Recently, however, I was confused of the jealousy a couple of experts have towards a third person, who, while lacking experience in a particular field, had unique knowledge neither of the two experts had. It demonstrated to me, once again, that being a great intellectual doesn't equal to being a great human being. 

What confused me the most about the whole occurence is how someone can become great with using the, mind, body, emotions, or their willpower, yet that which is essentially them remains intact. Regardless of all the education, upbringing and theories, the spiritual virtues stay crippled by stupid things, like jealousy, greed, fear, etc. So two people who have the same anger within them will essentially be the same, regardless of what education they achieve. The only difference will be in the way they express it, since someone brought up correctly and educated might surpress it, or just get into heated arguments, hurt people with sarcasm, while at the other extreme, someone raised by the street might turn into a murderer. 

Ideas, emotions, all of that changes, but love, inner peace, intuition, come from a place that's beyond that. Is this the soul? How do we affect it, how do we help its virtues stand out properly? That's the confusing melody in the weave of life. 

The first kind of sacredness seems to be the most common one. There are sacred rituals (sometimes even driving to work might seem like that), sacred objects (like different relics, churches, etc.), and sacred people (e. g. saints). I think those are either things that we deem to be extremely important, or things with a great historical background, or people who we find inspiring. The problem is in what do we find inspiring. That's something highly subjective. For example, an addict might find that the things they're addicted to are the most sacred thing in their life, everything revolves around it. An intellectual will consider their theories sacred. But that doesn't mean those things are sacred on their own. 

What does it mean to experience something holy?

Every moment can be sacred, because there is a teaching within everything. When you say hi to someone, you can observe how you react to them, what happens when you talk to someone, etc., and that brings up a feeling of reverence towards your life, because we can see there is so much we don't know. The things that are truly sacred might be hidden away if we do things in the usual way, but at the same time they're right in front of our noses. Jesus himself said that the Kingdom of God isn't in a specific place, but it covers the whole world and people can't see it. It's in our mouth, so to speak, but we're not in tune with it.  Then it is a matter of deciding to live in a different way, to respect every day and every moment as an opportunity to do something different and learn something new. Life itself is made sacred then, because it is really a wonderful opportunity that I feel is so easily taken for granted.

It seems that it has a quality most other music lacks. A symphony of Beethoven, for example, feels like a living thing, it's filled with light. If you listen to it, you can feel that basic melody growing, getting stronger and more powerful, so by the end of the piece it reaches full power and leaves you speechless. It's like that with other pieces of classical music, but Beethoven just has a special place in my heart. There are several stories I remember in relation to this kind of music, here is a couple. 

I always had horrible problems with math. It never seemed to work out for me. However, in high-school, I used to listen to Mozart and Beethoven, among others, while practising math problems. That did wonders for me. The music filled my room with powerful vibrations, with a sense of clarity that's hard to describe. It felt like the air itself was lighter and more fresh. Like this, it was much easier to overcome resistance to math, and by the end of high-school I reached grades and knowledge of that subject I never imagined before. 

Another, more mystical story, involves something called astral projection. For those who don't know about it, there is a good introduction here:  http://cli.gs/2WvQ7z Anyway, one particular night I couldn't fall asleep, no matter how hard I tried. To do something useful with the time, I decided to listen to a new CD of mine, containing the 5th and 6th symphony, by Beethoven. I concentrated on the music, trying to absorb it without thinking about it too much. By the end of the CD, I got relaxed, clear and ready to fall asleep. As I fell asleep, a strong vibration passed through my body, and I found myself out of my body, in a state very similar to a lucid dream. As I walked around my room, I felt the vibration of the music within me, like an echo of what I've heard. I realised that the event was caused by the music. I read earlier that sound has power, but in this instance, I was able to feel it very clearly. 

Since then, classical music is definitely the most soothing, calming and spiritual music for me.

OK, so contrary to my popular practice, I won't be making yet another answer to the Questions of the day section. I need to make sure I don't get addicted to those intriguing little things, anyway. :-) 

Today, I've been reminded of the need to seek spiritual things in life. I've also been reminded of a book I've read as a kid, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", by Richard Bach. It's definitely one of my favorites. 

The well-known story is about a seagull, who, unlike other birds of his kind, flies to test his own abilities, trying to reach his potentials, always expanding his horizons. His efforts are rejected by the other seagulls, and they thought of him as foolish, insane, not fit to be a seagull. Eventually, he became an outcast, discovered many things, taught them to others, and most importantly, had a chance to look into something higher, spiritual, eternal. 

For him, flight wasn't just a way to get food and survive, it was a goal in itself. In perfecting something he did every day, he discovered a new path in life. Using the opportunities he had, he transformed the ordinary life into a way to eternity. He didn't reduce himself to the usual bird, just one more in the group, because he had that urge to become something more. But he didn't reduce that urge to the fleeting mess of ideas, emotions and reactions. He understood that all of that is a part of his learning, but not a goal in itself. The goal was something more. 

The story reminds me of a quote from another favorite book of mine, The Flight of the Feathered Serpent:

"It is a great thing to have a precise purpose, to know what one wants. It is much more important than many imagine. But counted are the men that really know what they want in life; some believe to know, but they are mistaken. They confuse the goals with the means they use, and it sometimes happens that the means are their real goal. But since they see them as means, because they can't see further or better, they use great and sublime means for pretty stingy objectives. Like this is how knowledge gets prostituted."

Isn't it a crime to be able to fly and then use it just for the occasional meal? Isn't it at least a mistake to have the capacity to think, feel and question ones own life, and yet never do it? Imagine, we have the capacity to understand our own ignorance and expand our wisdom, yet few use it. Who knows how much lies beyond our mortal coil and beyond what can usually be experienced, in the ordinary life, when we're flying just to get some fish and live another fleeting day. 

I've found how, within myself, I turn spirituality into a tool to go through some mundane situations, when I deem it's required to use spirituality. At other times, when there's plenty of "fish" and no need to fly, I don't investigate it. I just use it here and there. But eternity is far away, and it doesn't move closer with an occasional flight. So, I'll try to fly with more intensity, with more strength, exercising the spiritual in many situations of life, not just a few, flying whenever I can, not just when I have to. Hopefully, I'll find out how it is to soar in eternity, at least for a moment. 

To end this (long) blog entry, I'd like to put a link to a video that helped me in shaping this line of thought presented above. I hope you too will find it helpful. 

 

 

I'm working on a project of sorts, and had to team up with some people who I didn't have much contact with before. Of course, the mind, as it always does, filled in the blanks for me, with different stereotypes, assumptions, etc. When I made the effort to go beyond those, I've found I can cooperate with the people I mentioned, and can do it very efficiently. 

Life seems to be a symphony for me. Unfortunately, we don't always know how to play a melody that adds to it. We frequently play something that completely ruins the melody. Since so many of us do that, it's hard to hear and act according to the original music, because everything we hear and see are sounds cast into chaos, without any order, without any sense of cooperation. Fortunately, that can be overcome, and that's the greatest thing I've learned this week!