To be spiritual is not to live in a constant state of euphoria, its not a high, that one day transports you from your life and takes you to an altered state of being. Its much more real, and grounded in allowing and accepting our humanness. It’s deeply and authentically human, and does not require a pilgrimage to Peru, a spontaneous shift of consciousness or a psychedelic visit from a guru resembling Ghandi to catapult you to a higher level of awakening. Enlightenment is not to escape from the pain of being human it is instead to embrace it, Love whatever appears.
If we really want the see the light, we cannot avoid the dark. We have to go there, bring the parts of us we disown to the surface. To find the Divine we have to face the demons. To be free we have to let the monsters out of the closet because the longer we keep them hidden the more power they have over us. The parts of us we bury, suppress and decide are unlovable are the parts that stop us from being whole.
“We were not born to be perfect, we were born to be whole”. – Jane Fonda
There is a real danger when we reject what is painful in our lives. We numb ourselves, become addicted to sex, drugs, rock and roll. Anything to avoid the pain. We even get hooked on spirituality. Oh yes lightworkers and light seekers, the Truth can set us free and the Truth can also hurt! It may not have the harmful side effects as Ambien and alcohol but there are many travelers on the spiritual path that get overly dependent on the psychics and the psychedelics, the workshops and the “woo woo.
Having an out of body experience can be an awakening or just another another distraction from dealing with your discomfort. Don’t like what you are feeling inside your body… Astral travel out.
Our fragility, vulnerability, shame, grief , and guilt we can no more abandon our wounds without abandoning ourselves.
It is not a contradiction but the embodiment of being wholly spiritual to embrace our imperfections, in harmony with our divinity.
Of course, not everyone looking for the light is running from the dark. Spirituality is a master teacher and there is no greater training that I know of that grooms us for all the soul searching we will encounter in our lifetime.
As Danielle LaPorte writes in White Hot Truth –“I do believe that upward is where we want to be heading—toward a higher point of view. I want to transcend my fears, ascend to unity, rise above the mundane. But I have to take the mundane with me on my way to the holy. Otherwise, I am not whole. I’m working on being a super human, not superhuman. What I know in my bones is that for” most of us, our greatest growth comes from the black mucky fertile mess of relationships, when you do the hard work of loving someone the way they deserve to be loved.” Truth is a journey. You have to Love yourself into fullness.”
We are spiritual beings having a human experience but aren’t we also human beings having a spiritual experience .