In Defense of a "Spiritual Path"

If you wonder whether or not you are on a spiritual path, you are. If you are alive, you are on a spiritual path. Just wait and see.  - Dr. Denise Neal

A distinguished artist and dear friend recently shared these words that gave cause to meditate upon our aspect of immortality. Hopefully, without sounding so judgmental or overly religious, this inadequate piece will lend some support to that belief involved in the idea of anyone alive is indeed on a "spiritual path."   
Life to life, spirit to spirit...this then is essentially our existence. Do we want to believe this life we live is it, or the bigger concept of are we spirit created so as to go on forever, whatever realm might be revealed? The life spirit we presently possess matters most. Examine, too, why is it true for any great civilization that has ever existed, exists an innate need for connection and worship of a Higher Source.
The being (self) embodies one spirit departing upon death. It is said scientifically that each of us is unique and different like snowflakes. Our fingerprints and individual DNA further prove it. We have but one bodily existence, being enough of an effort. Our spirit is just as unique and another thing--part of a whole. Is it much of a stretch to believe that before we were, we are? And that spirit originates from whom we will refer to as a "Greater Creator." This all-encompassing, eternal entity wise in ordering the time, the place, the role each special spirit should play upon this planet.  
The body is for the spirit, the spirit for the body. We feel a spirit (soul) alive apart from the body but operating within. Physical life necessarily means the presence of spirit or soul, the body merely being the container giving spirit a form. It's often exclaimed that the "human spirit" is what separates us from other mammals, besides our higher ability to reason and act irrationally. This in no way diminishes the worth of them or any other living creature.
It's more than summoning the strength and will to survive or the courage and compassion when needed. It is an additional propensity towards cruelty, a capacity for evil doings, and pride that sets people apart. How is this possible? Like innocent babes, we are born with a pure spirit, but by gradual will and desire, our spirit changes. Another aspect concerning mind/spirit is choice and discernment.   
The wondrous conscious mind (heart) confirms this almost daily! Our spirit seeks to integrate with self, often determining destiny. Unlike consciousness, our spirit requires quiet time to reflect and re-energize from the Greater Creator source. On occasion, our spirit wrestles nights with the subconscious over such matters we mortals worry so well about. Other times, the spirit works in perfect harmony with the heart (not the organ) to resolve situations and even create imaginative innovative ones! During daytime awareness and activity, the spirit's reside is to guide the moral-minded being down the spiritual pathway paved with conviction. 
Yet, each of us as spiritual are aware of a constant struggle for control of our body and soul, affecting every action and decision. We have within us a clear understanding of good and evil, right and wrong, true and false--our spirit. The world we live in dilutes our spirit and resolve, until there remains little resembling the spiritual attributes once endowed. Usually we just succumb easily to enticing aspects of life's pleasures and settle for less, even if it's more of the same temporal temptations. Still, it always remains an option to ignore self (will), choosing instead, to tap into our inner spirit, where dwell the real axioms of existence.
Since spirit is realized by the mind and felt only by the heart, the fact that it is not physical means it doesn't die with the body. The way of all creation--rust and rot erode and eventually recycles self into earth's elements once again. The spirit is free from decay and now released, seeks a final destination on its journey. Who can prove or not our spirits linger in familiar haunts and scenes of the deceased for reasons unknown to us--seeking a sense of connection? Perhaps, spirits suddenly stripped of their murdered or accidentally killed counterparts exist in a state of shock much like humans do and possess some grieving devotion to their now lifeless physical forms for awhile longer...finally departing.
If we so choose to listen intently, where that spirit finally goes, the voice inside each of us assures our soul that the path ultimately leads back where all spirits are gathered collectively to the Greater Creator, who selects each soul's beginning and ending. The dead now have no need to know fully and all the living may take care or comfort in knowing their spirit lives forever.