The term “self-actualization” was first introduced by the philosopher Kurt Goldstein and referred to the motive a person has to realize all of their potentialities. This means, whatever is possible for you, or can be dreamt of, can actually become a reality if you just move toward self-actualization.  Goldstein believed that this was actually the fundamental motive behind everything that a person did.

The concept of self-actualization was made even more popular Abraham Maslow in his famous theory of the hierarchy of needs.  Self-actualization was considered to be the final level of a person’s psychological development.  It could only be achieved when all the other basic needs of an individual were fulfilled.  Then the ‘actualization’ of their full potential would take place.

So how do we know the difference between what is “possible” for us and what is “impossible”?  Pursuit of self-actualization is the very process which helps us to answer this question and many things about ourselves can also help us to understand this process.  We have already mentioned many other self-referencing terms that are discussed in spiritual work such as self-observation, self-knowledge and self-awareness.  By engaging in these forms of spiritual effort, we come closer to actualizing our potential every day.

Self-observation is a spiritual tool that can be used to help us uncover our unconscious psyche and turn it into part of our conscious self.  Many people are surprised to learn that most of the thoughts and actions which they experience take place unconsciously.  We are rarely aware of what we are thinking about at any given time and we function primarily as “sleep-walkers” or “robots” which have been pre-programmed to carry out certain tasks in an unconscious manner.  By engaging in the effort of self-observation, we watch ourselves each moment and attempt to keep our awareness on our thoughts and our actions in a heightened manner throughout the day.  Surprisingly, we often cannot keep this effort up for more than a few minutes before we are distracted back into our sleepwalking routine and have to be aroused many hours later to remember what we were trying to accomplish!   With some practice, however, self-observation helps us to uncover our deeper potentiality and to eventually put it to work and make it an actuality.

Self-knowledge is yet another tool that helps us on our quest for self-actualization.  Self-knowledge begins through a study of the many theories about the human being and the self, such as in the case of psychology, sociology, physiology and other scientific approaches to the self.  Eventually we come to realize that no “theory” of the self can truly tell us who we are and that we must employ a sense of humility about our self-knowledge and turn toward self-awareness and self-observation more and more.  Spiritual students begin to employ the tools of meditation, contemplation and prayer to understand themselves better, always going deeper and deeper into the essence of their true Self.

Through the use of self-observation, self-knowledge, self-awareness and other spiritual practices, a person can slowly come to realize their more essential self and this is the process of self-actualization as it slowly comes to light. Through this process we learn to face our greatest fears and let go of them.  We also come to realize that all of our happiness and sadness in life comes from within rather than without.  A tragedy is only a tragedy because we decide for ourselves what meaning we place onto it.

A success is also a success only because we determine it to be that way. We learn to let go of our aversions and our attractions and to see that there is a wider picture that was obscured by the “self” of which we were previously unaware.  The “self” eventually merges into the “Self” and the separation that was first perceived between our “self” and the rest of the world comes to be seen as an illusion.  We are part of a much larger Self and our quest becomes an arrival at that which we sought from the beginning.  This is the essence of “Self-actualization” through the process of self-actualization. The small self merges into the larger Self and potential is said to have become actual.

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Spiritual awakening refers to soul awakening, self-development, self-transformation, leading a balanced and integrated life, leading an internally joyous life, and leading a spiritual life.

In one sense, spiritual awakening is ingrained as the by default universal purpose in the DNA of each of us. And we are already undergoing spiritual transformation – the pace and method and outward conditions differ. Becoming conscious of this silent awakening, we become open to make little practical steps in our life to expedite the process.

When we look around and see the world, we find that there is a gradual progression in the manifestation of spirit or consciousness in nature.

There are mountains, hills, stones, ground, river and other water bodies that seem to be inert or dead. We sense the functioning of spirit in them as well. Mountains and rivers have their own cycles of life.

The next advanced form comes in the form of plants and animals. There is gradual complexity from one celled plants and animals to giant ones.

We find the pinnacle of the manifestation of consciousness in human beings. Let us become humble because with this truth comes the great responsibility for manifesting the full potential of spirit in our life. Perhaps it is the true purpose of all of us; rather all of us are guided by destiny and our present actions to serve this purpose in conscious and unconscious ways.

When we experience that there is something grand, something magnificent, supernatural or some creative or governing principle in life, whatever you call him – and remember it is not about thinking, it is about experiencing – we open ourselves to the possibility of spiritual awakening on a conscious level.

Spiritual awakening is a gradual process; it is the unwritten commandment that we are unconsciously following. The only need is to become aware of it and then making little steps toward it consciously.

