The spiritual path is fraught with every kind of challenge. One of these challenges is staying grounded in our life as a human being. We live on the Earth – a physical world – that has all kinds of requirements. We live in societies which require all kinds of understandings, tools and resources to continue. So, the question becomes, “How can I love God and love my neighbor” when I’ve got bills to pay, mouths to feed, needing to put clothes on our backs, a roof over our head, all in this crazy world, and then do it again, tomorrow and then with all our needs to live becoming less and less available and attainable.
How can I have a meditation practice, or prayer practice, or think about energies, or Runes, or mystic crystals, incense, or changing the world, or planting trees, or yoga, or reincarnation, or teach retreats, or attend retreats, or recycling, or electric cars, or predictions, and healings, or deal with my inner demons …. when I’m about to be evicted, or can’t make a decent income, or don’t have enough food to feed myself or my family?
There is a very real problem of imbalance related to being on the spiritual path and then having to deal with psychical needs, working through our inner emotional demons/shadow, struggling with money, and any number of human struggles in a world of suffering, pain, death, hatred, shortages, want and ignorance. This potential for problems stems sometimes from our lack of understanding or our abundance of confusion about our spiritual vs physical struggle and/or trying to avoid facing and dealing directly with these serious challenges – both inward challenges and outward challenges – spiritual challenges and physical challenges – the inner world challenges and the external world challenges.
This experience of our inner world and outer world disconnecting and not lining up, is called many things: planting our feet firmly in midair – the shadow side of the path of light – the flight to light – finding your bliss (and yours alone) – thinking we can’t walk a spiritual path when we’re in a physical world. Some even consider this “being woke”, which many are using as an insult. These refer to some way of disconnecting from physicality or our human reality or from the physical needs, psychological needs and emotional needs of our human life while trying to think this is how to be spiritual and enlightened. It can also include the act of pointing the finger of blame and judgement at others, when we haven’t addressed our own contributions to the worldly conflicts.
For some, the spiritual path is seen as a lifestyle and “hobby”, to enjoy when there’s time. This can be what is meant by “A house built on sand, will not stand.” Yet, our inner “foundation” of our psyche/soul needs issues within all levels of ourselves to be worked on, in order to be strong and balanced – meaning we have to address our relationship problems, our physical needs, our attitudes, our thoughts and judgments towards our self and others, and our actions, as part of our spiritual path. This is known as walking the razor’s edge referring to the spiritual path being easier to fail, falling flat on our face, than it is to succeed at walking on a razor’s edge. (And seeking whatever help we need, with each part of our life.)
The misconception/misunderstanding becomes the thought that our human needs oppose our spiritual needs. There are plenty of people who believe this – and it is a real spiritual challenge and learning process to come to understand how the two paths can co-exist or can co-exist to become one path, … AND THEN US PRACTICE IT.
Sitting on Top of a Mountain
There is a real spiritual principle – several principles actually, which are helpful to understand how to not get caught up in this misunderstanding of this lesson of the spiritual path – of this aspect of learning the spiritual lessons of being human and within the human experience.
There is a saying that many of us will recognize – “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.” When I was working at a University, we amended it to “Chop wood, carry water, graduate students.” It points to the arena in which we humans are trying to live our life – and says that the needs of this arena don’t change when we seek to walk a spiritual path within the arena.
There is another saying that takes us further, “If it’s in the way (the boulder on the spiritual path), it IS the way”, meaning, we have inner work on ourselves to do, and some of it is triggered by the outer world – with the outer world NOT being the source of the problems within our psyches, in our lives but rather the external world being the arena in which we learn and practice healing of these problems.
First, to work, remember, every human being is spiritual by our nature. Every life form and “non-life” form is spiritual as our substance of existence, – “in the image of God”. In turn, every human being living a life as a human being, has very real physical requirements to continue our existence in this physical world.
For example, name one human being who doesn’t need the most basic item to live as a human being – air to breathe. [Breathing is non-negotiable. Not being able to breathe is a deal-breaker. No breathing means no continued existence in this physical world.]
