What is the point of spirituality?

[Joshe]

Regarding the pursuit of spirituality, it seems people are motivated by: 

• Attaining a permanent state of awe (replacing negative emotion with positive)
• Exploring and finding easter eggs within consciousness (fun times)
• Getting high from cracking the puzzles and discovering new insights (fun times)
• Traversing the complexity of consciousness (fun times)

I'm sure there are more, but these seem to be dominant. So what is the point? 

Mostly seems like hedonism and running from pain, masquerading as purpose. 

Seems to me, the higher pursuit would be to ground spirituality in physical reality and use it to make oneself an instrument of good in this world rather than seek to "transcend" it all together. Unless there's some point besides just chasing some state some guru talks about. 

All the theories you find, and all the states you experience — no matter how intricate and beautiful — seem like a waste of time if not grounded in the real world. Essentially like a traveler traveling the world in pursuit of evermore beautiful landscapes. Eventually, with enough awareness, the traveler realizes that making the point of life to cast one's eyes upon a landscape is ridiculous. 

Edited Tuesday at 06:53 PM by Joshe

[samijiben]

Point is on top your head lololol

[Eskilon]

8 minutes ago, Joshe said:

Seems to me, the higher pursuit would be to ground spirituality in physical reality and use it to make oneself an instrument of good

Well it can be for some people, but I don`t see how this is higher than anything.

 

8 minutes ago, Joshe said:

 rather than seek to "transcend" it all together

Transcendece is beautiful, I would argue even more so than staying in consensus reality and the standard state of consciousness of mankind.

 

The point of spirituality is.. Freedom and fullfilment. You are searching for completeness. If you don`t do spirituality you will always chase your own tail(desire) without ever tasting completeness.

Edited Tuesday at 06:40 PM by Eskilon

[Joshe]

5 minutes ago, Eskilon said:

Well it can be for some people, but I don`t see how this is higher than anything.

Yeah, I guess I'm just putting my opinion out there. If we're to construct a game, it seems the higher game to me. This is obviously just my opinion and preference, but something just seems immature/childish/selfish about the other ways. To each their own though. 

9 minutes ago, Eskilon said:

Transcendece is beautiful, I would argue even more so than staying in consensus reality and the standard state of consciousness of mankind.

Of course it is. So are many landscapes. 

[Joshe]

11 minutes ago, samijiben said:

Point is on top your head lololol

😂 That cracked me up

[Eskilon]

11 minutes ago, Joshe said:

Of course it is. So are many landscapes. 

Yes. But transcendence isn`t content like other landscapes -- it`s structure.

[Joshe]

13 minutes ago, Eskilon said:

Yes. But transcendence isn`t content like other landscapes -- it`s structure.

It's all structure. Ultimately, there is no difference in being in awe of a beautiful transcendent experience and being in awe of a beautiful landscape you cast your eyes upon. 

They're both experiences that you witness and then they pass. And when they pass, there you are, the same as you were, but maybe wishing for another experience. So go chase another, and another. 

That's the game I'm saying is lower. Awe, fade, seek, repeat, while hoping some day the awe becomes permanent. 

Edited Tuesday at 07:14 PM by Joshe

[Eskilon]

10 minutes ago, Joshe said:

It's all structure. Ultimately, there is no difference in being in awe of a beautiful transcendent experience and being in awe of a beautiful landscape you cast your eyes upon. 

It`s all structure and at the same time it isn`t. Don`t forget your strange-loops

 

10 minutes ago, Joshe said:

They're both experiences that you witness and then they pass. And when they pass, there you are, the same as you were, but maybe clinging to wanting another experience. So go chase another, and another. 

No. Spirituality will permanently change your state. Don`t assume that it will pass, like a high from weed for example.

Spirituality is meant to radically recontextualize your present experience and your state of consciousness.

I think your point here is more against pyschedelics, where you change your state and know what`s behing the scenes, and then come back down. But this coming back down is never the same person you were before -- this is a crucial point. Moreover, you should combine pyschedelics with meditation so you can gradually change your state to higher levels and by and by leave psychedelics.

Edited Tuesday at 07:16 PM by Eskilon

[Joshe]

17 minutes ago, Eskilon said:

It`s all structure and at the same time it isn`t. Don`t forget your strange-loops

 

No. Spirituality will permanently change your state. Don`t assume that it will pass, like a high from weed for example.

