What is a Spiritual Journey and How to Start It?

If you are looking for the answers to the questions like what is a spiritual journey? What is a spiritual path? What are the spiritual goals? How to go on a spiritual journey? and how to start it?. This article will help you to find useful information about it even if you have absolutely no idea about it. Therefore, let’s see the definition of spiritual as well as let’s understand journey definition and it will give us the collective idea of this term.

We will see the aspects of a spiritual journey, and how it is connected with our inner cells, how it can help us in growing through life. To to find the meaning of it lets take a deep look in what is the true meaning of these concepts.

We will not only see the literal meaning of every word and concept but also we will see what it really means when it comes to the actual practice. Most of the people have confusion about how to apply it in their life even after reading the theory. I am sure that you won’t have much confusion after reading this article.

Definition of Spiritual

The dictionary definition of spiritual means ‘Relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.’ however, indeed, this concept is still evolving. The concept of spirituality has always been subjective. The meaning of it differs from person to person. There is no universal definition which applies to all. If practising meditation gives me satisfaction and peace of mind, if it is helping me to be a better person, then it might be the definition of spirituality for me.

Similarly, it could be anything for or every person. Probably, teaching with extreme passion and dedication might be the spiritual practice for a teacher. There is no good and bad comparison, it’s the way of making our life meaningful, and that’s what spirituality is all about. It helps us to be a better person and ultimately helping us to make this world a better place. The definition of spiritual differs from person to person.

Journey Definition

The literary definition of a journey means ‘an act of travelling from one place to another.’ However, when it comes to spirituality, it has more than a single meaning. Just remember this as of now, and we are going to explore this concept in brief later in this article.

Simply moving from one place to another with a  free will is the travel but the journey means actually experiencing the process of moving. The aggregate impact on knowledge, experience & feelings of taking place because of travel is called a journey. Again, there is nothing good or bad here but understanding and going through that process is a journey.

What is a Spiritual Journey?

There are two aspects of a spiritual journey; the first aspect is all about the geographical movement. Moving from one place to another to get experiences, knowledge and actually feeling the vibes through our sensation is the physical aspect of it. Above all, another aspect talks about the inward journey, which deals with self-realisation. This is more likely the inward-looking approach where a person starts looking at himself to know more about self. A person cannot have self revelation phase without self-realisation.

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Unlike the traditional journey, the spiritual journey is not about knowing about places or exploring the material world. It has more to do about meeting the people who are spiritually awakened and gaining some light on our process of self-discovery. There might be some holy places out there. While visiting those places, spirituality might be part of it, but spirituality doesn’t restrict itself with any particular religion. There is a thin difference between the religious journey and spiritual journey. Every religious journey might be a spiritual journey, but every spiritual journey may or may not be a religious journey. There is a fine line between religion and spirituality. However, there are some different opinions about this and we can say that this is a debatable topic.

Spiritual Goals

The list intent of the spiritual journey our practice means spiritual goals. It could be anything like self-discovery, practising gratitude, sharing and seeking kindness, having a break from the materialistic world, exploring the unknown, meeting new people and enriching our experiences etc. There is no specific intent which is suitable for everyone, and that’s the real beauty of it.

One can achieve his spiritual goals with spiritual practice in which he has the core belief. Everyone has a different path. It can match or completely differ from 2 people having the same thought process. We have the complete freedom of exploring ourselves as far as our process, practice or journey is not creating any trouble for anyone else out there. Exploring and experiencing the process of achieving spiritual goals is a wonderful thing while walking on the path of enlightenment.

Spiritual Path

The spiritual path is nothing but the process of achieving spiritual goals as we have already understood that the meaning of spirituality differs from person to person. This is also applicable to the spiritual path. Someone religious in nature can follow the path of scriptures. One can follow the law of karma or any other laws without following scriptures if he is atheist in nature. We all are curious about something, and spirituality means satisfying our curiosity by finding the answers. It has nothing to do if you are religious or atheist. A scientist doing experiments and trying to find something out of it is spiritual in nature. Doing scientific experiments is his spiritual path.

Spiritual journey on a spiritual path helps us to attain our spiritual goals. The most interesting thing is the subjectivity. It allows us to explore our own spiritual goals with our own process, that is a spiritual journey. One might or might not take the help of the religious path, but we all are moving towards self-discovery. It gives meaning to our lives; it gives us the reason to exist.

Let’s have a look at some frequently asked questions. It will help us to understand the subject matter precisely.

What is the Meaning of Spirituality?

The meaning of spirituality means finding the unknown with or without a religious path. This is subjective in nature; it means there is no right or wrong meaning of it. There is a certain meaning of spirituality for me, then it might or might not apply to anyone else. This allows everyone to develop his own spiritual temper.

