Transform Your Spiritual Life With Different Spiritual Paths

Our spiritual paths, with their various dimensions and expressions, directly impacts the quality of our spiritual life.

Is there a single spiritual path? Or, are there many paths leading to the same goal?

The purpose of our spiritual life

The main purpose of our spiritual life is to see through the illusion of our separateness from God, and hence to experience God directly.

Implicit in this insight, is to understand that we have never been separate from our Source, and that spiritual awakenings are a remembrance of this.

Why does this insight into our spiritual life matter?

Well, without it, we humans have managed to create any number of practices for achieving union with God. For instance, the root of the word religion suggests a re-binding or re-connecting with a divine source. And the word Yoga is often understood to mean to join or connect with a supreme self (i.e. God).

The problem with these approaches is that they imply we are starting from a position of disconnection or a “non-union”, and therefore we need to do something about it. When practices start off from a false premise like this, they often become rather tortured and mis-guided, or just plain wrong.

Our need for a spiritual life

This illusion of our separateness from God is, for many on a spiritual path, very powerfully felt and often seemingly intractable.

It is the underlying source of much of our general emotional angst, fears and unresolved traumas. Which is one reason why spiritual awakenings allow us to experience such joy and bliss, we let go of, or move beyond, these negative issues.

The primary source of this illusion is our complete immersion within our very humanity: our personality, ego, physical body, mind, spirit, community, relationships, culture etc.

We are lost, lost in the intoxication of being human. We seldom suspect that this illusion is where the majority of our inner-pain and suffering come from.

Which is where a spiritual life comes in – it is a way of gradually disengaging from this intoxicating state, clearing the way for our true self and identity to express itself.

Living a spiritual life

Looking at my earlier point on a common false assumption found in many spiritual practices – that of a need to re-connect with, or achieve union with God – you might think that I’m about to suggest a whole new approach living a spiritual life. No, I am most definitely not.

We are blessed with access to some very profound and practical spiritual teachings: Broadly speaking, the Buddha’s four noble truths, Yoga’s eight-limb path, the sublime guidance of Yeshua, for instance.

The core point I am making here is that it is very easy to approach them from an incorrect view-point, i.e. one of trying to heal some kind of separation from our Source. To reiterate: We never have been separate from our source. We’re just blinded to it by our human experience.

Some tips on living a spiritual life

Here are my top tips on living a spiritual life:.

When choosing a spiritual path which resonates with you – get as close as you can to the source of it.
A spiritual life is a life-long undertaking, and one of the toughest you can choose – so beware of anyone who promises you instant enlightenment or an easy life, filled with endless joy and happiness.
There are several dimensions to a spiritual life – which is partly why it’s a life-long undertaking, and why you may require two or three teachers/teachings during your lifetime.
Transcendence and Immanence are two sides of the same spiritual coin.
We all start from different points in our evolution and we experience being human though our own filters – so don’t expect your spiritual unfoldment and experiences to be the same as anyone else’s.
A spiritual life is one of the richest and most rewarding ways of living.
A spiritual path is not linear – it more closely resembles an unfolding spiral, where you re-encounter similar expressions of the same insights and difficulties.

I trust that these wisdom insights help you on your way.

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