The Practicality of Symbolism In Spirituality

What would happen if we simply replaced the word "spiritual" with the word "symbolic?"

Despite the endless world of shit just on the other side of the word "spiritual," I have always had a really hard time shitcanning the entire apparatus, for the fact that there is practical benefit to be had in certain contexts.

Math, for example, is an entirely abstract and symbolic phenomenon, and the benefit is displayed in nearly everything of worth that humanity has ever accomplished. Should we throw that away too? Of course not. We couldn't if we wanted to, because math isn't something created, but observed. It's also highly practical, unlike most of what we call "spiritual," which is mostly just bullshit artistry to manipulate others for wealth and influence. But is it truly impossible to separate the nonsense from the useful?

I think the key that unlocks the benefit to what we call "spiritual," is understanding that an abstract perspective on anything can be overlayed and improved by other abstract perspectives. That's true with math, and it's true with life, it's just not immediately apparent. If we're practiced at the symbolic, it improves our chances of success with the practical. Nearly all education is proof of this, because the vast majority of study in school is an exercise in knowledge transfer, which is really just the interpretation of symbolism, and the vast majority of its application is tangible, or at least practical rather than merely symbolic.

I can tell you from direct, personal experience, that the wooden dummy, whether "spiritual" or "symbolic," is a force multiplier when applied to a real fight, and that extends to other symbols within the martial arts.

I think what causes the mind to balk at the word "spiritual," is not the nature of the enterprise, but how the word has been so wounded and disgraced by exploitation and abuse throughout history, and that we know this exploitation and abuse will always be so--it is inevitable. Therefore, the second we start using the word "spiritual," we also open the door for all the shitheads and assholes who do not respect rules--because this is the big difference between what we call "spiritual," and "symbolic." The symbolic adheres to rules and the "spiritual" does not. The second you try to break the rules in math in a practical, applied situation, everyone around you stops what you're doing and asks why you're deliberately trying to cause the building to collapse and kill everyone by using a weaker support than is required, along with a middle finger and a punch in the face. Breaking the rules of the "spiritual" is pretty much the very business of those involved--using words to manipulate ideas in the mind of the listener in whatever manner required to satisfy the speaker's intent and to establish rules for their mind to shape behavior in whatever way the speaker needs. Dead people coming back to life? No problem! Talking animals? Of course it's true! Elisha's child massacre with double the bodycount of the Uvalde massacre? Of course he's still righteous!--"spiritually," anyway. The rules don't fuckin matter at all, and in truth they don't exist at all, however the speaker might disagree--and woe betide the brave but doomed creature who disagrees.

With most of what we call "spiritual," the rules are as liquid as they need to be, and using the word in conversation immediately changes the context from the rigor-based context of symbolism to the "fuck the rules" context of spirituality, which is, I think, what pisses most people off about it, and certainly myself included. I don't think it has to be that way internally though, however firmly an entrenched apparatus it is with large groups.

I think that's what annoys us and tempts us to shitcan the entire enterprise, but I also think there is a world of benefit in understanding and applying the overall paradigm of development that symbolism provides, even within the context of spirituality, while confining one's perspective to the symbolic, and dismissing the hedonism of what we refer to as "spiritual." 

I think there is a real benefit, individually speaking, to spirituality, as long as it is confined to a world where rules matter, which of course, immediately excludes religion, because with religion, clergy sets and breaks rules as needed, and any attempt to change that results in social penalties often beyond what one can counter.

Within the context of one's own personal and individual experience, I think spirituality, combined with rigor and the logic of process, is the key to the next phase of evolution, where intelligence and capability can be radically enhanced. It may be true that I.Q. can be enhanced, for those who reject the premise that it can't, and try anyway.