Over millennia of civilisation mankind has discovered that something extraordinary happens if we can achieve a state of ‘self' forgetting - or more accurately ‘ego' forgetting. In its most complete form the experience is so total that the individual is no longer aware of their ‘individualness'. Each religious tradition calls this state a different name. The name each system applies to this experience does not, of course, effect the experience. Many religions claim to have exclusive access to it. However, the evidence suggests that all the major religions have produced people who have achieved this level of realisation. In other words there are many paths but only one goal.
The first absolutely essential point to make here is that although the ultimate experience seems only to have been reached by relatively few living people, gradations of it are available to all of us.
Secondly, even limited exposure to this experience can make sense of our whole lives. Any of the millions of people who have had any spiritual experience at all will report that it is wonderfully fulfilling. With that fulfilment comes a reference point to view material fulfilments. With that reference point comes perspective. With that perspective comes the ability not only to cope with life's ups and downs, but to direct them constructively. This perspective is Spiritual Literacy.
The Paths The states of ‘self forgetting' can be achieved through various expressions of devotion. Religious people are usually devoted to the condition of God. They usually personify this state in a form they can love. This, of necessity, means God is presented in multi various forms. It goes without saying that the more they can love this condition of love, the more the love they experience. The more love they experience the more they love the experience. Frankly this is a highly effective and accessible approach to spiritual development - but it is not the only one. There are other ways to develop what I later call this ‘Love' or ‘Devotional Muscle'.
We do not have to love the absolute, at least initially, to develop the ‘Devotional muscle'. It can be developed though devoted, selfless service to anything or anybody. Anything that distracts us from love and service of ourselves is constructive.
Initial progress can be made through empathy either with the phenomenal world or art. An activity which involves total focus or empathy with things or beings outside ourselves is spiritually developing. Some religious systems have used the power of our minds to achieve this focus. It can even be achieved physically through Yoga. However the aim of this paper is not to develop specific themes but to discuss basic principles.
In short the most accessible routes to spiritual development are through selfless love, through service, or through empathy in either art or science. I would suggest that all love leads to more love, but that the total love required to achieve the final experience can be most easily acquired when it is absolute perfection that is the object loved. That is the condition of love referred to as God. Spiritual Literacy and the ‘Devotional Muscle'
We all have physical, mental and emotional or ‘devotional muscles' which can either be neglected or developed. We know that if we ignore our physical muscles ill health follows. We need physical exercise to use our bodies to their full. Equally if we ignore our mental muscles, we become frustrated and even limit our ability to think. Education and some level of intellectual challenge are an essential part of mental health.
I would suggest that just as important to our well-being is the development of our Devotional muscles. If these are ignored, our humanity is forgotten. We simply become physical and/or intellectual machines performing the organic functions of life. It is possible to be physically fit and intellectually alert and still be no more human than intelligent animals. Many of us, while aware of our physical and mental capacities, may be totally unaware of our emotional muscles and therefore cannot be expected to have developed them systematically.
What I have called the ‘Devotional muscle' is the ability to love without seeking a return. When this form of love is given, we seek nothing but the well-being of the object of our love. For instance the mother loves her child because she loves her child - not because her child loves her. Equally if, when driving a car we let another driver in, we do it purely for their benefit. We will never see them again. It is a gift given without thought of return. When a shop keeper tells us of another shop where we can buy something that they do not stock, it is a motiveless act. Out of kindness they want to help us. The cultivation of motiveless love is not only a means to spiritual development but in many religious traditions it is an end in itself. Incidentally giving this form of love is supremely satisfying. The mother smiles at the enjoyment of her baby. I find that helpful drivers smile as they help you - just as do kind shop keepers directing me to other shops. It's fun!
Put simply the goal of every religious system is this state of ‘self' forgetting or, put another way, absorption in something not our egos. This can be achieved in a number of different ways. Love is a supremely effective means of achieving this.
Sadly much of our so-called love is qualified by self-seeking which in its grossest form reduces selfless love to nothing more than emotional trade. If we give a present in order to get a present that is merely an exchange of commodities just as we go to shops to acquire the necessities of life in exchange for money. Transacted love may be materially beneficial but will not help us grow spiritually. It needs to be separated from the love that changes us, improves us and makes us greater people. There is nothing dry or irksome in giving motiveless love. It is the joy of mother or fatherhood. It is the love of a true lover. It is the love of a solicitous neighbour. It is also the love of a successful full-time religious. The list is endless.
This ‘Devotional muscle' can be developed. Like physical muscles it needs exercise. It needs an attitude. It often needs an environment. It can need company of things to love, either of people, animals, or nature.
