Living in style

UK Youth Explore Spirituality and Style

Today, style can be based on your looks, the clothes you wear or even what car you drive. This event explored how we can bring spirituality into our style.

On Sunday 27th July some 100 youth aged 20 to 35 gathered at Global Cooperation House in northwest London to explore whether there was more to living in style than fasion and i-Pods. The programme, introduced by Tahir Khan, began by asking the audience what they thought style was. We received answers like "clothes" and "hairstyle." After a few more responses, they began to think and explore further. Then we received answers like "how you act with others" and "believing in your self."

Three special guests accompanied keynote speaker Sister Jayanti, European Director of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, in a panel discussion. The panelists were former England cricketer Chris Lewis; Max Beaumont, a young space scientist and systems engineer at the European Space Agency; and PricewaterhouseCoopers senior associate Sonal Shah.

Sister Jayanti defined spirituality as "everything that has to do with life" and spiritual intelligence as "all about the relationship with the self and the world inside, which is at the heart of lifestyle."

Sonal Shah suggested that style could be defined as "confidence and belief in one self." Self-confidence, she said, is essential to be successful in anything we want to achieve in life and has to start with belief in the self. When we know what is important to us--such as what will make our life happier and more enjoyable--it is easy to make decisions and choices to live life according to our inner values. So, decisions that might be perceived by others as courageous are to us very logical.

Max Beaumont shared that when we shed ‘false ego,’ we find our true passion, because "we are no longer pre-occupied with society's or other people's opinion. We have more faith in our self, in what life has to offer, and so play our part more authentically. From a spiritual perspective, we know that we are all equal, all the same. Our existence depends on everyone else and it is because we are all here together that things have meaning." Max added that this spiritual awareness that everyone is the same, everyone has the same values, helps to go beyond roles, labels and actions. We are then better able to treat others with love and respect, even when their actions do not initially command it. We understand that only when we treat everyone with love and respect will the world change and that rejection and anger do not solve anything but rather create more suffering in the world. Love does not mean you go along with everything but that all it requires is to be caring, to understand that others are experiencing pain, which is why they behave as they do. We are all on a journey, perhaps at different stages, but we are all ‘co-creating’ together and, when someone else suffers, I suffer.

Chris Lewis shared how a good basic understanding of spirituality has helped to keep him ‘centred.’ Acquiring things that he thought he wanted never really provided what he was looking for. "Sometimes it’s easy to get lost and spirituality kept me centred. The belief in myself came from something that was timeless. Spirituality was a lot more grounding and gave me the confidence to do anything I want to do in my life."

Max Beaumont commented that, when you approach spirituality as a way you see yourself and others, there is no clash between science and spirituality. Spirituality, he felt, was not the same as religion but an approach to life. "Science and spirituality are both coming together in the understanding that everything relates to energy."

Asked by Sister Jayanti for a message of hope for their peers, the panellists gave the following:
• Everyone’s natural state of being is that of being caring and loving.
• Believe in yourself. Nothing is impossible. We set our own boundaries and limits.
• I know you all! You are love and the only thing that stops you is fear. Only when we become fearful do we stop being loving.

After a question-and-answer session with Sr. Jayanti and the panelists, the audience was split into three groups. The groups participated in workshops to experiment with creative and practical meditation, exploring ways of dealing with pressure, and reflective inquiry.

There was a 'Global Cafe' session, where ice cream and cool drinks were served, and DJ Sunit Panchal from Dream Warriors played World Music. This gave everyone a chance to talk and get to know one another.

In relationships today, Sister Jayanti said, we have so much stress; we have to understand that choice is a factor of stress. There is insecurity in relationships, because of the increased choice we have. To deal with the greater choice, I need to be internally self-sufficient, not be possessive, but have space where I can be myself and allow others to have that space.

Spirituality, Sister Jayanti underlined, means "coming back to myself, discovering who I am and discovering the sacred presence of the Divine. As a result I experience contentment and fulfillment and I can face the challenges of this world, which are now greater than they have ever been. I need to have the capacity to protect myself from negativity, build reserves and also clarity of mind. For that I step back, reach that inner state of peace, discern what is right and make a decision with which both I and others will be comfortable.

The event ended with Sister Jayanti conducting meditation.

Feedback from participants included:
"This was a great opportunity to understand and experience the benefits of meditation."

"Do more such get-togethers. A wonderful experience."

"It was excellent - fabulous energy. SO peaceful, and amazing people!"

"It's given me a sense of direction which I knew about, but shown me a way to get there. I am very happy with this."