Foundational Principle for this Conversation: An intention to experience all there is: physical, emotional, and whatever else can be experienced
as an expression of life at its most essential and expansive.

Definition: Spiritual – Related to the divine.
 
 
STUDENT: I believe in the idea of something being spiritual or divinely inspired, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin in talking about it.
LEWIS: As we integrate our vision for our life with our daily actions and our wants with our essential needs there is a realization that takes place. I call this a spiritual realization.
 
STUDENT: And what is this spiritual realization?
LEWIS: The understanding that what we call reality, the accumulated physical experiences and sensations are no more than an illusion of the senses – a creation from our eyes, ears, and taste buds.
 
STUDENT: Please explain.
LEWIS: We smell things through our nostrils and feel things through the power of touch. And yet we can see that all this sensory input is subjective. It is different for each person and even changes for us through the years as we age.
 
STUDENT: How does this connect to spiritual intention?
LEWIS: I believe that the ability to speak of this experience in a way that has an application to our life is “wisdom.” I personally see wisdom as a reflection of spiritual intention (See the Conversation on Self-Actualization).
 
STUDENT: Why?
LEWIS: A wise person is much more than a knowledgeable person.
A wise person – a spiritual person – has the ability to experience the true nature of inner reality. Such a person understands the nature of the world and all of its subtleties.
 
STUDENT: How is wisdom different from knowledge?
LEWIS: Knowledge is stored information. Many of the great teachers were skeptical regarding the importance of intellectual knowledge without a greater more profound element.
 
STUDENT: Please discuss this on a deeper level.
LEWIS: There are many philosophers that believe that their are some things that can be known and other things that can never be known. Those things that can be known they would call the "knowable." The knowable would include finite knowledge. An example of finite knowledge would be facts about something or any knowledge that reflects the workings of the intellect. Those things that cannot be known are known as the "unknowable." The unknowable would refer to that which we sense through the intuition or which we might call spiritual awareness.
 
STUDENT: Which is more important?
LEWIS: We must seek both in order to live our best life.
 
 
STUDENT: Is it possible that we all have the wisdom we seek within us?
LEWIS: Yes, yet sadly and foolishly we search for it in churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples. We have been convinced and continue to convince ourselves that collecting icons, joining religious organizations, and worshipping Pope’s, Rabbi's, Lamas and Ayatollahs is a spiritual practice (See the Conversation on Religion and Regenerative Thought Programs – RTPs).
 
STUDENT: What about sacred places? Would a pilgrimage to such a place be considered a spiritual intention?
LEWIS: It could be. The sacred is certainly an important part of spiritual intention. But I ask you, is it possible that it is the pain of our longing for transformation and self actualization that makes us run to holy cities, and rivers – and much of this is all in vain?
 
STUDENT: Is there any common thread of what is “spiritual” that one might find by studying some of the great spiritual thinkers through history?
LEWIS: There are some spiritual teachers that believe that spirituality is a harmony that exists between macrocosm and microcosm: between the inner truth known as Wisdom, that lies within us and the way we live our lives; between the social and cultural behavior we exhibit? That to live a spiritual life we must
discard, even transcend the rites, rules, and rituals we have created throughout time in some imitation of what we think spiritual is.
 
STUDENT: Please relate spiritual intention to the other sixteen Wealth and Freedom Resources? LEWIS: A person who has a spiritual intention can intuitively and automatically leverage each of the resources as needed to maintain a state where love and freedom reigns.