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Three Ways Personal Spirituality Benefits Black Men.

February 4, 2018 by  
Filed under Christian Talk, News, Opinion, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) I often hear people say, “I am more spiritual than religious”. Unfortunately, that saying has reached the level of cliché.

‘Spirituality’ is the profound sense of connection one receives through an interaction with a power greater than us. Religion, conversely, is the belief and worship of a deity, usually expressed as God. Stated otherwise, ‘religion is man’s search for God’ while spirituality is our communion with God.

It is the ever-present knowing that we are a part, and where the part is the whole must be as well.

The difference between the two and how that difference may invoke in black men a higher level of consciousness is the subject of this article.

Brothers face unrelenting obstacles in this country as it relates to education, financial stability and social acceptance. In so many ways, the odds are stacked against our success.

We need a new paradigm for empowerment.

In a recent poll, fifty-four percent of the respondents cited ‘personal spirituality’ versus the ‘black church’ as the most crucial tool for positive personal change. The two can and must work in tandem.

Personal spirituality is a potent vehicle for personal growth and development, but, divorced from a larger context of praise, worship and ritual; it becomes counterproductive to the follower.

Here are three ways personal spirituality within a praise and worship context can enrich our lives as black men.

Personal Spirituality Establishes a Ground

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude, writes author and spiritualist Denis Waitley. To be sure, the experience that Waitley describes does not come easily; it is earned with a commitment to doing the necessary work. It is the ground upon which all other existence is built. It determines the quality of our day; it governs the emotional texture with which we live.

Our ‘ground of being’ is nurtured by meditation, worship and ritual and an abiding sense of gratitude. Gratitude conditions spirituality.

Personal Spirituality Adds to Our Mental and Physical Well-Being

Studies dating back a quarter-century suggest a credible relationship between good mental health and a positive, spiritual outlook on life. Faith is an undeniable factor for how we respond to the challenges of life.

Samuel Ullman writes, The measure of your maturity is how spiritual you become during the midst of your frustrations.

Anyone who claims to be “spiritual” and yet lacks a corresponding commitment toward physical health does not quite understand the dynamics of personal spirituality. As noted, we are spiritual beings on a physical journey, and that spiritual ground informs our physical environment. That is to say, it deepens our appreciation for our Temple; we understand the value of physical activity and seek to keep our bodies healthy.

In the same manner, our mental well-being is strengthened by a sense of the communion achieved through personal spirituality; we become more in tune with ourselves as we identify with the actions that can elevate our lives.

Personal Spirituality Deepens Our Connection with Others

Some people equate spirituality with a type of isolationism. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it’s the opposite: personal spirituality connects us to the larger self or wider community. It increases our awareness of our surroundings; Earth becomes more beautiful as we recognize our connection to the planet.

Personal spirituality also helps us to become more committed fathers, husbands, brothers and men in the community. It especially deepens our commitment to our children. In short, we become better men and better fathers – and our communities become better as a result.

The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises, says Leo Buscaglia.

Personal spirituality is a potent tool for personal development.

Staff Writer; W. Eric Croomes

This talented brother is a holistic lifestyle exercise expert and founder and executive coach of Infinite Strategies LLC, a multi-level coaching firm that develops and executes strategies for fitness training, youth achievement and lifestyle management. Eric is an author, fitness professional, holistic life coach and motivational speaker.

In October 2015, Eric released Life’s A Gym: Seven Fitness Principles to Get the Best of Both, which shows readers how to use exercise to attract a feeling of wellness, success and freedom (Infinite Strategies Coaching LLC, 2015) – http://www.infinitestrategiescoaching.com.


Comments

2 Responses to “Three Ways Personal Spirituality Benefits Black Men.”
  1. Trevo Craw says:

    AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE NOT BLACK. Black is the color of your car tires, not your skin author. Being called “black” is a lie and it should be offensive. Haitians, Jamaicans and even Africans do not accept being called “black”, Why do you think that is? They are identified by tribes, klans, geographic areas and their respective countries. By using the very term black to describe us, we are doing the following:

    1. Using a term white oppressors and slave masters gave us.
    2. Letting someone else define us other than our own people.
    3. Calling ourselves something we are not.
    4. Buying into thee lie and the negative denotation. Check the dictionary.
    5. Being set apart in a way that no other ethnic group allows. Native Americans are not called Red Man. Asians are not called Yellow Man. Hispanics are not called Brown Man. They do not and will not accept being defined by color and by some other race or ethnic group at that.
    6. Ignoring our actual color (brown) which means brainwashing has worked. Any time someone can get an entire race, ethnic group or culture to ignore what they are and call themselves what they factually are not, THEY HAVE BEEN INDOCTRINATED, ASSIMILATED AND BRAINWASHED.
    7. Playing right into the oppressor’s profiles and stereotypes. Did you know studies show there is a different perception of black people than there is of African Americans? Words create perceptions and perceptions create actions towards us.

    WAKE UP. You know your colors. And even though others around the world equated our ancestors with the color of the soil in Africa or the meaning of negro/negroid, that does not change the fact that WE ARE BROWN – NOT BLACK.

    If you look in the dictionary or send an email to brainstormonline@yahoo.com, I will send you the research. Facts are facts and YOU ARE BROWN, NOT BLACK. When you receive the revelation of wy they keep calling African Americans “black” and Caucasian people “white”, you may just wake up!

    STOP LETTING OTHER GROUPS DEFINE YOU WITH AN OBVIOUS LIE that we have heard and accepted so much that we believe it’s true and forget our colors. The de-programming has to take root or African Americans will forever be defined, limited and oppressed by those who get us to accept a lie.

  2. RA Landbeck says:

    “Personal spirituality is a potent tool for personal development.” but with thousands of different ‘spiritualities’ being retailed all around us, how does one even know what true spirituality even is? Or have we confused ‘aspiration’ for spiritual? And such confusion strongly suggests that we have yet to fully understand where true spirituality and self discovery begins or what that discovery represents. That very big question remains to be sorted out. But we might be getting close and all brothers should be aware of and take note of something potentially very big that’s going down. More at http://www.energon.org.uk

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