Spirituality is generally taken as something that is opposed to worldliness. People usually assume that the farther they move from material and worldly things, the more spiritual they become. This is the sole reason why human beings run away from cities and towns to jungles and mountains, leaving behind their homes and their material lives.

We believe that whenever man raises himself above worldly matters and devotes his life to becoming one with the non-material world through meditation, he experiences a very different kind of feeling. This is nothing other than what is generally known as ecstasy. When man enters this state of ecstasy, he experiences an unknown pleasure. On the basis of this experience, people associate ecstasy with spirituality. However ecstasy is nothing but a reduced form of spirituality.

Man is an intellectual being. He is endowed with a mind, which is his greatest faculty. It is only the possession of this mind and his independent thinking, which distinguish him from the animals. Real spirituality or contemplative spirituality is that which has the power to address our minds. Any kind of spirituality attained at a level lesser than that of our minds is not true spirituality. All forms of ecstasy are just reduced forms of spirituality.

According to Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, true spirituality is based on contemplation or reflection or pondering, which has all to do with intellectual activity. Such spirituality is produced when man gives serious thought to such questions as, ‘Who am I?’ What is the purpose of my life? What is this world around me? What is the creation plan of the Creator? Is my life governed by destiny or free will? How do I become a spiritual person? Can spirituality help me in this world as well? Why do I have so many desires? Where will I go when I transcend from this world? The questions may be many – but the answer is only one – a reason-based understanding of the plan that man has been created within. Through contemplative spirituality, man is able to find true spirituality by finding rational answers to his questions, whereby he receives spirituality at the mind or thinking level.

Indeed, the journey of spirituality begins with the urge to search for the truth. When a seeker discovers the truth and learns the creation plan of God and lives a disciplined life based on the principles of life laid down by the Creator, his life enters a new phase, i.e. that of the building of a positive personality according to spiritual principles of life.

Since the journey is entirely intellectual in nature, it can begin when one learns the art of right thinking. Its quest is two fold, one is to solve the riddle of why, all men and women undergo negative experiences in this world and the other is to offer positive solutions. It addresses the paradox of human beings having been given the freedom to make their own moral choices, and their frequent misuse of this freedom - a course of action which causes them to repeatedly face situations in which people do each other harm; losses are incurred because of others’ injustice; severe provocations are suffered because of untoward experiences.

According to the school of meditative spirituality, there is only one way to preserve one’s spirituality, and that is to retire to a desolate place, far from human settlement, where there is nothing to provoke him. It is this viewpoint, which is presented in the well-known book titled, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari.” The spiritual school of thought we at CPS believe in differs considerably from this. According to this school of thought, man shall have to convert his negative experiences into positive ones. He shall have to convert material experiences into spiritual ones. He shall have to convert non-spiritual matters into spiritual matters.

This is the principle on which the entire material world is based. It may be called the principle of conversion. The cow provides an excellent example of this principle. The cow ingests not milk, but grass. Then by means of a biological process, this grass is converted into milk. That is to say, the cow is an industry, which converts non-milk into milk. That is to say, a cow ingests negativity and gives out positivity in return.

Indeed, spirituality received through the principle of conversion is the greatest source of crisis management. According to this principle, we do not have to confront the problems that come in our lives. We simply have to avoid the problems. This is the principle of life management.

A truly spiritual person, trained as he is in contemplative spirituality, can bear every loss, for he feels that any loss, which is material in nature, is always far less in comparison to what he still has in his possession in terms of spirituality and that is a treasure that no one can take away from him.

Therefore, contemplative spirituality, in its awakening of the mind, helps man in his spiritual quest and provides the best formula for character building. It is a great strength at all times. Contemplative Spirituality, in effect, is a promoter of all good and a killer of all evils. Contemplative Spirituality is as an intellectual activity, is a science of inner development, and material things indirectly contribute towards that development. In fact, material life is made more meaningful by the proactive role played by contemplative spirituality in intellectual refinement and the consequent progress of humanity. Contemplative Spirituality does not, as some may imagine, arrest the thinking process, but rather enhances intellectual activity in the complete sense of the word. In short, Contemplative Spirituality makes a man a superman.  It is a complete way of life.

To find out more about contemplative spirituality and how to take part in the spiritual sessions, contact us.