Spirituality can play an important role in everyday life

  • By Paul Schoenfeld Special to The Herald
  • Monday, May 11, 2015 4:50pm
  • Life

While visiting Barcelona, I wandered through Gaudi’s famous architectural wonder, La Sagrada Familia (The Holy Family). Conceived in the late 1800s by Antoni Gaudi, Catalan architect, it has been under construction for over a century. It is still being built, but much of it is completed.

Gaudi, a deeply religious man, created a vast sanctuary with columns made to look like tall trees, which hold up the ceiling of the church. The tops of the columns have edges that look like leaves. He designed windows to bring light into the church so that the inner building would look like a forest canopy lit by the sun. Walking through the church feels like strolling through a great forest, surrounded by colored light filtering through the leaves.

The doors to this basilica are adorned with intricate sculptures of ivy with ladybugs, flies, and praying mantis’ perched on the green ivy. Gaudi wanted us to remember that even the smallest creatures have their place in creation.

While it’s filled with Christian imagery, Gaudi conceived of it as a sanctuary for all peoples. He imagined a space where visitors and worshipers alike would feel connected to the oneness of all things. (Take a tour at www.sagradafamilia.cat/sf-eng/).

It’s not necessary to have a spiritual tradition to feel part of something larger than yourself. Lie on a blanket and look at the night sky on a clear summer night. Look up at the vastness above you — the stars, the planets, and the galaxy. It’s easy to feel a sense of awe and wonder.

Take a walk through an old growth forest, look around you, and feel the trees create a shelter that covers and shields you. Stand on top of a mountain or at the seashore and sense the quiet majesty around you.

It’s this awareness of spirit or oneness that helps us maintain perspective on our own lives. We are a tiny part of something much larger, like a drop of water in a vast ocean. It is our connection with this vast sea that helps us remember what’s important. It helps us realize that we are part of all that is around us. This provides us with a sense of interconnectedness that gives life meaning and purpose.

It reminds us to take care of ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbors, and the world we live in.

Poets, philosophers and theologians try to explain and describe this mystery. Each one of us experiences this feeling using our own particular metaphors or beliefs — whether they be through Christ, Buddha, Mohammed, Moses, Krishna or simply communing with nature. It’s all an attempt to explain and describe this primitive element of life.

This awareness of oneness creates the counterpoint to our sense of self. Both are important. Both co-exist in the same moment.

Living in the Northwest, we frequently have low cloud cover, that casts a gray tone over the Puget Sound. But simply ascend in an airplane just a few thousand feet or less, and it’s a beautiful sunny day. The sky is a perfect blue.

Looking up, I see gray clouds, but I also know that above those clouds is a perfect sunny day. Both exist at the same time, in the same moment. It is easy to forget and lose sight of that perfection. When we do, we forget that we are part of the beautiful creation of life.

Find your own way of keeping this awareness at the center of your everyday life, whether through prayer, contemplation, or meditation. It’s just as important as taking care of our bodies through healthy living or taking care of our loved ones.

You won’t be disappointed.

Dr. Paul Schoenfeld is Director of The Everett Clinic’s Center for Behavioral Health and has been a clinical psychologist for more than 30 years. Read more of his blog at the Family Talk Blog at www.everettclinic.com/family-talk-blog.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

Sarah Jean Muncey-Gordon puts on some BITCHSTIX lip oil at Bandbox Beauty Supply on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Langley, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Bandbox Beauty was made for Whidbey Island locals, by an island local

Founder Sarah Muncey-Gordon said Langley is in a renaissance, and she’s proud to be a part of it.

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn, seen here in 2013, will perform April 20 in Edmonds. (Associated Press)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

R0ck ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn, frontman of The Byrds, plans a gig in Edmonds in April.

Mother giving in to the manipulation her daughter fake crying for candy
Can children be bribed into good behavior?

Only in the short term. What we want to do is promote good habits over the course of the child’s life.

Speech Bubble Puzzle and Discussion
When conflict flares, keep calm and stand your ground

Most adults don’t like dissension. They avoid it, try to get around it, under it, or over it.

The colorful Nyhavn neighborhood is the place to moor on a sunny day in Copenhagen. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves: Embrace hygge and save cash in Copenhagen

Where else would Hans Christian Andersen, a mermaid statue and lovingly decorated open-face sandwiches be the icons of a major capital?

Last Call is a festured artist at the 2024 DeMiero Jazz Festival: in Edmonds. (Photo provided by DeMiero Jazz Festival)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Jazz ensemble Last Call is one of the featured artists at the DeMiero Jazz Festival on March 7-9 in Edmonds.

Kim Helleren
Local children’s author to read at Edmonds Bookshop

Kim Helleren will read from one of her books for kids at the next monthly Story Time at Edmonds Bookshop on March 29.

Chris Elliott
Lyft surprises traveler with a $150 cleaning charge

Jared Hakimi finds a $150 charge on his credit card after a Lyft ride. Is that allowed? And will the charge stick?

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.