Many people claim to be spiritual but are either fooling themselves or fooling others and this can be extremely damaging to someone who is honestly trying to find serious answers to their most important questions.  This is a collection of the characteristics of a true spiritual person which will make it easier for you to check your best intuitions and make sure you aren’t being fooled by someone who is really just out to serve their own ego.

One of the first things you can look for in a spiritual person is whether they are saying something that has always been true from the beginning or whether they are giving you a version of truth that is dependant upon certain conditions and circumstances in their own life.  What they are saying should be something that includes everyone and not just a certain “sect” of people.  Their ideas should be open to all people and there need not be any “secrets” or “mysteries” about what they are trying to convey to you.

The next important characteristic to look for in a true spiritual person is the willingness that they have to offer their ideas free to others, at least in part.  Although teachers often have to charge their students for book printing, advertisements and travel expenses, it should become apparent if they have something to gain besides the simple joy of spreading their message.  Oftentimes, truly spiritual people will charge for some of their lectures but they will also offer some free sessions as well.

Another characteristic to look for is that they should not be seeking power for power’s sake.  Oftentimes, a person who appears to be fighting a particular ‘cause’ is actually caught in a power struggle with their supposed “enemies” and this actually represents a limited position in life.  True spirituality recognizes the dominion of peace over all other forms of power.  A spiritual person does not need to ‘fight for a cause’ because peace is its own end and its own reward. Peace does not have any needs or desires except in as much as it seeks to share itself with others who seek its same sovereignty. This does not require ‘fighting’ for anything external.

A true spiritual person places no demands, requirements or controlling rules and regulations on anyone else and only offers suggestions to those who wish to find that same peace within themselves.  Peace is an inside job and others should be free to come and go around a spiritual person and do not need to be persuaded, coerced or intimidated into believing what someone else says.  Spiritual people already are total and complete in and of themselves and don’t need to gain ‘followers’ or adherents to their truth, although this may happen of its own.  Spiritual people remain non-involved in world affairs and, even when the world seeks to pull them into its theatrical, glamorized arena, they remain non-attached and peaceful.

The characteristics of a true spiritual person are that they have no need to change the world and see all of life as deserving of absolute reverence.  This is God’s world, although the ego may sometimes tell us otherwise. Spiritual people seek to avoid the things which are unhealthy rather than trying to oppose those things. They see the simple beauty and perfection of all that exists and feel a compassion for all life rather than an emotional involvement.

Although a true spiritual person is often respected by others around them, they reject any special treatment and remain humble. They do not depend on the authority of any other person, place, institution or historical document in order to maintain their spiritual qualities but merely espouse certain teachings or teachers as a way of affirming the truth which they are already know within themselves. Truth is the same no matter who speaks it or at what time or place in history. If it is true that a person should ‘love his mother’ then it is true regardless of whether anyone says it or not. Spiritual people know what is true and don’t require the need to ‘prove’ their awareness to others.  They are content with merely knowing that truth and then living it according to the way it has worked for them. These are what the characteristics of a true spiritual person are.

Every one of us does have a soul purpose. It belongs to conditions where we are at present. It belongs to the challenges that we can meet the opportunities we need to act on, the talents we need to nurture. If we get in tune with it and realize it in our life, we will be enriched with the balance, synergy and congruity in a unique way that will make the journey of our lives purposeful, enjoying the little stops and hurdles and setbacks and then again moving ahead.
 
Realizing The ‘Me’ In Your Being:

When we look back in our life and try to decipher what that had been common in our life, which had not changed with changing roles, growth of body and mind. Definitely it is neither our emotions or feelings or dreams or body, it is the sense of ‘me’ or ‘Iness’ or ego.

We will find the ‘Iness’ as relating to all those phases and experiences of life. This sense of ‘me’ or ‘Iness’ is the deepest layer of our consciousness presently. It is the quality to become self-aware of our mind and body and their experiences.

The Four Basic Purposes That The Soul Needs To Align With:

Our activities need to be geared along one or more of the four broad categories to align with our spiritual nature. It is a great wonder to realize that this concept doesn’t limit us in ‘dos-and-don’ts’ morals. It frees us to explore our true soul purpose and to align our activities with our purpose. Our holistic or spiritual nature recognizes that we are a composite being of soul, mind, emotions, energy and body.

The first worthy pursuit for everyone is alignment with universal principles like fairness, equality etc. Second one is related to working and earning money – monetary pursuits. Third category is fulfilling sense desires and emotional desires – hearing, touching, tasting, smelling, seeing and of course sexual pleasure. Fourth category is doing activities that broaden and expand human perspective, evolve our consciousness.

Relax for few moments and try to analyze any of your activity. It will naturally fall under one or more of these categories. Now the question is how to put these ‘universal pursuits’ in context with our own personality and our own specific context. Then we can move ahead and create a balance of these basic purposes without conflict on individual or social or other levels.

How To Create Synergy Of Soul Purpose And Enrich Our Lives:

One of spiritual master best depicts the balance of the four avenues of our focus and energy.

“You are a bird whose body is made of universal principles and there are two wings – one for monetary pursuits and second for sensual and mental fulfilments. These two wings with the support of universal principles make the bird fly toward the goal of spiritual awakening and upliftment.”

Spiritual awakening or evolution is not a small goal that we can put on our planner and assign it short term or mid term or long term value. It is a continuous journey – 24X7X365 – throughout life. We are evolving as a whole. True spirituality doesn’t restrict us from enjoying sensual pleasures, but with it we enjoy them with a larger perspective in mind. Our lives become more streamlined and focused.

Feel the contrast between two passengers who are boarding a train. One is destined to a specific station. He buys a ticket and boards the train. He enjoys the journey, the stations and meals and all the good and bad incidences. The another fellow gets down on each station and wanders here and there, associates himself with various incidences and scenes and forgets about the journey. That is the difference between streamlined, focused and congruent life and it’s opposite.

Discovering Your Individual Soul Purpose And Aligning With It:

Whether we believe in reincarnation or not, we are born with a particular set of instincts, inclinations and we draw many other things in life based on these.

We need to be more silent and introverted and meditative to find out about our talents and passions. We can sense our natural inclinations or talents by our feelings – what we enjoy most, where our mind is transfixed, when we forget time doing something and like.

When we do what we like in alignment with universal principles and pursue other pleasures of mind, we are following our soul purpose. We are leading a spiritual life. We are evolving spiritually. Of course, we can emphasize a particular aspect during some period of day or week or month. And it is a dynamic balance.

John Gray, famous for ‘Men Are From Mars…’ series of books, has described this balance in a good way, “This balance is like when we ride a bicyle. We lose balance to either this side or another but we retain it again.”  We might fall sometimes but when we are conscious of the soul purpose, we become aligned again, we attune ourselves to it.

The one sign of purpose living is congruity among consciousness, thoughts, feelings, emotions, speech and behavior. This congruity makes us peaceful, satisfied, focused and able to draw the resources that support us lead a purposeful living.
 
Finally, get rid of the taboos and myths that we could pursue our soul purpose only by becoming a hermit or secluding us in a retreat or by abandoning sensual pleasures. The key lies in maintaining the balance. We can lead a spiritually balanced life, fully aligned with our soul purpose, right where we are now, enjoying our families, work, relationships and of course challenges. Enrich your life by maintaining the dynamic balance of soul purpose.