Spirituality
_I: Sometimes I forget that I live in such a religious country. I have already naturalized the fact that every day I go to Giza to meditate, to activate, and I take a moment to connect within the Great Pyramid. When people come to visit or work with me on something specific, on some activation or meditation, I forget how powerful what we do is for many of us, sitting down to meditate. Many here call us “Abada”, that is, Worshipers. What do we worship? According to them, to the pyramids. In many cases they are afraid of the things we do, and some of them reject them, although a few feel surprise, admiration and curiosity, and a mere handful feel the same, and live like us. Egypt is a very religious, Muslim country, and yet one of the most open in the world that includes Islam. I grew up in a country of Catholic heritage, and even the Argentine Constitution seems to recognize us as Roman Apostolic Catholics, although in my family, neighborhood and school, they were mostly agnostic. The environment in which I grew up was a secular education, in a home that did not believe in a God, and that did not have a religious dogma. In my childhood I went to church only once, accompanying some neighbors. I never had contact with religion, I didn't understand what they were referring to, and I never had to do anything to get away from a religious thought. This, perhaps, makes it more difficult for me to understand the effort that many have had to make to get out of the fish tank, to free themselves from the cage, and find what was outside. At first, religion seemed absurd to me, meaningless. If I had been able to survive so many years without believing in anything or any God, then what difference did it make whether I believed or not? But when I grew up I was able to understand that there were many people who needed to follow steps to live what others live freely.
_AM: When you travel, you usually put the GPS on. You, in particular, take Google Maps and place it to know how long it takes and where you will go faster. And, as you know very well, you hate taking out the GPS until you reach the destination, following the blue line that tells you where to turn, what exit to take. When you drive you respect traffic rules, and you stop if there is a red light, you go forward if there is a green light. Do you pay attention to the road? If you didn't have GPS, would you arrive at the same destination?
_I: Well... I allow myself to look around, yes, but it's true that by keeping an eye on the GPS I don't usually look at signs that don't interest me, I only go where I want to go...
_AM: Ignoring other possible paths to get to the same place, perhaps longer, more complex, but with more landscapes that you will miss by wanting to get there quickly. Furthermore, it makes you feel safer to follow the GPS instructions than to regret getting lost and having to think about how to get out of where you are, in that momentary crisis that a driver has when they get lost or take the wrong exit...
_I: Yes…
_AM: Well now you understand why people choose religion instead of spirituality.
_I: Today I saw a meme on Instagram that was the image for this post: two fish, one in the ocean looking at the other inside a fish tank floating in the ocean. I think it's quite accurate. I see that this image is trying to explain that religion locks you in, but the point of this image is in favor of spirituality, denying the fish's point of view that is in religion.
_AM: That's the thing. When someone discovers spirituality, he usually wants to break the fishbowl of all the people he knows in the world, shouting: “Be free, the ocean has room for everyone!” But what they don't think about is that many of those who find themselves in a fish tank do so by their own decision. The fish tank gives them security, because it is all they know: The fish tank is the home where they know how to handle themselves. Religion is your GPS. The word Religion comes from “Re” (to return, again) and “Ligare” (to bind, unite, bind). This idea refers to uniting people on the same path so that no one gets lost.
_I: Why?
_AM: To understand it we have to, as always, go to the beginnings of our history. Remember that primitive people lived their lives in packs that we call “clans”. The key to the survival of individuals in a clan was to “stay together.”
_I: Like in the movie “The Croods”, in which the father is scared all the time, trying to keep the family together so that nothing happens to them.
_AM: This idea is logical in a time of so many dangers for a being as weak as a human being in the middle of nature, devoid of other defenses other than intelligence and interaction with others. Thus, the key to survival was interconnection, and staying together was essential. But everyone had to do their jobs, so they needed strong emotional and mental bonds to keep them together. This creates morality (norms of inhabiting a place), which leads to idiosyncrasy (conglomerate of ideas and concepts that govern a group), which gives rise to culture (cyclical traditions that a clan or town repeats, maintaining that unity in the form of celebrations and parties), and with this, religion is given (laws that determine what is good and what is bad and that are projected towards infinity, not only to life in a specific place). Religion unites culture and morality with idiosyncrasy, and generates a cocktail of images attributed to totems of power or heroes, producing entities worthy of worship, first in tangible nature, and then in the intangible cosmos.
_I: This is why the first religions speak of divine beings with attributes of animals, mountains and rivers, and in the latest religions, these entities are humanized in the image and likeness of the heroes of history.
_AM: All the thousands of religions were, therefore, a mechanism and tool of subsistence, which helped clans and civilizations to create strong bonds between individuals beyond life. The image of a divinity united peoples beyond their traditions or languages, and families could group together to form towns and cities based on these images.
_I: We could say that gods are to religions what flags are to countries.
_AM: Something like that, an emblem that unites. Therefore, religion is synonymous with security. The chief of a clan, the shaman, the wise man, the priest, whether man or woman, becomes the one who guides and unites people. Religion was key to the survival and expansion of people, and still is. In the same way that a child needs his parents in the process of development until he becomes an adult, religion is like that mother who guides, who accompanies, who feeds, who protects, who gives security and protection. Who can deny a mother? That is why religions exist.
_I: And what about spirituality? What, at least I, consider that I am trying to do, to live.
_AM: As we have said time and time again, the word Spiritual comes from the Latin “Spirare” which means Breathe. “Re-breathe” or “Re-spira-tio” is the action of breathing in again and again in a constant cycle. Thus, spirituality is the quality of breathing correctly.