The general meaning of spirituality has changed and developed over a period of time. Every generation has new life experiences, knowledge, feelings and hence the meaning of spirituality also differs from generation to generation.

What is a Spiritual Journey Called?

In a religious context, every religion has a different spiritual journey having geographical significance. For example, In India, Char Dham Yatra might be the spiritual journey for the devotees following lord shiva. Hajj Yatra is the one in Muslims so on and so forth. However, the spiritual journey is called the journey of self-discovery in the context of an individual approach. When it comes to the self-discovery, the journey has two aspects. One is moving from one place to another, and the second aspect is shifting the focus from external approach to internal approach.

How Do You Become Spiritual?

As we have seen spirituality is a subjective term, and it differs from person to person. You can become a spiritual person by starting to explore because the core meaning of spirituality is the process of knowing the unknown.

Even if the atheist person is finding something, he is spiritual in nature. If you want to become spiritual, find the questions about which you are most curious about.  Who am I? Might be the question for me but or your question might or might not be different from this. The process of finding the answer will make you a spiritual person.

What are Faith and Spirituality?

If you’re looking at the literal meaning of faith in the dictionary, it says ‘complete trust or confidence in someone or something.’ However, spirituality is something associated with the process of finding the answers or practising it to find meaning in life. Both faith and spirituality are subjective in nature. It is a way of looking at something.

For example, Apples were falling from the tree since ages, but people had faith in the universal power. However, in the year 1687, when Sir Isaac Newton saw apples falling, he started asking the question Why? And the process between the question and his discovery of world-famous law of gravity was the spirituality and spirituality for him. It was his journey of finding the answer to the question arose in his mind.

What is a Spiritual Person?

Any person who is involved in spiritual practices is known as a spiritual person. He has this sense of enlightenment about something he is passionate about. If any athlete is doing practice to find his unknown potential, he is a spiritual person. In simple words, anyone who loves what he is doing and he has this sense of exploring more and more about it to make it meaningful for him as well as others then he is a spiritual person. However, this is something that has more than a single definition and parameters.

What are the Three Aspects of Spirituality?

Subjectivity, Meaning, Practice are the three aspects of spirituality. It is subjective in nature, It is a process of finding the meaning and making life more meaningful, and it is a practice of achieving spiritual goals. These are three common aspects of spirituality. However, as we have understood that it is subjective in nature, there are multiple other aspects too. Probably there might consider one aspect for you, another respect for others so on and so forth.

What is a Soul Journey?

Soul journey means a journey towards inner selves with multiple goals. It could be anything like self-awareness, finding the reason to exist, decluttering the mind or arranging the priorities of life. This journey can be guided, or we can also have our own process of starting and exploring the soul journey.

How Do I Discover My Spirituality?

Discover your spirituality, and the first step ask questions to yourself. The questions could be anything like, What makes you happy? What makes your life meaningful? How can you make this world a better place? Then gradually start finding answers to these questions. You can also take external help if you need to find the answers. However, you have to to start the spiritual journey. This could be the inward journey. You will start finding answers automatically over the period of time after starting spiritual practice. It could also include trial and error method so you have to keep looking for the answers, and this is one way of discovering you are spirituality.

What are Examples of Spirituality?

A mother taking care of her baby, a doctor trying his best to save the patient, a soldier ready to die to save his countrymen, a farmer producing food with extreme passion, a cleaner giving his best to clean the roads are the purest examples of spirituality. Everyone is doing spiritual practice by ensuring giving his/her best in performing the duties.

How to Start Spiritual Journey?

A spiritual journey for beginners might be a difficult task, but these are some tips to make the process easier. These are not the only methods/tips but a few of them. These tips will help you if you are willing to start your spiritual journey and looking forward to making your life more meaningful.

1. Ask Questions

You should ask questions to yourself by going beyond your faith. Similarly, as we have seen the example of Sir Isaac Newton, every other human being it had the faith that Apple falls down due to the Supernatural powers. Sir Isaac Newton went into the depth and found out the way of expressing that power. The gravity was always there, he discovered the way of expressing it in in our language. You can start your spiritual practice/journey by asking questions about the topics which you care about. Spirituality is all about finding the answers and you know the questions, then this process becomes easier because you know what to find.

2. Do Experiments

Thomas Alva Edison did more than a thousand experiments while inventing the bulb and when people asked him about those failures, he said, “I have not failed but found out the methods of not inventing the bulb”. Don’t worry about the failures, it is a part of the process. If you are hungry and you are eating six apples then probably the fifth apple would fulfil your hunger but you cannot eat the fifth apple first. You have to follow the process of doing experiments and success will be there at the right time. No one knows what is the right time or when it will come but the only way to find it is to keep looking.

