Introspective

By Thomas F. O'Neill

In our modern era technology is doubling every 18 months and soon it will be difficult for the average person to keep up with the changing tides. However, in our fast passed world there could be great technological advantages to these changing trends. For instance the new high-tech gadgets and gismos can aid us in getting more done in a shorter period of time. It wasn’t that long ago that such technology would have been considered on the edge of science fiction.

The consumer driven world is moving extremely fast and some people find it difficult to keep up. Our high-tech lifestyles are also coming with a price. The price we pay is higher stress and less ways to elevate our stressful environment.

We are dealing with a lot more stress than our parents dealt with a generation ago. Stress also comes in many forms, it can bombard us on the job, in our personal lives, and many people are dealing with growing financial burdens.

Some people deal with the stress by popping pills and this is something our parents may have chosen to do. But unfortunately medication over a long period of time is toxic on the body. There are certainly healthier ways to combat stress. One way that is beneficial to the body and mind is exercise and another is meditation.

There has been quite a bit of research done on the brain in the area of meditation and Spirituality. Research using MRI’s discovered that people who meditate on a regular bases are actually creating synapses in the brain that will aid the person in creating deeper spiritual experiences. Meditating also stimulates parts of the brain that are believed to be responsible for intuition. Basically our brains are hard wired for spirituality. We are evolving spiritually but at the same time we are aiding the evolutionary process along. The more we practice spiritual exercises the more we evolve spiritually.

These studies on spirituality and the brain are fairly new. Meditation however has been around for a very long time. Its ability to lead to deeper intuitive experiences is not new either it’s just that it has not been studied scientifically with modern methods of study. It’s promising because intuition is something we all experience at times and it is beneficial for everyone. In the area of spirituality intuition can lead to deeper insights to our spiritual connection with others, nature, and god.

Spiritual Intuition is a flash of knowing, it’s an immediate insight and understanding of something without reason. It can lead to a deeper understanding of ourselves in relation to others. It can also aid us in resolving inner conflicts and other unresolved issues in our lives.

The studies being conducted on intuition show that there is a distinction between religion and spirituality. Spirituality leads more towards the objectivity of the spiritual experience. In other words it leads to a deeper understanding of oneself. Religion has a tendency to draw people into the ritual of religious pageantry rather than helping people gain insight into their spiritual nature.

I am curious where the scientific research on spirituality and the brain will lead as science progresses. But I think it is pretty exciting especially in the area of intuition. The intuitive mind is open to so many possibilities. Many great scientific breakthroughs and discoveries have been made through flashes of intuition. The thought that there are ways to increase ones intuitive powers is pretty exciting to say the least.

The thought that we are evolving not only on a spiritual level but intuitively makes sense to me. We will continue to evolve, physically, socially, psychologically, but most of all we will continue to evolve in the area of science. We are aiding the evolutionary process along through our quest for self improvement.

It also makes sense that in the midst of all this technological change we need some quiet time. A time to relax, to meditate, and quiet things down. It is a way of getting to know ourselves better. This process is as old as our humanity and this spiritual path has been taken by the old wisdom seekers. Science is just beginning to catch up with what the ancient mystics intuitively understood since the birth of humanity.

With love,
Thomas F. O’Neill

introspective7@hotmail.com

Yahoo Screen Name for chatting online: introspective777

Other articles, short stories, and commentaries by Thomas F. O'Neill can be found at the links below.

Link: http://thomasfoneill.blogspot.com

Link: http://pencilstubs.com

Link: http://www.livejournal.com/users/thomas_f_oneill

Link: http://www.myspace.com/thomas_f_oneill

Link: http://thomasfoneill.spaces.live.com

Link: http://www.pencilstubs.com/magazine/authorbio.asp?AID=412