The Great Equalizer

Maybe I’m off base, but it seems to me in the West there’s a notion spirituality is for the privileged. For people who don’t have to worry so much about the mundane necessities of life. For people who have time and space to contemplate why they’re here and what their purpose is. But that’s not true; spirituality is for all. It’s everyone’s birthright.

I understand why someone would tell me otherwise, because when you don’t have a place to live, it’s hard to ruminate on the sacred. I’m nothing if not practical. Our basic needs must be met, yet at the same time we keep chasing after the next thing and then the next. If not something we desire, then something we have to get done. However, there’s always something on the to-do list. When does it end?

Paraphrasing my spiritual teacher, there is in the living being a thirst for limitlessness. Knowingly or unknowingly, human beings are running after limitlessness. However, it is not possible for limited objects to quench one’s thirst. That means it doesn’t matter how much money I have or how good I look in a bathing suit or who is by my side. There will always be a longing and a yearning for something more, something greater.

That longing, that yearning, is not confined to a privileged few. Nor is it a luxury. From my perspective, it’s not a luxury because without it, we have people and leaders who are interested only in satisfying their own desires. Without it, we have people who feel separate from each other and treat each other as such. Without it, the environment becomes a resource we pillage instead of a sacred entity.

Look, I realize all the world’s problems can’t be solved by meditating. We are human beings living in a world of matter. That means action is necessary. Meditating on ending world hunger doesn’t end world hunger. But how do you convince people ending world hunger is a good idea? In my mind, that comes from spirituality. From opening up their hearts. The meditation I practice connects me to all living beings and doing so means I’m not OK with them coming to harm. I recognize myself in others as opposed to seeing them as strangers, and that comes directly from my spiritual practice.

Spirituality is the great equalizer because it’s a reminder we all want the same things and we all belong to each other. It’s a reminder we’re all in this together. Not only that, spirituality is the only thing that will satisfy our ultimate longing because material goods never will. That’s true not only for some, but for all.

I dream of a world where we realize what we hunger for exists on the spiritual plane. A world where we realize we all want the same things. A world where we view spirituality as a necessity rather than a luxury because we are all striving for eternal bliss.

Another world is not only possible, it’s probable.