The word spiritual has been bandied about in America since the 1960's
free speech movement. Today every religion is spiritual, and every person who can speak with breathy utterances and evince
a tranquility or patience is spiritual. Back when the word natural began appearing on packages of health foods, we soon learned
that every chemical additive beneficial or harmful, which occurs in nature or can be concocted from natural elements, is also
natural.
Today the meaning of spiritual and natural have about the same backing in 24 karat gold - absolutely
none. We have taken these terms out of reality and they no longer have any meaning. Unfortunately the concepts these words
used to represent have also disappeared from creation. When Judaism began referring to charity by using the word righteous,
we got charity, but the practice of righteousness went away to no one's chagrin.
So, let's introduce truth into the big picture and define spiritual.
Spirit is what God has that we can understand and receive. It is what He blows into us that makes us alive
(Genesis 2:7). When He made us in His image (Genesis 1:27) He made us with the potential of incorporating His attributes, i.e.,
His Spirit.
So, if one is to be spiritual, he or she must be faithful to his or her Divinely ordained potential. When
the natural impulses of man lure us, we must use our God-given will to exercise spiritual choices which are of course in concord
with the will of our Maker. If we do not do this, we are not being spiritual. Just as blind men feeling different parts
of an elephant, call the gigantic creature a snake, a tree, and other elements of the elephant; those who use the
terms love or peacefulness for spiritual or only seeing an element of spirituality. Both of these qualities are important
to own or become in one's spiritual path, but to attain these aspects without pursuing and researching TRUTH and then promoting
truth in the quest to participate with our Creator in creating the world which unifies truth and reality through governance
which applies truth in the practical to make the material world spiritual are not being truly and holistically spiritual.
The idea that a person can indulge his baser appetites by acting ethereal, gentle, patient, liberal,
sweet, generous, attentive, etc. is simply a deception. This is not to say that the actualization of one's baser nature can't
be spiritual. It can be spiritual, but it is the spirit of evil and leads to death. (Evil is live spelled in reverse.) The
use of the term natural should only be used to refer to foods that God intended for us to eat ( Gensis 1:29) that are supportive
of the physical nature He created. And the use of the term spiritual should only refer to ideas, things, people and behavior
that is representative of the Spirit of God. So a fat and certainly obese spiritual leader is an oxymoron. Our model
for Jews would better be Michaelangelo's Moses (w/o horns) and David.
"And the Lord thy God will make you over - abundant in all the work
of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your land, for good; for
the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, as He rejoiced over your fathers; if you will hearken to the voice of the
Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are WRITTEN in this book of the law ( b' sefer HaTorah hazeh);
if you turn unto the Lord your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 30:9,10). This is the request from God to be spiritual and the definition of the term for anyone
who is honest.
Today we look for a person's intelligence quotient - I.Q. We believe that the achievment of a grade in response
to a series of questions reflects a person's intelligence. However if the questions reflect an agenda of bankers or lawyers,
the questions may indicate an ability to succeed in achieving a group of objectives. The achievement of a high grade or I.Q.
may give the impression that a successful test taker is prepared to achieve a high quality of life in the mainstream of America's
professional super stars. But history is the story of successful people who participated in the establishment and the
destruction of great civilizations which stood and fell on the acts of these men with high I.Q.'s. Intelligence is valued
by one's peers, bosses, professors, friends, and mates. Truth may not always be an ingredient which is requested in the search
for I.Q. and in today's world of greedy banking professionals the truth would hardly be considered an asset. In fact at the
hint of a "weakness" for truth a candidate for employment would be rejected and a devoted employee would be retired or fired.
Ultimately the exercise of intelligence gathering, application and sharing which lacks truth as its essential and inseparable
ingredient is like white bread devoid of nutrition, fiber and life sustaining properties.
History teaches anyone who is honest that it is God and His blessings which sustain the life of individuals,
enterprises and nations. An intelligent person knows that reality can be created without truth just as money can be created
and expanded without gold or other value. But if we plan to secure our work and fortunes and pass them down to our posterity
we need to restore truth to intelligence so that reality and truth will be wed in natural harmony as the Creator originally
established them to remain.
I.Q. may win a game, test, scholarship, degree or professional position, but it cannot win the game of life
if it lacks the essential element which pleases our Creator. Therefore spiritual intelligence should be the true, new and
accepted meaning of intelligence. And our leaders and employees should be trained to develop their spiritual intelligence.
If we as citizens of the world, plan to be secure and work to enjoy the fruits of our labors, we need to demand of ourselves
and our leaders the spiritual intelligence and the spiritual behavior which alone will insure our successful achievement of
the quality of life we seek and the security which only truly spritual intelligence and behavior can guarantee.
