The Logic of Spirituality

If there were no time, two things could not move toward each other. Because movement requires a sequence, that is, a before and an after. Without a before and an after, there is no change. But if nothing can change, then the distance between two things cannot change either. That means: The distance either exists or it does not, but it cannot become smaller or larger.

Instead, their relationship would consist of only two states: Either they are at the same place or they are not.

Without time, they could never approach each other, because there is no in-between that can be reduced. Because closeness is not the elimination of distance. Closeness is distance that is reduced.

Without time, there would also be no relationship. Because relationship requires contact. And contact requires separation. And separation requires the structure of a sequence.

So there must be time.
So there must be space.
So there must be this order.

Without structure, no approach.
Without approach, no contact.
Without contact, no relationship.

From this simple physical structure arises everything we experience as meaningful.

Space and time make movement possible.
Movement makes encounter possible.
Encounter makes relationship possible.
Relationship makes bonding possible.
Bonding makes love possible.

You cannot love if there are no boundaries. You cannot feel connected if there is nothing that is separate.

And suddenly everything seems to make sense.

Separation (the structure of a sequence) is the condition for connection. Time and its finiteness then become the condition for closeness. The world is structured in such a way that relationship becomes possible. It is organized in such a way that love can arise. So it seems necessary. As if it could not have been otherwise.

This is where what many experience as spiritual understanding begins:

The meaning is love.
The solution is connection.
The goal is unity.

And it does not feel constructed. It feels like an inner coherence that becomes truth.

But what actually happened here?

No meaning was found.

Instead, the structure of the world was legitimized from within itself. What was shown is only that what exists exists the way it does because everything before it was the way it was. It was shown that the world is internally coherent: It must be this way so that it can be this way.

Time is necessary
because otherwise closeness would not be possible.
Closeness in necessary
because otherwise relationship would not be possible.
Relationship is necessary
because otherwise love would not be possible.

And love becomes the answer to the question of meaning in life.

But the core of spirituality is not love, but a very specific way of arguing:

One takes what exists within a system and declares it necessary so that the result can result. The existing legitimizes itself.

Many spiritual arguments work exactly like this:

Suffering exists so that growth is possible.
Separation exists so that unity can be experienced.
Finiteness exists so that love becomes valuable.
Chaos exists so that order can arise.

The pattern is always the same: State A is necessary so that state B is possible.

But this is not a logical conclusion. Because we first define what we consider desirable: growth. unity. love. order.

And then we declare the conditions under which that becomes possible to be necessary. Not because they are necessary, but because they lead to what we prefer.

We set state B as the value and derive from it the necessity of state A. But that is not an explanation of the world. It is an explanation of our preference. And this preference is not a cosmic law, but a product of our nervous system.

This is exactly where the logical leap lies. Because this logic would work in any conceivable universe.

No matter what laws would apply there.
No matter what dimensions would exist.
No matter what form of relationship would be possible. And no matter whether opposites exist or not.

One could always say:

It must be this way so that it can be this way.

The question that spirituality has roughly answered is: How is closeness possible?

And the answer to this question is taken and presented as if it had answered the actual question. Namely: Why is there anything at all that makes closeness possible?

If one could ask the universe itself what the meaning of everything is, it would not answer: love. It would not answer: unity.

It would not answer at all.

Galaxies collide. Our Milky Way will merge with Andromeda. Stars burn their fuel and go out. Space continues to expand. Temperature differences disappear. Movement dies out, and with it closeness, contact, relationship, and love.

The universe has no preference for closeness. Love is not a cosmic answer. It is a human one.

An answer of our nervous system, which is designed for safety, bonding, and regulation.

And that too is not a cosmic principle, but a biological result.

Our nervous system prefers closeness because, under these conditions, closeness was an evolutionary advantage. We became the way we are because we developed under these physical conditions.

If the physical conditions were different, life would probably be different as well. Then there might be forms of life that do not survive through bonding, but through independence. Their “answer” would then not be love, but autonomy. And it would feel just as compelling.

Spirituality tries to answer the question of meaning, but instead of the why, it answers the how and produces a circular logic without beginning and without end.

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