Why Have a Spiritual Practice?

​Do you ever pause and wonder why you have a spiritual practice?  Or why being on a spiritual path is important for you and for the world?  

​We are all spiritual beings.  It’s always good to remind ourselves of this. 
 
We are spiritual beings who have come to earth and are living an earthly life.
 
But, being on a spiritual path during our earthly life is really a choice.  A choice we each make, in freedom. 
 
Coming into the World
When you’re born, you come into the world in a state of wonder and innocence in the world. You still have a strong connection to the Divine, as you did before coming to the earth.
 
Your next several years are learning how to be in the world and live on the earth.  How to use your body, interact with the world, relate to other people.  You learn to think, feel, and act. 
 

​Becoming an Individual
Over time, you become more of an individual with your own ideas and thoughts and ways of being in the world. Your spiritual connection often diminishes the more you become skilled and competent on this earthly plane. You feel more comfortable functioning in the world on your own and may even feel confident and successful in your life. 
 
At this point, your life can continue to become self-centered, where you want to acquire more material items, money, status, or power.  Or you may lose yourself in the life of others – spouse or children, expecting something more in return for your sacrifice.
 
Search for Meaning and Purpose
If you have even a glimpse of consciousness or awareness around this time, you begin to look for deeper meaning and purpose in life.  Who am I? Why am I here?  Why are we alive and on earth?  What is the purpose of our lives? 
 

​You may decide to start helping others because you feel that is more meaningful than just serving yourself. As you do, you recognize your giving can become selfless, not for recognition or reward, but out of love and compassion for the other. You start to see how your life could have a purpose. 
 
Creating a Spiritual Practice
Around this time in your life, you may begin a regular spiritual practice as you long for deeper meaning and wisdom in understanding this purpose in life.  You may meditate, study spiritual texts, and engage in other contemplative practices.  This is a conscious choice that you make for further spiritual growth, a path that not everyone follows in life. 
 
But, if you do, and stay with a regular practice, you begin to awaken. You start to have insight into the whole of the Cosmos and your part in the whole.  You realize this lifetime is just one part of the bigger whole of who you are in the Universe.  

​Discovering Unity and Harmony
Continue on your spiritual path and soon you experience there is no longer separation between you and the Universe, only oneness. You begin to function in the world in total harmony with nature. Your actions become effortless and harmonious in the world.  You begin to experience your True Self and tap into Divine Consciousness with an open connection to a flowing Cosmic Energy.
 
At many points along this path of awakening, there are moments of choice- for further spiritual development or further attachment to self and the material world.   Do I choose truth or illusion?  Material or eternal?
 
Staying disciplined and regular in your spiritual practice at this time will support your growth on this journey. Yet, it’s wise to not waste your energy on being discouraged if you falter or wander off this path! Just return once again and take up the work with deeper awareness of the purpose of the path. 
 
Soon you’ll experience there are no longer choices. There’s an inner quiet and light. Unity and oneness. Total freedom. 
 
You’ll no longer experience yourself as a victim in the world. You experience the deeper truth about the world and your True Being.  

Experiencing Inner Peace
When you surrender again and again, you begin to experience states of peace – inner peace. This brings you a great strength, as you no longer are controlled or manipulated.  You have found an inner peace or, one might say, state of enlightenment. 
 
This energy of peace radiates outward into the world.  So that your own spiritual growth, your own evolution in the world, serves all of humankind. 
 
By reaching these higher states of being within ourselves, we become a healing presence in the world.  Healing ourselves, we heal the world. 
 
“We can never obtain peace in the outer world
until we make peace with ourselves.”  Dalai Lama
 
 
Interested in more support on your spiritual journey?  Check out my Free Healing Library on my website at Doctor of the Soul. Click here to become a member.