The Spiritual Path & Life

Sometimes it is confusing, and difficult, to live on the planet within and amongst the physical and materialistic world, and at the same time to follow a path of spiritual enlightenment, awakening, development, discovery, development .........

That is perhaps a middle of the road statement across a broad spectrum of people. At one end of the spectrum there are those who are not confused at all, possibly, and to them their spiritual path is pure bliss, unencumbered by the distractions of the physical and materialistic world. At the other end are those to whom taking even the first step into the realm of spiritual awakening seems to be far too difficult. They are aware that there is “something” out there, beyond possibly their traditional religious, or agnostic, beliefs: synchronicities, déjà vu, Angels, miracles; there are so may people getting involved in this, what used to be only prevalent in the East, mysticism or is it a spiritual movement, there is an awareness amongst the youth of today which makes them different to the way we were – they approach life and each other differently, they seem to have “got it,” but for me ……. how can I even start to get involved? I don’t have the time; I have to pick up the children from school, make supper, go to gym, I’m working late at the office, I have meetings, meetings, meeting, I hardly have time for the wife and family let alone anything else, I’m hardly ever at home I’m so busy. And then there’s the media: newspapers, magazines, television, radio, Internet and movies. Going shopping, playing sport, watching sport, socialising with family, school functions, friends etc. etc. My life is so busy – how can I get involved – how do I get involved???

The dilemma and questions asked by the people at this other extreme of the spectrum I do not intend to talk to in this blog (but I will do so in the book that I am writing). It is to those people who are somewhere in the middle ground of the spectrum that I offer these thoughts and ideas to.

In one of my previous blogs I spoke about how the mind bubbles over with confusion with regard to following the spiritual path and what to do and what not to do, and what is good and what is not so great, etc. There is an entire orchestra of books and writings and works and sayings and videos and DVD’s out there on the subject; all sort of playing to the same hymn sheet but each according to the sound of the instrument, and each instrument sounding according to its specific application applied by the hands of the musician. Hoo boy, bit tough if you’re tone deaf, or not musically inclined, or prefer hip hop to classical. And then the music sounds jangled, or we fail to hear certain instruments, or we don’t listen because we don’t like that particular tune …….. and eventually we give up and go and eat ice cream or buy some item of clothing that we don’t need or drink beer or all three.

And that’s the sort of space that I’ve been in for a while. My particular orchestral favourites which added somewhat to my confusion, within my particular circumstances, are the combination of a book called “Excuse Me Your Life Is Waiting” and a DVD (now there’s a book as well) called “The Secret.” In essence saying the same thing which, in essence, is: if you want something, anything, wish it for yourself, think that you have this thing, feel as if you already have it, and then through the Law of Attraction it shall be manifest (come into existence) for you. Hmmmm. I digress but, there a lot more to the making of “The Secret” and what it is and what it isn’t, plus there’s a lot more to the Law of Attraction as well.

So, confused, irritated, frustrated, and ready to throw in the towel as I was I decided to follow the wise and sensible advice of a good friend. I took a break from thinking and I did some reading, and I listened to the viewpoints (on a number of matters within this whole subject; two in particular: abundance and attracting a partner) of a few good friends. It was during this listening period that a thought suddenly clanged into place for me. And to explain this thought I need to refer to a subject which has been my “hobby” for some time – Quantum Physics (don’t worry; only a very small part of it and not at all technical).

My dilemma – Here I am spending lots of my time thinking about and wishing for (creating) financial abundance in my life, and a special partner who will precisely fit all the attributes that I desire. But these thoughts and feelings and desires aren’t exactly spiritual are they?? Plus, because I’m spending so much time creating these into my life I’m not spending enough time meditating, doing spiritual research, attending retreats, reading spiritual books, and in so doing putting the physical and materialistic world into its rightful place of unimportance; these matters are not what life is all about, this is not why we are here on the planet. Why are we here? We are here, through many lifetime’s, to continue improving our soul, and throughout this process to continue growing the emanation of our infinite love to everyone and everything and the entire Universe, until we ultimately achieve purity, completeness and we are one and we are Divine. Am I not entitled to abundance and a wonderful, loving partner? If not, why not? Am I supposed to reject and deny totally the physical and materialistic world out there, as some notable spiritual followers in India have done? If this too is not expected, then where is the middle ground and who determines this, and according to which rules, created by whom?

The answer to this confusion, for me, came one day, as I have said during my listening period, and one day I thought about how I would describe myself and my life to someone else.

The second most important event in the advancement of physics, which led to the birth of Quantum Physics, was the explanation by Einstein of the photoelectric effect (the first being the discovery by Max Planck of the fact that light energy was emitted in discrete quantities (quanta) with no energy levels in between). Einstein then went on to explain that light, which until that point had always been described according to wave theory, could also be described according to particle theory. The important point here is that it was soon realised that in the quantum physical world (the world that describes, or attempts to describe, the tiniest and most fundamental building blocks out of which the Universe is composed) light, and all matter, could not be described as being a wave or a particle but that the description would be incomplete without describing light as both a wave and a particle – the duality of light (and matter).

And it is this theory that since it applies to all matter in the Universe, I now apply to myself. If I wish to describe myself to someone then my description would be incomplete if I were to describe only the physical and materialistic aspects of my life, or my spiritualism. I may well follow the spiritual path, but I live on the planet which has surrounded me with many things which also make up my life. I need to describe myself according to the duality of life. I am spiritual and when I describe only this aspect then it all makes sense and I am on the correct path and I am doing well. But I do not lose sight of the fact that to complete the picture of me, I must also describe my physical and materialistic life, and this too, through grace and blessings may be, and should be perfect – as it should be for everyone on the planet. There is sufficient abundance and love on the planet for this to be so. The reason it isn’t is due to the imbalance that has been created by negative human nature over the centuries. I believe that this is slowly but surely being rectified by the wonderful youth, and Crystal and Indigo children of the current generations. I am entitled to my every desire, so long as it does no harm or creates any deficiency to anyone or anything else in the Universe. I believe that the duality of our lives will eventually merge into oneness and all will be one in perfect abundance and infinite love – the light is but one beam. May my light continue to brighten and help show the way to those behind me. I offer my love and gratitude to those wonderful people ahead of me who have guided me and helped me along the way.

Namaste & Good Night
Jon