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I begin by stating what it means not to be spiritual or religious or with the following analogy: A religion person is one who has led a good life with the expectation of going to heaven and not to hell and a spiritual person is a person who has been to hell back and is a good person in spite of it.

Let me begin with the following thought: a person who is spiritual gives no thought to being spiritual. They live it. How? Let me provide four suggestions:

1) It begins with self understanding requiring the inner work of who we are. This prerequisite eliminates some people who prefer to stay with the external. With inner work, it reveals our shadow and the scars in our heart and soul. People who go to therapy are frequently spiritual in that the process reveals the scars and the shadow and the counseling suggests ways to improve.

2) Connected to self understanding and the inner reflection of the scars and the shadow, it is imperative for the spiritual person to heal. Healing is not the same as curing. Healing, to me, means being whole by accepting circumstances and yourself as a whole person.

3) Spiritual people are accountable for their actions. Former President Harry Truman was spiritual when he said, "the buck stops here". In life and particularly at work, many people work hard at blaming others for their woes. In the work world the person lowest on the hierarchy is often blamed. This accountability also is reflective in our relationships through the practice of remorse and not guilt. With guilt, we feel bad based on what we did or did not do.Guilt is ego based. Remorse focuses on other person and how our action has hurt them.Remorse is the prerequisite to sincerely apologizing and admitting wrong. hence, the action expressses humilioty. Spiritual teacher Charlotte Joko Beck in her book Nothing Special said: " We mature spiritually when we begin to feel sorry for what we did to others rather than what others have done to us". How many people are walking around with the resentment which allows others to live rent free in the head.

4) Spiritual people are one with the Universe. How can we possibly be one with the Universe? It is a most difficult challenge requiring the management of our ego. It is our ego that separates and alienates us from each other. The ego is desperately wanting to be the center of attention although we are all a bit off center. The ego raises healthy disagreement to conflect in order to protect the feeling feeling we are are right. Psychologist Carl Jung said: " I would rather whole than right"!

The process of being spiritual is a life long process. Being spiritual is not for people practicing the Western belfief of " been there, done that"!

Learn more about this author, Joseph Wardy.
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