Book review: ‘Spirituality Demystified: Understanding Spirituality in Rational Terms’

By Suryamithra Vishwa

‘Spirituality Demystified: Understanding Spirituality in Rational Terms’, is the second book of Rohana Ulluwishewa, an award-winning author on topics linking ‘spirituality’ with the practical, such as the concept of ‘sustainability’ linked to development studies. 

His first book; Spirituality and Sustainable Development was honoured as a Finalist of the International Book Awards, 2014. His second book Spirituality Demystified: Understanding Spirituality in Rational Terms, which is the focus in this article, won the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust AWCT unpublished manuscript awards in 2015, the highest prize given to books on spirituality in New Zealand. Adonia Wylie, the convener of the panel of judges has said of the book: “If one were to only read one book in one’s lifetime, this is the one”.

Ulluwishewa has been an Honorary Research Associate, Massey University in New Zealand and Associate Professor at the Sri Jayewardenepura University, in Sri Lanka. His academic disciplines including geography, agriculture and environment studies, it is obvious that he is an academic who has perused and pursued the true concept and the worth of knowledge, linking its dots and serving his duty as an intellectual to make us aware that there is not just one reality in which to treat the path of true inner wellbeing. In this book he draws away the veils of linguistic and mental barriers that have cocooned and polarised spirituality within ‘religions’.

"The 2nd chapter is titled: What are we designed to Be? The chapter begins with the line: “Both our inner and the outer realities are nothing but energy that is conscious.” The chapter ends in a paragraph that reads: “We are designed to be driven by this unselfish universal love and live, not as separate self-centred beings but as integral parts of the one human family”… going onto say that “most of us do not behave in our ordinary life as we are designed to behave.” Within this chapter the author talks of selfishness that seem to dominate us in ordinary life but state that this is ‘temporary’ and inculcated and that the original nature of a human is to be ‘selfless’"

Spirituality Demystified is a book that has drawn on science and physics to explain the spiritual which has hitherto largely been confined to ‘religion’. The first chapter of the book is titled ‘Understanding Our Reality’. In this chapter the author has drawn on Quantum Physics to show that who we are is ‘energy’ and that therefore our ultimate reality is ‘energy’. He has drawn on findings of those such as the American scientist Robert Lanza, Harvard trained neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor, Theoretical Physicist Freeman Dyson and one of the most influential theoretical physicists of the 20th century David Bohn to present a worldview of ‘being’ from the Quantum realm. 

Here, with examples that never veer to the fanciful, he has shown that one human cannot separate oneself from the other at the quantum level. Describing the ‘oneness’ that is demonstrated from the Quantum level and quoting Physicist and author of Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra, Ulluwishewa has shown us that Quantum Physics forces us to see the universe not as a collection of physical objects, but as a unified whole – a single unified field of conscious energy – where all living beings are part of this entity. He quotes the profound words of Duane Elgin, an American author and speaker who draws on scientific evidence to dissect what we struggle to understand and give meaning to.

"In chapter 6 titled Ways forward, the author make the most profoundly significant point of the need to ‘re-spiritualise’ religion The world urgently need such a transformation, a transformation from self-centredness to selflessness, from greed to generosity, from disharmony to harmony, from hate to love, and from ‘I’ to ‘We’"

Ulluwishewa quotes Elgin: “Our cosmos is subtly sentient, responsive, conscious and alive. The physicist Freeman Dyson thinks it is reasonable to believe in the existence of a “mental component of the universe.” He says, “If we believe in this mental component of the universe, then we can say that we are small pieces of God’s mental apparatus.” (Duane Elgin, 2015).

This chapter ends with quoting from the book that narrates the near death experience of Eben Alexander, an American academic neurosurgeon. The benevolence, compassionate and the wisdom of a cosmic force described as ‘Being’ is figured in this narrative. I quote the last paragraph of this chapter; “Various terms are used in modern literature to identify this Being: The Ultimate Truth, The Being. The Foundation of Being, The Self, The Higher Self, Intimate Self. One Mind and the Quantum Self. In most religions, this is called the Spirit; when personified, it is called God.”  The 2nd chapter is titled: What are we designed to Be? The chapter begins with the line: “Both our inner and the outer realities are nothing but energy that is conscious.” The chapter ends in a paragraph that reads: “We are designed to be driven by this unselfish universal love and live, not as separate self-centred beings but as integral parts of the one human family”… going on to say that “most of us do not behave in our ordinary life as we are designed to behave.” Within this chapter the author talks of selfishness that seem to dominate us in ordinary life but state that this is ‘temporary’ and inculcated and that the original nature of a human is to be ‘selfless’.

Neuroplasticity

Chapter 3 of the book introduces the concept of ‘Neuroplasticity’ explained as the capacity of the brain to form new neural circuits and to dissolve existing ones. The term is explained further as follows: “If a certain experience is repeated frequently, its neural connections become stronger and the neural circuits stay longer. Others are dissolved and we forget about them. This is the process we call memory. As our beliefs, ideas, values and perceptions change, so do the patterns of the neural network – some old neural circuits disappear and new ones appear.” This is explained as neuroplasticity, the capacity of the brain to form new neural circuits and to dissolve existing ones based on diverse experiences.

This chapter makes an interesting revelation quoting cell biologists and drawing on the experiences of organ transplant patients, revealing that characteristics of the deceased donor were imbibed by the organ transplant patients through the organs that they received, proving that the consciousness of the organs still remain though the original owner of that organ. This leads to a rather radical belief that the brain does not singly produce consciousness but that consciousness is part of the whole human eco-system as it is in the universal cosmic system.

