Spirituality
Excessive faith is another form of blind faith.
I say this not because I have an allergy for it but spirituality is just another form of excessive faith. It comes from one's hope to be able to answer questions that are not amenable to intelligent analysis and logic. It is as necessary to know the limitations of faith as it is to know those of intelligence and logic.
There is no need to find the answers to some questions. For example, "What happens to the soul after one's death?" etc. "Trust no future; let the dead past bury its dead" applies more to life before birth and after death. God may use the soul in this body as whatever Ge likes, why bother? Leave all decisions to Gim.
But the spiritual people do not want to give up their control. Even after dying, they do not want God to reuse their souls for which, they want salvation a.k.a. 'moksha'. They perform the rituals to achieve this. It is not objectionable except that they treat us ordinary folks with contempt, depend on the society for their livelihood, expect to be respected and worshiped, accept special treatment and keep preaching others. Millions of Indians pretend to pursue spiritual practice to avoid seeking gainful employment and become parasites on the society. Even among those who work, large majorities of the devout adherents of religions are corrupt and large majorities of those who are corrupt pretend to be highly religious.
Is spirituality really useful to society? Isn't there an excess of it in our society? Why do people start talking spiritually and philosophically at all times?
Suppose this writer starts spiritual 'sadhana'? How would that benefit the society? Why should the people support and feed me? Suppose I do achieve the goal and could feel or see God, how would that benefit the society to make me earn the people's respect? If spirituality is not a selfish practice for one's own soul, is it really an altruistic one for others?
What is spirituality in reality? Is it any thing more than a vague idea? Isn't all it involves is asking unnecessary questions such as the fate of one's soul after death, imagining self-serving answers and accepting them as the real ones? Rather than discussing all those high sounding issues, should not we focus on issues affecting our daily lives?
Having seen the worldly miseries of the people, Buddha neglected his duties towards his wife and son to leave home in search of the remedy. He could not find the real solution. In stead, he figured if one cannot solve the problems of the human body, avoid getting a body i.e. achieve 'nirvan'. Is this is not escapism? As if we own the soul that resides in our bodies! Prohibiting God from reusing the soul is called salvation (moksha)? How to accomplish this? He suggested meditation. It can be done only individually but not collectively. Why then did he find it necessary to form a group (Sangh) and so many rules for those joining it with extra rules for women? He created beggars' organization and made them legitimate.
Nowadays many people meditate. It is a good practice. However, how does one behave while not meditating? One can meditate for only a limited time, leaving the rest of the time to be spent wisely or otherwise. There do exist people who misbehave between sessions of meditation. Therefore, it is more important that we do all our tasks with the consciousness that they are to be performed on behalf of God. One may not be so religious. Even when working for selfish motive, one should be careful to watch out that their action, if not beneficial to other(s), at least does not harm someone else. When working for a philanthropic cause too, one should ensure that their action does not harm himself/herself, their kins or a third party.
Once a bogus religious canvasser tried to hypnotize me under the pretext of teaching me meditation. I was saved by my positive thoughts failing which I might have joined his cult. Only positive thinking can save one from the bad thoughts and actions of culprits, not meditation.
We are advised to live in the present. The present lasts only for a split second during which the future becomes the past. How can one live in such a fleeting present? Don't we have to remember to take a towel with us before we go to shower? Not all thoughts are miserable, anxious or negative. Why should we block good positive thoughts? Thinking is the trait that distinguishes mankind from other animals. Why then abandon thinking?
While meditating, one does have to know when it is time to stop meditating. How would hse know it? Should one keep meditating until woken up by someone else?
Our minds work in two modes, conscious and subconscious. Many a times, both these modes simultaneously think about different matters thereby affecting our concentration to the task on hand. Rather than stopping the mind from thinking at all, we need to train both the modes to think together about the job only.