Spirituality as a medicine
The reason spirituality is described as a medicine is because we want to cleanse ourselves from germs, dirt and impurity so we need some kind of medicine.
The patient is our soul or heart. In Surah Al Baqarah, verse 10 we read: There is sickness in their heart. This sickness is a spiritual illness. The heart can either have some disease, be full of disease or it can be completely healthy which is when it is called qalbe salim.
The concept of qalbe salim is very important. Qalbe salim is a heart which meets its Lord when there is no one else in that heart. Everything should be considered as less than Allah (swt), neither more than Allah (swt) nor equal to Allah (swt) nor next to Allah (swt).
Of course we love our children because Allah (swt) wants us to love them but for a believer having a heart which is salim means that there is no one other than Allah (swt) occupying it.
If dunya or anything from dunya occupies our heart, then our heart becomes ill. The only thing that can make our heart whole and healthy is having Allah (swt) there. We should only allow Allah (swt) to be in our heart and it must be dedicated to Allah (swt) alone. After this anything else should be at the service of Allah (swt). Our heart should be like the Ka’ba which is dedicated to Allah (swt) alone. Our ears, eyes and so on are the channels to our heart and therefore only what is Godly should enter our heart. Everything must be pure.