Families Family life can be full of opportunities to enhance ‘Devotional muscle'. The love of the partners themselves can be unself-seeking. The love of parents for their children can be equally unselfish and motiveless. The love of children for their parents can be a self forgetting lifelong commitment. I have used the word ‘can' here because of course we all know that love in marriages is often highly qualified and anything but motiveless. Children may do loving things for their parents in order to get them to do things. Equally parents may do loving things for their children to get them to do things. The parents may also trade their affections to achieve particular ends. However the opportunity within families to develop the pure ‘Devotional muscle' is enormous. Fifty percent success is still fifty percent success.
Communities A mature stable community is also full of opportunities to enjoy and develop the ‘Devotional muscle'. This may manifest itself as simple protective concern and support for its weaker members. It could be providing voluntary services for the community. It could be a neighbour's gentle welcoming hospitality - discreet kindness, warmth or generosity. We all know how these virtues can degrade into self seeking or self promotion. However, equally we have all seen how wonderfully kind our fellow human being can be - and therefore how successfully they have been at developing their ‘devotional muscle'. It is particularly important to observe that people with these abilities are often the happiest and best adjusted members of their communities. Love is success. Generally speaking, spiritually literate communities are full of opportunities for their members to develop their ‘Devotional muscles.
What of those who are not married or do not know their neighbours or generally live in the blur of modern urban life?
Phase one is to know we have a problem. Under the above circumstances it is easy to become hard, self seeking, self motivated and unhappy. This is all too apparent in our cities today. However this can all be turned around by having a pet, a neighbour, plants or anything which we can simply, quietly and constructively love to serve and help. We must, of course, seek nothing in return. It must be love for love's sake. Through this will come joy and above all strengthening of the ‘Devotional muscle'.
Religion is often a science of love. The object loved is the condition of love. Each tradition presents an idealised object of love. As I said earlier this condition is often called God. Religious people build a self-forgetting relationship with God. To do this religious systems create an environment, techniques and above all the people to help their aspirants manifest their love. In a way it is love made easy.
However, talent is involved. Some people will be born luckier than others just as some people are born gardeners. However just as any of us, if directed, can grow simple flowers, we can all learn the basic religious techniques which bring life transforming fruit.
The key is the number of times a day we use our ‘devotional muscle's. We need to consider our environment and our company. We need to consider whether they are effective at delivering a joyful, emotionally developing life. Awareness is the first step. As nobody lives a perfectly successful life we may reasonably assume that improvements can be made. The key is how often our emotional muscles are exercised. It is literally possible to count and so evaluate the effectiveness of our lives - not as we love but afterwards. Calculation cannot degraded love loved. There is absolutely no harm in considering, with hindsight, that we did well or not so well. Equally there is absolutely no harm in creating opportunities to love for love's sake in the future. It is only in the present that love has to be a motiveless gift for it to be beneficial.
If we just develop our physical and intellectual muscles, we neglect our ‘devotional muscle'. This not only diminishes us as human beings but lead to unhappiness. To develop the ‘devotional muscle' requires a suitable environment which can be a family - socially or religiously based. Religions make a science of developing ‘devotional muscles'.
I have developed this theme to include business activity, religion art etc.
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If we are absolutely honest, the objectives of business activity are to:
The catch is in the last objective. Quality of life is not only a goal, but often one of the first things to suffer as business activity increases or succeeds.
Quality of life is, among other things, leisure time and peace of mind. It follows that If we work very hard or ruthlessly our leisure time and our peace of mind are often reduced - and so our quality of life suffers. Of course life is all life. Quality of life is what we seek - at work or not at work. To achieve this goal both work and recreation must be satisfying and spiritually enriching.
Millionaires who work themselves into an early grave by ruthlessly acquiring money in ways that make enemies of everyone they deal with have failed at ‘life'.
The millionaire Howard Hughes could be considered an example of a man who failed at ‘life'. He had access to everything money could buy and thus had succeeded at ‘life' in the materialistic sense. However, he died a lonely, obsessive old man.
Equally, lazy ineffectual people can be as unsuccessful at achieving success at ‘life' as the ruthless entrepreneurs. They may suffer financial worries their business attitude may cause them stress because of their constant failure. Like the millionaire their work stress and worry may affect their leisure time and their family life. Equally their business style may be destructive of people they are trying to do business with.
Obviously few of us suffer the problems of millionaires or the total business failures. Most of us live in an intermediate world in an intermediate way. We cut people up modestly, we tend to let our business life affect our family life - modestly, we worry and stress ourselves to a degree. In short we fail at life in an unspectacular way.
