“Spirituality is not living in dreams, or living in the clouds, or having a pale face and languid air, as if the things of the earth were beneath one’s serious consideration, and were rather endured than enjoyed. Spirituality means the greatest acuteness of intellect, the greatest foresight, the greatest amount of spirit or power gathered in a person, and the wisest expenditure of that power. It means the greatest governmental ability, be that ability exercised in the small empire of a household, or the larger empire of a nation. Spiritual gifts mean all talents, all powers, and all methods of using those powers.
“That is a spiritual gift which finds out healing properties in plants, roots, and herbs. All nature expressed in substance, seen of the physical eye, is an expression also of mind or force. … But all seen things are expressions of the lower or relatively cruder form of mind or spirit, and therefore have a limited power; and, when any material remedy is applied, the main dependence should not be on the remedy, but on the power of mind, and, above all things, one’s own mind or force to put the body above the reach of disease.” ~Prentice Mulford
Spirituality
Mulford says that spirituality is not “living in dreams,” etc. If he were living today, he would likely add to that list, playing a tambourine, meditating, or saying “Namaste” all the time. Not that there is anything wrong with doing those things, but in themselves, they do not make you spiritual. People didn’t spend years, even decades, in the great mystery schools of the past if that was all there was to do and study, but it isn’t. There is much more to real spiritual development than those simplistic approaches.
Things of the Earth
Mulford is also correct in saying that real spiritual people do not reject the things of the earth as beneath them. It may be true that St. Francis rejected his father’s wealth, but he didn’t live naked in a cave and eat bugs thereafter. Real spiritual people always put the spiritual needs before the physical, but they don’t reject the physical. As long as they have physical bodies, they know that they need to take reasonable care of them, yet without becoming attached to the physical. That is the difficult trick sometimes called “walking the razor’s edge”.
Spiritual Gifts
This is one area where I think most real spiritual leaders and teachers will disagree to some extent with Mulford. The problem seems to be that Mr. Mulford either doesn’t recognize the existence of a spirit and soul, or he thinks they are but names for part of the human mind. Both of those beliefs are incorrect. But due to this belief, he places too much importance on the mind and the intellect. So he says that “acuteness of intellect” is a spiritual gift. While a good intellect is of value to spiritual people, it is not a spiritual gift. It is the more universal form of intelligence called consciousness that is important to the spiritual person. And consciousness is not measured by an amount but by levels of consciousness. There are very low levels of consciousness in simpler beings than humans, and much higher levels of consciousness found in Light Beings or Angels. A great spiritual gift, therefore, is to achieve higher levels of Consciousness, not intellect.
Mulford goes on to say that spiritual gifts include all talents, powers, and ways of using such powers. Here I must disagree. Using our abilities for strictly material and materialistic pursuits is not at all spiritual. Such usage may be necessary while we are in physical form, but that doesn’t make them spiritual. Real spiritual gifts include such things as being able to communicate with animals, being able to predict the weather and other future events, being able to recognize when someone else is telling the truth, or not, etc. Most of all, a spiritual gift is the ability, desire, and courage to move forward on the often difficult path of real spiritual growth. That is the gift that is truly spiritual.
From the SOLAR WIND collection by Harold Boulette.
