What is spirituality? How do you define it for yourself and what does it ultimately mean to you in your life? How you define spirituality for yourself has a big impact on your experience and also your relationship to this intangible dimension of life that we all long to know more intimately. On a very fundamental level we can define spirituality as everything that deals with matters of our spirit (or our soul). Each and every one of us have an aspect of ourselves that is invisible but still very real. In fact this invisible part of ourselves is the very essence of our lives and spirituality is about being connected with this spiritual part while being in the physical world.

We all have spiritual experiences all the time. Spirituality is not just about recognizing these spiritual experiences, but consciously seeking these experiences and to develop a greater sensitivity to the spiritual in life. It’s about growing this tiny spark that’s inside each and every one of us to become a more dominant force in your everyday life. By nurturing the seeds of divinity that’s inside each and every one of us, you can start to deliberately work with the very ‘laws’ that govern all of life and the physical world.

Everything in the physical world emanates from an invisible source. Spirituality connects you with this profoundly and powerful divine force that’s present in all of the universe. So often we try and change our physical circumstances by ‘moving things around’ in the physical world. The transforming truth about spirituality is that the solutions to our external conditions lie inside. The outer world flows from the inner world. When you are connected to your own spirituality you are connected to the very source of everything in the world. You uplift your world by first transforming and uplifting your own inner world and your inner vision.

The greatest challenge is that many people define spirituality by religious connotations and religion is almost exclusively based on outward experience and conforming to someone else’s rules. Spirituality is not so much about external observations, but more about inner experiences. It is deeply personal and something that only you can truly define for yourself since these inner experiences are often very hard to fully express in words and explanations.

Since the seeds of divinity is already inside you (it is the essence of life), hearing the right words may trigger within you your own awakening to a higher level of consciousness. This is a spiritual consciousness that transcends the physical world and your ordinary sensory perceptions of life. From this point of view religion can be very useful in assisting you to find your own spiritual centre, but religion without spirituality can be very empty and most often it becomes an emotional experience rather than a spiritual one.

For the most part religion is riddled with superstition, rules and dogma. It’s predominantly based on someone else’s beliefs and experiences rather the personal experience of God within. It’s a bit like wearing someone else’s shoes – even if it is the right size it feels uncomfortable, but if you wear it enough eventually you get used to it until it becomes your very own.

One of the most powerful and useful ways to define spirituality for yourself is to recognize and nurture that divine spark deep within you. As you grow in your understanding of this spiritual dimension you will be able to transcend the illusion of everyday awareness. Ultimately spirituality is about enriching your experience of life and to see a greater sense of meaning and purpose in life. Regardless of how you define spirituality, it is that still silent voice deep within. It is your spirit and it is your constant companion on life’s journey. It is your own personal connection to the higher intelligence that’s present in all of life.

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What is enlightenment? This question has become very controversial and in many ways it went from a religious quest to a philosophical quest. In fact, it’s become so debated that there’s a magazine dedicated to the subject. WIE (What Is Enlightenment) is a magazine well worth picking up and it’s on the cutting edge of modern thinking about spirituality and higher consciousness.

Finding a definitive definition for spiritual enlightenment can be quite a challenge. Expressing in words the magnitude of this inner realization that we have come to define as enlightenment, almost always fails to fully explain the conviction and experience of having that profoundly connected feeling. The idea of enlightenment is often misunderstood as a goal or a state of mind that you have to reach in order to be truly spiritual. The idea of enlightenment is multidimensional and offers us some great insights into life and our own spiritual path.

A greater understanding of the meaning of enlightenment will help us to understand more of that spiritual dimension of life. To better understand what enlightenment is, let’s look at three great insights about what it might mean.

The first great insight into enlightenment is that it is a higher awareness. This higher awareness is an awareness of something higher or beyond ordinary everyday awareness (which is almost a state of ‘sleepwalking’ for most people). We all experience life through our sense and for the vast majority of people their experience of life is confined to this sensory experience. There is, however another level of life; a level that is beyond the mere sensory experience. God, soul, spirit – call it what you will is that presence deep within you that’s your constant companion in life. In fact it is the essence of who you really are.

This higher awareness is about recognizing that you are not just a physical being with the occasional spiritual experiences, but that you are in fact a spiritual being having a human experience. In the New Testament, St. Paul said that “you are in this world, but you are not from this world.” This awareness will help you to see past most of the mundane daily struggles that keeps so many people bogged down in an unhappy life. Whenever you are aware of this higher power in your life, you are in an enlightened state. By turning your thoughts to God, you automatically turn your thoughts inwards and become aware of God’s presence in your life.

The second great insight into enlightenment is that the world is the way it is because it is the way it is. Everything is the way it is and the proof for it is that it ‘is’. The question is what are you doing with what ‘is’. Enlightenment has been described as the quiet acceptance of everything. When you realize that everything in this universe happens according to divine law, you will have the insight that things don’t just happen and that there are no mistakes in this perfect system. We tend to strive only for an illusive state of ‘perfection’ and when things don’t work the way we want them to, we tend to call it ‘bad’.

The truth is that underneath our shallow perceptions there is something bigger and greater at work and this is why all the great sages were able to remain at peace in the face of great challenges. They knew that in this world nothing ever goes wrong. When Jesus was crucified he was able to forgive, knowing that even that was part of the perfectly orchestrated universe. When things don’t seem to be working for you, maybe there is something else that is working.

The third great insight into enlightenment is probably the most important. This insight is that every time you are at peace you are enlightened. Inner peace, although it has very little value in our culture, is probably the most important thing anyone of us can have in our lives. With a sense of inner peace you are truly happy and content with your Self. In this state your mind is quiet and you are connected to God. God and peace is synonymous and when you have inner peace you have God within. Inner turmoil suffocates your spirit and builds a wall around your consciousness that prevents you from living from your higher self and seeing life with a greater sense of clarity.

Enlightenment is within your reach. It’s not something to attain but rather something you connect with. It’s a state of being where you are united with your true spiritual origin – it is when you are connected with God and therefore everything in creation. Connectedness leads us to the realization that we are all one, which removes conflict and gives us a sense of inner peace which allows us to joyfully accept everything.