Spiritual Literacy in business means having slightly different goals. We still want to make as much money as possible as efficiently as possible. However the quality of life is not considered just an external product to be acquired but an internal condition to be developed scientifically through empathy with everything and everyone which is a part of business life. To enjoy business we must be with friends and work for friends. We must have the opportunity to love, to develop the devotional muscle.
Whether people are friends or not is of course up to us.
If we are full of good humour, understanding and consideration for our colleagues' feelings and welfare - they become friends. It is fun to be at work and of course it is less stressful and we are less likely to suffer feelings of guilt during and after work. Equally important is that we are surrounded by objects of affection. Just as a family can develop our ‘Devotional muscles', so too can a business environment.
The approach can extend outside our own office. If we are concerned for the welfare of our suppliers, they soon become concerned for our welfare. I always like the eastern system of getting to know business partners as friends before doing business with them.
If, after carefully surveying the field and obtaining competitive quotations, they find a supplier who delivers reliably to a high standard, many business people in the east stick with them as they would stick with a member of their family. If at any time the supplier's service falls below that required, he is gently corrected, as a friend and maybe reminded that his service might have to be dispensed with. He is not just dropped. It's a partnership. He is helped to improve.
Personally I enjoy building relationships with suppliers. I find the better my relationship with them the better the service that they provide. You become a specially valued client. That helps earn money more quickly and efficiently which is a primary objective of any business activity. Equally importantly these relationships build the ‘Devotional muscle' which is the cornerstone of quality of life and spiritual development.
From the suppliers' point of view they are dealing with a friend they trust and a valuable source of income. They become valued clients and valued clients always get the best service.
In short, Brother Lawrence's dictum ‘Love and do as you will' is full of a practicality which applies to us all. The fact that it seems utterly alien to the cut and thrust of the standard Western business ethic is merely a reflection on those ethics.
It should never be forgotten that to make serious progress in any discipline requires a total commitment. No great scientist or artists became great by part-time dabbling in these disciplines. Likewise real progress in religion requires total and usually monastic commitment. Realistically, just as few of us are likely to become great scientists or artists however much time we devote to these subjects so few of us are made of saintly material. Equally however, most of us derive enormous benefit from both science and art without being innovative practitioners in either area.
Doing business in a way that builds relationships is not only enjoyable and financially beneficial but it can also be an enormously important part of the ordinary person's spiritual life.
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Art is a means of spiritual development.
Art communicating motiveless love of people, nature or phenomena is spiritually developing. To share in another person's vision or experience of love or awe is to include it in one's own. We are greater to the extent we can experience that experience. Through great art or great music we glimpse a little of the infinite. Not only that we maybe fortunate enough to share in expression of love. It may be love of a person, a place or nature. If it is motiveless, it is developing love.
Art contains all of life. Not everything in life is spiritually developing. It follows that not all art is spiritually developing. Art depicting depravity or degradation may be educational and informative but it will not be spiritually enlarging unless it evokes a sense of compassion or selflessness.
An added complication is that total focus is ego eliminating. If we are able to sink ourselves so much into a subject that we forget ‘ourselves' we do achieve new perspectives. When the cause of self absorption is inspiring then moments of real spiritual progress can be achieved.
A footnote has to be added here. Satisfaction, release or sensual pleasure are not spiritually developing. Artistic activity leading to these things may be pleasant and stress relieving but it is not spiritually developing.
Perspective My own experience is that great moments can be experienced through art, particularly music, but access to them depends very much on the mood of the individual. Spiritual experience through art exists but it is not as reliable or repeatable as that provided by prayer or meditation
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Helping people is a common and effective way of developing spiritually. Providing the service is given with selfless love, the ‘devotional muscle' is developed continuously. Unfortunately problems abound. Surveys suggest that most people volunteer for voluntary work for a mixture of motives. These can include improving their CVs, meeting people, gaining experience, building their social standing within the community etc. Any of these reasons are capable of either undermining or eliminating the spiritual effectiveness of the work. Put simply these emotions introduce an element of calculation which degrades the work. From selfless work it can become self-motivated work. To be spiritually productive for the individual, the work has to be an act of selfless love that builds the ‘Devotional muscle'.
It goes without saying that if the service is provided through compulsion or obligation the ‘Devotional muscle' will not be exercised. Again if the work is performed under the pressure of time, much of its spiritual benefit will be lost.
I have seen the quiet devotion of the children serving their parents in the east. I have seen the service of love a mother will lavish on her children. I have seen gardners lavishing hours of nurture on their plants. I have seen pet owners completely absorbed in the wellbeing of their pets. I have received service so complete that the provider was obviously achieving a measure of self forgetfulness.