_I: Nothing to do with what we consider spirituality today.
_AM: Because you have decorated Spirituality with Religion. And it's normal. Spirituality hides nothing more than the beauty of living, of enjoying, of recognizing that life is a constant sigh. That is why the ancients said that The Creator, whether feminine or masculine, was a constant breath.
_I: Ham (inspiration), Het (holding the air) and Hum (exhalation) according to the Atlantean tradition.
_AM: He who breathes correctly does not need anything. Find freedom. Whoever breathes deeply finds calm, life, truth, contemplation, observes the whole, recognizes himself as part of everything that breathes, connected to the heavens, since the air seems to be infinite in all directions. Just like a fish in an ocean, you breathe in an atmosphere, and you feel that you are expanded. But just as in an Atmosphere or an Ocean, air or water in infinite quantities, design an eternal environment, where there is nowhere to cling, where you are so much that you feel nothing, there is no attachment, only expansion and integration, palpitating , a beat, pulse, that leads from the internal to the external constantly, but infinitely in time and space. Spirituality, then, is eternal, it is infinite, and it has no limits, rules, patterns or indications. There is no guide, no leader, there is no one but yourself in the middle of a gigantic mass of water or air that surrounds you. And many are terrified by this image, they need to feel safe, they need a cage, they need a fish tank. Otherwise they would not find freedom, but despair. But, there are times when someone opens the door of that cage, or submerges the fish tank in a lake, and even so, the fish or bird will approach it, perhaps they will circle around the outside, discovering infinity, but returning to your home, to the safety of the structures. They feel good knowing that the cage is open, that they can leave whenever they want, that they can swim free at any time, but they need the security of the limits, And for this, they decorate spirituality with religion, so that the change of the fish tank to the ocean is not traumatic.
_I: Which is why spiritual people keep talking about angels, fairies, ceremonies, or spiritual hierarchies...
_AM: It is a step of adaptation to true spirituality, which does not have culture, morals or idiosyncrasies.
_I: We've already talked about you comparing what I do to a religion. How do I get people who follow me to know how to swim in the ocean?
_AM: Well, you should swim. Show them that you are not afraid to do it. Are you afraid?
_I: I guess not...
_AM: Well, you'll prove it... You can't create a movement and expect it to be spiritual. The spiritual is of Unity, but to reach it, sometimes the school is necessary.
_I: A group of fish… That travel together in the sea.
_AM: This gives the security of home, of religion, but giving them the opportunity to swim in the sea. Free. Step by step, you can't push anyone to live in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when they've lived in a pond all their lives.
_I: The image of the two fish in relation to the day of the Feet catches my attention. In Christianity, fish are related to feet, and the disciples are fishers of men. Because?
_AM: Walking on Water, a story of Christianity, getting your feet wet in the world without immersing yourself in it. The teaching of walking through the waters of Galilee is related to the demonstration that it is possible to live emotions without submerging in one's passions and attachment needs, that the teacher goes above this, and in turn, allows oneself to feel these waters, Well, in order to walk with your brothers and sisters, you need to feel like them on the path of life. Getting your feet wet is joining the spiritual path to the earthly path. The disciples of Jesus Christ were all fishermen in Galilee, they sold fish in the market. When Jesus worked with them and helped them, and they helped him, Jesus said to them: “Follow me and you will be Fishers of Men.” With this he wanted to encourage them to recognize that they would continue doing their life mission, but with an even greater purpose. For this reason, Christians left their presence recorded with a signature in the shape of a fish. During the persecutions of Christians, those who sought the message of the Messiah could find it by following the symbol of the fish, and thus recognized each other. The Master gave them a new commandment to convert people into Christians, and that was to wash their feet. The symbolism conveyed that once they became Christians, all the mistakes of the past must be left behind, and he must walk cleanly on this new path he embarked on. The tradition of washing feet and hands is much older, from Mesopotamian and Egyptian times, and is maintained to this day in Muslim and Jewish traditions, and on some occasions in Christian traditions, although a few opted for baptism. centuries later.
_I: So, each foot is a fish which, when washed, makes us set the intention to begin a new path.
_AM: With one foot you mark the way, and with the other where. One foot is the spirituality that drives you to seek freedom, while the other is the dogma by which you find it. Both are useful, necessary in a human life. Now remember that you must wash your feet to dare to start a new life, a new path, to swim and immerse yourself in the eternal waters of the ocean. Everything you bring with you from the religions are tools, floats, swimsuit, frog legs, life jacket, snorkel, respirator and everything you need to make your first dive safer. Little by little, when you see that you can swim, that you are not afraid of sinking, you will remove layers of things, and you will be able to swim free. You will be able to breathe in the immensity.
_I: Spirituality is the total freedom of cultural ties, it is simply connecting with oneself, feeling part of all things in every breath, without the need for methodologies, without the need to follow anyone, or dogmas or parameters of good and wrong, but recognizing harmony.
_AM: A spiritual being is a being who is fully coherent or in search of coherence, who thinks, feels and acts in correspondence with his essence, without following what others demand of him, or what the culture drives him. The spiritual path is full of different paths, paths, and all of them are valid. Freedom is not in not taking any, but in knowing that you can travel through them all. And do you know why?
_I: Because I Am the Way.
_AM: So don't use the GPS, because it is not important to reach the destination, the important thing is to enjoy each path you choose, because everyone will arrive at the same place, the center, which you will find by marveling at the landscapes that you will discover, and that you will integrate through every breath. Breathe…
_I: …And so I will be spiritual.