Spirituality

Did you know that the word Spirituality comes from the Latin word for breathing?

Personal spiritual awakening is key for a peaceful life. As humans, religion gives us the richness in our lives that we crave and enables us to expand our awareness of this world. I understand peoples’ distaste for “organized” or “institutionalized” religion (as it can be referred to), particularly with all the noise that has always surrounded religion (particularly with Islam these days). But we are smarter than that. Let’s set aside today’s biases about Islam and all the propaganda that is being fed to each and every one of us, which is an obvious political tool with very little truth or reflection of Islam to it. When I say Islam, I am referring to a peaceful spiritual path, a collection of beliefs that endows us with a particular way of seeing the world – the knowledge that explains our place in the universe as believers.

Only recently did I come to fully realize how blessed I am to have been raised by practicing Muslim parents who worked very hard to keep Islam alive in the West while raising five children. I’ll admit that there were very difficult moments growing up and integrating into a society at odds with my beliefs and there were times I did feel stifled. Now that I think about it, growing up isolated from any religious community, I managed to form my own spirituality based on what I had read and learned without social contamination or prejudices. My Islam was private and pure. With time and trust, my parents learned to give me enough breathing space to maintain my own independence and formulate my own beliefs while standing beside me as my guiding lights through life. Little did I know while I was driving them crazy debating and discussing every issue you could think of throughout my adolescent and teenage years that my parents were providing me with one of the greatest gifts of mankind; my spirituality.. my Islam.

Growing up in Geneva, surrounded by people who were financially blessed.. I came to realize the importance of spirituality even more. My interaction with others at university and at work blatantly taught me that the quest for material security alone does not ultimately satisfy, not even emotional security or great knowledge is enough. Without a view of the meaning of life or the bigger picture, financial wealth can actually lead to a life of misery and degredation. For a while at university, I lived with the frustration of feeling like I was the only “balanced” person out of these seemingly insane 20something year olds – was I abnormal? My experiences have taught me that as humans in this world, we were built to seek answers to larger questions and to pursue an innate need of personal development that takes us beyond the self and beyond this world.

Spiritual figures are an inspiration. Muhammad Assad who wrote “The Road to Mecca” grew up as a Viennese Jew and left Europeto become a defender of Islam. Malcolm X (who wrote his own biography) was a criminal whose religious conversation transformed him into a voice for black empowerment. The great writer Herman Hesse who wrote “Siddartha”, a novel that is said to echo is own search for the path and the knowledge of God. Richard Alpert, also known as Ram Dass, was a professor of psychology in Harvard and gave up his career to become a master meditator and guru. Mohandas Ghandi became a symbol of selflessness and human freedom through his daily habits of simple living and celibacy. Their spiritual metamorphoses should inspire us and remind us of the possibility of change in human character and the importance of discovering our life purpose. Perhaps by understanding the basis of the transformation of others, we may be able to uncover ur own spiritual potential.

Enlightenment. I realize that it is only when I stop being a reflection of what others expect of me, of my culture and all those years of conditioning that I will begin to master my own mind and true spiritual healing will begin. I want to be able to live in this world with a heightened awareness that we are mortal beings in a temporary world.. to live for Allah and Islam.. to have a constant awareness of my actions and my being and their significance. I get too easily swept up in the wave of daily life. My needs of integration and belonging and goals of career success distract me. But that is the struggle.. our own little jihad. With heightened awareness and the will for change, I believe each and every one of us can live the more spiritually whole and peaceful life that we crave.

Sigh.

Where to begin??