The most common, and perhaps the most important question, every student on the spiritual path has is “What is my purpose?”. Why am I here? What can I do to help alleviate the suffering of humanity and improve world conditions? If you have a desire to be of service, this is a sure sign of increased soul awareness, and this is most definitely a good thing. You are well on your way to achieving the spiritual freedom you’re looking for. Until a full awareness of what your individual purpose is in this regard, what you can provide now in terms of spiritual service is as simple as whatever you would like it to be. There is nothing magical or special about this discovery. To be able to help humanity in a much bigger way will develop and become more defined over time. In other words, do what you do and let the rest go. You must be good at something, and you clearly have something to give. To have a sense in your heart that you care and can see the need in humanity and the world means you are halfway there already. It is our intent to be loving and bring about necessary change that is the most important part. The when, what and how will come in due time. This may not be exactly the answer you were looking for, but it is the most practical, realistic and honest one I can give you from my experience. Our spiritual advancement or achievement, and the orientation toward service it will inevitably bring, is a gradually unfolding process. Two of the finest and most essential qualities a dedicated spiritual student must therefore develop are patience and acceptance. Go about your normal, everyday life, and the rest will happen naturally. Let’s consider the following.
Most of your work is about preparation
The most common sense understanding about spiritual service is that we need to be adequately prepared for it. If the truth be known, our spiritual path becomes more difficult as we move along because of what we are attempting to bring along for the ride. This is our baggage, if you will, and we all have quite a bit of it! Most of your work, then, is about your own healing. We must have an honest look at our past, and resolve what we can. We also need to be aware of what our current issues and limitations are and work fervently on those necessary improvements. Our healing is essentially an effort to expand the capacity of the heart, for it is heart energy that is required in service. The more understanding we have about unconditional love and compassion, the greater the service we’ll be able to provide. What every student is becoming aware of, is that his or her energy field is almost entirely cluttered with fears and judgements about themselves, others and the world in general. With all these things controlling our experience, very little can be given from the heart. The most difficult part of our journey is this healing. In order to alleviate the suffering of humanity, we must first alleviate our own. This is the preparation for spiritual service. Our motivation is freedom from our own limitations and the subsequent movement into greater light. We are now in a better position to show others the way.
Be thoughtful about what you ask for
I realize how easy it is to get excited and have lots of spiritual goals. We want to get ahead, advance ourselves, and become that great spiritual being we long to be. We certainly have some outstanding examples of spiritual greatness in our history, such as Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Theresa, or even the Christ himself. Yes, we would like to be like them. If you’re familiar with the teachings, you might request that higher initiation. “I want to be a Master of the Wisdom” will most certainly enter your mind at some point. As the Masters themselves have said, “Be careful what you ask for”! It may be time to slow down just a bit and be super honest with yourself. It’s very important to realize that with each spiritual advancement or achievement comes greater responsibility. The “higher” the spiritual being is, the greater impact their words and actions have on larger and larger groups of people. In other words, we all want to be more evolved, but we also need to be ready. Let me give you a couple of examples here. A “Master” basically has no ego, remaining as part of their nature. All personal desire and self-interest is no longer a part of their experience. As far as the Christ is concerned, he is consciously aware of every human being all at once. Quite a level of awareness, indeed. Are these skills part of your experience? Most likely, no. Be real, be practical, and you will achieve soon enough!
Comparing yourself and your path to another is not productive
One of the biggest pitfalls spiritual students fall into is comparing themselves to fellow students or even whatever teacher they currently have in their life. This is not helpful and will slow down your progress. You are doing just fine. It’s also important to realize that spiritual development is not a competition in any way. There are so many variables as to individual capability, you will never be able to figure it out. What you can know is that someone may be a little further along in a certain area than you, and you may be further along in another. The same is true of your teacher, believe it or not. There is no state of perfection that exists. A critical realization, for all students, is to not give your power away to anyone on the outside, including the teacher. The truth is that we all will do this anyway to some extent, and learn the lessons that come with that experience. Keep in mind that a “great” teacher will help you discover the real teacher that exists inside you. This is your soul. Once this is realized, you will grow and learn much more quickly. At the very least, you will grow and learn honestly and of your own accord. If you find yourself in a group setting in your studies, please remember that each person knows something and therefore has something to give. That’s why we’re here, that’s why we’re together. Again, all of this will give you an indication of what spiritual service is all about.
