In our modern, materialistic world it is easy to separate spirituality from everyday life. But spirituality is not just for saints, neither is it confined to the Sunday Service, Friday prayers or holy books. It must be a part of our ordinary, everyday existence: it needs to be implicitly present in business, in politics, in farming, in cooking, and in our relationships.
To illustrate this, Satish Kumar draws on the Indian Ayurvedic tradition which characterises the mind as having three gunas, or primary qualities: sattva (characterised by calmness, clarity and purity), rajas (energy and passion), and tamas (dullness and ignorance). These qualities can be applied to our work and the environment: for example, there are sattvic foods, rajasic
foods and tamasic foods. The Ayurvedic aim is to live a life which is simple and close to nature (sattvic), to reduce rajasic tendencies, and to avoid tamasic. When we see ourselves in the light of the three gunas, they can orient us towards the direction in which we wish to go. They can help us to recover the art of living, and lead us towards a peaceful and contented existence.
Extending the meaning of spirtuality further, Satish explains that there is no dualism between spirit and matter—all matter is imbued with spirit, and spirit manifests through matter. This integrated world-view forms the core of his book.
Satish Kumar
Satish Kumar is an internationally renowned speaker on ecological and spiritual issues. He lives in England, and is Editor of Resurgence magazine, Director of Programmes at Schumacher College and founder of the UK?Schumacher Society.
Process and Pilgrimage began in 2009 with a conversation between Philip Franses and Satish Kumar about process in physics and the nature of pilgrimage, where, in each, the adventurer sets out without a clear idea of where he is going, but is open to meet with ‘wholeness’ somewhere along the way.
This is the third year of Process and Pilgrimage events, which is situated at the restored 800 hectare monastery of Abbazia di Spineto in Italy. The five days will be a fascinating mix of discussions and presentations about the projects emerging from the participatory inquiry of Process and Pilgrimage with practical proposals on education – ‘Journey School’, health – immune ‘mind’ and land-use. Read Revival: Growing Health and Education in the Monk’s Garden or to find more information about taking part and online booking visit: www.earthlinksall.com/pp2012
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