Spirituality- What Does it Mean?
One of the topics which does not receive the discussion it deserves is spirituality. We talk about having a “spiritual awakening”, yet we would be hard pressed to define just what that is. Perhaps the difficulty lies in the fact that spirituality means different thing to different people, hence there cannot be a single definition. We say about AA that it is spiritual rather than a religious program. If spirituality is not religion, what is it?
I can only tell you what spirituality means to me. You may accept which, if any, of the parts of my definition you wish and weave them into your own concept of spirituality, because it is your own understanding of spirituality that must guide you in your recovery.
Having been a rabbi, my concept of spirituality had its origins in religion, and specifically, the Bible. It is perfectly possible to arrive at the same destination from other origins. You can get to Chicago from many different directions.
In the Biblical account of creation, God created all living things. He created animals and He created angels. Finally, His ultimate creation was man. Interestingly, the Scripture reads, “And the Lord God said, “Let us make man” (Genesis I, 26). One wonders, why is all creation performed by God alone, and why only in the creation of man does God turn to someone else for participation in the process? And just who is the us, whose assistance God is soliciting. Why doesn’t He just do it Himself?
Among living things angels and animals are poles apart, yet have one commonality. Angels are pure spirit without substance, and animals are totally substance without spirit. Yet angels and animals are alike in the one fact, that both are created essentially complete, essentially in their own perfection. Angels do not grow at all in any way. Animals, while they do grow, do so only in size and strength. Little calves become big cows, and little alligators become big alligators, but do not undergo any real change. While tadpoles do become frogs and caterpillars do become butterflies, these changes come about as an inherent nature of the creature, and are not brought about by the creatures’ own efforts. No caterpillar has ever said “I hate this crawling around on my belly. I’m going to sprout wings and fly.” By the same token, no caterpillar has ever said, “I don’t go for this flying business. I prefer to remain a worm.” The changes that happen to caterpillars and tadpoles are totally automatic.
Man, on the other hand, is the only living thing that is created incomplete. It is not simply that little children grow into big adults, but rather that each person forms his own character, his own personality. A mature adult should be something different that just a great big infant, although that sometimes does happen. Maturity is more than just growing big. Granted, there are many external factors that influence the development of character or personality. Yet the ultimate outcome is nevertheless in a person’s own hands.
There is another basic difference between man and animal, and that is that man can be a free being. Animals are not free. Animals are totally dominated by the drives and demands of their bodies. When an animal thirsts, it goes for water. When it is hungry, it goes for food. When it is sexually aroused, it goes for a mate. No hungry has ever thought, “I am terribly, hungry, but I think I will fast today.” It cannot do otherwise. The only thing that can an animal from going after what it desires is some external force: a physical barrier which it cannot overcome, or a more powerful animal which is in possession or has claimed the desired object. An animal is this not free to choose. Animals are enslaved, as it were, by their own passions.
Man is different, and it is this basic difference that distinguishes man from animal. We have unfortunately been misled by biologists who have taught us that the definition of man is homo sapiens, or in other words, a gorilla with intellect. According to this definition, a chimpanzee who could be trained to score a few points higher on an I.Q. test would be human. This I categorically reject. The distinctive feature of man is not his intellect, but his freedom, his capacity to choose, his capacity to be his own master.
Man was created animal in body, with all the drives, urges, and passions, characteristic of an animal. But man was also endowed with spirit, “And God blew a spirit of life into his nostrils, and man became a living soul,” (Genesis II, 7). It is this spirit that enables man to exert control over his basically animal body, with its various lusts and cravings.
The person who refrains from satisfying a particular drive because he is afraid of punishment is really not acting any differently than an animal, because animals too will shun punishment. The fear of pain will stop an animal from going after its desire. It makes little difference whether the pain or punishment is physical in nature- whipping, incarceration, deprivation of one's possessions- or social disapproval. As long as the deterrent to behavior is from an external source, man is still acting on an animal level. He is still driven by what Freud called “the pleasure principal”. If a person refrains from a particular behavior because it would result in some type of painful consequence, he is still operating according to the pleasure principal. It is only when a man develops a sense of right and wrong, of propriety and impropriety, and when he leads his life according to his ideas of right and wrong that he rises above the level of animal function.
A person may be isolated from the eye of any other human being and thus be totally beyond being punished or reprimanded for anything he does, yet he may refrain from doing a particular act because he believes it to be wrong.
