Why is Spirituality so Confusing? Mystery Solved


I will remove the mystery from spirituality and spiritual energy in this article. I will simplify and explain why it confuses most people and how you can access it anytime. I will also explain why it is the most crucial thing in your life.

Does it seem odd that out of 6 million years of evolution, from our apelike ancestors to modern humans originating out of Africa approximately 200,000 years ago, wouldn't you think we would have the spirit thing down pat? We have a rich history in ancient mythos, religion, indigenous traditions, and modern spirituality. So why are we so confused about the subject? Let's dig deeper.

Listen to Zzenn narrate his Spiritual Journey or Buy on Google Books and Amazon 

Google's Search Questions

Under a Google search on spirituality and spiritual energy, you'll find a host of questions people are asking on the topic. Below are a few examples:

Wikipedia has no idea what spirituality is:

There is no single, widely agreed-upon definition of spirituality. Surveys of the definition of the term, as used in scholarly research, show a broad range of definitions with limited overlap. In a survey of reviews by McCarroll, each dealing with the topic of spirituality gave twenty-seven explicit definitions, among which "there was little agreement." This impedes the systematic study of spirituality and the capacity to communicate findings meaningfully. Furthermore, many of spirituality's core features are not unique to spirituality; for example, self-transcendence, asceticism, and the recognition of one's connection to all were regarded by the atheist Arthur Schopenhauer as key to ethical life.

Ask spiritual people, and you'll get many options:

Search for an explanation in religion, and you get this:

Consult mythology from every country and tribe:

To grasp the scope of spiritual complexity, check out the number of deities in Hinduism from the article Hindu Gods and Goddesses. It lists a speculative range of gods from 33 to 330 million. That's millions of names for entities in the spirit world. But let's not stop there; the confusion is epic.

How many religious texts are there in the world?

(if this doesn't blow your mind, I don't know what will).

According to beliefnet.com, there are over 4000 religions in the world today. And according to Wikipedia's List of Religious Texts, the numbers are staggering. The Taoist Canon alone consists of around 1,400 writings. Below are a few samples:

If you consider that 4000 religions are each going to have their holy script, and then multiply that with 8.0 billion human perspectives (as of 2022) on the subject, it's astonishing that our species can live on the same planet together.

In the article Why does Christianity have so many denominations? from livescience.com it states:

Estimations show there are more than 200 Christian denominations in the U.S. and a staggering 45,000 globally, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity.

Break it all down, and it's still confusing.

Once you break down this colossal mess of definitions into a workable language, you're stuck with a wide range of competing definitions depending on which system of spiritual thought you embrace.

But why stop here? Let's ask the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Definition: Spirituality

1: of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit: incorporeal spiritual needs. 2a: of or relating to sacred matters spiritual songs. b: ecclesiastical rather than lay or temporal, spiritual authority lords spiritual. 3: concerned with religious values.

Are you confused yet?

I'm not suggesting that these terms aren't useful in their context. In fact, they are necessary. The key is to find the closest definition to the real thing. Personally, I recommend Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell for a foundation. But I want to focus on the common denominator. What do these terms have in common? What is the "one thing" all spiritual and religious archetypes, symbols, and myths represent?

Before I answer that question, let's clarify the meaning of spirituality by going to the root definition from etymology online.

The etymology of spiritual is: "of or pertaining to breath, breathing, wind, or air; pertaining to spirit," from spiritus "of breathing, of the spirit"

The etymology of spirit is: "animating or vital principle in man and animals," from Anglo-French spirit, Old French espirit "spirit, soul"and directly from Latin spiritus "a breathing (respiration, and of the wind), breath; breath of a god," hence "inspiration; breath of life,.

With breath and wind being the root definition of spirit, the next step is understanding that the universe is energy. Although there are many names for the forces of the universe, such as dark and light matter, gravity, and magnetism, it is evident that all energy manifests itself in many forms.

Hmm, where have you heard that before? — the subjective world of human beings is one force with many names and manifestations.

One Current, One Force, One Source

Spirituality is ONE CURRENT of energy within the human organism from ONE SOURCE of universal energy in the cosmos. According to astrophysicists, we are stardust.

Most of the elements of our bodies were formed in stars over the course of billions of years and multiple star lifetimes.

— Natural History Museum 

Let's look at the math of nature to get an idea of this universal Oneness — it's called Sacred Geometry.

As you can see below, there is an order to the 'powers-that-be', which demonstrates cyclic action from spider webs to galaxies. This is ONE FORCE functioning through the math of nature — names for this are Phi Ratio, the Golden Mean Spiral, and the Fibonacci sequence. These mathematical ratios and properties can be looked up and explored further by clicking on the word links above. I am no mathematician, but I can observe the obvious connection between nature and math.

Sacred Geometry in Nature

The image below is called the Flower of Life to bring the point home. This is literally the design of nature's math. All platonic solids and all mathematical equations exist within the lines and spheres. Every plant, animal, solar system, and even the human body fits like a glove within this symbol.

