“SPIRITUALITY IS BEING AWAKE. Getting rid of illusions. Spirituality is never being at the mercy of any event, thing or person. Spirituality means having found the diamond inside yourself. Religion is intended to lead you there. “What good does it do to win the world and lose your soul?” Think about what you feel when you look at a sunset or are in contact with nature. And compare that with your feeling when you are appreciated, applauded, praised. The first kind of feelings, I call feelings of the soul; the second is what I call feelings of the world. Think about the feeling you have when you win a race or an argument, when you get to the top, when you reach success. Feelings of the world.
The feelings of the world aren’t natural; they were invented by your society and mine to control us. The don’t lead to happiness, only to excitement, emptiness, and anxiety. Think about your own life. Is there even a single day when you aren’t consciously or unconsciously oriented toward what others think, feel or say about you? Your steps are controlled; you march to the drumbeat. Look around. See if you find anyone who is free of such feelings. Feelings of the world. Everywhere you find people chained to feelings of the world, living empty. They have gained the world but lost their souls.”
Fr. Anthony DeMello, S.J., in “Walking on Water”
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Jeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.
