On Spirituality, Death and Life

Thom Hawkins, 2nd from left, on Father’s Day, 2020: Three generations! (Photo – Throop Learning Garden Coalition)

I’ve been trying to find a satisfactory definition of “spiritual” for a very long time. Here is what I’ve arrived at so far: Spirituality is the seeking of connection to the cosmos.

By Thom Hawkins

Being spiritual involves knowing that life itself is not central to the cosmos, that existence goes far beyond life.

Science has no evidence of consciousness after death, but quantum physics suggests that our particles will become part of the flow of the cosmos. Our consciousness will be gone, but our energy will continue. However, quantum physics cannot explain everything. Physicists tell us that our minds are incapable of discovering all the secrets of the cosmos. Spirituality is the name we give to that vast physical reality beyond our grasp; it is synonymous with mystery.

But we are creatures of meaning, so we can’t stop trying to make sense of it all. As far as my fumbling brain can tell, it appears that the cosmos contains far more destruction than creation, effectively merging all into one. Perhaps we have evolved to destroy ourselves and life on our planet so that we can participate in that merger, which is itself a massive creation, the biggest one of all. It looks like destruction and emptiness from our perspective, but it might not be, which would explain why death can be so compelling. We spread it everywhere we go, some more than others. Yet, the life force remains a strong opponent in this contest with death. Maybe they’re not really opponents, but partners.