The Road to Spiritual Enlightenment Redefined
For so many years now, it has appeared to me that the entire focus and tenets of what has been known for centuries as the road to enlightenment has taken a disturbing turn.
Spirituality, in the minds of many, is defined as being a success in the material world…and the realm of the physical.
...
It has become about the acquisition of material and worldly pursuits..
I has become about who can be the next “Guru”...
Who can achieve the next number one slot on the New York Times Best Seller List....
There are even really annoying little musings being passed around the metaphysical community on “How you can tell if you have reached “Spiritual Enlightenment” And all beginning with the number one slot going to the achievement of financial and personal success..
Not to mention, the latest and greatest in the Spiritual blame/shame game...that If you are not the "perfect" weight, it means you have not fully connected with God...
So let me get this straight, if you are rich, famous... and now beautiful and thin you must have attained enlightenment and are ready to ascend...
If you are not all of these things, then sorry, you lose, you miss the mark...
Do not Pass Go...Do not collect 100.00...Game over!
Even though my ego is running wild with that one...I am not going to make any further distinctions to this end...you get the picture....:)
There is even a self dubbed “Spiritual Guru” who has followers who boarder on very disturbing cult like adoration who has actually set up a chart of vibrational levels indicating where you or someone else is on the “Enlightenment Scale” with 1,000 as being “Christlike”.
Maybe its just me, but if you need to gauge where you are and compare yourself to where others are…you have missed the entire point…
This focus on reaching some mark and the achievement of personal goals and material success has never been the mark of a truly enlightened being.
Throughout history and in our even most recent times, those who would be our guideposts and wayshowers have traditionally not been in this place of personal striving towards the outer world…in fact, some of them, started out in high standing by worldly standards and conciously and deliberately renounced this place…
You know them, we worship, write books about, quote, and consistently look to their example and lives as inspiration…
But my friends do we really look at what they represent…
All…all lived lives that were completely devoted to service of their fellow earth travelers…they were healers, social action leaders, mentors and teachers.
Jesus the Christ, The Buddha, Ghandi, St Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther King, Jr., The Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa…just to name a few…
I remember a story that a radio personality told of Mother Teresa, when he interviewed here while she was touring the United States…
He was so impressed with her and her work, that he asked her continually over and over what he and his listeners could do to help support her and raise money for her endeavors…she consistently kept telling him that there was nothing she was looking for…finally she said to him (and I am paraphrasing here) …”This is the problem with your society…here everyone has many bananas, but you do not share your bananas with each other and they eventually rot…In my country, we have very few bananas, but what we have we share with each other…Do you really want to do something for me? Then go out on your streets and find someone who is in need of what you have so abundantly and share it with him…”
Ralph Waldo Emerson said…”To leave the world a bit better ...
to know that one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.”
Make no mistake my friends, being “successful” in the way of the world is not a key factor in determining if you have reached Spiritual Enlightenment…
We here, are accustomed and blessed with lives that are already incredibly abundant, so much more than the majority of the world…yet, we are never satisfied…we are always looking for more and better and greater…these are the traps of the ego.
And another ideal that is not a truism…is that your life gets easier…
Once you decide to step your foot on this path, my friends, what is expected of you is immense…and it is a hard and arduous road we travel, but Oh, it is laden with such joy and fulfillment, that all the money, and the fame and the personal gains could never bring us.
This year, I have drastically scaled down my life in so many areas, to live a life of “Simple Abundance", so that the important issues can take precedence…
Not the least of these issues, for me, is in the area of Service...
Of being in this world a Light unto Others.
Of being the Heart, Hands, Feet and Voice of the Creator.
Spirit throughout has always been there, ever steady, providing for my needs in miraculous ways, even when I did not believe…Spirit came through!
And the freedom and joy that has been bestowed upon me is without measure and can never be fully conveyed by words alone…
Has it been easy, No..not by any standard…
It has been one journey into the pit after another…
It has been a time of the shadow and many “dark nights of the soul”
But, you may ask, why? Why would you go to these places in order to grow?
I can only tell you, that once you put your foot on the path…it takes on a life of its own…and if we allow it to take us where we need to go…without resistance and embrace it all…Miracles will occur in greater abundance than you can even imagine…
I remember once, my dear friend, Colette Baron-Reid, saying on a conference call…that every time someone says to her…”Isn’t all this wonderful and exciting on this “Spiritual Path, its so easy and effortless”…she wants to say to them…”Are you are on drugs????...If its easy then you are doing something wrong…it’s about facing one nightmare after another…and facing yourself in your most darkest places…there isn’t anything easy about this process…THAT’S WHY ITS CALLED THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED!...If it was easy and effortless everyone would do it…” I am paraphrasing again…but I remember listening to her “enlightened” words and wish she had been in the room, so I could shower her with kisses and hug the stuffing out of her…
I love what Debbie Ford has to say at the end of her movie "The Shadow Effect"
"If our shadows could talk,
They would tell us...
That we are as precious as a million pounds of gold...
That our brightest light can shine only when we have accepted our darkness...
That there is wisdom in every wound...
That there is a greater future waiting for us...
That we are children of God and have a right to be here...
That we were all created equal...
That our pain is not personal but belongs to every man and woman alive...
That Life is a magical journey of making Peace
With both our Humanity and our Divinity..
It would tell us that we deserve better...
That we matter...
That we are more powerful than we ever dreamed possible...
And that there's a light at the end of the tunnel...
That there is nobody in the world quite like you...
What if you knew in every cell of your body,
That you were living a Divine Plan...
A Plan so important, and vital for the evolution of humankind...
What if you knew that everything that was happening right now,
That doesn't fit your ego ideal,
Is happening to support you in stepping out of the smallness
Of your darkest thoughts...
And into the brilliance of your biggest Dream"
And now, my Beloveds, just a few of my own, hard earned truths, to aid you as you walk your pathways of Light...
1. Be Patient with the Process.
2. Be Kind and Gentle with Yourself and Embrace All that comes Up at this time.
3. Listen always, to you own internal Truth...and never compromise this place, no matter how enticing that brass ring might seem.
4. Listen not, to the rationalizations of the lower ego mind, simply put, if it feels wrong or goes against your place of internal integrity...Don't go there!
5. Most Important...Do not Judge or Compare yourself to anyone else's standards, beliefs, experiences or ideals. Find your own Truth and place of personal Authenticity and follow only what resonates within your own Soul...and Heart of Hearts.
Keep on keeping my Fellow Warriors in the Light...I Love You All!
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