3. Religious Approach

As we have already understood that spirituality might or might not be always religious in nature. There is nothing right or wrong in this, if you want to have a religious approach while you are on a spiritual journey, you can follow that path.

There is no compulsion and it is completely your decision to follow it or not. See the ultimate aim is to find the meaning and there are multiple paths to reach the same destination. It is all about how much dedication and passion you have through the journey.

4. Documentation

It is strongly advised to have documentation in some kind because it will help you to analyse multiple milestones of your journey. You can maintain a gratitude journal or even the normal journal to record your experiences and feelings. Over a period of time, you will be in a position to compare the old and new you during the journey. If you believe that your experiences and feelings are not private but universal in nature then you can share it on your blog so that other people might get some perspective about it. Even though the journey is subjective, another perspective will enrich your practice of spirituality. This will help you in your spiritual journey and develop your own perspective, it might or might not be influenced by others.

5. Spiritual Journey Travel

One way travelling geographically during your spiritual journey will help you in your religious approach because you will be visiting the holy places as per the religion that you are following. However, it has another aspect of meeting new people and understanding their perspective about life and their practice of spirituality. If you are travelling, obviously the chances of meeting new people are much higher than that of living routine lifestyle with a fixed social circle of people. As we have seen that new perspective helps you to to gain more grip on your approach of looking at spirituality. Spiritual journey travel is one of those options where you meet new people daily and it boosts this process even if you are not religious in nature.

6. Spiritual Journey for Beginners

You don’t have to start travelling on the first day itself, the process starts with inwards journey and that is the first step of exploring inner selves. Self-awareness will guide you to find and go on the next stages. For example, meditation could be one option for beginners to start the spiritual journey towards self-awareness.

7. Spiritual Journey Experience

One of the purposes of this journey is to get more and more experiences and it will help you to build your own versions of spirituality. Don’t get yourself trapped in the comparison. Everyone will be having different experiences even if both of them are going through a similar process. There is no reason to compare the progress of one with another because everyone has his own timeline and that’s how it should be. Every journey is different and hence every experience will be different. There is nothing such as good or bad, it’s all about the experience and the perspective.

8. Spiritual Journey Examples

There are many examples of the spiritual journey in the past and even in the present world but I am impressed with the journey of a prince Siddharth, who went on a journey to find the truth and after dedicating spiritual practice, he found his enlightenment. Now we know him as Gautam Budhha.

8. Start Early

Everyone has his own timeline, and one can start his spiritual journey anytime.  However, we are human beings, and we have limited time, and therefore it is recommended to start it as early as possible. The ultimate aim is to you have a meaningful life and if you find your enlightenment at the age of 10, it will help not only you but also other people coming in his contact. You can start your journey whenever you feel that you are ready. There is no pressure at all; a person starting early can achieve his spiritual goals later in life, whereas a person starting late can achieve it much faster. There is no thumb rule here, everyone is unique, and that’s how it works. Starting early gives you the chance to achieve your goals sooner, but there is no guarantee at all.

10. Find the Balance

Even though this is a journey to find our enlightenment. We should not act selfishly by ignoring our duties. Our family members, relatives, friends and colleagues are dependent on us in some way as we are a part of the social system. Thus, it is recommended to find the balance and practice the spirituality. One should not act selfishly by ignoring their care and affection towards us. In simple words, our spiritual journey and progress should not be at the cost of hurting others in any way. This is how you have to find the balance by not being selfish as well as not having any self-awareness. Both the ideas go hand in hand. If you can find the balance, then everything else will be easier for you and everyone around you.

Conclusion

Spirituality means finding the answers to the questions. It is a process of finding self-awareness and achieving spiritual goals. There are multiple ways to achieve spiritual goals. One can have a religious approach, but it is not compulsory, and everyone can have his own approach and path of starting and taking the spiritual journey. There is no timeline, and everyone has his own way of experiencing the aspects of this journey. One can achieve his spiritual goals early in life, while others might take it longer. There is nothing right or wrong but the own versions of experiences. These experiences help us to make our life more meaningful. Spirituality is subjective in nature; everyone is different. Hence, everyone has different ideology and experiences; everyone will find his enlightenment at the right time.

What is your opinion about spirituality, let’s have a fruitful discussion on your view on spiritual practices. As I always say, there should be a two-way communication because it helps us to share the views and experiences which helps in enriching life. Don’t forget to share the link of this article with your friends and relatives.

Photo courtesy – Mr.Autthaporn Pradidpong