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We’ve just been celebrating the 40th anniversary of a person landing on the moon. I’ve enjoyed watching the programmes and I’m just old enough to remember when it actually happened. There is still something very exciting about seeing it happen and it’s a real testiment to the ability of people to achieve great things when they are motivated enough.

One of the programmes I watched was about the people who walked on the moon. Two things strike me in particular about their experience.

The first is that they are just very ordinary people who still seem a little amazed that they were the ones who got to go to the moon. There was a clip of Neil Armstrong’s parents on a T.V. programme when he had just been picked for the space programme and they were just very ordinary people – like anyone’s mum or dad. You don’t have to be superman to achieve great things.

The next thing came at the end of the programme. The astronauts were speaking about how the moon landings had affected them. Every one of them that were interviewed said something about the spiritual impact of looking back at the earth from such a distance and seeing this small blue disk hanging in a great expanse of black. This had a profound effect on them which even today 40 years after can bring tears to the eyes of an astronaut. It took that distance to make them think bigger than they normally did. At a moment when technology had given them the chance to walk on another world, and at a moment when they were surrounded by technology to keep them alive, and at a moment when we might suppose they would think about the brilliance of mankind, they thought of God.

So I want to encourage you to think bigger. Try to see beyond the obious stuff of life and see the bigger picture. Why not get a picture of the earth from a distance and spend time thinking about the bigger picture of life.

There is a tendency at the moment to see the “self” as something bad, after all self is part of the word selfishness and we know what kind of bad things stem from being selfish. Various forms of religions/world views offer us an understanding of what the self is and its importance.

There are three broad strands of thinking in spiritual terms when it comes to thinking about the self.

The first of these is the idea that god is impersonal and so the self does not exist or is essentially something to escape from. We see this idea in many of the ancient faiths of the east and in much of the so called New Age movement. Buddha, for instance, saw his greatest moment of spiritual achievement as being released from the self. As Buddha himself once put it: ““Life is suffering.” This turns the self into something to escape from and so in spiritual terms we need to be released from the self if we are to achieve wholeness. Happiness and enjoyment and success are alien to this way of thinking because they are things that concern the self.

The next is the atheistic approach. We see this in many of the philosophies of the early to mid part of the 20th century. Here the self is whatever we choose it to be. We can decide for ourselves what we want to be or where we find wholeness. In much atheistic literature we read that there are no limits for the self at all. However if we try to find a purpose or meaning in life then we discover ultimately that there is none. This approach truly does lead to selfishness and it can do no other. Ideals of getting benefits from helping others will in the end come down to the benefit to yourself in doing this.

The third approach comes from the Judeo-Christian-Islamic faiths where God is viewed in a personal, even intimate, way. Here the self is a created being who finds purpose and meaning within the purposes of God. God who is working to make right a world gone wrong gives meaning and purpose to those who will help him. Yes the self can become selfish but that is not a part of the approach to spirituality that we talk about but is part of the broken world God is trying to mend. Here we find our purpose and reason for being in following God. Within this view of spirituality the self is important but the self is also part of the whole that works towards the building of a kingdom of God.

It is, of course, up to you where you want to seek your spirituality but it’s the latter of the three approaches that makes the most sense to me.

Perhaps the biggest question any of us has to face is the about the existence of the soul. Is there something about us that lives on after death? Is there something in us that is not just physical but which can reach out to something beyond the physical.

Some scientists want us to believe that the only thing that is real is the physical world. If you can’t poke it with a stick then it doesn’t exist. Of course they go further than wanting to poke things with a stick but this is the essence of the argument. Then others seem to think that the physical is just an illusion. Who is right?

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Escaping from the busy-ness of life would be great, wouldn’t it? Don’t we all want a chance to get away from it all and find that little oasis where all of our troubles are gone and we can be perfectly happy? Yet when we try so often we fail. We have holidays that take us five days to settle in to and then we have to start thinking about getting back. Or we anticipate a future where maybe this might just be possible – perhaps when we retire we can enjoy this temple of peace.

If you are looking for this temple then read on …

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How busy are you? Most of us complain about how busy we are. No time to do anything – not even enough to do what we have to. There are jobs to do at work and at home. And have you ever tried bringing up four children and then have time for anything? How can I be less busy and how can I find time for anything spiritual anyway?

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One of the keys to spirituality is learning to see. You must learn to see things that you have never really noticed before. This will help you enjoy the world around you more.

Our brains are very clever because they help us to filter out the familiar so we can cope with life. If we were forced to experience everything around us as though we had only just seen it for the first time we would soon go mad. As we get up in the morning or go outside we do not have to cope with all the sights and smells and feelings. For general living this is a good thing but for our spirit this is bad.

In the first part of this series we are going to explore how we can learn to see.

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Overview

In this post we explore a way of looking at your life that will help you to gain wholeness. Life as many parts and this is just one way of thinking about them. Within this view is that we find harmony in life through the correct ordering of things. People are made up of four aspects all of which are interdependant: body, heart, mind and soul.

How are we put together?

There is an approach to life that can help build happiness and success. It finds its roots in many of the major world religions and in ancient western thought and is also grounded in modern approaches to life management.

We are made up from four different aspects. These four combine to make the whole of who we are. Within life we should seek harmony within our self. Harmony is about achieving balance through everything being in its rightful place. However each aspect of life seeks to be dominant and will take control if allowed to do so. It is up to us to maintain control within ourselves.

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Spiritual experiences are good for you. They help you gain perspective and appreciate the world around you. But where do you go to get these experiences? They aren’t found on the shelf of the local supermarket so where do you go to get them?

But what is a spiritual experience?

Perhaps you have already had spiritual experiences? What about watching a sunrise/sunset? What about swimming with dolphins? What about climbing a mountain? Or perhaps holding a new born child? I’ve even heard people who describe massage as a spiritual experience. I guess it will vary for us all but ultimately it must be when we experience something that is outside of ourselves, when we touch the divine.

You could seek them in the wisdom of others

This is just what many people do. They seek out the wisdom of ‘holy people’ in an effort to discover where these spiritual experiences are to be found. After all it makes sense that you might tap into the experiences through the wisdom of someone who already has those experiences.

However just listening to others will not bring you a spiritual experience.

Perhaps they might be found in holy places

 People travel for many thousands of miles in search of the ultimate spiritual experience. There are holy places all around the world. It makes sense that if others have had an experience in these places perhaps we can have them too. However many people leave holy places not really feeling anything. They may get a sense of peace or of the occasion but many people feel nothing in these places.

The reality is that these spiritual experiences come from within

It may surprise you to know that those experiences that so many people are searching for actually come from within us. You don’t have to travel any distance at all to get a sense of the divine in your life. You can get it right here and right now. The most incredible spiritual experiences come from simply sitting quietly and reaching out for God.

As a Christian I believe that God is accessible to all who search for Him. Just take some time to pray. You don’t need to travel anywhere (not even to the local church) to have the most profound of spiritual experiences.

So why not stay at home and pray.