The Four Classes Of Spiritually Advancing Persons:

When we are leading a normal life, we are also making spiritual advancement. It is happening passively.

When we are leading a religious life, following truly the teachings of any religion, we are progressing toward this goal much faster. The original teachings of each of the different religions revolves around the same principles that progress us spiritually.

The core practices of any religious path are practiced by very few individuals, and they are the scientific means of spiritual awakening. Few individuals are able to dive deep enough in these precious teachings and implement them in their lives. They are truly practicing the essence of all religions even though they might be following a particular religious path.

Next in line are the spiritual teachings. They are different from religions and morality, even though they include all the good things of them. Spiritual teachings are the direct means of spiritual awakening in a direct and practical way. These are the underlying science of all religions. They are the different pathways of freedom in Spirit.

The spiritual development can be tremendously advanced when we come in contact with spiritually advanced or enlightened person. It is like transformation of a piece of iron into a magnet by coming in contact with a magnet.

Understanding The Practical Aspect Of Spiritual Awakening:

Spiritual awakening is the unfolding of Spirit in us. We know in theory that we are souls but our thoughts, speech and behavior are far away from the spiritually attuned life.

Under normal conditions, we are influenced and attached to objects of five senses of sound, touch, vision, taste and smell, and to prejudices, biases and conditioning of our mind.

When we are advancing spiritually, we become connected at first with our own soul – the consciousness in us. And then, Spirit begins to influence our mind and body. This is like gradual spiritualization of our entire being.

We become more peaceful, more content, more productive, more integrated, more in harmony with us and with all of nature. We feel connected. The bonds of senses and bad habits begin to loose their hold on us.

Ultimately they shed off as if they had been foreign to us. We begin to accept ourselves, we become more connected, and we manifest the joy that is our nature. Remember pleasure is derived from contact of desired sense objects to senses and joy is our internal nature.

I remember the saying of one great saint. He preached to his disciples, “The true sign of spiritual advancement is getting non-causal joy during your spiritual practices and feeling glimpses of it during your working hours. Gradually as you become more and more intoxicated with this joy, know that you are progressing in Spirit. You will be fulfilled with this joy like no other things.” This equals to the rejoicing in Spirit mentioned the teaching of Christianity.

Another important sign is feeling connected with all – nature, men and women and with all that exists. At first, the feeling of connectedness will be with our own self. Then, this experience will broaden and broaden. The whole life, whole nature, the universe will feel connected.

Most people attach miracles with spiritual advancement. It is non-issue with spiritually awakened person. Miracles are the normal functioning of spiritually advanced individuals. They are more able to experience and work through deep states of consciousness. It is natural to them.

The most important thing is to realize and accept that we are here for spiritual awakening. This realization could be instant under some instances, or it could be gradual like in most cases.

Second step is making little steps leading a more healthy, intelligent and balanced life. Third step is following spiritual practices and then adhering to some specific one that is more appealing to us.

Fourth step is not worrying too much about spiritual awakening. When you eat healthy and exercise and follow some good diet plan, you grow healthier naturally, day by day, each day. The same applies to spiritual growth. Leave this part to Spirit. Let Him take care.
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Higher states of consciousness are naturally interesting to people because we all inherently know that things are simply easier to understand when we aren’t lost in our usual day to day problems that plague us from day to day.  There are rare experiences when we are able to see the higher meaning of our lives and these moments help us to achieve greater clarity and value in the things we do.

In addition to the higher value and clarity that we can all achieve in a higher state of consciousness, we can also alleviate the negative feelings that come from our normal day to day routine.  Higher states of consciousness transcend all of our negative emotions and leave us feeling as though we were “floating on air” in a perfect state of peace and contentedness.  With such great promise as this, it is a great wonder that these higher states are so rarely reached and that the secret to their achievement often seems so hard to discover.

The reason why the difficulties arise has to do with a fundamental difference between what is called “theory” and what is called “application”.  In “theory”, we know that higher states of consciousness exist and we can talk about them, read about them and think about them to no end. In “application”, however, we find that we must actually begin to do things that are more real and concrete.

Thinking and reading and talking are all very concrete things and yet they often aren’t concrete enough to bring about a higher state of consciousness.  Our thinking and our books can only take us so far until we find that we actually need to transcend ourselves and go even further.  This makes spiritual work seem extremely hard or even impossible for most people.  We often decide to just “give up” and later on we discover that our “giving up” was actually part of the spiritual process which was necessary in order that we approach our task from a new angle.

