Youth And Spirituality

Life is made up of matter and spirit matter is amino acids, proteins, bones, blood, flesh and other things. The spirit is made of enthusiasm, joy, love and beauty. You need food for the stomach, taste for tongue beauty for the eyes and fun for life and celebration. All these are a part of one’s life and spirituality is something that encompasses all the avenues; human values compassion, caring. All are part of spirituality. Spirituality is not just sitting and doing some practice. It is a value system, a way of life.

Today’s youth need a broadening of their vision about life and a deepening of their roots in their culture, tradition and value systems. Deepening their roots gives a sense of responsibility and ownership, while a broader vision gives a sense of relaxation. A broader vision and deeper roots really mean responsibility with ease, calmness and equanimity. Inhibition is a big problem amongst our youth. They worry about what the other person is going to think about them. Another problem is the tendency of the mind to cling more to the negative than to the positive. This generates more stress within themselves and within society to break free from and not , the youth need to take responsibility for themselves and ensure that their minds are and not clogged. All spiritual practices and celebrations lead one to a more fulfilled and joyful life – more love and care. This is what our youth require. Taking a look in to their own lives, they need to see life within a bigger context and just not look into immediate short term benefits. Through this, they need to bring about a shift from “What can I have? To “What can I give?” A shift from competition to contribution. This can happen when they attend to the four sources of energy; proper food, proper rest, a little attention to their breath and a few minutes for a calm collected, meditate mind.

Youth complain of a lack of concentration. When do you need to concentrate? Do you really need to concentrate when you love the subject? You require the concentration for something that you don’t like to do! So, just love everything you do! Only, when we transcend the thinking level, settle down and calm the mind, do we access the richness that we are! Youth need to realise that they have a huge potential and strength to achieve what they want. This is possible if they have some quiet moments for themselves.

Unfortunately, spirituality, is shown as something serious, caring for life, recognising life, uplifting life is spirituality and by keeping it in its true spirit of celebration, joy and sincere love, youth come around it. I think it is our expression that matters. Today’s youth mature enough and they are realising the need for spirituality in their lives. They experience the peak of material prosperity and comfort; so much so that life has become saturated with stimulations. Everyone is yearning for a sense of serenity, calmness, inner peace, and sincere love. At the heart of each person is a longing for truth, for love and spirituality is able to open the lid that has been blocked for so many years. One finds solace, strength and the ability to achieve results effectively. Youth always look for success, but the parameters of success are changing! A few years ago- may be a capable of decades ago- wearing a lot of jewellery was considered a parameter of success. Today, this is not so.