What is self-discovery? Self-discovery is a journey towards a deeper understanding of the truth about oneself. It is an ongoing and long process where an individual begins on the path of self-contemplation and introspection. One of the most frequently asked questions is “How do I begin this journey of self-discovery?” The answer is simple yet difficult – spirituality. Spirituality is the ultimate answer to all questions about life. While the journey of self-discovery is about knowing and understanding oneself, the path of spirituality takes it several steps further and leads an individual towards self-realization – realizing the truth of one’s being and ultimately realizing God.
How does spirituality help in your journey of self-discovery? Spirituality is the science of the spirit, soul or atman. Spirituality helps in self-discovery by revealing profound truths about life, birth, karma, death, joy, peace, concepts of true happiness, etc. The two most important questions that need answers in life are:
1. Who am I?
2. Why am I here? Thus, spirituality gives you a sense of self and purpose for being born on this earth.
How to discover yourself through spirituality? Self-discovery is simply knowing yourself. This can be achieved through deep introspection. Deep introspection and contemplation on the profound truths of life and the self can be practiced through silence and meditation. Humans usually direct all their sense perception outwards, taking in information from the external world. Spirituality redirects our focus inwards, to the core of our being. In silence and solitude, we begin to monitor our thoughts. Meditation allows a person to become a witness to his thoughts and gradually slow down the mental rate of thought. On average, our mind produces about 50 thoughts per minute and about 50,000 thoughts per day. Most of these thoughts are negative and cause anxiety, worry and even depression. By slowing down the mental rate of thought through silence and meditation, we can reach a state called no-thought, mindfulness or awareness. In this state, our intellect shines through and we are able to discern thoughts and turn the negative into positive ones. Thus, through spiritual methods, we can discover and gain the power to discern our thoughts.
On the journey of self-discovery through meditation, silence and solitude, we realise the truth of our being; that we are not just a body, mind or ego. We are souls, unique sparks of life, part of a supreme immortal force, SIP, which we call God. We are God manifestations. This is the ultimate truth. Knowing this truth about ourselves falls under self-discovery, but self-realisation happens only when we realise and live this truth. Spiritual awakening is about transcending self-discovery and reaching the stage of self-realisation.
In conclusion, spirituality plays a vital role in the journey or quest to discover and realise oneself. Spirituality reveals the purpose of life by explaining the concept of karma and its relationship with birth, death and life. Spiritual awakening occurs when one realises that one is a soul having a human experience and that this world is a cosmic drama or leela in which we play our part and then pass away. We are all unique sparks of life born from the SIP or Supreme Immortal Force and merge back into it after the death of the physical body. Hence, the path to ultimate spiritual awakening begins with self-discovery and continues to self-realisation and ultimately God-realisation.
