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Curiosity started me on the spiritual journey. I had no idea that this trait would draw to me information, books, people, and experiences that would transform my life. I did not even know I was on a journey for a good while. Now I understand from experience what people mean when they say they are on the Path. What exactly is the spiritual journey? What is the difference between one who is not on this journey yet and one who has started? How does it get started? What can you expect once on the journey? Let us start by looking at some of the differences between religion and spirituality. Someone who is religious may or may not be spiritually oriented. From my observation most religious people have the best of intentions to be “good” and follow the teachings of their church, temple, or mosque to worship God. Religions are based on a set of beliefs, usually written down, which have degrees of universal truth. They may have started out with universal truths of a spiritually evolved teacher. Many spiritual truths are lost, however, when people try to concretize the teachings when the original teacher dies. Religion becomes an interpretation of a spiritual teaching and many times becomes dogmatic to the point of believing there is only one “right” way to God. A religion that does not include all of humanity and have tolerance and love for people choosing different paths, is not practicing high spiritual truths. As you observe different religions, notice the degree of inclusiveness and universal thinking. Spirituality is inclusive and based on universal truths; for example, all paths lead to the same place, to the same God.. There is not an agreed upon set of rules that must be adhered to in order to know God. It is not based on belief systems; however, many people start this way, until personal experience proves or disproves them. Spirituality is a personal unfolding of Truth, leading to a personal relationship with the Source with a progression of greater understanding and realization of Life, God, the Universe, and Creation. The spiritual journey is much bigger than being a religious person. Again, a spiritual person may or may not be religious. Religion impacts one from outside of oneself, whereas spirituality opens one through direct experience from within oneself. The Path Is Subtle The spiritual path is can easily be missed because it is so subtle. It is a path to higher consciousness, fuller awareness, with one realization after another. One learns a whole new language from the everyday, linear, factual, logical thinking. Upon entering the spiritual path, one begins changing perceptions and sees new interpretations of reality. One learns to heal oneself from the conditioning of childhood, societal mores, and traditional thinking. One moves from being unaware and unconsciousness to becoming an empowered, conscious, loving, holistic, fully functioning person. One learns to take the next step and then the next to initiate oneself into greater understanding of the mysteries of Life. As awareness expands one realizes such things as there is only one of us. Who I am expands to include all of life. Knowing and feeling connected to this full Self unfolds in stages, as there are degrees of truth along the way to Truth. It is a continual process of exploring self, others, participating in relationships and groups, learning to know and experience with your inner self. Beginners on the path do a lot of talking about themselves and the process of changing and healing themselves, as I did. I assumed what I was learning was for everyone, and I could not wait for my loved ones, especially, to experience what I was exploring and experiencing. Finally, I learned, after much pain and confusion, that the spiritual journey is an inner journey that can not be totally shared with anyone. Wholeness is a secret that requires much silence. Starting The Journey. How do people get started on the spiritual journey? Many times it begins with a personal crisis that starts an inner desire to look beneath the surface of what is happening for richer meaning and purpose. One may be asking questions such as “Who am I outside of my roles and conditioning? Why am I here? What would give my life more meaning and purpose? Why is this happening to me? How can I help myself? Why would God allow this to happen to me? If there were a God, this wouldn’t have happened. Is there a God? What do I think about the things that my parents, teachers, religion, and society taught me about life? How can I heal my dysfunctional thoughts, feelings, and behaviors? How can I change my life so that I like my life?” These questions and others must be answered, so a search begins which moves a person onto a deeper quest. Life is always answering our inner questions by bringing us answers through new experiences. Teachers may be in family members, in books, on TV, or in religious teachings. You may have heard that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. In actuality, the answers and teachers were right in front of your nose, however, you have to be ready to see, feel, and hear the insights. Sometimes it is not even a conscious thought that begins the journey. It could be that one has a problem or habit that one wants to change, or has a relationship that is not working and enters a 12-Step group, counseling, or family therapy to improve the situation. Many times, the group or therapy opens the door for a deeper search. Some people respond when there is too much pain and suffering after a catastrophic event like an illness, divorce, loss of a job, or death of a family member. These experiences force people outside of their frame-of-reference. Many times when people are confused, hurt, or angry, they are open to new ideas. Another way one moves on to the spiritual path is to be with a partner on this journey, who is constantly changing and growing, introducing new ideas, and catalyzing the relationship. When one stays in the relationship when their partner evolves, s/he is also on the path or s/he would not be attracted to stay in the relationship. People stay with partners in a similar range of consciousness. If one partner increases their vibration and the other partner