Reflections on a spiritual path
With the help of a poet & a sage
‘Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, and solitude are everything.
Make your ego porous
Is it possible, I ask myself, to embark on a spiritual journey without having an ego or having a receptor to process the inner imperative to start the journey in the first place? And aren’t all egos porous during our formative years?
Those who enter a spiritual journey do so with an ego, or a personality, after all, it is the vehicle of our soul, our means of expression in life and that ego is shaped by the world around us. As I understand it, our personalities contain the qualities our soul will need to fulfil its purpose and our environment offers us the ideal proving ground for our chosen soul’s purpose and karmic lessons to emerge.
I believe that the architect of our life is our soul, and it waits for us to discover its existence and seek its guidance on the best route to fulfilment. That means that neither our personality nor our life circumstances are random, they were selected before our birth to deliver the best chance of fulfilment both personally and spiritually.
In my case, a high degree of independence and self-responsibility were essential both to my early survival and, it turned out, my greatest spiritual lesson. Both attributes served me well until roughly halfway through my life when the scale pan unexpectedly tipped towards spiritual service, then my attachment to independence and self-responsibility became a significant barrier.
I was blindsided and reacted with shock, anger, and disbelief. I felt my survival was threatened. But some fourteen years later, I understand that it was not so much the independence and self-responsibility that were the barrier, but my rigorous attachment to them. Indeed, I would argue that self-responsibility is an essential attribute along the spiritual path, as is the ability to be discerning in your choice of influences.
Along my spiritual path, I have fortunately received the personal guidance of a spiritual inspirer, and share some snippets of that guidance below, in italics.
‘As soon as you start thinking about yourself as a victim you stop learning.’
Will is of little importance
Freewill, as I understand it, is sacrosanct. It is something that mankind has that other aspects of life do not, and neither Spirit nor soul can override it, which makes humanity unique. However, it took me a while to realise that along the spiritual path, there is an interplay between independence, discernment, and uniqueness.
My experience is that spiritual discipline does not require blind dependence because that would deny our unique purpose, but it does require a reprioritisation of our free will in service of what is greater. That requires discernment because to place yourself in service of something which cannot fulfil your soul purpose will ultimately lead to dissatisfaction.
Once you have found your correct path, then how you travel along it becomes your responsibility.
So, yes, I had to, ‘make my ego porous’ when following my personality’s prompt to embrace spirituality, while at the same time lessening its hold on my worldview, attitudes, and behaviour. In short, I had to open my heart and mind to embrace my humanity, while at the same time challenging my self-imposed limitations and assumptions.
I often feel that there is a misunderstanding in spiritual circles which hold the view that our humanity is a barrier to spirituality. In my experience, it is more of a portal, something which facilitates our exploration and experience of life and, if aligned to our spiritual purpose, provides the unique window through which our unique Light of soul enters the world.
‘If you want to share your soul, you must share both your struggle and your triumph.
Because it is in the struggle that the soul is at its most beautiful and it is the struggle that everybody, every single person, will recognise themselves.’
Complaining is nothing
I would probably revise this statement to read, ‘complaining is useless,’ because, of course, if you take full responsibility for your actions and decisions then complaining is pointless. But that dismisses the ongoing inner struggle to overcome the doubts and fears we all encounter when searching for the voice of the soul.
These internal struggles are nebulous, even a little shaming as they unsettle your worldly equilibrium, it can be easier to see them reflected in those around you, I certainly did. However, until you bring those struggles into your own heart, they will cast a shadow over your progress and lead to debilitating comparisons, judgements and yes, complaints.
‘No good telling other people how they should behave, no good complaining, far better to live your vision than to discuss how other people live theirs, for there is nobody in this world that does not have the violence of Creation within them and nobody who does not have the Light of the Christ within them too.
That is where the work lies, in making peace between these two elements, something which you can do with the assistance of your soul, a soul that will live on and carry the lessons you have learned to the pool of wisdom that will give rise to tomorrow.’
In my experience, sharing your emerging truth with others can be invaluable, but also challenging. Four artists painting the same landscape will produce a different image based on their perception and skill and each has a value, where this becomes unhelpful is when one rendition is considered closer to the truth than the others. But equally, the act of sharing, if there is a ground of love, crystallises your stage of development, you hear it in your words, and you see its reception in the eyes of those you are speaking to.
