The hypothesis is that if we are going to live fulfilling lives, we must prioritize spiritual fulfillment: rest, caring, love, tenderness, fun, joy, weakness, pain, growth, community, communion with nature, exercise, etc. I would say that "back in the day", many people got these things mainly through religion. They also got the bad parts as well: guilt, shame, dominance, ignorance, violence, trauma, brainwashing, war, sexism, classism, racism, etc.
Religiosity, in my day-to-day, and in that of many of my peers, is minimally impactful. I don't go to minyan, or even pray every morning. Even beyond religion, I rarely engage spirituality actively. I often prioritize work, family obligations, friend obligations, social media, travel, consumerism, video games, housework, TV, restaurants, etc. ahead of any kind of meaningful spiritual fulfillment.
I must prioritize the things that are actually improving my spiritual fulfillment, and question the value of everything else. The idea that there is not enough time is a straw man. I was lying in bed doing transformational breathing, and I hit the 20-minute mark, and I had 10 minutes left to go, and I felt a real pang of guilt that I was spending a whole thirty minutes on this indulgent exercise and then, as my palms and legs tingled and I became lightheaded, I realized that anything else I did today, or even this week might not be as important as this moment of self-love and exploration. Challenging myself to breathe continuously for thirty minutes, having a mild out-of-body experience is exactly where I wanted to be. Everything else can piss off.
It begins with practice. Spirituality is not something to be engaged, thankfully, in the abstract. It is lived through. What are the practices that I will calendar to engage in this, and will I make it the priority, or will I let other obligations get in the way? How deep can I go into my mind and intellectualism? Where will it take me?
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