Man's Innate Spirituality

No matter how one denies it, man is, by nature, spiritual.

No matter how one insists that he rejects the existence of a supreme deity or the existence of the “soul” just so he can proclaim with pride that he is not an advocate of spirituality, he is, by no means, severed from man’s true nature of asking about things which are not of the physical world. Furthermore, such an arrogant argument is fallacious logic, since spirituality manifests not only in the awareness and acceptance of the metaphysical, but also in the rejection of it, for to reject something is to also acknowledge its possibility; otherwise it merely suggests ridiculous close-mindedness.

It is through man’s innate inclination to what is intangible that gave rise to the diverse religions of the world and the greatest philosophies of old. It gave birth to a wide variety of human beliefs; both morally good and evil. Truth be told, it even started morality itself, from which we base our actions upon.

It is for these reasons that the existence of spirituality is not limited to the issue of whether God exists, but it also encompasses our approaches to our lives’ endeavours, which, by extension, undermines the common notion that if one does not believe in God or life after death, then he is not a spiritual person. To reject spirituality does not in any way mean that one is not associated with it. Rather, the fact that he rejects something which cannot be seen just shows that he takes the trouble of venturing into the spiritual realm, and simply refuses to venture any further; this kind of mindset equally supports the idea that mankind is ultimately spiritual, as the others. Atheism is not being un-spiritual. It’s just one of man’s ways of being so.

Reiterating what I have stated beforehand, man’s spirituality also gave rise to morality; our basis of good and evil. The concept of what is right and wrong is intangible and cannot be proved by chemical tests, or the Large Hadron Collider, or any other experimental technique for that matter. But somehow, this eternal law endured ages. Man is still equipped with the instinct to praise what is good, and frown at what is evil, simply because it was simply accepted that good causes good, while evil causes evil. There were no experiments, no complex mathematical proofs. It was simply that as we humans evolved intellectually, we have somehow also developed this precious spiritual characteristic.

What is good and evil can be considered relative from person to person, from culture to culture; yes, this is true. What is good might have meant the shedding of blood to please idols, and what is evil might have meant letting other species survive. Morality was distorted time and time again, what with the different and often clashing perspectives of different men. But the very existence of morality, and therefore spirituality, in our personalities; that, I believe, is absolute.

It is spirituality that began society. It is the hidden fabric of our political ideologies that forged the governments and hierarchies of the world. It is the invisible thread that made us feel united with the others and felt that someone must lead, that someone must govern for the sake of harmony. It is for this usually disregarded concept that we are here as a thriving civilization.

It is spirituality that gave rise to science. It is the grandest fantasies and ideas of the spiritual world that enticed the mind to search for verifiable answers; hence, the rise of our primary tool of discovery. It’s quite strange that people think that science is actually trying to overthrow spirituality, when it is spirituality that provides our greatest thinkers the necessary questions, which in turn fuels science. Science and spirituality do not clash; they work together.

Man’s inclination to what is unseen has caused chaos, no doubt. But know that it has also caused a great deal of good and progress; the best of which is love. Our ability to love people, despite differences in all aspects, despite of clashing perspectives, to love, this has to be the best thing our spirituality has given us. Don’t such impacts in the course of human life tell us that being spiritual is by all means an integral part of evolution, and is therefore necessary?

To completely reject this part of human nature is to be completely indifferent about it. But won’t it also mean rejecting being human altogether? For spirituality, together with our fallibility, makes us human in the first place?