Having “given up” on spiritual efforts, we discover that there is still a part of us which seeks those same higher states of consciousness that we originally set out to achieve.  With a new strategy and a more open attitude, we reach a proverbial “second wind” which is mentioned in the classic spiritual book The Cloud of Unknowing.  In this book, the anonymous writer explains how an initial effort to reach a higher state of consciousness often fails but that a person who returns to the effort again after years of “giving up” is almost sure to reach those higher states which they first set out to attain.

The basic effort that is required to reach these states has to do with letting go of negative emotions and becoming more aware of ourselves in the present moment.  We can practice these things each day but often find that they are very hard to achieve for any extended period of time.  Letting go of our grief, anger, fear and guilt are all part of what spiritual effort is all about but actually doing these things turns out to be much harder than we first imagined.  Watching ourselves, observing our thoughts and coming to understand ourselves better are also important elements of spiritual effort but these things only come slowly over years of work and long hours of reading, writing and participating in spiritual groups.  The efforts sometimes seem to much for many people after one or two years and they eventually become distracted by something and fall away from their path.

Falling away from the path is a normal part of spiritual growth and can actually be viewed as a positive step forward after some initial effort has truly been expended.  If the person who falls away from their path doesn’t fall too far off course, they can often find a renewed hope in the idea that there is a “second wind”. This second wind is something that often indicates a true spiritual seeker and someone who has come to understand the true meaning of devotion and dedication to spiritual principles.

If you are intent on reaching a higher state of consciousness, it will be important for you not to forget your second wind.  Many people begin on a spiritual path and even reach certain higher states of consciousness in the beginning.  The true spiritual devotee, however, is that person who has come to a seeming end in their path and has actually fallen away for a time to wonder how a higher state of consciousness can truly be reached.  It is only after their second wind that they truly come to see what higher states of consciousness are really all about.  Good luck to you on your path and don’t forget your second wind!

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The difference between the soul and the spirit has a lot to do with “whose” soul and “what” spirit we are actually talking about. Most people refer to the soul and the spirit as being connected to specific people and each of us is often said to have a “soul” or a “spirit” which will live on after our physical body dies. This is usually enough to satisfy those of us with a passing interest in the subject and little more is ever required on the topic after that.  Of course, there are others who become more curious about spiritual topics during their life and they wish to get a better understanding of what these terms mean.
   
If we are talking about a particular person’s “soul” or their “spirit”, we can say that there is a difference between these two things.  Still, if we found ourselves at the gates of Heaven and the question was posed to us “Choose your soul or your spirit”, which would we choose?   In a case similar to this one, we can begin to make sense out of the difference between a person’s soul and their spirit.  The essential difference which gives meaning to these terms can also help us to understand ourselves more readily.
    
Typically, the idea of a soul is something which is more closely associated with a person’s physical body. This is the main essence of what sets these two terms apart. Although the spirit is also associated with the body, the association is not a “necessary” association as it is with the soul. The “soul” of the Buddha, for example, can be said to be associated with the physical man Siddhartha Gautama Buddha who was born in Nepal several centuries before Jesus and who was raised by his father and his mother’s sister. He lived and breathed and ate a lot of food and he was a great teacher for many decades. 
    
If the “soul” of the Buddha were not associated with that physical body that we know from history, then we would not be able to say it was the “Buddha’s soul” at all.  We would need to connect it to that physical body in order to be appropriately talking about his “soul”.  If we weren’t speaking of his body, then we might say it was someone else’s soul or we might say that it was the Buddha’s “spirit”.
    
Now we can see where the difference between “soul” and “spirit” starts to become apparent.  There are many things about the “Buddha” which really have nothing to do with the physical body of the man who lived in Nepal.  What is meant when we talk about these other attributes is that they are part of the Buddha’s “spirit” which lives on today even after all the qualities of his body and discussions about his physical history have ended.  If the discussion isn’t associated with a physical body, then we can’t really say that it is a “soul” discussion. Instead, we can say it is someone’s “spirit” we are discussing because we begin to discuss the term in ways that are no longer associated with the physical body. 
   
In typical discussions about the soul, people often talk about individual lives and the emotions which that person struggled with or is struggling with in their own spiritual quest for happiness.  The soul is said to live on after physical death but it may continue to struggle even after the physical body is gone. The spirit, however, does not usually find itself in the discussion of “emotional struggle” so much as it does in the discussion of “intentions” and “activations” and “influencing” of people and things.  The spirit can be discussed in terms which go beyond the body even more so than the soul. Although the spirit of a person is with them when they are physically alive and the soul is also there, it is the spirit which activates both of these and which goes beyond the soul in many instances.  Everything which has a soul also has a spirit, but everything that has a spirit does not always have a soul. This is the essential difference between these two terms.
  
