Spirituality in Islam

Another concept of spiritualism is produced under the influence of the philosophy of monism. Monism posits the totality of a single reality, with all the diverse phenomena of the natural world seen as different manifestations of the same reality. According to this concept, therefore, there is no real difference between the Creator and the creature. Thus as per the monistic concept, a personalized God does not exist. God is like a vague spirit such as gravity or cosmic rays and all forms of existence are, in actual fact, manifestations of the same source.

This concept of spirituality is explained by the concept of an “indwelling God” given by Pandu Rang Shashtri, founder of the Swadhyaye Movement. According to this, reality is within us and we can receive spiritual nourishment by establishing contact with our own inner personality. This concept has been explained by Acharya Rajneesh in his book, “Kundalini Andar Base.” In this system, man’s inner existence is akin to a mysterious ocean, which remains, under normal circumstances, undiscovered for man.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, spiritualism is the philosophy of higher reality, which has been variously defined by different philosophers in such terms as “immaterial reality.” “A universal mind”, “a supreme being”, “a spiritual cosmic force”, “an infinite personal God”, etc. Spirituality is an elevated state of intellectual awakening. It is a higher level of consciousness. Our world is, in fact, a dual world – a world of ‘material things’ and a world of ‘inner meanings’.

According to the German philosopher, Nietzsche, the secret of bringing a developed man into existence lay in self-thinking. But in my opinion, that is a half-truth. The whole truth is that the secret of producing a developed man lies in anti-self thinking. The reason for this is that everyone lives in some society or the other. This society continually exercises formative influences on his mind, until finally his thinking becomes totally conditioned by those influences.