“Pillars of spirituality vary by tradition but generally center on core elements like: Relationships (self, others, divine), Purpose/Values, Practice/Discipline, and Inner Knowing, forming a foundation for meaning, growth, and connection beyond the material world, often including meditation, prayer, ethical conduct, and self-reflection.”
If you look up “Spiritual Pillars” online, you will get a whole host of answers as to what this means, what they are, and how to create them. Most are in the context of religious structure, meaning specific religions have spiritual pillars pre-made for you to just plug into. Some will give generic and broad pillars such as mind, body, spirit, and living, that do not really make a pillar but an abstract container that can be modified for your use, but still requires a lot of work.
So what is a Spiritual Pillar?
By definition, a Pillar is a support that holds up a structure, stabilizing it or strengthening it. It can also been seen as a foundation to build upon in a more abstract sense.
A Spiritual Pillar is often defined as the foundational principals, practices, or core beliefs that support, guide, and stabilize a person’s inner life and connection to a higher purpose. This particular one is getting closer to my perspective but it had to end with “higher purpose” which is climbing language and not stabilizing language.
Then it moves into the framework of Spiritual Living: Practice, Service, Study, and Community – each being shown and worked within the perspective as each being a separate Pillar. Where as I would see these four aspects as movements and ways of being in an individual Spiritual Pillar, not a pillar themselves or separate pillars. Each Pillar should hold these four actions, these ways of moving and being, but they are too impersonal and abstract to be our actual pillar.
From my perspective a Spiritual Pillar is something that emerges within us through our own personal journey. We discover them through our deconstruction and reconstruction of our core Self. They come from building our own foundations, separate from outside influences, and through the emergence of our true authentic Self. They become the cornerstones of our practices, spiritual beliefs, and how we move in this life/ world.
They are not chosen or given to us by another. They are discovered as we discover who we truly are and want to become.
Personal Spiritual Pillars
Every religion, Tradition, or system has their own Pillars. Specific elements that are important and serve as cornerstones for their beliefs system. Sometimes they are formed for the purposes of community continuity, and sometimes for the Guardianship of the practice itself. Neither of these are bad, and can be quite needed for community and the integrity of a tradition. They however belong to the religion/tradition, not the personal Spiritual Pillars of an individual. These are two separate things.
What I am more concerned with is the individual Pillars. These are the ones that are going to impact us the most. That are going to change and alter us, our life, as well as, our perspectives and understandings of the world around us. Our personal Pillars can be seen as a part of our own personal dogma – The foundations that direct all of our actions, thought processes, practices, connections, and living lives. For our spiritualism isn’t something separate from our lives – it is what feeds and nourishes them.
I feel we need to take a quick pause here to make a clarification. Although I assume we can all agree that personal dogma is different from general dogma – some people may still have a conditioned way of thinking about this word. Dogma is a set of established beliefs that hold truth and definitive authority. Your personal dogma are rules and beliefs for you – what you personally choose to follow and what has held true for you. Other people are going to hold different beliefs, are going to make different actions, have different perspectives, and so forth. This is great and we each should respect each other’s personal experiences as being valid to them, even if you may not agree. Dogma should be personal – built through your actual experiences and beliefs. Not a single person is required, nor should they ever be, expected to follow yours. That does not serve their growth or validate your beliefs – that is a domination tactic best left in the trash, in my opinion. Listening to other people’s beliefs and experiences can be very inspiring, uplifting, and get the creative wheels turning – but where you go from there, what you do with it, how you experiment with it and experience it should be authentic to you.
The Personal Journey
One of my students, and now friends, recently said that she kept looking for, and waiting for, the “culty” talk to start when taking my class and being in Temple with me, but it never did. I just kept coming back to the core principal of my style “Explore, Experiment, and find what actually works for you – gives you real results and personal experiences. Do not follow mine – discover how you connect and work.” She called me the worst “cult leader” in history and we both burst out laughing at that.
The personal experience that shapes the personal dogma – the personal Pillars – are not something you can get from someone else. They will not be found in a book or a course. They can only be discovered within yourself along your own path of transformation, nurtured by you, and formed into the Pillars that will help you stand strong in times of uncertainty and it times of prosperity. You can learn frameworks to help you get started, techniques to help you connect to your Soul – yourself, but you will only find truth and answers by experiencing for yourself.
Spiritual Pillars are no different. Mine developed over time, through my own spiritual journey and self discovery. I received 4, and over the years the understanding of them has grown. They became the foundations of my spirituality, but also my work – How I am shaped through them, how my practices and actions are shaped through them, and thus how I move in, and see, the world.
They definitely were not what I was looking for, or what I thought they would have been, but they were what I needed. They were the Pillars that held my path.
At first I fought against them, because my perspective was narrow and I had them placed in neat little boxes of knowledge – this created distorted and disruptive energy around them. I had to grow into them, I had to let them crawl out of the box and expand to really understand them. If this happens, it’s ok, let it happen – it needs to happen. I fought mine in the beginning but they are my foundations, my rock, the Pillars that hold everything else for me as a person, as a Guide, as a Death worker and Death Doula – me, in every way.
If you want to learn more about my personal Pillars and that journey for me, you can go HERE.
Closing Thoughts
If you are an advanced practitioner, but never thought about “Pillars” before, I encourage you to take some reflective time. Contemplate your spiritual and magical practices – your beliefs and experiences of them – the things that have shaped your own personal values, ethics, and moral sets. I would wager you already have them, and this process will be more about recognition vs emerging.
If you are new to your spiritual journey – don’t rush it. Let your Pillars form naturally, organically through your experiences and explorations. Some you may already hold, but perhaps they are more “boxed.” Just remember that Pillars are different then Practices. Pillars are like the solid, unchanging foundation of you. The foundation never changes – it may deepen, your understanding will grow – but the foundation never changes. The house you build on-top of it though will constantly be in a state of change as you grow, your practices and connections change. Take your time and let it all emerge.
For anyone who would like to share: What are your personal Spiritual Pillars?
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