spirituality - is there a catch?

Spirituality - The word is so often used in front of us these days that its hard to understand if its actually a phenomenon or experience worth all the hype or if its overrated. One of Suman's posts about "fear" below has probed me to think that is it possible that all our enthusiasm about learning meditation, spirituality, past life regression etc is only a way to escape our innermost fears...of facing life's realities, of distracting from what is in front of us. Tushar left a comment regarding this on the blog and that also seemed to pull this question right on my face that could this be true that it is all about escape, about being able to convince yourself for everything that goes wrong in one's life, being able to find solace in god and spirituality.

I have really been thinking hard here. Do people who are absolutely happy and contented with their life get into spirituality and god? Is it a tool used by those who have issues addressing their lives and its realities? Isn't it true that if one has everything going perfectly great in their life and all areas are working, they tend not to give a damn to spirituality unless some beliefs have been inculcated into them through inheritance or sufferings? Is it that our mind tricks us to give itself some peace in times to suffering by saying if we are happy within ourselves, the rest of the world wouldn't matter?

Well, I think all of the above doubts can be faced by anyone who is new to this path of spirituality or whenever your mind puts you into an argument to prove its worth. After much of thinking and understanding things, I have realised that yes, for people who have some sort of suffering or when circumstances are unfavorable, its easier to get pulled towards spirituality, search for the inner self & meditation. It is also true that initially, one might use it as an escape to get out of the rut and get detached from relationships, life or situations so that the affect is the least felt but once you start discovering this way of life, it pulls you towards it and ultimately one does realise that it was god's way of getting you here that he gave you the respective circumstances in the first place.

Meditation or spirituality in no way teach us to run from our life and not face the realities of life, but in turn they alleviate our conscience and make us understand that we are all a part of divinity and its important for us to be whole and complete within ourselves for us to be able to do justice to the people and relationships around us. It gives us the little amount of detachment which is required to be able to look at our own self and thoughts from the outside, in order to do what is right or what will be universally acceptable. It gives us the connection with our inner self, with our guardian angels which help us to stay focused on the path planned by our own souls for each lifetime.

It's not an escape though many times, it could be triggered by the need to be at peace.