Can One be Spiritual and Intellectual?

Having been raised in a hyper-intellectual environment, I was taught explicitly and implicitly that a spiritual approach to life was a less intelligent approach to life. My family was firmly rooted in rationality and judged anything that seemed irrational to be “crazy,” a term I recall hearing quite a bit in my house growing up.

When I’m around my more intellectual friends and family, there is a continued judgment towards a “non-rational” approach to life, including one that embraces God and holistic approaches to healing. I understand that mindset because I was raised in it, and yet, to heal, I had to move past it.

The mind is a vital part of our lives, but so is the spirit. As I’ve written before, I believe we are three-part beings consisting of mind, body, and spirit. When one is living only in the mental plane, as I was often as a child and young adult, it can require a lot of mental gymnastics to make one’s life work, which often leads to suffering. Learning to heal asks us to move beyond the mental and into the spiritual – into our hearts.

Acknowledging your heart is a smart thing to do because it makes your life better and happier. You don’t have to give up being intelligent, reading, or appreciating science. You can have both.