Spirituality — Our Heavenly Identity

The human body is material, that is, made of matter (clay to be precise). Somewhere
during the embryonic phase, God infuses the spirit into this mass of flesh. As such, one distinct
way the two entities differ is that the body comes from the earth while the spirit descends from
the heaven. Interestingly, when we die, the body goes back or “settles” into the earth while the
spirit “ascends” back to where it came from. Even to someone not familiar with the sublime
nuances of divinity, the ephemeral or ethereal nature of the spirit elevates it to a much purer or
higher form of consciousness than the body.

We don’t precisely know what purpose the spirit serves

in the functioning of the human body. Though, some scholars prefer to use the analogy of the
spirit being a “battery” that keeps the body alive; once the circuit is broken, the body dies.
Nonetheless, the human body, itself, is such an incredible invention that it inevitably stirs our
imagination, and we tend to marvel at the ingenuity of its Creator. And just this bit of
contemplation can potentially become the stepping stone into the infinite realm of spiritual
consciousness, within which resides the reality of all things not comprehensible to our conscious
selves.

In essence, spirituality is the ability to ‘see’ beyond the

material façade of things. It begins with relating to the physical
world around us. But we need to extricate ourselves from within to
be able to sense the sheer quantum and miracle of nature that
abounds – whether the flora or the fauna, or other inanimate
objects like the rocks and mountains and the streams and oceans.
Being thus engaged, helps us to raise two interesting questions.
One, “is there an order or symmetry in the universal order?” Second, “is there a purpose to
everything that exists?” In answering them, we actually begin to connect with Infinite
Intelligence.

For example, “the spiraling shapes in cauliflower, artichoke, and sunflower florets
(above) share a remarkable feature: The numbers of clockwise and counterclockwise spirals are
consecutive Fibonacci numbers — the sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and so on, so that each number
is the sum of the last two. What's more, those spirals pack florets as tight as can be, maximizing
their ability to gather sunlight for the plant.” Next, if we merely zoom momentarily into the
night skies, their sheer spectacle surely mesmerizes us. “When you look up at the night sky and
see the glittering stars overhead, your first thought might be to wonder what, exactly, they are.
Once you know they’re very distant suns, however, with different masses, brightnesses,
temperatures and colors, your next thought might be to wonder just how far away they are. It
might surprise you to learn that despite centuries of
advancement in astronomy and astrophysics, from
telescopes to cameras to CCDs 1
to observatories in space, we
still don’t have a satisfying answer.”

This is the Milky Way from Concordia Camp, in Pakistan’s Karakoram Range. To the right
is Mitre Peak, and to the far left is the beginning of Broad Peak. Photograph by Anne
Dirkse.
While
spirituality may be cultivated as a part of human outlook, it is not necessarily a targeted
milestone. Spirituality is more about the experience than the outcome; it may even be a moving
target depending upon an individual’s emotional needs and age. Sometimes the emotion of love
1
Charged coupled devices
may be so intense that it consigns all other material needs to being secondary. On the other
hand, when a man has experienced (though not necessarily fulfilled) all the mundane desires,
his energies may be expended in the search of
the Divine Reality, the ultimate frontier, so to
say.

Positive emotions play a central role in moderating an individual’s personality. And

sometimes, these will provide the building blocks for the spiritual pathway. The emotion of
desire when blended with the emotion of faith, is the only known way of communicating with
the Infinite Intelligence. This actually explains the dynamics of prayer which is the spiritual
equivalent of action. Other strong positive emotions are hope, love, sex, enthusiasm, and
romance. They can all be blended with faith to induce Infinite Intelligence. People who have
these emotions well developed will definitely be more spiritually conscious than others.

The rewards of heightened spiritual consciousness are enormous and, in fact, quite
remarkable. While the process may not be perceptible, a ‘spiritual’ person gets tuned with
Nature with perfect harmony. The positive
emotional responses become almost automated.
You begin to enjoy the beauty in little things and
try to simplify your life. You start deriving more
pleasure by experiencing the unrestricted
environs of open spaces and fields. Sipping a cup
of tea or reading a good book under the generous
shade of an imposing tree, may transform your
soul into a different dimension altogether. When
one realizes that all creation is nurtured by the Almighty, it inevitably raises an individual
beyond the fear of death. There is a calmness and a sense of purposefulness that preempts
anxiety and the frantic search for happiness in material wealth.

The three utmost attributes of Allah that are, find their indisputable presence in the very
beginning of the Quran. “All praise be to Allah who is the Creator of All Creation, the Most
Beneficent, and the Most Merciful.” The word ‘Rab’ means the one who cultivates and nurtures,
and its roots derive from the word tarbiyat. Obviously, one who has discovered his or her
spiritual self by aspiring to transcend the physical bounds of time, space, and matter truly
understands the sheer beauty and power of “Rab-ul-Aalemeen.”