Q: What does it truly mean to live a spiritual life?
When someone first asks for a spiritual life, they are not aware, truly, of what they are asking for. They have read. They have heard. They have decided. But they do not know. And they cannot know at the beginning. Because if they did know at the beginning, without the proper preparation, it would only scare them. That’s because they aren’t ready for what they need to do. For who they need to be. For what they need to let go of. But they are ready to cross the starting line.
Many, at the beginning, experience the notion of a spiritual life as a positive, pleasant idea. “I will be a spiritual person. I will live a spiritual life.” Initially, we might view a spiritual life through a simplistic lens. From a dual perspective, we can experience it almost as a magical story we tell ourselves because, at the beginning, we can’t fully realize what’s involved. This is why, in many Eastern spiritual stories of awakening when someone has been given instant enlightenment (like Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita), they find it terrifying.
When we are at the beginning, it’s truly so far beyond what we can grasp that the primary experience is fear. Because the preparation, the groundwork, has not been laid.
Q: How do you lay that groundwork to live a spiritual life? Are there stages?
This is a huge question, so let me simplify it to make it manageable. Let’s use the analogy of progressing through school.
The beginning or kindergarten stage is always the magical thinking stage. What one can imagine it to be. “I will be a kind, loving person who never gets angry or upset. I will always do the right thing. I will be happy to have less. I will be happy to serve.”
Elementary school: “I’m reading works and learning directly. I’m beginning to put into practice concepts. I’m realizing daily homework is required. I’m realizing that discipline and practice are givens. But I still cannot control my emotions. I still cannot meditate. But I understand the concepts now. And I’m beginning to understand that spiritual growth requires consistent effort and practice.”
High school: Stamina becomes more developed. A meditation practice becomes habitual. Emotions become understood and seen through for what they are. A choice is often made not to overreact. But overreaction is still available as an option.
College level: What has been external becomes internalized. One moves from “I do these practices now because this is what has been said to do” to “I do these practices because they are now who I am.” They are an extension of my being. I continue to expand intuitively, spiritually, psychologically—all levels of understanding and insight. I begin having more regular mystical experiences. I am aware of continual communication from the All-That-Is.”
That becomes the background noise rather than thoughts. Now, what is heard is a hum. The om becomes a hum because that is the sound of the universe. It is the vibration that all matter and all non-matter travels in.
Ph.D. program: At this stage, one begins to embody the spiritual principles they’ve studied and practiced. What was once effortful to do is not only automatic but joyful. There is nothing to release anymore because there is nothing to be attached to. Because there is the complete awareness that All is One. There is nothing else to be attached to. Peace is the primary experience in this stage. Problems still come and go. Struggles still present themselves, but there is no more overreaction. It is just, “Here is the next step. Here is the next step. Here is the next step.”
Having reached this point, one still exists in this plane and experiences all that’s here. But without the attachment, it truly becomes the movie on the screen. There is awareness, but there is no longer a charge around that awareness. All comes, all goes. Transience and impermanence are accepted as the ultimate reality.
The final stage of mastery: All is truly one. All is permanent. All is. Enlightenment.
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