subject: Be a Spiritual Success: Six Keys to Stop Wasting Time! [print this page] We are all powerfully pushed by our inner and outer world to seek spiritual experiences because we want to feel better than we do now or feel really good. Naturally, everybody wants to feel good, but beyond a certain point, it feeling good becomes a central spiritual mandate, we could become lost to one of the many feel-good religions vying for our attention. "Gimme the feel-good feelings! No effort, you don't need to change, you are perfect, just the way you are!" We might feel easy delight to join the chorus; "Don't tell me anything that might be difficult, like needing to think, or change my behavior, I just want to feeeelllll good."
Well, that is what drugs are for. Whether using the recreational drugs of "feel good" spiritual process or drugs sold on the streets, it's not so different. People with a spiritual barometer of only wanting to feel good will fail as soon as something does not feel good, for example, making the effort needed to get rid of habits tormenting them: anger, jealousy or fear.
There are also those who sadly, and quite obvious to others, want others to admire them for their saint-like qualities. Some narcissists jump into spiritual seeking with nothing to offer other than a self-styled air of holiness, so that others will admire them. Of course, there are those who actually have an admirable quality of holiness, an indication of inner development, such as Padre Pio or the Dalai Lama, and even many without famous names. It is even more than okay to be holy, but to crave admiration for false holiness will eventually cause people to do strange things, culminating in everyone knowing their lack of "holy" qualities.
Now, this wish to be holy is not a fully negative attitude. It is really quite realistic to have as a goal, the wish to be a good person. Upon further reflection, we realize that the only method is to become a spiritual person, and attain qualities. Then, the criterion is; we want to be a good person. This is very much in line with a healthy awareness and values wanting to help others. If we think, How do I become a good person? What are the other qualities of this "good person that I want to develop?', then we can work on developing those good qualities.
So, what are the obstacles preventing us from being the spiritual being we envision? Basically, being spiritually successful is accomplished the same way we go about achieving our ordinary potential and success. The obstacles in becoming who you want to be in your ordinary life are the same obstacles you will face in this important search for wholeness.
First:you are too busy to achieve outer goals, and you are also too busy to develop and become a spiritual person.Make time and space for meditation and quiet.
Second: you have an unprepared education. You do not know how to go about it. Ask a friend on the spiritual path for advice. Follow up on their advice. Join a community that has teachings on development. (I suggest Buddhism)
Third: you have a fear of being ridiculed, and a fear of failure. Everyone is on a path, making mistakes. No one is really watching you, they are too busy looking at themselves. Failure is not an option, delay is an option!
Fourth: you are not able to move from wishing to be, to the active stage of preparation. Begin today! Write a letter to yourself explaining the importance of realizing your potential. How many will benefit from the new you!
Fifth: poor health. You are not able to energetically, mentally or physically sustain the continuity of spiritual effort, or something in your health prevents you from doing the preparation. Sometimes, our poor health is an outcome of our emotions that can be helped by new attitudes or a skillful counselor. For the most part, luckily we do not need good health to achieve spiritual goals such as enlightenment. Even the very elderly can be quite advanced spiritually, there is no retirement age!
Sixth: common to both inner and outer success is confusion regarding responsibilities. The reason who you have not fully delved into spiritual activities and meditation activities is that you have many other things to do. You have dishes to wash, meetings to go to, etc. Therefore, you cannot put spiritual life and preparation for being a spiritual person into the category of your responsibilities. some men and women seek to be ordained, or an elder in their church in order to devote more time to spiritual life. For them, spiritual development goes from down here on priorities up to the top of the list. It becomes the most important thing in their lives, and everything else falls below that.
So, this is all very interesting, but how do we begin? No matter what our goals might be, how do we begin a fresh course of action, unencumbered by unwanted influences perhaps even instilled in childhood of becoming who you want to be? Some might wish to become an astronomer. Mostly, I speak from a spiritual Buddhist process, but if you want to apply this toward becoming a movie star or a better bookkeeper, then that is what you should do.
How to begin: Strongly admire the goal while holding flexibility that knows that only change allows space and opportunity to be the transitional being experiencing the path leading to a goal. I will say it again. Strongly admire the goal. In that way, you are experiencing the process, and are also aware of the goal. Be conscious of the joy of human life in time,space and form means everything continues to change and you are in process.
However, you are not the one that will be the spiritual being. You will continue to be a bridge from here to there for as long as it takes to get through the stages you are experiencing. Yes, you are the doer of all of the efforts, but not be the resultant goal. From your own viewpoint, you cannot recognize the future you that will be the accomplished one. You do not have all of the elements yet to even understand that being. However, that future person will remember you! That one will retain information about you, but you are not acquainted with them. Practice now by remembering yourself in the past without complaining. You are going to embarrass yourself in the future, if you act badly now. Be the best bridge from now to the future you possible. Otherwise, it is just another fantasy role-playing. I am a fairy princess. I am an astronaut. I am a good guy; I am a bad guy. This is not real or useful.
Interestingly, when you arrive in that future, you will feel like the same person because of an amazing quality of human life called continuity of consciousness. For example, you can remember and feel like you are the same person that you were as a child, but upon reflection, you know that you are not, either physically or mentally. Continuity of consciousness reaches into the past but not into the future.
There is a dynamic tension between what and who you are right now and the possibilities of what you could be in the future. There is something strong between the you that you are now; and your desire to fulfill the vision of who you could be. Some people experience a feeling of being pulled toward a goal of what they could be. Being guided from inside, changing ideas and inner sensations, they easily move into a new version of them self who can realize full potential.