We have built societies all around the planet that require us to participate in fulfilling the needs of our human existence. Yes, we can still willingly lay down, stop breathing and die, if we so choose. Yet, to fulfill our spiritual quest inside this physical universe realm, the purpose we are here, we can only do so by also fulfilling at least basic physical, mental, and emotional needs.
Christ knows this. God knows this. The prophets in our holy books knew this. Hence why they sought to continue to breathe air, eat food, drink liquids, wear clothes, seek shelter, and do “other” things that the human body needs to do regularly, as well as have human contact, think, learn, and feel.
The needs we have as human beings are not mistakes, nor are they evil. The needs other human beings have, as human beings, are not mistakes, nor are they evil. Being a human being is not a mistake and not evil. God has us in this world and we need items to continue to operate in this world.
This physical Universe, including Earth, is our gymnasium, where we work out. It is our school house, were we learn and grow. While some may seek living on top of a mountain apart from the physical world, this is NOT a requirement to walk a spiritual path. We can do so by “working out in our gymnasium” – “attending to our school work” – by living life as a human being and learning how to express the higher forms of expression through our efforts to Love one another.
All the things humans need to live life, exist being part of the environment in which we can practice our spiritual lessons- this means all things in the physical world. And what are these lessons of learning and growth? What are the machines we use in the gymnasium of human/spiritual growth/lessons?
One of the first is letting go of the judgment of physicality. Eating is not anti-spiritual path. But, our eating unhealthily can cause us all kinds of problems. Having sex is not anti-spiritual, but our believing sex is a substitute for love or is the only meaningful way to relate to another person can cause all kinds of problems. Having a job, working for money is not anti-spiritual. Money isn’t the root of all evil, but our selfishness with what comes into our life with money can cause us all kinds of serious problems for our spiritual path.
All the problems of the world stem NOT from the environment of the physical world we currently live in and the needs of this environment. All the problems of the world stem from who we are as humans within ourselves, and how we relate to each other – which stems from who we choose to become, within our own hearts, minds and souls. This is why Jesus’s teaching has been and always will center around LOVE – to address the source of our problems within ourselves, and then to realize that the solution also lies within ourselves – in our hearts and minds. Remember, Jesus never spoke against any form of government or any religious belief system. He spoke against our selfish behavior towards each other, and spoke for a more loving and unselfish way to relate to each other.
It is who we are within that is the real gymnasium in which we need to work out. It is how we relate to ourselves, to others, and to God that is where we have learning, and in turn, work to do. For example: Who do we not respect? This is the next person or group of people where our work/practice is needed. Who have we not shown mercy? Here is another arena ready for our inner effort. Who are we not compassionate towards? Who do we feel no tolerance towards or no patience towards? These types of questions can easily mount up in the numbers, and if we don’t spend time examining these within our own self, we will cause ourselves all kinds of problems.
The path we walk when on our spiritual path is through our own heart, through our own mind and ultimately through making our own soul real when living in this Earth. While we are in the Earth, our spiritual path also has to do with recognizing that we are part of the Universe of Gymnasiums in which all life is walking a path to grow, learn and evolve.
Our spirituality does not stem from the physical world or any physical item or activity. Our spirituality stems from our being aspects of the Infinite Consciousness that we call God. Nothing we do or say or how we live will ever change this principle – that God’s Spirit nature is our own spirit nature. We are the substance of what God is…. but very much unaware of what God is since we are all but unaware of what we, ourselves, are.
Even though we sometimes make massive mistakes, express selfishness, and create all kinds of pain, suffering and death for others and our self, our very core nature remains the same nature that God’s core nature is – Loving Kindness – and this is for Infinite Time – all eternity. Living from this principle/belief changes so much within ourselves and in our life.