is not ready to do so, then the two will probably not stay together for long. For some, a mystical experience changes them forever, where an expansion of consciousness, greater than everyday life, is experienced. Here the veil is lifted and the individual understands in an instant the meaning of life, releases all fear, understands that Love is the underlining principal of the universe, and is changed forever. The same goes for those having a near-death experience. Most people, however, go through a longer process where insights and revelations about themselves and the universe are experienced gradually. The circle and the spiral. Let us look at two different people, one living a “normal” life and one who is awakening and on the spiritual journey. For clarity, suppose Jonie lives her life in a line that goes from point A to point B, eventually making a circle from birth until death. She is born into a family that expects her to follow in their footsteps with the family’s values and belief system, handed down from one generation to the next. Jonie easily stays within the comfort of her conditioning. If Jonie does shift out of the family footsteps, it many times is in reaction to extreme situations. She may jump to another point and have the tendency to over-correct and therefore, act out the opposite side of the coin. Jonie may look like she is thinking for herself and acting differently, however, at first she is still dealing with the same coin, and is conditioned to stay within the boundaries of the circle. Time will tell if she returns to the traditions or truly moves into higher consciousness. I want to note here that many who find the spiritual path do go back to traditional religion, however, experience it with new and deeper understanding. Now we will look at person number two. Jon looks at the boundaries in the circle and is not satisfied, wanting more from life than following the line from point A to point B. which calls forth a deeper process. By any number of ways, some mentioned earlier, Jon moves out of circle. The circle now becomes a new configuration, a spiral. The circle represents a closed system, repeating what has been modeled and taught. It is very difficult for new information to get into this system. The person entering the spiral makes a shift upward and moves into a new dimension, an open system, full of information not known in the circle. To further illustrate, we will use a mountain. The first person lives at the bottom of the mountain and is very familiar with everything there. If this were you, then you may have learned, for example, that you are an extension of your parents, family, or church, and you need to conform to the roles and rules of these groups. You may respond to the media telling you to that you are your body and physical beauty, strength, and youth are what counts in life. Or you may believe that your possessions make you who you are. Then as you age or do not have your possessions, you feel unworthy. Others of you thought you were ahead of the class because you have a high IQ, did well in school, have made a lot of money, and seem to “have it all.” That is all well and good, except true happiness and a connection to your inner self, other people, and God is missing. It is a trick or illusion that one is doing well in life by simply tallying up the outer-world possessions, traits, or achievements. Finally, some of you believed you were your roles as mothers and fathers and that what matters in life is how well your children do. You thought mistakenly that they were an extension of you. If these beliefs and roles led you to a point of crisis, that could be good. This point of crisis may actually catapult you out of the circle at the bottom of the mountain onto the spiral where you will find your true Self. You are ready to walk up the mountain and find the hidden path to higher realizations. It may be uncomfortable at first and your rational mind may try to talk you into going back down to circle for safety and familiarity. As you climb, you find people who want to share with you and who can answer a few of your questions. You may find a spiritual teacher. You now have some ideas to ponder about what the spiritual journey is. We looked at the difference between a person on the journey and one who is not, with the analogy of a circle and a spiral illustrating these two positions. There are many experiences and thinking patterns that can initiate the spiritual journey. Next issue we will continue with a discussion about spiritual teachers and how to use caution, as well as, what some of the things you might expect to encounter as you climb the mountain of higher awareness. THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY, A PERSPECTIVE Part 2 We have discussed the spiritual journey, what it is, the difference between one on the journey and one who is not. We looked at an analogy of a circle and a spiral to illustrate these two positions. Let us continue our discussion of the spiritual journey, beginning with a discussion about spiritual teachers and then looking at some things you might encounter as you climb the mountain of enlightenment. I will share some of my early experiences. Not all teachers have your best interest at heart. Unfortunately, some teachers are not motivated by unconditional love and service; you need to know this. I have come in contact with some, and it did not hurt me in the long run, the experiences eventually made me wiser. It did confuse me and took me off track a few times, though. A good teacher in this world eventually leads us to the teacher within. The true test of a spiritual teacher is one who helps us unfold and awaken and then encourages us to develop our own inner guidance to connect with our own soul or spiritual Self. This also includes those teachers not in physical form, living in more subtle dimensions. Some of you who meditate or can easily see into other dimensions may have already experienced inner teachers and guides. If you are beginning the journey of inner exploration, you might feel the need to ask for protect. Say an affirmation or prayer asking only for a teacher of the light. You can visualize protection with a golden, white light, God, Jesus, Buddha, or other religious