Also in the third chapter of the book, a distinct difference between the hardwired and softwired components of our brains are described. It is pointed out that we are hardwired for unconditional and selfless love and soft wired through social conditioning to do the reverse which is explained as ‘not hate but individuality’. It is stated as follows: “We are designed to see others in ourselves and ourselves in others. This is recognised as love. It is not a product of our personal attachments or desires but the manifestation of the oneness of the universal consciousness.”

"In the third chapter of the book, a distinct difference between the hardwired and softwired components of our brains are described. It is pointed out that we are hardwired for unconditional and selfless love and soft wired through social conditioning to do the reverse which is explained as ‘not hate but individuality’. Interestingly, it is also stated in the book, quoting psychologists, that altruism exists as a natural phenomenon in children before they imbibe the qualities of adults and that they show unconditional love as young as few months old"

Interestingly, it is also stated in the book, quoting psychologists, that altruism exists as a natural phenomenon in children before they imbibe the qualities of adults and that they show unconditional love as young as few months old. (This writer remembers a poignant photograph seen some years ago of two few day old infants; twins, where one was suffering from some serious life threatening health affliction and the other, the healthy baby was seen embracing the sick twin). Quoting Michael Tomasello, an American psychologist and co-director of the Mac Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, it is pointed out that children have ‘an almost reflexive desire to help, inform and share’. A very significant distinction is made between ‘happiness’ and ‘pleasure’ linking happiness with the association of the inner self – therefore described as ‘natural happiness’ and pleasure as the ‘neurochemical happiness’. The author has gone in-depth into the addiction to pleasure that is one of the biggest problems of modern society, causing unhappiness within the family, corruption in governments and poverty of the masses. 

Becoming what we are designed to be

In Chapter 4 Becoming what we are designed to be: Pathways to Spirituality, the narration is begun with pointing out that the word ‘spirit’ comes from the Latin word breath, or that which gives life or vitality to a system. It is explained that whatever word used – whether spirit, energy or life, it is the reality beyond the material realm that we experience through our senses and the spiritual realm is not separated from the quantum lens. In practical terms it is pointed out the path of wisdom, the path of action and the path of devotion, exist alongside the power of perception; stating that these aim at changing the false perceptions which control our brains; false perceptions that is separated from our universal inter connected consciousness, that because of this separateness, lead us to be selfish people.

Quoting cell biologist, Bruce Lipton, it is pointed out that beliefs are like filters on a camera, changing how one sees the world. In chapter 5, under the theme does spirituality matter, it is pointed out that spirituality means being one with our inner reality; the conscious energy that fills the whole universe. In this chapter references are drawn to Ulluwishewa’s previous book; Spirituality and sustainable development where examples are used of inner guided people who it is described as evolved people. It removes the misconception that spirituality is ‘otherworldly’. In contrast he points out that spiritual activities are meant to grow love, give love and receive love, with the clear conclusion that if any activity does the opposite, it is not a spiritual activity.’

Self actualisers

This chapter draws on psychologist Abraham Maslow’s findings on his motivational theories to describe ‘self actualisers’; those who are not self-centred and more loving and generous, who Ulluwishewa has described as ‘inner guided people’. It is explained that these terms based on the study of actual persons and their motivation, refers to those who could be described as ‘spiritually evolved’ who ‘bear a set of common characteristics which are potentially capable of bringing happiness, peace and wellbeing not only to themselves but to others around them’. In principle this understanding, as the author agrees, goes against the theories that have held that the ‘selfish gene’ is what causes survival and success. The main point made is that we are not ‘designed’ to be selfish. Danah Zohar’s book Spiritual capital; wealth we can live by, is used to show how businesses flourish when they are based on spirituality; meaning the wellbeing of people and not the selfish interest of a few. 

This chapter ends with the importance of spiritualising professionals; pointing out that when their humanity, love and compassion is developed and motivated by unconditional love, how doctors, engineers, managers, lawyers, educators and civil servants could perform their tasks better. The last line of this chapter reads; “Spiritualising politics would definitely be a great blessing to the whole of humanity.”

Re-spiritualise religion

In chapter 6 titled Ways forward, the author make the most profoundly significant point of the need to ‘re-spiritualise’ religion.

Also in Chapter 6, quoting Psychotherapists, it is pointed out that spiritual psychology is more effective than the preaching of clergy because the groups who had taken this therapy effectively developed higher qualities such as caring, support, unselfishness, consideration and tolerance. However, the book at no point debunks religious practices or religion or hold that one particular path is better or superior but is rooted in a base where it merely broadens our scope to understand.  What is explained is that to understand that the path of belief in ‘God’ or the path of wisdom as is Buddhism, are all paths that will help us to truly be one with our universal consciousness. To quote Ulluwishewa, “While God centred religions are on the path of devotion, or the path of action, non God centred ones are on the path of wisdom. The founders of God centred religions have spoken about God, and all their teachings were centred on God. Those who follow this path cannot grow spiritually if they do not believe in God. On the other hand, the Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, which is on the path of wisdom, has not spoken about God. His teachings can be practiced without believing in God. If teachings were genuinely practiced, those who follow all paths could progress spiritually.”

The following advice in the book is possibly something that all Sri Lankans should keep in mind; “It is inappropriate for those who follow the paths of devotion and action to perceive the absence of the concept of God in Buddhism as something unusual. Likewise it is inappropriate for Buddhists to criticise those who believe in God and their practices such as prayer and devotional singing, just because the Buddha has not spoken about such things.”

The epilogue of the book is themed ‘Transforming Ourselves to transform the world’.

It is fitting to end this review of a truly fascinating book; a book that should be compulsory reading for every human, a book that ideally should be taught alongside every religious scripture, with the following quote that appears in its epilogue: “The world urgently needs such a transformation, a transformation from self-centredness to selflessness, from greed to generosity, from disharmony to harmony, from hate to love, and from ‘I’ to ‘We’.”