Your spiritual service is whatever you would like it to be
You don’t need to go out and preach on the streets, or teach and lead large groups of people in order to be of service. Do what you can do, and be realistic and honest along the way. Given some thought, every aspect of our life is some kind of service, either to ourselves or others. Our work, our families, these are all opportunities to help out and learn about ourselves in the process. Be kind and loving in your actions and words, and you will know what true spiritual service is. Keep it simple. We’re of service just by being here, you see. So, get out of bed, and do the best you can. This will help others do the same. By all means, be yourself and don’t take on more than you can handle. Guess what? You have now achieved spiritual enlightenment!
The most important thing is to accept where you are
We cannot be someone else, something else, or somewhere else. When we approach our life in this way, there is no present moment available to us. The reality is that your journey has allowed you to be where you are, right now. Don’t let this moment pass you by! In order to be of service, we need to release ourselves from the bondage of the past and a future that has not arrived yet. Our work is right in front of us. Living in the moment, with honesty and integrity, is the service we can provide to others.
More honest questions
I believe that in most cases, we try to tell ourselves that we want to achieve some arbitrary spiritual advancement because we want to be of service and help others. The reality, however, is that we want to advance in some way because we want to be free. If you feel this way, you are not being selfish, you are being honest and realistic. That’s ok. A desire to escape from limitation is the same for every person, including you as a spiritual student. Unfortunately, we have a tendency to look at the spiritual quality of selflessness and forget ourselves in the process of achieving it! We must always include ourselves in all spiritual pursuit. Yes, we may in fact want to become a Spiritual Master because we want to get the hell out of here some day! Some days feel like walking through mud, don’t they? These feelings, desires, and experiences are normal, and even necessary to a certain extent. If our selfishness provides the motivation to be of service to others, it may have served its purpose!
Forgetting the “self” you know
The best advice I can give everyone is to not get ahead of yourself. To have those “higher goals” and be able to get somewhere on the path is a good thing. Slow down and accept where you are first. To be like the Christ, and so many other great spiritual leaders, is honestly a ways off for most of us. The good news is that they were here to show us what we can also achieve. Honestly, what inhibits our progress the most, is that we don’t want to do the work required in order to get there. The truth is, there is no magic way or process. There is no right way. There is no easy way. There is, unfortunately, no fast way either. Our life journey is one toward spiritual enlightenment, and the peace and freedom it will give us. To achieve this is a lot of hard work, and there will be struggles and challenges at every turn. It does get easier with a willingness to do the work in front of us. Ultimately, the healing of our wounds will lead us to a path of service to others. We must forget about the self we have come to know in order to make this possible. This is indeed the scariest part of our journey. From a higher perspective, we do not matter as much as we would like to believe. This is a difficult adjustment in our level of awareness. We are not special, which for a long time, we hoped we would be. We are part of a much larger whole and existence. This is the special part. An experience of a wonderful, greater, more inclusive existence is something we hope to give back to humanity in our spiritual service some day. Accept who you are and where you are, and this will become a reality for you. Spiritual enlightenment is not a place we go to, but a place we bring here. Herein lies a sense of purpose that we’ve been looking for. We teach others how to achieve the peace, love, and freedom we have attained for ourselves.
Say the following things to yourself at every opportunity, and you will find a sense of ease in your journey:
I am ok
I am somewhere
I am doing a good job
I am peace, love and freedom
My spiritual service is just being me
I am already enough
All my love and support, stay safe and be well