A few days ago, my friends and I were discussing cosmic stuff, from planets to stars to galaxies, etc. And we were quite impressed by neutron stars and black holes and kind of lost ourselves in our amazement. Anyway, at some point, my daughter (almost 8 yrs) came and asked why we were talking of stars being as big or bigger than the sun.
So, I figured I could just tell her that all stars were as big or bigger than the sun and that they looked small because objects seemed smaller in the distance. And I also told her that from those distant suns, our sun looked just as a star. As expected, it was easy enough a concept to accept. However, later on I realised that she had regressed to the sun, moon and stars theory. For her, all I said was just that, something said. Because she didn't know how to apply that information, she had reverted to the reference which had utility in her life, and that was - in the sky there is the sun, moon and stars and the sun was big while the stars were small.

Later on, during my spiritual studies (to my circle of friends, I represent myself as being spiritual instead of religious), I had an epiphany - That, the reason people don't accept spiritual teachings is because there are no efforts to translate the meanings and values into day to day language and value. For example, "the love of money is the root of all evil" is often taken by many to mean that money is evil or it inspires evil acts. But, if it were given a more logical translation and explanation, then perhaps there would be no such misunderstanding.

Another shortcoming is preparation. For example, my almost 8 yr old is not ready to comprehend cosmic science even in the basic form in which I understand it (I'm not a physicist or an astronomer). In that same way, most people are not in a position to understand spiritual teachings because they have no foundation in it, yet. They don't know what spiritual teachings really are, and what value or significance they have or are expected to have. Because of this, they compare spiritual teachings with the other classes of knowledge they have e.g. science. Suppose art, like painting or sculpting, had the same expectations? The fact that artists relay the value and significance of their art, makes it acceptable when we see a painting sell for hundreds of millions of dollars even when it seems insignificant to others. Scientifically, it is easy to replicate the Mona Lisa. However, it is nigh impossible to replicate its significance. It's the same with spiritual teachings - they are a different class or type of knowledge and should be treated as such.

So, what happens to those who have no way of comprehending spiritual teachings? They choose to use the point of last reference which they have. This is what I usually call regressing to the "earth is the centre of the universe theory." If we have learned anything in the past four to five hundred years, it's that we are not as significant in the larger/universal scale as we thought. Our beloved planet is not even the centre of the solar system - deal with that! And while most have accepted it, they still don't know what that information implies. Allow me to highlight a few implications of recent developments in our human understanding:

• our current situation is not ultimate - there will always be room for improvement. It's just a matter of time before most of the social or cultural practices of the previous two millennia become impractical (useless). When we invent AI, when we regenerate body organs, when we commercialize space travel, when we colonize another planet, etc, etc (because we're working towards that), then the past connections (old cultures, beliefs, etc) that we hold on to will break instantly (burst like bubbles).
• there is a collective mind, spirit or consciousness which manifests when a group of people act in harmony and unity with one another. There are a lot of loud mouths about how consciousness, mind or spirit don't exist, but the fact of human life is that terms like 'human spirit' or 'team spirit' means something. So instead of fighting against meaning we don't understand, how about we work to understand the values of those terms in our life activities.
• True understanding is when the what and how is accompanied by the why. For example, understanding the psyche is more significant than understanding the brain - knowing the physical mechanics taking place in the brain during an emotional response is less significant than knowing what conditions trigger the emotional responses and why they do so - with reference to emotional control. This is also why the esoteric teachings are much better at teaching self-control than science has been so far.
• Life is evolving. To most people evolution often means something that happened a long time ago and will happen in the future. Or, if it is current, then it only occurs in very minute levels of life. However, according to spiritual teachings, evolution has never stopped happening. Not only through ideas like reincarnation, but also in the actual real-time development of the society. Our interactions are evolving, our genetic material are evolving, our political situations are evolving, our society goals and structures are evolving, etc. They may look like they're being refined or like they're being adapted, but that is the basic movement of evolution (remember the climb to the summit of the mountain is not a single jump, it takes many steps along some winding and some vertical paths).
• Our cosmic environment has opened up exponentially. The idea that we (earth organisms) are the only life-forms in the universe is so ridiculous that our intuition is rushing to fill in the gaps left behind by our cultural ignorance. This is why we are generating so many theories on extraterrestrials, space-time travel, super-powered life phenomena, etc. We're basically attempting to reprogramme our common-sense.

So, what is the purpose of spirituality?

From my perspective, it is to teach us that the earth is not the centre of the universe, but it is a part of that universe and with its own unique role to play. Also, to teach us that humans are not the acme of life but are a part of it and with their own unique role to play. Spirituality is about understanding how the small pictures (the individual, the community, the human society) blends into the larger picture (the greater unity), and the activities which facilitate that integration.