The test is who are we doing something for? Is the child providing a devoted service to the elder for love or financial reward? Is the mother working hard for her children for their sake or so that they will be a credit to her in the future? Is the pet owner lavishing attention on his pets for their sake or to win a competition? Is the gardener gardening for the sake of the plants under his care or simply to produce a beautiful display for the gardener to appreciate?
In realistic terms few of us have either the ability or the opportunity to work in a totally selfless way. It is all about percentages. All parents make tremendous sacrifices for their children. Some of them will bear fruit in the form of a measurable return to the parents. A percentage of the competitive pet owners' service to their dog may well bear fruit at shows. Well cared for plants look more beautiful than neglected ones. The gardener's consideration for their welfare does have a visual pay off.
My own experience is that you switch in and out of effective work. You can start effectively, then become bored, pressurised or committed to the fruits as the work progresses. You may well be continuing to work efficiently but the spiritual fruit, the love, has gone.
Summary I feel that the key to effective Spiritual Literacy in work is understanding the process. At least we can then be aware of when and why we are doing better at some times than at other times. We are not all Mother Teresas but these is a little of Mother Teresa in all of us. We can either cultivate or ignore this seed. At least spiritually literate people are aware that it exists.
What is required? Let us be honest - potentially a lot! Practically it depends on you and what you want.
Allow me to draw an analogy. World class scientists cannot achieve their level of attainment without total, lifelong, full-time commitment and great aptitude. The result is that there are relatively few world class scientists. However, at the next level down, there are a great many more professional scientists and below them there are probably millions of us who have a smattering but useful level of knowledge on how to apply science to the problems of daily life. The world class scientists ‘live and breathe' science, the professional scientist devotes his working day to science and the lay person thinks and uses science occasionally. Lastly there are those who have no interest in understanding the principles of science at all - making it difficult to understand how even simple technology works. These people might be thought of as scientifically illiterate. This lack of knowledge can actually be an inconvenience to them and creates dependency on people who do have some level of understanding of the practical application of science.
The expectations and fulfilments of each of the above groups are related to the time, capacity and effort they put into the discipline.
Religious expectations are similarly linked in that high levels of achievement usually require very high levels of input and talent - hence there are very few saints. Equally there are relatively few professional religious people but their attainments are usually proportionately higher than that of the millions of us who think about religion occasionally and therefore occasionally derive benefits from religion. Lastly, just as there are scientifically illiterate people, I would suggest that there are spiritually illiterate people. There are increasingly large numbers of people who have absolutely no knowledge of the practical application of religion and so have difficulty tackling problems that religion addresses. I would suggest that this is a serious matter because the problems religion addresses are pivotal to our quality of life. The scientifically illiterate can always find someone to change an electric plug or fix their computer. However the spiritually illiterate have to cope with problems like delusion, physical suffering and death. Mind numbing drugs can help but without personal knowledge of spiritual reality whole cultures can suffer.
So the more we put in the more we get out. Religion, like science is a big and important subject.
Establishing belief in the importance of science is easy. If a scientist says that electricity will light a light bulb and the bulb lights, we not only believe the scientist but we believe in the science. Science is based on external physical phenomena. Religion however is an internal and invisible. It can be seen manifested in a person's life - in their contentment in the stature of their character but otherwise it is very difficult to prove that religion works. Religion requires an initial leap of faith before the internal evidence manifests itself - before the practical utility of the system can be proved. It is a little like someone tasting an apple. We can see them eating but it is not until we have eaten the apple that we know what an apple tastes like or, what is most important, whether it was ever worth tasting in the first place. We have to take their word for it. Equally we may see people practising religion and looking as though they are enjoying it and finding it useful but it is not until we have become sufficiently involved in a religion that we can know whether their experiences were real. We simply have to accept that the commitment put into religion by deeply religious people helps them achieve a quite extraordinary quality of life.
Religion is like any another discipline - the more you put in the more you get out. What you put in depends on the amount of time/effort you devote, how you apply yourself and how good you are at applying yourself. It has to be remembered that it is a discipline which has the potential to absorb a whole lifetime's worth of our energies. We are not talking about learning basket-weaving or how to drive. To practice religion completely requires total commitment and therefore the sacrifice of every other unrelated activity. This is why many religions require aspirants at this level to give up, or renounce, all other interests simply to allow them time to achieve sufficient focus. However just as there many part time scientists deriving benefit from science there are millions of people deriving enormous benefit from religion by practising for only part of the day or even part of the week.
Richard Searight, Bowden Cottage, Lacock, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN15 2PP
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