Spirituality is the culture of nature. Nature demonstrates this spiritual culture in various ways. Take the case of a rose bush. It is a combination of two opposite parts: flowers and thorns. Both flowers and thorns live together on the branches of the bush. There is no clash between the two. It is this culture that makes a rose bush such a very beautiful scene to behold. This indicates what the better way to live in society is. Man should live in society as a rose bush lives in the wilderness.

If positive men and women are like spiritual trees, their applied behaviour, or their applied spirituality, makes the society in which they live a spiritual garden. Applied spirituality is the multiplication of spiritual values. Applied spirituality is beneficial to both the spiritually-advanced person as well as his neighbour. It makes the person a happy person, and his neighbourhood a problem-free society.

Spirituality means giving more importance to non-material values than to material values. Spirituality promotes the culture of simple living and high thinking. A person with a simple lifestyle becomes a no-problem person. Someone who develops high thinking becomes a truly selfless person, concerned about the whole of humanity. Clashes between people over conflicting material interests often lead to all manner of inhuman actions. When you go beyond these interests by developing spiritually you will no longer find yourself constantly fighting with others. You will become a healthy member of society, and a society that consists of large numbers of people of this kind is bound to emerge as a peaceful society.

Source: Spirit of Islam January 2014