Tag: spiritual path

Not everyone has to be spiritual

Is spirituality for everyone? It may be available to everyone but it is not necessary that everyone will be spiritual.

When someone has found something spectacular in their spiritual journey, when they have walked a path, which has benefited them, we wish to share that with everyone we know, like we do with the latest phone we have. We tell our close friends and our family about it. Likewise, this may be the case if a member of your family or close friends come across a spiritual path that benefitted them, they feel it may benefit you too.

In some cases, you are born into following a particular path and you do as your parents tell you. You reach 16 years and want to make your own choice and you may even choose to follow a different spiritual path. Is that wrong? No. You may choose to drop being spiritual. Is that wrong? No. Even though there are benefits to being spiritual, it is not carved for everyone.

I feel it is better to be honest and the quicker you realize whether spirituality is for you or not, the better. However, I do give a warning that you shouldn’t ‘throw out the baby with the bath water’ so soon. First ensure, that you go to someone that is spiritual in your view and ask them questions. Ask them about their journey and how they have benefited them. What did they gain? Or even what did they lose? The important matter is that we should ask before we choose that being spiritual is not right for us.

Personally, I feel that the very people that guide us down a spiritual path need to be exemplary and there should be as little hypocrisy as possible. The issue we may find that there are contradictions in all aspects of spirituality and therefore we need to mark someone based on their actions, their reactions more than their words.

Many people I know who have turned away from spirituality have done so because their parents or older siblings were not the best example of the spiritual ideals. They claim things which don’t go hand in hand with their behavior. Even worse, in this of rationality and logic, a simple answer isn’t provided or the humility to accept that one doesn’t know.

I do believe that one has to carve their own path and I have certainly done that with my life. I have made choices that are different to my parents and people would regard me as quite a spiritual person. I am a very rational person and so if something doesn’t go along with science then I come up with reasons why I don’t agree with it. However, I think spirituality is something that is invoked within you, it has always been there and it wants to reach its peak of spiritual enlightenment. You have to be natural in it, you have to be in the flow of it. It has to be born from within you and not something you simply cook up.

I will end it here and that is if you have a child that doesn’t believe in your spiritual path, it may say more about where you truly are in spirituality and how important you do find it. Just because one may meditate a lot or go to places of worship a lot, that doesn’t mean that one’s behavior has changed? It doesn’t mean that one has attained bliss and joy. If all that anyone sees of you is misery and anger, then being spiritual loses all of it’s credibility.

Being on the Right Path is Not Enlightenment

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Being on the spiritual path is one thing. Being enlightened is totally another thing. Sometimes I feel when I hear people talking about being enlightened, it really is not enlightenment at all. It is more an appreciation or recognition of the spiritual path they are on.

The delusion that it is enlightenment causes great harm for one’s spiritual progress. The drive for growth is cut prematurely and it will be hard to invoke growth when the ego is strengthened as it establishes itself in the false delusion of enlightenment.

Sometimes we are in the company of those that also hold this belief, very strongly, that they are enlightened and this creates a false sense of attainment. It becomes a place where we simply massage egos instead of attempting to dissect the ego and remove its influence as the Master of our Life.

Even to state that a path is right is very subjective. When you abide as the Formless, all paths are right. All paths are like many rivers flowing towards the Mighty Ocean of Isness, of Fullness, of the Formless.

This is why it is important to understand that the journey is in progress and that despite knowing the destination, we have to be honest in saying we have not reached there yet. The signs are there, some distance has to be travelled for the mind to be able to integrate with the Formless, the Pure Isness of Life.

For me, you need three things to really excel in your spiritual journey.

One is to be truly honest. If you haven’t attained enlightenment, if you have not attained freedom from the mind then say so.

Two is to be humble. If you haven’t reached it, but you have an amazing spiritual path, an incredible Guru or Teacher then appreciate them but don’t belittle others. Pray that whatever path they are on, that they meet the Formless.

Three is to be passionate. If you haven’t got passion then you will not strive for enlightenment, for freedom from the mind. Passion to become the Formless needs to be your number one priority.

Recognize when a path has now become barren land for you. Before, this path was full of life, full of flowers and beautiful fragrances but now the ego has taken over and taken over the land of your mind. Keep moving forward and try and find a new path where the flowers are blooming again. When you find that path, rest as Formless Awareness, That which You are.