Spiritual = Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material.
Many people have given the word spirit many different meanings, but the real fact is that the word spirit comes from the Latin word Spirare, which means breath, breathe, or breathe life into, and the root of the word is inspiration. Each and everything that has life is spiritual—simply because it has to breathe.
People who meditate, practices conscious breathing at the same time while meditating because being in-tuned to the breath works wonders. Mystics teach being in the moment, and practicing conscious breathing at the same time leads to a high state of being. Breath is what binds all of us together, but yet we separate ourselves from each other.
On the one hand, "spirit" is understood as something to be feared, as belonging to the realm of ghosts and demons. Superstitions and myths have thus been built around this particular interpretation. Thus many now shy away whenever the word "spirit" is mentioned, for it conjures in their minds visions of hauntings and often the most fantastic ideas, which have only been promoted by horror films.
This has engendered a great amount of fear in many people. Fear is unnatural according to the Laws of Creation. It can develop only when a human being has no real grip on life, when his knowledge of God and His Laws is lacking. Consequently, a great deal of karma is brought about through fostering such a fearful concept.
In short: spirit is the living animating core within each of us, the driving force behind all that we think, say and do.
Every action, whether impulsive or premeditated, is first and foremost willed by the spirit before it is channeled through the various connections that allow it to manifest in this physical world (or World of Matter). Our thoughts, words and deeds originate from this spiritual core. There is not a single thing we do that is excluded from this. We are first and foremost spiritual beings, incarnated on earth for the purpose of learning, maturing and perfecting ourselves.
The spirit within us is our real self! And yet when asked this question "what is ‘spirit’?", hardly anyone will answer: "it is me, myself, my true being"! However, just this right interpretation of "spirit" will provide the necessary answers to all questions in due course. To know that the spirit is one’s own real innermost self is the first stage of spiritual enlightenment.
The spirit dons the body like a garment at birth (incarnation) and lays it aside at death. The spirit works through the physical body during this lifetime, which it needs in order to mature and develop to perfection. Once the spirit has attained to this goal, it can then return to its high luminous origins where it can continue to work in peace and harmony with others who have done the same.
This spirit is of a substance totally alien to anything material. The spirit cannot be found in matter, because their nature and consistency are completely different from each other. Spirit originates from the high realms of the beyond, it is pure and immortal in its primeval form.
However, spirit has the capacity to form and shape its environment by exerting a pressure on it. It is able to direct the process of movement in its surroundings, and in this way it animates the physical body that it dwells in.
Thus while it may seem like our physical bodies perform all the actions as directed by the brain, everything really originates from within the spirit! The spirit makes the decisions - it is the source of the much-praised "free will". Everything that is willed by the spirit is channeled to the brain before the latter converts it to deed through the physical body. The brain is merely a tool, an "interpreter" of commands that really have their origin in the spirit.
The preceding words mention the "free will" of man. Human beings have always wondered what really is the free will, when it appears that so many are victims of fate. Those who are familiar with the ancient Indian philosophy are more fortunate, in this regard, because they accept the Law of Karma.
The ability to make decisions is given to us in the free will. It is part of this very spiritual core that we bear within ourselves. We can make decisions that influence and direct ourselves as well as our environment. This can be either upbuilding or damaging. But whatever we do in Creation, we do solely for ourselves, that is to say, everything that we do returns to us so that we may fully experience whether what we did was upbuilding or destructive. Through this we learn and mature spiritually so that in the future we will do only that which is upbuilding.
It is only through this process of learning that the formless spirit-core of man becomes a living and active spirit in Creation! Hence, it needs the free will in order to develop towards this goal, where it performs only those kinds of deeds that are of benefit to all Creation. When it has reached this degree of personal recognition and consciousness, it has achieved the goal of its existence.
The free will is therefore an integral quality of the spirit. The ability to make personal choices that influence and direct Creation is what constitutes a spiritual being. The animal lacks this ability, because its level of influence is just the immediate ecosystem. The animal lives on the impulse, in its struggle to survive. The human being lives through his personal decisions, of which there are many he makes every hour.
Those who strive towards spiritual enlightenment will easily understand what is stated here, because these are simple and most logical concepts. As they awaken in the ensuing enlightenment, they will also recognize another attribute that goes hand in hand as a balancing force for this ability to make decisions. This balancing force is the "intuitive perception", which ensures that the spirit is helped to make the right kind of decisions so that it does not burden itself karmatically through wrong decisions.
The intuitive perception, like the free will, is part and parcel of the human spirit! Through the intuition, man can correctly choose his path in Creation, so long as he listens to it. It is therefore important that his ability to make decisions is guided by his intuition… and not by his intellect, which latter is meant only to transform into physical deed that which was already decided by the spirit!
