Rewiring ‘Spirituality’

Spirituality is one of those ancient words that’s been hijacked by New Age woo-ery and warped by a fundamental, tragic, widespread loss of accurate understanding.

For many, spirituality is a dirty word used to tar and feather ideas, values, practices, and habits that don’t align with their existing beliefs, or to protect the ego by instantly invalidating anything that challenges their current understanding.

So let us clear the air.

Across millenia, race, and religion, humans have been cooking up a cornucopia of different words to describe what’s quite literally the same thing: lifeforce energy.

You know this energy… the sense of being and presence that we know departs the vessel that is the human body when the body can no longer sustain life. If you’ve ever been present for a person or animal’s death, you’ve experienced this departure.

That energy is what’s most broadly referred to as Spirit or Soul.

Or… 

Chi/Qi in Chinese teachings, Mana in Polynesia, Prana in Yoga, Pneuma in Greek… Mojo, Spark, and Flame. Animus/Anima, Psyche, and Essence. Vitality and Lifeblood.

The different labels are legion, all pointing to the same thing:

The energy that makes you, You.

Thus, spirituality is simply the concern for, and practice of tending You.

The options for tending You are an all-you-can-eat buffet ranging from ritualistic—creating altars and honouring seasonal changes—to abstinence—fasting, silence, and celibacy—to physical—yoga and dancing—to service—volunteering and acts of kindness—to natural connection, meditation, prayer and chanting, study and contemplation, and creative expression.

(There are many more options within each category, but we’d be here all day.)

In essence, “being a spiritual person” boils down to engaging in activities of your choosing, that deepen your sense of self-connection, with intentionality. That’s it.

What meets this sparse criteria for tending your spirit is different for everyone.

Some of my own practices include yoga, dancing, lifting, and immersing myself in nature. I honour seasonal changes with psychedelic-infused ceremonies. Between journaling, writing, singing, and mixing, creative expression floods my days.

(You don’t need to overstuff your life with these self-tending practices. Time, capacity, and practicality are considerations on a person-to-person level. The reason I have so many practices present is because I chose to aggressively empty my life, only allowing what lights up and tends me deeply to fill in the space.)

Which doesn’t make me, or you, any more or less spiritual than someone whose practices consist of mantras, chanting, prayer, volunteering, and Tai Chi. Or someone who journals in the morning and honours the seasons. You build your own care.

Alllll these practices are different doors to the same place:

A deeper, stronger, more rooted self-connection… and a well-tended You.

Alas, much of the muddiness surrounding spirituality comes from people narrowly, blindly believing that what speaks to them should speak to everyone. Not true.

Obviously, no two humans are the same. We all have unique tastes and preferences, beliefs and values, things we’re attracted to or repulsed by. This variance is normal, healthy, and necessary. Life would be so fucking dull if we were one amorphous blob.

Regardless of what calls to you and what you choose, the importance of your spiritual practice cannot be understated—if you want to live, as they say, “your best life.”

Your spirit won’t tend itself.

Nobody else will tend your spirit for you.

Not tending your spirit will lead to suppression, stagnancy, and suffering.

Are you willing to tolerate that?

There are very real, very damaging consequences to spiritual neglect.

An untended self is the wasteland in which festers anxiety and depression, nihilism and hopelessness, stunted growth and immaturity, procrastination and emotional avoidance, missed opportunities, chronic stress, and the loss of joy and purpose.

Uncomfortable as this may be to hear, suffering with these symptoms is a choice.

True personal growth demands learning the nuances of your particular energy, your You, understanding what’s necessary to support energetic engagement, flow, and settling… and doing the work to integrate what helps and soothes you into your life.

That is Spirituality: the act of listening to and tending your inner world.

And no… tending You isn’t always easy—especially in the beginning—but the ease you can, in time, obtain through this practice is… profound, revelatory, and freeing.

So welcome the discomfort with a big ‘ol squishy bear hug.

Tend what’s alive within you, the dark and the light.

Dare yourself to become more than you are.

Bare your teeth and push your edges.

Why not?

With love from the forest,

~ Alexander