one step forward, two steps back

finding a life stance that genuinely brings us into increased alignment with the unperturbed, desire-free state of our truest nature (beyond mind) is incredibly liberating. by contrast, the mind-content-dominated life experience always ends up leading us into varying degrees of claustrophobia, confusion, stress.

if there's any one thing we have real control over, it's the approach we take to life. life is handed to us with all of its complexity and challenges, and our way of handling that raw material determines our experience of it. a life stance that allows our inherent freedom to emerge can take many forms, from a formal spiritual practice like daily meditation to a more subtle inner alertness to consciousness throughout all ranges of experience. 

real and lasting change usually comes as a result of having integrated lessons learned in formal practice into our basic approach to life, so that it becomes our natural modus operandi. but often with new lessons, and even sometimes with lessons we thought we'd long since learned, it's possible to get sidetracked and stop living in accord to that lesson. 

many times this happens when we reap the positive benefit of a lesson: suddenly we're much more comfortable and happy than we were (the very pain that propelled us to learn the lesson now being absent), and we no longer feel compelled to do anything in particular to improve our experience. while certainly understandable, enough of this complacent attitude can have us backsliding into the very difficulties we were plagued with initially that acted as catalyst to bring us to higher ground in the first place. 

we humans have a natural tendency to gravitate towards pleasant experiences and avoid pain and discomfort. this explains why during challenging phases of our life we can become so committed to improving our experience, and in times of ease and comfort we can so easily lose focus. if transcending pain is our only incentive to grow, where does that leave us when pain is absent? taking two steps backward. 

since the temporary abscence of suffering doesn't signify the attainment of any goal, the trick is to be motivated by more than merely seeking comfort; to be inspired instead, for example, by the passion for discovery of self. the difference between the former and the latter is like the difference between running away from something (directionless) and moving steadily toward something (intentionality), or like the difference between being propelled by the bloody whip and finding heavenly guidance in the north star.            

spiritual inflation

it's easy to start getting inflated once we make some kind of recognizable progress in spiritual life. we get the feeling that now we've really accomplished something, and convince ourselves that we're way closer to the truth than the average individual.

but anything that makes us feel more separate as opposed to more connected - no matter what the excuse - is taking us down a wrong path. a good barometer for judging whether we've taken an unproductive detour is to test how comfortable we feel in the presence of others, particularly people who aren't explicitly interested in spiritual matters.

if in the midst of such company there's a little voice in our head that says "i don't belong here" and we have a hard time interacting naturally and with sincerity, it means we've set ourselves apart from "the common herd" in our minds as special people deserving of special circumstances. this is quite obviously an effort by the ego to distinguish itself and accrue status - and there couldn't be a more common activity than that.

we are, always have been, and always will be an intimate part of all those who surround us. they need us and we need them; that's part of human life. we belong together because we are together. if we're using spirituality as a means to avoid some of life's most basic aspects, we're simply turning it into a game designed to make us feel comfortable as we neglect our responsibilities.

the danger always exists that spirituality will turn into yet another ploy by the ego to label ourselves as superior and brush off our basic human duties with spiritual concepts such as "it's all an illusion anyway," conveniently distorted to provide an excuse for our negligence. since spirituality seems so otherworldly at times, we forget that human spiritual development depends upon a good human foundation. spirituality is not an excuse to ignore our personal challenges and get off the hook from worldly responsibilities.

when we truly begin to integrate spiritual lessons, to learn them from the inside out, we feel increasingly comfortable around people (no matter what their personal interests) because we know how much we have in common with them. perhaps paradoxically, the more we leave our egos behind and in so doing become a deviation from the human norm, the more we identify ourselves as exactly like everyone else and rejoice in this fact.

no split

there is no division between those who consider themselves "spiritual" and those who prefer a more "worldly" approach to living. these terms are just labels; convenient perhaps for communication's sake, but not pointing to an absolute reality.

in truth, we're all playing by the same rules. there is but one standard against which our destinies are measured, and that's the degree of our spiritual development.

but why call it spiritual? it's not spiritual; it's just life. calling it spiritual seems to relegate it to a separate compartment of life, as if a person could choose to be spiritual or not in the same way they can choose to be a sports enthusiast, a butterfly collector or a professional cook.

the difference is, if we're not into collecting insects we remain relatively unaffected by the world of entomology, while if we don't consider ourselves to be a "spiritual person" our subjective experience of life continues to be entirely determined by our level of truth-awareness.

claiming to be "non-spiritual" doesn't get us categorized differently and make us answerable to a different set of rules, exempt from the "spiritual" consequences of our actions. in the same way, merely claiming to be "spiritual" doesn't win us any favors. the realization of truth and happinness is arrived at through each step we take on the path, not by making statements about what kind of person we are.

spirituality in its most basic, real and powerful form is a mode of living that dissolves the obstacles to enlightenment, transporting us from confusion and ignorance to realization and on to growing levels of awareness of the true nature of reality (to say "the true nature of reality" is equivalent to saying "the truth about ourselves").

existential ignorance and all the forms of suffering and negativity it spawns are present to one degree or another until the realization of one's true nature dawns. once this recognition occurs, sincere love and its tremendously powerful healing potential is manifested in ever-expanding ways. in this sense, spiritual development is the most relevant aspect of life, and should logically be the prime object of focus for those who wish to bring an end to their suffering. it's the most important factor regarding one's own welfare and that of humanity.

this doesn't mean that everyone should drop what they're doing and take up a particular spiritual practice. since spirituality points directly to the subjective experience of life itself, "spiritual" lessons can be learned through any endeavor as long as there is a willingness to progress in one's understanding of "self" and life. information traditionally denoted as spiritual, however - if genuine - can be enormously catalytic for those who are consciously striving for truth in the same way an umbrella is more effective at keeping you dry in a storm than throwing a shopping bag over your head; it's specifically designed for the particular purpose of facilitating awakening.