, and crafts. And a different musical style from every corner. The child beams a smile, and skips a step, this is life, this is exhiliration. The child keeps walking.. passes a man lying on the pavement, just having a rest.. and someone's made a bit of a mess spilling this red juice on the floor here. There's exciting things going on in all the shops and cafes. The big men came and gave the child presents, this is great, everyone is so friendly! 'What's a gun?' sounds fun! Yeah can I be in your gang? I'll go and give those people some presents for you.. wow my head is spinning!
'I'm so proud of myself for finding this place! It's amazing! I bet none of the other kids know about it!'

The 'unseen world' has very strong parallels with the 'seen world', really they are each part of the same 'world'. The world is beautiful, is based on and full of, goodness, but is also very screwed in some ways. It is really worth finding what things are solid/eternal, and who can be trusted.

'Spirituality' has become for some, a word to describe an exciting part of life.. a place to point others in the direction of, to encourage people to 'seek'. Other people have had bad experiences of 'spirituality', or of people who use the term, and so shy away from it. Others have encountered a lot of bullshit and self importance among those who identify themselves with the term.. and still others, are afraid of it: the world is big and we cannot control it.

But whatever you think of the term.. -don't really care too much about words, but:

BE REALLY ALIVE, FIND TRUSTWORTHY THINGS, BE AMAZED.