Which do you like better - Going to the beach when it's quiet and empty, with just the continuous sounds of the waves as they hit the beach, or going there when it's overrun with thousands of other people, sunbathing, playing ball, swimming, having picnics, dogs barking, children screaming...you get the point?
Spiritual life is similar in that what attracts us is often mostly the 'stuff' of spirituality - the teachings, the beliefs, the accoutrements of incense, books, beads, pillows, symbols, clothing, mantras, rituals, altars, etc. etc. etc. I once wrote a story called 'The Two Doors', and the idea has been around in other forms as well. But the idea is you have two doors, behind one of which is a great spiritual party. There are people talking about all kinds of cool spiritual topics, drinking herbal tea, ringing temple bowls, having drum circles, and all just very exciting. Behind the other door, however, is apparently a big fat NOTHING. No people, no food, no jingling bells, no books - just vast spacious emptiness.
When we look FOR spirituality, we don't know where to look so we look outwardly. Our function is to experinece THINGS, and so instead of 'material' things, we start choosing 'spiritual' things. But they're still things. Granted, some things are better than others. In fact, the Vedic literature goes into great detail about how everything falls into the categories of the three modes of nature - Goodness, Passion, and Ignorance (sattva, rajas, and tamas). So, while some activites are in the mode of passion or ignorance and bring you 'down', others like many 'spiritual' items are in the mode of goodness and elevate you. The open spaces of nature are in the mode of goodness, while a bar scene in downtown is in the mode of ignorance. Fresh fruit - mode of goodness. Rotting flesh - mode of ignorance. Working without attachment to results - goodness. Working with an idea of getting a huge reward - mode of passion. The idea is that by doing those activities and imbibing that which is in the mode of goodness, we slowly raise our vibrations and refine our bodies and nervous systems. But ALL of that is still material stuff!
There's two things to understand here. The first is that the distinction between spiritual and material is Consciousness. My teacher was once asked the difference between a chapati (Indian flat bread) that had been offered to God and made Holy, with one that had not been offered. His response was about Consciousness - you SEE one as now being non-different than God. Similarly, I attended an "Empowerment" done by some Buddhist monks here in town, and I asked them if there was really something "happening" or if it wasn't that the pupils just changed their consciousness themselves due to the ritual. He confessed it was the latter. That doesn't mean that one shouldn't do those things, because in the end, they DO allow you to change your Consciousness by putting you in that already present Space of the Divine.
And speaking of Space - that is the second thing to understand. Everything that you experience, including yourself, is happening in the Space of Pure Consciousness. When you enter a large cathedral, or go to an empty beach, you are often overwhelmed by the vastness of that great empty space. That in itself is often enough to cause a shift. Why? Because you're getting a sense of your OWN infinite Beingness. When you have a room FILLED with stuff, you automatically focus ON the stuff. Take the stuff out of the room, and you begin to recognize the space as it is. This is where many of the 'spiritual techniques' come in - they are meant for either 'clearing out the stuff' - be it physical, mental, emotional, or psychic, or helping you to recognize the space within which it is all happenng - The Pure Awareness which you ARE. Once you have made the shift to recognizing that you ARE that infinite Awareness, than you can also recognize that everything IN that Awareness is also Awareness/Being/Consciousness/God!
The idea is that all those things and techniques and books and teachings are to elevate you and remind you of Who You Really Are, but that that they can themselves be a hindrance if you're too attached to them AS objects of spiritual ideology, and miss the real Truth that YOU are the Pure Infinite Awareness within which Everything arises. Then all those 'material' things become spiritual. Or spiritual things become material or......
'What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage." - Bhagavad Gita 2.69
"Always remember God, and Never forget God....All the other 'do's and don'ts' of the scriptures are the servants of those two rules." - Padma Purana
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