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The Spiritual Path

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Worry

Worry is the greatest hindrance to (Spiritual) progress. Worry is part of human nature. We worry about things that might happen, we worry about things that might not happen. Worry turns to fear and fear cripples us from the inside. Perhaps, for many of us, it is impossible to eliminate worry, but we can minimize its harmfulness.

We might worry about attending a job interview. We allow the worry to prevent us from doing our best. But what is the worst that can happen? That we do not get the job. But even if we don't get the job the interview itself will have been an experience. We will have learned a little more about what is required for the kind of work we are seeking, so we make take steps to be better prepared next time. Or perhaps we failed the interview because the particular job was not right for us. If so we would have saved ourselves a lot of grief by discovering the fact at an early stage rather than after we started.

We watch the news and see wars raging around the globe. We naturally worry about the future for ourselves and our children. But what can we practically do? We can certainly send out love and prayers that peace and reason may replace violence and hatred. If we are so inclined perhaps we can choose how to cast our vote on ballot day, or air our views in other ways. The point is that we alone cannot change the situation, but we can do what it is within our power to do, and having done it we have no further need to worry because we know that we can do no more.

When our eyes are filled with worry we cannot see the beauty of the sunset.

Today is the tomorrow that we worried about yesterday.

Letting Go

We need to recognize the point at which to let go. We are all wronged (and also wrong others), to varying degrees at varying times, because by our very nature humans are imperfect. If someone does something bad to us then we should deal with it and forget about it, ie seek justice and move on. But if we pursue a grudge long after we should have let go, we ultimately harm ourselves because we cannot make the best of the future.

Unconditional Love

It is easy to love your own family, friends and those of similar views. But unconditional love means love for those we don't have a natural fellowship with, eg those with different views.

The world has room for all shades of opinion, because we all have different backgrounds and different life paths. No one has a monopoly on truth or righteousness. No one has the right to judge another, because we cannot see the world from their eyes. There is an old Red Indian saying, "don't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins".

Listen to the other person's point of view, and offer your own in the spirit of friendship. Where differences exist, do not support that which you feel to be wrong, but be tolerant and avoid judging the other person.

Circumstances, Joy and Sorrow

Before we are born we choose what lessons we will try to learn and what kind of circumstances we will be born into. But a fundamental part of the human condition is our free will. Although limited by circumstances, the choices we are able to make do make differences, sometimes big differences, and the choices of others sometimes alter our path, sometimes dramatically and irrecoverably.

Life is pain interspersed with joy. It is only from the difficulties that we learn and grow, ie fulfill our real purpose in being here. It is the joy that helps us survive the pain.

In dealing with difficulties we need to keep in mind two great truths (however hard they might be to accept at the time). Firstly, difficulties are our opportunity to learn and to progress, and we ourselves chose what we would learn in this world. Secondly, Spirit will never present us with any burden too great for us to bear.

Earthly achievements are ultimately and utterly insignificant. Even the greatest events down here don't really matter in the great scheme of Spirit, other than to further our experience and growth. But earthly experience is why we are here.

Life rolls unstoppably on. We try our best. We savour the joys, the love of family and friends, the beauty of nature, a favourite food or drink... We learn from our experiences. But we must cope with what we are dealt.

We seek to do what is right here, for ourselves and our close ones. But it is only the lesson learned that is significant.

Healing

When we think of healing we may think of some chanting mystic with magical powers laying his hands upon the afflicted and miraculously curing their bodily ailments. Some healing does take this form, but with the important difference that the powers do not come from the healer, but from Spirit. The healer acts only as a channel.

The important point is that we are all healers, because we are all of Spirit. Some of us may develop as channels for healing and may alleviate symptoms through the laying on of hands. But far more will practice their healing in more subtle ways. Maybe by dropping in on a neighbour to check they are alright, or a friendly smile directed at a stranger, or simply the sending out of loving thoughts or prayers. There are a million and one ways in which we can heal. And by healing others we feel better inside, ie we heal ourselves.

And that is the real purpose in healing. Not the temporary relief given from the inevitable aches and pains of this life, but the recognition that in doing something for others we also help ourselves, because both we and every living creature around us are all part of Spirit.

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