Spirituality is meant to radically recontextualize your present experience and your state of consciousness.

I think your point here is more against pyschedelics, where you change your state and know what`s behing the scenes, and then come back down. But this coming back down is never the same person you were before -- this is a crucial point. Moreover, you should combine pyschedelics with meditation so you can gradually change your state to higher levels and by and by leave psychedelics.

To me, the point of spirituality is things like becoming light-hearted, open, loving, kinder, accepting, lowering neuroticism, and things like this that can actually have a positive impact on oneself and the world. These are obviously useful and helpful and worthwhile. This is the higher game.

The lower game is what I see being played around here. Spiritual bypassing and endless intellectual novelty. Psychedelics are being used to serve these.

Edited Tuesday at 07:33 PM by Joshe

[Eskilon]

4 minutes ago, Joshe said:

To me, the point of spirituality is things like becoming light-hearted, open, loving, kinder, accepting, lowering neuroticism, and things like this that can actually have a positive impact on oneself and the world. These are obviously useful and helpful and worthwhile. This is the higher game.

I see. This is true, one will become that if he goes into spirituality, but I dont see that as the final "goal". I see it as a consequence of the path.

For me, spirituality is about knowing what Death is, and who You are. And to know this things you should use whatever method fits you. Everything else after that is a bonus, which generally includes what you mention here.

7 minutes ago, Joshe said:

The lower game is what I see being played around here. Spiritual bypassing and endless intellectual novelty. Psychedelics is just a tool to serve these. 

Yes, there are a lot of unserious people on this forum. But hey, I also think this forum is one of the most cool places on the internet -- you can't have everything lol. 

[Jordan]

Isn't the point to know yourself more deeply so you can make good choices and live a better life? I could ask what the point of being an instrument of good, just live life in the way you think is best.

Edited Tuesday at 07:57 PM by Jordan

[Joshe]

40 minutes ago, Eskilon said:

For me, spirituality is about knowing what Death is, and who You are. And to know this things you should use whatever method fits you.

Good point.

One problem I noticed is that if young, impressionable people wind up on this forum, the first thing they'll likely notice is intellectualism is the main theme. There's all this talk about understanding reality and that can be achieved with deep study and psychedelics and all this. This isn't spirituality but they're being told it is.

That young, impressionable person would be steered in the wrong direction IMO. There's not enough talk around here about embodiment. There's all this talk about growth but I rarely see serious discussions about it.

People here imply that understanding politics, metaphysics, and every facet of reality is somehow essential for spiritual growth. The actual fruits of spirituality dont' require analyzing ideologies, systems, or theories.

The underlying value system seems to prioritize stimulation over transformation. Again, to each their own, but it's at least worth considering. 

Edited Tuesday at 08:15 PM by Joshe

[James123]

@Joshe end of suffering.

[Davino]

To realize God and Infinity.

 

The rest of answers are either tangents, midway or facets of the first statement. 

Edited Tuesday at 08:25 PM by Davino

[James123]

12 minutes ago, Davino said:

To realize God and Infinity.

 

The rest of answers are either tangents, midway or facets of the first statement. 

God is an attachment.

[Breakingthewall]

The point of spirituality is to open your perspective to the true dimension of the game you're involved in. You go around like a donkey with your leather blinders on, which only allow you to see a shitty carrot in front of you, when in reality you are the living infinity in its incessant flow.

Few dare to take off their blinders; they exchange them for more sophisticated ones, but they're still blinders. Right now, total infinity is, and that's who you are. When you look, do you see a carrot, or do you see the unfathomable?

Edited Tuesday at 09:35 PM by Breakingthewall

[Breakingthewall]

22 minutes ago, James123 said:

God is an attachment.

God is a blinder of gold and diamonds, but a blinder. 

[UnbornTao]

Depends on what you mean by spirituality and what your goals are. Essentially, I'd say that its ultimate purpose is becoming conscious of the absolute truth, aka "awakening." 

Another purpose could be to become increasingly honest with oneself - aligned with what's true on every level.

Edited Wednesday at 03:46 PM by UnbornTao

[Davino]

1 hour ago, James123 said:

God is an attachment.

God is also the hair on your ass.

[aurum]

3 hours ago, Joshe said:

Seems to me, the higher pursuit would be to ground spirituality in physical reality and use it to make oneself an instrument of good in this world rather than seek to "transcend" it all together.

That is generally a good idea, but it's not the highest pursuit.