The spiritual path can be anything you want. It can be a fluffy journey of fun, colour, connection with others and promiscuous sex. Yet it can also be about tearing down your walls so that you can see clearer. The smart people are the ones that try to achieve both.
Those that are content with life will often not choose to challenge it, and why would you? If things are going well then keep those barrels rolling. Yet those that feel unsatisfied with how they view the world and with who they perceive themselves to be within it are often the ones seeking to challenge their ego. People who are quick to anger, depression or anxiety may also seek this path along with those who simply don’t feel like they belong in the world. Blaming ourselves for this disconnection is common whilst frustration for those that appear to ‘get it’ is also natural.
Not only is the above not true (as most people feel out of place throughout their life yet they ignore it or hide it well) but this feeling can be seen as a calling. The subconscious mind is screaming that something needs to shift and that a change needs to happen. This is an awareness of self and is what leads people to blogs, podcasts and videos (such as this) for possible guidance, education and bad jokes. Ahem…
Although change is what we might seek the hardest thing consciousness can do is question its own reality. In the mind, the difference between having a ground beneath our feet and defining ourselves as a good or bad person is not so different. The ego needs control of its reality and therefore the emotions that are tied heavily to our identity try desperately to hold on. This is because without our identity then who are we? What is left? I guess it’s just limbo.
As scary as limbo may be this is the perfect time to listen to our inner selves without the influence of our ego. Guidance then often comes hard and fast with heightened enthusiasm, yet the things it may ask of us are often not what we would have expected. Quit that job, leave that house or partner, stop hanging with those friends, take up dancing, do surfing, stop smoking, isolate yourself and so forth. And when these flooding ideas come to us we have to be careful not to go straight to thoughts such as ‘that’s stupid’ or ‘I’m too old’ or ‘that’s too hard’. This is the ego creeping back. Instead, the spiritual journey is about going with the flow and the enthusiasm that comes with it.
If you decide to take a massive spiritual journey you need to question everything. Be like the annoying child who always asks ‘why’ and keeps asking ‘why’ until an answer becomes prevalent and can’t be anything else. Most things tend to have answers and yet at times you find questions such as ‘does a tree in the woods make a sound?’ and you realise that not all things are straight forward. Each of us has a question such as this which gives us this eureka moment where we go ‘aaahhhh’ and get goose bumps. And if you keep following down the spiritual path this s#$t happens all the time! You can be like Alice falling down the rabbit hole.
(Part 3 of this blog will be coming next week)
The Lonely Spaceman 