Fame is nothing
When this quote was written in the early 20th century, fame would not have had the ramifications, or the dangers, or reach, that it has these days, so perhaps the context has changed so greatly that there is no comparison.
However, I have experienced myself and seen in others an almost burning desire to share as widely as possible something precious to them and potentially life-changing for others too. Is that seeking fame?
Is there anything fundamentally wrong in seeking to share your beliefs and knowledge if you intend to help? However, hell, as they say, is paved with good intentions, and throughout the ages, so many good intentions have left uncomfortable legacies and disempowered rather than empowered people.
So is it possible to inspire others without creating inequality, or is there inevitably an element of arrogance? In these days of social media and influencers, it seems as if fame is now considered an end in itself, an essential badge of credibility.
That is what I am doing right now, seeking to share. I would say not to promote myself but the teachings and inspirations which have brought me so much peace. But it’s a fine line isn’t it for how tempting it is to shape the message to attract attention?
How often have I argued within myself that choosing to write not just for myself but on Medium will lead me away from sharing uncensored inspiration and towards pleasing others? It is, after all, so easy to offend people these days and words invite a host of interpretations based on the perception of the reader.
There are more questions for answers here for me. Certainly, there is an unresolved tension between seeking an audience and fearing the corruption or backlash of fame.
‘What Light can life contain? You are contained by Light, and Light contains you, but it is only when the Light is within you, when life contains Light, the Light of Spirit, then you can grow and become what you are truly meant to be.
But what a difficult task it is to allow the Light to fill you. It is the struggle of all humanity, and it is not a given. It is not something that you can achieve without effort and without understanding.
Not something you can go into a bookshop and buy, not something you can obtain from a visit to a spiritual teacher or a medium. It is something you must unlock from within.’
For me, this quote says it all, we can walk beside one another in love, but the key is within each of us, and it is our unique soul. A fragment of the whole, so all interconnected, but with an individual purpose aligned to the progress of humanity.
Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude are everything
Is this perhaps the end destination of a spiritual quest, if there is an end destination at all? Certainly, I would agree that an open mind and heart which is receptive to the Light of Spirit is essential. It does not eliminate the stresses and strains of life but enables you to assert and re-establish your equilibrium more easily. It is more likely to become your default attitude because the influx of spiritual Light once experienced is unmistakable, and to know that in life is a gift beyond measure.
I don’t believe there is a destination as such, but a series of staging posts where you have resolved something inside yourself, or understood something for the first time, which has brought about a release.
Patience
So that brings us to patience, which I do feel is part of every spiritual path. The ability to accept that you are subject to unseen greater forces of evolution, which include humanity, the collective accretion of karma and the development cycles of those you engage with.
Patience is, I believe, an essential asset along your path, and one of our key lessons. But it does need self-regulation to ensure it does not slip over into procrastination or avoidance. It is so tempting to put into the future what needs to be done today, so in my experience, it is a constant balancing act. I have missed as many opportunities as I have grasped, and the older you get, the harder it becomes to realise that.
Solitude
That brings me to the final word, solitude, and I would agree that being comfortable with solitude is essential, but not if that detaches you from feeling connected with humanity and all living beings. Although individual, you are part of a collective of souls, and that collective is itself eternal. To know that you do not have to do everything yourself and that your life is part of a continuum of lives can be comforting, but it takes belief and effort to establish that link and build trust in it.
Speaking personally, to be reminded one day that my life was but a speck on the spiral of Creation was perhaps surprisingly comforting. I was taking far too much responsibility for things outside my control and making myself far too powerful in the process, this was foolish and exhausting, so when I heard this statement it was a relief to let go.
‘There are no retirement homes for souls, it means that all you have learnt, all that you have made your peace with, all the beauty and Light that you are now able to enjoy, becomes part of a chorus, a chorus of Light and a chorus of Love, unlike anything that has gone before. And there you find yourself at the beginning of a new journey, and so it goes, on and on.’
© ZD Finn 2024
Finn runs a healing and meditation practice in London, publishes her own inspired journals, and offers mentoring to those seeking to strengthen their soul connection. zdfinn.com
Please refer to my lexicon for my explanation of the terms I have used, including soul, Spirit and the capitalisation of Light.
