Sunday, October 24, 2010

Why Is It Important To Develop Your Spiritual Self



Our spiritual self is like the garden in our backyard with acres of diamond.

There are unlimited riches to be discovered within us, if we are aligned with our spiritual self.

In "Recovering the Soul", Larry Dossey. M.D. said that the human mind exists somewhere in time and space in concert with the physical body, which opens it up to boundless opportunities:

Suppose for the moment that we could show that the human mind is nonlocal; that it is ultimately independent of the physical brain and body, and that as a correlate it transcends time and space.

This I believe would rank in importance far beyond anything ever discovered, past or present, about the human organism. This discovery would strike a chord of hope about our inner nature that has been silenced in an age of science; it would stir a new vision of the human as triumphant over fresh and blood.

It would anchor the human spirit once again on the side of God instead of randomness, chance and decay. It would spur the human will to greatness instead of expediency and self service… And once again we might recover something that has been notably absent in our experience of late; the human soul."



The human spirit is our ultimate home.
All the tools that we acquired with our mind power will not make us a complete human being, if the human spirit is lacking. Our spiritual self is the finest aspect of our personality. It brings freedom from fear and pain, and gives purpose and meaning to our life.
We often start our career defining what we know to be success, and work for it passionately year after year. Many of us reached varying degree of success in career and life, only to start rethinking what it all means. Many find that the success they have achieved does not satisfy the deeper yearning within their spiritual self. Despite the financial and social success, we find ourselves insecure and unhappy. We realized that, without spiritual fulfillment, all our achievements become meaningless. If we are not successful as human beings, all the material success looks painfully shallow.
Too often, underlying the glamorous and successful life that we see in our society are personal misery that stems from unfulfilled spiritual needs. And so, more and more people embarked on a journey of spiritual awareness, to develop the three powerful spiritual skills: A sense of wholeness and community, humility, and love.


Humility

With humility, we realize that we are a small but integral part of something greater than our own small self. That is the key value that builds the belonging of people.
Humility seems to run contrary to a world where everyone is trained and encouraged to be the best. The word "humility" conjures the impression of weakness, meekness, lack of drive, and easily taken advantage of. It is hard to associate humility with personal power.
Humility is one of the most powerful qualities that arise from inner strength and health. We experience humility through a deep sense of awe when we participate in the birth of a child, gaze at the stars, experience the power of thunderstorm, or experience the awe and beauty of nature. These experiences strike a chord deeply with our spiritual self.
I remember the younger days when I participated in school brass band performance, Chinese orchestra concert, and public choir performance, those are truly humbling experiences. The performers, crews, and the audience are all integral part of the whole experience that is transcendental. At the end of the performance, everyone leave the hall with a feeling of kinship with everyone there. There was no longer any need to feel more important than the next person. Everyone was part of the unique awe-inspiring experience.
Our sense of awe opens up our spirit of humility and nourishes our spiritual self, making us a better human being.



Love

Love is shown in selfless giving, be it money, time, care, concerns, and attention. The more you love, the less fearful you become. The more you give, the more abundance you gain. Love and selfless giving release us from the limitation of our ego.
It is interesting to know how the nature of pain is related to love. Whenever we experience pain, whether physical or psychological, we experience a boundary or limit. Many people who suffer chronic pain, which medication or surgery can no longer help, learn to eliminate pain by visualizing and eliminating the boundary lines around the pain. Once the boundary is removed, the pain no longer exists. This is usually done by relaxation, concentration and imagery.
If we take this to a broader scale, our life suffers pain whenever there are limitations and boundary that we could not overcome, be it physically, emotionally or psychologically. These limitations are mostly created by our ego. And love is the powerful force that could break and dissolve all the limitations.
The more we are aligned with our spiritual self, the more we are able to work on our ego to break these limitations, which is the essence of inner healing. This is the path to boundless and abundant living. This is what success is all about.

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