Shahil Magar
Smaller amounts of philosophy lead to atheism, but larger amounts bring us back to God.
— Fancis Bacon
Spirituality (from Latin ‘spiritus’: breath) is discovering yourself i.e. your soul, understanding how you are not your mind and body, and your relationship with a higher power if it exists. Philosophy (from Greek ‘philosophia’: love of wisdom) is posing questions, mainly those not asked before. They both deal with the questions pertaining to God: if God exists; what God wants; why God created us; how God wants us to live; is God a part of us or us a part of God and so on. Similar to each other, the two are highly needed if one is to make one’s life both extraordinarily successful and yet peaceful. Likewise, in recent times of the COVID pandemic, one can handle the situation effortlessly if one tries to be both spiritual and philosophical. In this essay, I will attempt to describe spirituality more than philosophy and more on their interrelation.
There is no doubt that there is spirituality in philosophy and philosophy in spirituality as long as we consider the Eastern traditions. The Western school of philosophy has a slightly different outlook on the main purpose of philosophy; it is to rattle our minds and realize that we are in a deep hole. As Gilles Deleuze, a 20th century French philosopher said, “The use of philosophy is to sadden. A philosophy that saddens no one, that annoys no one, is not a philosophy. It is useful for harming stupidity, for turning stupidity into something shameful.” On the other side of the globe, philosophy such as that of Buddhism primarily focuses on liberation from suffering (दुःख) and achieving salvation through Nirvana; escape from endless cycle of rebirth and death. However, German pessimist philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer’s work is an example of the combination of both schools of the Western thought (especially Kant’s transcendental idealism) as well as the Eastern ones. He wrote, in his main work, ‘The World as Will and Representation’, the first sentence, as follows:
‘The world is my representation’: – this holds true for every living, cognitive
being. It immediately becomes clear and certain to one that one is not
acquainted with either the sun or the earth, but rather only with an eye that
sees a sun, with a hand that feels an earth, and that the surrounding world
exists only as representation, that is, exclusively in relation to something
else, the representing being that he himself is. (23)
In this way, Schopenhauer’s theory resonates with Hindu and Buddhist philosophies which states that the material world is an illusion and is not objectively real. Specifically considering Buddhism, similarities centered on the principles that life involves suffering, that suffering is caused by desire (taṇhā), and that the extinction of desire leads to liberation. For Schopenhauer, ‘will’ had ontological primacy over the intellect; desire is prior to thought. He felt this was similar to notions of puruṣārtha or goals of life in Vedānta Hinduism. (“Arthur Schopenhauer”)
Similarly, Buddhism and Stoicism, an Athenian-found philosophy, are also similar in the sense that they both advocate against enslavement by desires. Founded by Zeno in early 3rd century BC, Stoicism has been kindled by Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus. Stoicism is a branch of philosophy which teaches one to overcome destructive emotions like anger, jealousy, sadness, etc. rationally and asserts that virtue is the highest good. As Nassim Taleb said, “A Stoic is a Buddhist with attitude.” Both of them also had a nontheistic worldview. As a religion, Buddhism supports the questioning of their beliefs as well. This reflects its philosophical character.
Philosophy deals with questions such as: what is our identity, how we came, why we came, where we will go, how we should live, etc. Spirituality is knowing the answers to these questions. Some people retreat to spirituality when they are successful in their career, have a good social life but still feel that something is lacking. Other people refer to spirituality much earlier in life due to familial influence. Most of the people seek spirituality at their lowest point of their lives: when they have nothing to live for; when they see futility in their work and lives as a whole; when they simply adopt a nihilist attitude towards life. These causes are also some of the reasons that people dive into philosophy, mainly to know the answer for the question: “What is the meaning of life?” The answer itself, which differs individually, is not as good as the search for the answer. In the search for the answer, we develop ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and socially as well. Nowadays, people in their free time which is extracted from the pandemic, are trying to develop themselves mostly by reading books as they have to stay indoors. Books concerning philosophy and spirituality are found to be much more effective than self-help books which are found on the market nowadays. I am not asserting that every self-help book is a bad read. Some of them are life-changing for some, but each patient healed is one customer lost for the ‘self-help’ industry. Moreover, most of the self-help books are found to be the derivatives of spirituality and philosophy books. Furthermore, people have become both philosophical and started to show interest in spirituality as well as they had to tackle the questions mentioned above.
Spirituality is generally disregarded by the atheist populace. Humorously, spirituality has little to do with God, belief and thinking and everything to do with oneself, realization and feeling. In the 21st century, it is not unusual that people disapprove of ideas which have no scientific studies to show. Do spiritual healing and cleansing actually work or are they just a placebo effect? It is highly debatable. There is no scientific evidence whatsoever but people do report cure of ailments and illnesses assertively. Sometimes even serious health diseases are found to be cured which were deemed incurable by medical practitioners. Some of the healing techniques include pranic healing and reiki healing. One testimonial of a successful pranic healing session is given below.
Inside a concrete room, Roshan Kunwar is sitting on a chair, silently. Although his throat is burning like wildfire and he can hardly swallow a thing, he tries to calm himself as much as he can. After a painful few minutes, he completely surrenders to a pranic healer, who then slowly starts moving her hands along his neck area. And suddenly, all his pain is gone. Without even getting touched or taking any medicine, he starts feeling relief on his neck, and the burning sensation that was troubling him is no more. “The pain went away magically in just one seating that I didn’t need to take medication later,” says Kunwar, 25, who initially was not sure that pranic healing would cure his problem. (Khadgi)
Nowadays, advancement in the spiritual path has become levels as in video games where players compare themselves. As an example, one would compare their duration of meditation with another one. They are missing the point about bragging it. You should, of course, share your progress in the spiritual path. In doing so, one should always remember that they should focus singly on the process, not on the results. When one meditates, one should not think about its benefits but rather be in the present moment feeling with no thinking.
Things one can do to advance spiritually which obviously helps in mental health as well:
Meditation
When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place. – Bhagavad Gita
Mindfulness of body, emotions and mind.
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. – Carl Jung
Attention to the present moment only.
Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be. – Eckhart Tolle
Yoga and breathing exercises.
Body is the bow, asana is the arrow and soul is the target. -B.K.S. Iyengar
Reading books.
The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries. -René Descartes
Some good books interrelated to both spirituality and philosophy are ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Victor Frankl, ‘Bhagavad Gita’, ‘Meditations’ by Marcus Aurelius, ‘The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle, ‘Tao Te Ching’ by Lao Tzu among many others.
Acceptance and forgiveness.
A man is unhappy as he has convinced himself he is. – Seneca
Good speech, thought and action.
I was in darkness, but I took three steps and found myself in paradise. The first step was a good thought, the second, a good word; and the third, a good deed. – Friedrich Nietzsche
Works Cited
Khadgi, Ankit. “Does pranic healing work?” The Kathmandu Post, 12 March 2020, https://kathmandupost.com/health/2020/03/12/does-pranic-healing-work. Accessed 21 April 2021.
Schopenhauer, Arthur. ‘The World as Will and Representation’: Volume 1. Translated by Judith Norman, Alistair Welchman and Christopher Janaway. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Wikipedia Contributors. “Arthur Schopenhauer.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 April 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer. Accessed 22 April 2021.
[Shahil is a student of law at Kathmandu University School of Law, Dhulikhel.]