figure, or the Christ Consciousness. Go slowly when you want to adopt a new teacher or teaching whether it is an inner or outer teacher. Remember to exercise your free-will choice and intellect when stepping out into new frontiers of consciousness. Evaluate the teaching or information that is given first, before acting. A rule of thumb that has helped me is to notice how I feel in their presence. Do I receive insights and expand my awareness, experience more love, more detachment from unhealthy patterns, people and events, experience more inner peace, inner healing, and inner connectedness to the source of my being? Or do I feel a dependency, or a restriction in some part of my body, such as my heart area, or sense the teaching is judgmental and controlling? To further assist my inner wisdom, I observe the other students or followers of this spiritual teacher, whether a guru, psychotherapist, minister, priest, rabbi, etc. I notice whether or not I feel in rapport with them. By observing yourself, you make wiser choices when choosing or following a teacher. What will you experience? Let us get back to our discussion of what a person on the spiritual path will experience. As you begin to awaken, it is common to feel driven to understand yourself and in doing you usually end up feeling different and separate from others. As you talk about your new ideas and experiences, it may make your family and friends uncomfortable. They may pull away emotionally from you, offering no support, or say and do things to get you back where you “belong,” so they feel safe. You need lots of support at this point to continue the search. Slowly you gain confidence in practicing Truth about life, relationships, yourself, God and begin seeing reality differently. You begin to understand that the experiences you attract are simply a result of your own consciousness and belief system. Since much of your consciousness is unconscious to you, many things happen unexpectedly. Your job is to become more and more aware as you make choices for your life. Over time you stop seeing yourself as a victim of your childhood, your job, your relationships, or any other circumstances. A new sense of responsibility develops with a determination to get to the bottom of what is happening each time there is a challenging situation. “What do I have to do with this? And, what can I learn from this situation?” are two questions I ask myself whenever an unwanted reality shows up for me. I understand that every person and event in my life is the result of a “match” within my consciousness, both good and bad feeling experiences. It could not and would not show up unless I had something in common with this person or event and have something to learn, give, receive, or heal from the association. Sometime we beat ourselves up emotionally when negative feeling events happen, thinking we should be beyond this once we are on the spiritual journey. We can not get past ourselves, however. Many times we are learning how we do not want to be, are correcting fear patterns, seeing unconscious parts of ourselves, seeing our value and belief system in operation, to name a few. All experiences are for the healing and upliftment of our consciousness. Understanding from a larger context makes it easier to practice forgiveness, especially of ourselves, and own the choices we made in less aware times. For example, most people in an intimate relationship, choose partners who bring up unresolved issues with parents, the childhood, and past relationships. Through the awakening process, one learns to stop feeling victimized by the partner and to take responsibility when unfinished business from the past surfaces in the dance with the partner. It takes a lot of awareness to learn not to be “triggered” by a behavior or pattern that reminds us consciously or unconsciously about the past. To live in the present moment and to respond to the current situation at hand without emotional baggage is one of the goals of an aware person. Life is evolving Life is evolving and everyone is growing in awareness. People operating at the bottom of the mountain, remember our circle analogy from last issues, do so at a much slower pace, however, they are still growing. Why do I say this? One way of observing this is to notice what was on TV twenty or thirty years ago verses today and notice the difference. Current sitcoms educate many about current issues. Take the phrase dysfunctional family. Many people are exposed to a concept like this through humor in the sitcoms even though they many never read a self-help book or go to therapy. Most people now use this term in their vocabulary. When I began teaching first self-esteem class in 1981, the term affirmation was not a familiar term. The group spent a lot of time discussing and debating how saying something positive to yourself could actually be helpful. Today this term is in common usage. It can be a little scary starting the journey when family members and old friends do not understand your need to explore and gather new information. As you change your thinking and behavioral patterns, it can bring up hidden insecurities in people close to you. If they pull away from you emotionally or try to make you feel wrong or guilty it is really to make themselves feel comfortable. You bring up too much that they wish would stay hidden in their unconscious minds. It is very threatening to have you upset the apple cart with new ideas and patterns of behavior, to question their “rules” or beliefs about life that have been true for generations. This early part of the journey takes courage and requires you to be a pioneer to explore new places in consciousness that family and peers have not done before. You have to give yourself permission and encouragement at times to move forward. It is helpful to find a support system too. Personal examples I will now share some of my early process to illustrate how the spiritual journey began for me. The time was the mid-1970’s when I responded to an invitation from my child psychology teacher, in graduate school, to attend a biofeedback group. This group met on Sunday mornings at a Unitarian Church. The group and the church both sparked my curiosity. The people in the biofeedback group talked about