Most of us ignore the spiritual dimension. The pressures of daily life, the pursuit of material objectives, the desire for new things and experiences take up all our thoughts.
But sometimes we feel the invisible. We have empathy for another. Or we reflect on friendships, family or love. Perhaps we feel fulfilled by a religious experience. We can not deny that we have spiritual experiences, that there is a spiritual dimension. But we rarely respect it, we know little about it and we don’t even have a common language for it. But it is there. Socrates knew 2,500 years ago, what quantum science tells us today, – that the invisible is greater than the visible.
When physical stimulii are reduced (as in meditation) the spiritual sensitivity is enhanced. Scientific research recently showed how sightless fish deep in the ocean sense the cosmic rhythm and live to its cycle. A report is linked here. Another reason to reduce our desire for more stuff, more control, more power and to make space available in our spiritual dimension to feel the cosmic rhythm and learn to dance to its beat.
And another reason to reduce our desire for more stuff is that we can’t afford it! Tubridy’s RTE radio morning show had a call-in from a 26 year old who is €5,000 in debt, despite trying to budget, because she just wants ‘stuff’ from time to time, figures she has €300 to spare in the month, and ends up sepnding €500. I felt badly for her because I know exactly what it’s like – to have money disappear into unnecessary things so fast you don’t know where it’s gone. The invisible is great indeed – the invisible psychology of sophisticated marketing and advertising techniques pummelling us with ‘BUY ME AND YOU’LL BE BETTER!’ My retail shield is ‘DO I NEED IT?’ and rarely is the answer ‘yes’.If I escape the invisible retail hand grasping for my wallet, I feel better for having NOT got the item – i.e., once I’m away from the ‘physical stimuli’ of seeing all that STUFF, a sense of calm and rational thinking descends upon me (almost like ‘spiritual sensitivity’!), and i realise how much I already have!