What is spirituality, in the bigger picture?

I agree. There is indeed a natural, built-in propensity to avoid discomfort and seek comfort, (as I said previously)...in all organisms from what I can see. But I don't see direct solutions to mitigate discomfort to at all be at odds with so called, 'less direct' solutions. They can abide together.

I can swipe away a spider off my arm to prevent it from stinging me, AND simultaneously see that the squeamishness I continue to experience even though the spider is long gone, is mind created. (note; there need not be any vilification of mind in any of that seeing).

The awareness of what's happening with mind, need not interfere with taking practical action that needs to be taken...in fact, the more calm mind is, the clearer the avenue to that practical action. Have you ever seen someone who was very afraid of spiders for example, freak out and start slapping themselves everywhere....losing sight of the spider, only to freak out more as they discover it's now escaped down his shirt..?

That's very fair.

I like the 'avant garde way' description. In the past, I've described 'conditioning' as 'everything'.

But what do you mean by perfection? And how can mind obfuscate it? One could say that mind is perfect already.

And it sometimes healing just never comes. You can't heal from amputation, you can't heal from unwanted death. Emotional healing for so many of us, never comes. One good conversation with people can show you that some burdens are carried forever.

So what?

Fair is as fair does. 

Perfection- Seeing clearly without the mind's baggage (obfuscation). Knowing everything is the same thing. Source. 

Without a quiet mind (empty cognizance) we couldn't have thoughts. The quality of our thoughts are influenced by Being, which influences feeling, which in turn influences thinking, and doing. 

You mentioned- "And it sometimes healing just never comes. You can't heal from amputation, you can't heal from unwanted death. Emotional healing for so many of us, never comes. One good conversation with people can show you that some burdens are carried forever."

These things kind of point back to- whatever the mind thinks of, that alone it sees. We can make a different choice whenever we wish. 

"He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy,
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise." -William Blake, "Eternity"

He did? He looks to be quite young, and living in a rather desolate area.

I didn't run across the option to choose until I was in my late 40's. The pic could have easily been me at some point prior to that choice in life. But I do know this. As unawake as I was prior to making that choice, I wouldn't have used an image such as that to make a point. 

How did you feel when you posted it?