so many topics to which I had never been exposed. I could not even ask a question. I was in shock that there was so much to explore in worlds hidden from me. Even though I could not say much, I was attracted to the discussions and kept attending. Next, I took a risk and attended the church where our meetings were held. This was so different from my childhood teachings in a traditional church. It opened my mind to new interpretations of life and truth. These two experiences introduced me to the difference between spiritual ideas and religious ones. I had many more synchronistic experiences that expanded my awareness, besides the biofeedback invitation. Synchronicity used here means an event that seems at first to be a random coincidence, but turns out to change the individual forever in profound ways. It is not a coincidence, but exactly what one needs to progress on their journey. Another one was at the age of 30; I began working part time for an enlightened woman. She “happened” to have an esoteric library that I had been looking for the past three years. While participating at the Unitarian Church, I heard a lecture based on the Alice Bailey books. I wrote down this name and carried it in my wallet for about three years, always looking in bookstores for her books. I could never find them, however, as esoteric books were not easy to find for a novice in those days. Guess who had the Alice Bailey books? I borrowed her copy of Ponder on This. I could not stop reading and felt such amazement. Answers to questions, many that I had not asked yet, were here. For many years, I studied intensely, reading many self-help, spiritual, and metaphysical books. I explored many things outside of my frame of reference, such as taking voice lessons to help me find my voice and learn confidence. I received deep bodywork called, rolfing. I went on weekend spiritual retreats and workshops. You name it, and I wanted to explore it. Some of the experiences were right for me and others were not. They all helped teach me how to discriminate between what was useful for my journey and what was not. All this was done with intense passion, yet privately. In my outer life, I continued to raise my family with my husband in suburbia. Eventually, I realized that I was a seeker on the spiritual path to enlightenment. Take a moment to pause Stop reading and close your eyes to review your own life for a moment. Take a couple of deep breaths. Can you see, looking back, how the spiritual journey was calling you? What were some of the synchronistic events that may have looked inconsequential at the time, however, led you in new directions? If it feels right, write your story down or share it with a close friend later. If you want to go deeper, go within and ask for guidance about the next step for you or the solution to one of your problems. What does your wise self or inner teacher say or show you? What do you sense, see, feel, or hear? It may simply be to tell yourself that you are now open to experiences outside of your frame of reference that will bring you what you need. For some of you, it may be time to take action, to put into practicing your new level of truth. You may be ready to take risks, such as speaking assertively to loved ones, crying tears to release held back pain and hurt, or journal writing your thoughts and feelings and reactions to your life on a regular basis. Some of you may be ready for deeper study. It may be time to find a spiritual teacher or to take workshops and metaphysical classes. For others, it will be time to begin therapy, for understanding yourself is an important step on this journey in order to make peace with your past and begin connecting with your spiritual Self. There are so many ways that you might practice your new ideas in order to make them your own. There are cycles in our lives with time to gather information, read and ponder, with other cycles so busy with hardly a moment to pause. The second cycle gives us the opportunity to put into practice what was recently studied or contemplated. Awareness is the first step in change. Take a small step in the direction you know you need to take. Remember to acknowledge yourself for the progress you have made so far and that you can see ways to heal your life. Do your best to let go of a time frame and judging yourself in this process, it is perfect to be exactly where you are today. There are degrees of realilzation and understanding. As we reach a particular mountaintop on our spiritual journey, our understanding is expanded while at the summit. As we turn and look ahead on our path, we find there is yet another mountain to climb to greater awareness. With enlightened thinking, each interaction with people and events has meaning and purpose. Challenging circumstances always have lessons to expand our awareness. Such things as meditation, contemplation, journal writing, and watching our dreams give us insights. Here we learn to use parts of our minds normally not trained or encouraged in our culture. Pure logic or left brain thinking does not take us to the next step. We must learn to access and live from an intuitive, holistic place within ourselves to enter the spiritual journey. Time alone to think, meditate, observe, and be in nature helps to nourish this part of us. Now you have a better understanding of the spiritual journey and how it is more than being a religious person. It moves us beyond limited belief systems to Universal Truths. Hopefully, you have a clearer picture of how your journey is unfolding. For most, the spiritual journey to enlightenment is a process. It involves awakening to deeper and deeper understandings of yourself, the mastery of your individual life, and the evolution of your consciousness to participate with awareness in the greater Life. The journey usually begins with a desire to know who you are and why you are here, because you want a deeper understanding of the meaning of life, and in particular your life.
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What is the spiritual journey, how does it get started, what is the difference between religion and spiriutality, how to determine if someone is a good spiritual teacher for you
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