So, we can go to work, earn money, buy stuff, and recognize that these activities have a purpose which is to create a healing arena where we can demonstrate deliberately to Love God first with all our heart and mind, and to Love our neighbor as our self. Because, sometimes Loving God means we can live and earn and work, and better ourselves. Depending on our circumstances and path, materially, sometimes we can better ourselves more than others can better themselves. Then, we need to practice/follow through/take on the practice of the second part of this commandment – the loving our neighbor as we have our self – by helping them stand when they don’t have legs as strong as ours. We can help them to plant their legs on solid ground, like we have been able to work towards for ourselves – with the very real help God has given us and which led to us being able to plant our legs on solid ground.
We sometimes forget that standing up so as to walk our path of life, is only one aspect, helping others then to stand up, also, is another aspect. (It is very easy to stop working out while in this gym, and ignore the opportunities of our own inner work when we’re judging and criticizing others’ stopping or their inability to work in the gym or to learn in our school.)
Finding our bliss is not yet finding the fullness of God. The helping of others to find their bliss takes us still further in finding God. Sitting on top of the mountain is not yet finding God. Sharing what God has given us – Love, kindness, patience, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, etc – with others, moves us closer to God. Realizing we are loved by God is not yet our full enlightenment, sharing this love through our own hearts to others reaches into our full enlightenment. These examples are like finding a drop of water within our self, and then, helping and sharing these manifestations of loving kindness with others is like finding the Ocean within everyone and everything.
Christ’s words were, Love God first, then take this love out and give it to others like we give it to our self. We say that God is Love – an unselfish Love that goes to everyone and everything, but then therefore this same Love as we unselfishly give to others, is God – when we unselfishly love another, we are extending God to another. To practice our spiritual path is to serve God, or put another way, – to practice our spiritual path is to serve the Infinite Spirit of Love by loving.
Christ’s word to the rich, young man were, “take what you have and give it to the poor”. Take what God has given you, which comes from God, and give it to those who don’t have what you have. This includes Love, compassion, kindness, tolerance, patience, Oneness & unity, forgiveness, mercy, long-suffering, grace, joy and the other qualities shared with us by God, extended and given to us by God, and which we strive to build within our hearts. The young man had his bliss, but he hadn’t yet helped others to find God through giving Love, compassion, kindness, tolerance, patience, forgiveness, mercy, long-suffering, etc, etc. – helping others to find “bliss”.
Our practical, grounded and physical work starts in the heart – because Love, kindness, patience, mercy, forgiveness, compassion, long-suffering, unity, tolerance, and other qualities – these are the practical and grounded aspects of the soul which we absolutely must have in order to live life as human beings in relation to other human beings in this Earth. We cannot live and stay alive in this Earth or any plane of existence, without these qualities in some form. We cannot have any relationship with any person if we were void of these.
These things are our spiritual breathing, which this Earth, and we, cannot live without. We cannot live in a world without Love or without kindness, or tolerance – no matter who we are. Who among us wants to live in a world where there is no tolerance for anyone who is different? or no love for anyone who is different? or no kindness for anyone who is different? (And remember, that EVERYONE is different from EVERYONE else.)
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Addressing the practicing of these in our life, is when we take our feet and begin to plant them on the solid ground. It is the taking of lofty ideas and ideals, and breathing the breath of life into them with loving kindness, mercy, etc, to make kindness real in the world and to make compassion real in this world.
This is what makes living our ordinary life as an ordinary human being, into an extraordinary spiritual experience, and helps us walk our spiritual path, even with all the boulders we come across while on it-with all these boulders simply needing patience and persistence to work on them until they are soil in which to grow the seeds of our soul. Just ask any glacier you meet if it’s possible to change the landscape of the world in which we live and the soul of who we are.
God bless us, everyone;
and God bless all our efforts to bring Love into the world.
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“We are the ordinary water in the flasks. When we answer the call from God/Christ/Allah/Buddah/Jehovah, the One Infinite Consciousness of Love, to come forward, and when we pour ourselves forth, in our world, then do we turn into the better wine.
We are the miracle if we pour ourselves forth, but we stay ordinary water if we stay un-poured.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2024, by Jodie Senkyrik)
