The Flower of Life

Leonardo DaVinci knew this secret and expressed the image through his art. The Flower of Life is about as close to the Matrix as possible. But it doesn't dissociate from the natural world, it confirms it through every flower, pinecone, and whirlpool. It also measures the exact distance between the Earth and Moon. All of the cycles of life exist within their mathematical dimensions.

Now that we've established the order of the universe, we can scientifically, not metaphysically, state that the universe is ONE ENERGY expressing itself through many forms. We can safely postulate that this same energy manifests itself within the human organism as e-motion or a "current," I call it Psycho-Emotional Energy.

We can easily prove this hypothesis because we feel movement in our bodies through laughter, tears, anger, joy, and goosebumps. When you add spiritual experiences such as kundalini, there is no doubt that the word "current" describes the experience accurately.

Psycho-Emotional Energy


The movement of e-motion (energy in motion), is comprised of feelings, thoughts, images, dreams, conscious, unconscious, ego, aura, kundalini, nirvana, etc., — they are one thing and ONE THING only — Psycho-Emotional Energy.

Psycho-Emotional Energy is movement and expression generated by biology, through the vehicle of evolution. It has many manifestations, but it is ONE thing. It is not separate from the body. It is deeply connected to nature and the atmosphere of the planet. I call the entire field of activity in and around the body the Bio-Imagination.

The Bio-Imagination

The Bio-Imagination is what metaphysics would call the aura, spirit, or astral realm. It is the ONE THING with all its manifestations in and around the body as you can see in my drawing below.

When one thinks of the imagination, one typically locates it within the head. When one thinks of body therapy, one focuses on the somatic (relating to the body, especially as distinct from the mind). This is a confusing approach because it separates the body from the mind, which is substance dualism.

Substance dualism, also known as Cartesian dualism, is an idea associated with René Descartes. He argued that the mind was nonphysical and could exist outside the body. The idea is elaborated today by the New Age belief that cosmic consciousness uses the brain like radio waves transmitted through a radio's antenna.

As exciting as that may sound, there just isn't enough evidence to support the hypothesis. Evolutionary Biology and Neuroscience aren't coming to that conclusion. The evidence leads to the brain producing consciousness. This doesn't discount the fact that humans are a manifestation of the universe nor that we do not live beyond the body. It simply states that metaphysical claims versus scientific evidence pale in comparison.

“As above, so below; as below, so above”

— The Kybalion

Now that we've established that spirituality is one energy manifesting itself in many forms, ideas, and expressions within the human psyche (Bio-Imagination), let's define what it does.

Tension, Release, and Flow

The current of psycho-emotional energy builds tension and releases flow. It moves around you like clouds and flows through you like a river. This is my subjective experience. It has been described through other systems in the same way, from the Bible to Hinduism. Yoga practitioners, body-based psychologists, and people who have experienced trauma would relate to this description.

An example of this phenomenon would be the feeling of emotion in your stomach, neck, or head or the sense of a "presence" in the room. One is felt within, and the other without in proximity to the body. External senses are projections from within. They are not autonomous invisible people floating around in the ethers.

A simple understanding of our evolutionary roots would reveal that reactions to a "felt-presence" in the room come from the feeling of being hunted in our genes. This is the same reaction one gets when one steps on a stick and jumps, thinking it is a snake. Humans are naturally superstitious because they don't understand the language of the inner world nor how biology automatically reacts to its environment. I highly recommend Supersense: From Superstition to Religion by Bruce Hood.

The known universe is building tension and releasing. You see this in bodily functions from hunger and nourishment, sex and orgasm, the feeling of sadness and crying, the urge to defecate, and pregnancy to flowers, volcanoes, geysers, and supernovas.

Spirituality is no different. It is One Energy moving toward tension and release. Every awakening is a process of the pressure of the unconscious building to consciousness. What was hidden arises to the surface, building pressure through psychological issues toward resolution.

You can apply this to New Age beliefs. The tension of working toward ascension is believed to culminate in spiritual freedom. In the myth of Jesus, he suffered on the cross to achieve ascension and save humankind. You can see this motif in all stories. There's a beginning, middle, and end.

Bringing it Home

In summary, don't get stuck on all of the definitions and traditions that point to this One Energy. Make sure to translate the word, idea, symbol, or story to what it's pointing to. Don't get bogged down on definitions that inhibit you from progressing. Go directly to the source of your psycho-emotional energy, rooted in your childhood, and use a body-based method such as Focusing to release your tension.

Remember that all tension is moving toward release, and your inner world is one organic Bio-Spiritual energy moving upward from the unconscious to the light of awareness.

I want to leave you with a poem entitled The Great Invocation by Alice Bailey. Although I disagree with her doctrine's dualism and Theosophical fantasies, I'd like you to translate the words into what they are pointing to based on the suggestions in this article.

— Zzenn


The Great Invocation 

From the point of Light within the Mind of God

Let light stream forth into the minds of men.

Let Light descend on Earth.


From the point of Love within the Heart of God

Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.

May Christ return to Earth.


From the centre where the Will of God is known

Let purpose guide the little wills of men –

The purpose which the Masters know and serve.


From the centre which we call the race of men

Let the Plan of Love and Light work out

And may it seal the door where evil dwells.


Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.