was Hitler as spiritual as Sister Teresa?

Have you ever had someone tell you they are a spiritual person? Most of us just accept this statement as we understand the word in our own way. The same as the one making the statement understands the word in their own way. To most of us this word brings up images of religion that we were taught when we were young. We may have accepted these teachings or dismissed them along the way and looked for something more suited to us. But to us the definition of the word spiritual remained the same.

But what does it really mean? What is spiritual? Let’s have a look…

The Encarta Dictionary defines the word Spiritual as an adjective relating to the soul or spirit, usually in contrast to material things. In other words the nature of a person’s of Spirit.

Soul:  The Encarta Dictionary defines soul as the complex of human attributes that manifests as consciousness, thought, feeling, and will, regarded as distinct from the physical body, a person's emotional and moral nature where the most private thoughts and feelings are hidden

Spirit: The Oxford American College Dictionary defines Spirit as the nonphysical part of a person that is the seat of emotions and character regarded as a person's true self.  The animating influence within a person.

 So our spiritually is the accepted rule of conduct within a person that makes them do the things they do. So by the true definition of the word every person that ever lived has been Spiritual in nature! Adolf Hitler was just as spiritual as Sister Teresa! The only difference between Adolf Hitler and Sister Teresa simply being  the excepted rule of conduct that made them do the things that they did. Both Adolf Hitler and Sister Teresa had religious beliefs (although I don’t know what Hitler’s was) that guided them in their actions.

Religion: The Encarta Dictionary defines religion as an institutionalized or personal system of beliefs and practices relating to the divine {divine: transitive verb: to learn or discover something by intuition, inspiration, or other apparently supernatural means}.

What was the difference within the Spirituality between Adolf Hitler and Sister Teresa? Ones Spirituality was rooted in self the others was rooted in selflessness. All you have to do is look at their actions to see which one was which. The actions of one brought about a world war with misery and death to mankind. The other brought relief from the suffering of mankind.   

This is the true purpose of the original 12 step program that is defined in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is meant to bring about a physic change in the root of your Spirituality from self based towards selflessness, by following a program of 12 individual steps.

Program: a plan of action to accomplish a specified end

Steps: to proceed in order

Steps 1-2-3 are The Inside Job. There function is to bring to light “the hopelessness and futility of life the way you have been living it” and to give you access to a power that will solve all your problems

Steps 4-5-6-7-8-9 are the House Cleaning. There function is to provide a way to clean out the wreckage and repair the damage you have created of your past that you have created for yourself and others.

Steps 10-11-12 are the Maintenance Steps. There function is to help keep you stay track so you don’t continue to harm yourself others as you begin your new life

All of this is meant to bring about a change in your view and outlook of the world and the people in it through self reflection to enable you to see the root of your spirituality. If you find that it has been based in self you have the rest of your life to change it if you choose to. The steps are simply a starting point. But you must start somewhere.

So when someone tells you they work a Spiritual program listen to what they have to say but watch their actions and see what they do.