He sees a large sum of money which is not his. No one is looking. No one will know, and so he will not be punished. Yet he avoids taking what he wants because it is wrong. He has made a moral decision.
A man takes a liking to another man’s wife. They have the ability to have a love affair without being discovered. They decide to refrain because they believe it to be wrong. They have made a moral decision. They are acting on a human level.
This is what distinguishes man from animal. This capacity to master over one’s desires and passions lies in man’s spirit, and the exercising of this capacity is spirituality.
The human being need not be dominated by his drives and desires. He need not be a slave to his lusts and cravings. He can be master over himself, something which animal cannot do. He can thus be free, because to be free means to be one’s own master. Spirituality is synonymous with freedom, and spirituality is also synonymous with humanity.
People cherish freedom. We abhor slavery not only because of its prosperity for cruelty, but because it deprives a person of basic rights: the right to make decisions, the right to choose, the right to be free.
After creating both angels and animals- neither of which are free, since angels are but emissaries who must carry out God’s dictates and animals are slaves to their urges- God decided to create a different being, man. He wanted man to be a free being, and a being who could work to achieve his own perfection. Having decided this, God could not create man already complete and perfect, because that is not the new creature He wanted. So God speaks to man and says, “Let us make man. You and I together shall make man. I create the potential, and you work to fulfill that potential. Together we will have made man.
Nowhere is a man’s loss of freedom, man’s enslavement, so complete and absolute as when he becomes alcoholic or chemically dependent. Whether the chemical is alcohol or narcotics or cocaine or prescription pills or any other mind-altering drug upon which the person has become dependent, the story is the same. The chemical dictates, and the addict obeys. The chemical shouts, “Jump,” and the addict can only say, “How high?”.
We have seen the pleas of families turned down, and the admonition of doctors ignored. We have seen people loose jobs that they desperately wanted to keep, and we have seen people lose spouses and children whom they dearly loved. We have seem promises and sacred oaths made with every bit of sincerity, yet repeatedly broken. The person tries desperately to control but cannot do so, because he is a slave. He has lost his freedom, lost his spirituality.
We hear a speaker at an AA meeting say, “Today I have a choice. I can drink or not drink. At one time I had no such choice.”
It is one of the paradoxes of life that in order to regain mastery, one has to recognize and admit that one’s life has become unmanageable; or in other words, one cannot become powerful until he first realizes that he is powerless. This paradox is resolved when it is understood that accepting one’s powerlessness is just an awareness that ones has become enslaved, and emancipating oneself from that enslavement is the restoration of one’s own mastery, of one’s own freedom.
The moment of “spiritual awakening” occurs when one becomes aware of the enslavement by alcohol or drugs, and one decides, “I am above being a slave to anyone or anything. I am a human. I am meant to be free, and I shall become free, no matter what the cost. I shall not be less than a true human being”.
According to the above definition, we can see that spirituality is a process, an ongoing process, and one which never reaches completion. We are never finished achieving self-mastery.
The character change that results from the achievement of self-mastery is what is meant by spiritual growth. The old self, the one of enslavement to whatever dominating force, is repeatedly left behind, and a newer, freer self emerges.
Spiritual growth does not come easy. It is comparable in some ways to the growth of a lobster. The lobster, which is encased in a firm and inflexible shell, begins to feel oppressed by its own shell. It then retreats to a crevice in the underwater formations, sheds its old shell, and forms a new one. This process is repeated several times as the lobster grows.
After it sheds its shell, the lobster is exposed to the dangers of strong currents and predatory fish. The lobster thus risks its very life in order to grow.
We are fortunate that we do not have to risk our lives in order to grow spiritually, but as we drop old and familiar habits and some behavioral traits and adopt new and untried ones, we do venture into an unknown territory, and this indeed can be frightening.
Please be assured that just as the infant soon finds new vistas open to him as he overcomes his fear of falling when he takes his first few steps, so will you find undreamt of enjoyable experiences as you progress in your spiritual growth. There are likely to be moments of uneasiness and fear as growth takes you into new areas and exposes you to new experiences. Now that the anesthesia of the mind-altering chemical is gone, you will be subject to feelings. Some feelings will be pleasant, some painful. Obviously, no one can enjoy painful feelings, but you can enjoy knowing that your life has become enriched by experiencing feelings.
Have the courage to live, grow, and to develop your spirituality. Your ultimate gratification will be that you will become the wonderful human being you were intended to be, and that is an achievement well worth any price.