In summary, we can now say what our answer would be at Heaven’s gate when we were asked to choose between our soul and our spirit?  First we might ask a little question of our own; “Who’s asking me this?” Then if we found that the person who was asking us was a trusted guide such as Jesus or Buddha or St. Peter, we could confidently choose the “spirit” because it is the spirit which gives life to the soul and which gives life to all things even after their physical form has changed. It is in the “spirit” of Heaven that this question would have been posed and giving up our “soul” in order to get into Heaven would surely be the best choice if such a question were ever asked. Goodbye to the soul and hello to the spirit as we move into a new phase of our spiritual growth! Amen.

Because of the fact that spirituality and mysticism are often such vague areas of knowledge, there can actually be quite a bit of confusion about the idea of a spiritual awakening.  One of the most popular places that people hear about a spiritual awakening is in the programs of Alcoholics Anonymous or any of the other 12-step programs. 

The 12th and final step suggests the possibility that a person can have a spiritual awakening and therefore arrive at some kind of final condition wherein their spiritual journey is said to be complete.  The idea of coming to an “end”, however, is problematic in spirituality and this is the reason we need to be clear about what is meant about a spiritual awakening. Great sages like Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Lao Tzu and Sri Aurobindo have discussed these confusions in detail and suggested that the condition may be extremely rare even though it is often reported y many individuals.
    
The idea of “waking up” spiritually might be best understood by imagining that people are all relatively “asleep” when it comes to the reality of their day to day lives. Oftentimes, when you are asleep, you don’t even realize that you are asleep because your dream can seem so real!  This is a similar experience in relation to the spiritual “slumber”. 
    
People who first enter a spiritual recovery program or spiritual group of any kind can all be said to be somewhat “asleep” in terms of their awareness about what is real or what is most valuable in their lives.  They seek out the instruction of other more experienced individuals to help them to “wake up” to the realities of the world around them.  This can often be a very difficult and even traumatic experience as we don’t particularly like to wake up to reality anymore than we like to be awoken from a good dream when we are asleep in our beds.  Nonetheless, if we stick around a spiritual group long enough, we begin to become more aware of certain things and can be said to be “awakening” to a new reality.
    
The full significance of a spiritual awakening, however, is often much more extreme than most of us realize.  We may have experienced certain dreams at night where we thought you had been awake and actually visited many “real” places such as our job, our school or our home but then later we discovered that none of this was real.  We had either fallen abck asleep without realizing it or we had only been going through another dream, very lucid, yet unreal nonetheless. 
   
This “dream” experience is also very common among people who begin to study spiritual truths and become very excited when they feel that they are finally “waking up”.  The reality of this “waking up” as a full blown spiritual awakening, however, is very far from a reality in most cases. As one great sage once said “You are mistaking a crack in the mirror for the full light of noon!”  A spiritual awakening is something that is actually much more profound and comprehensive than most people realize.  These experiences are classically restricted to a very small percentage of the population throughout history and have been discussed in many great books such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Kaballah and the New Testament. 
    
There is wide agreement amongst some of the world’s most notable spiritual teachers that only one in ten million people will ever truly become awakened to the full reality of the spiritual condition of mankind!  Can this be true?   The reason it may be correct is that spiritual work actually requires extreme dedication and effort over many years before a person can typically be said to become completely awakened to their spirit.  Muhammad is known to have spent years in mediation before finally becoming “Enlightened” and certain issues surrounding life and death and the eternity of the soul are very profound and can only be intuited by those who witness extreme tragedies or experience near death transformations in their lives.  Even after these extreme experiences, people often return to their original state and are only changed in a very profound way rather than being completely “awakened” to their spirit. 
   
A spiritual awakening is something more grand than many people have likely been capable of understanding after simply hearing about the subject.  The rarity of the experience, however, can provide great inspiration to those who would choose to devote their lives to that same spiritual quest.  These great spirits have included such names as Muhammad, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Krishna, St. Paul, Ramana Maharshi, Gautama Buddha, Lao Tzu, Jesus Christ and many others. 
    
The quest for a spiritual awakening can make a person into one of the most influential figures in history, as th previous list suggests.  If you set your course for the stars, you may just reach it someday! Once you do, there will be no more doubt about whether you have arrived or not.

Some things just don’t seem to go together.  Cats and dogs, oil and water, coffee and lemon juice?  Actually, many people are quick to judge whether science and mysticism can actually go together because the two subjects seem a lot like oil and water.

Science is a very rigid means and method for determining the truth about the world around us and it produces extremely accurate and repeatable data that can be proven over and over again right before your very eyes!  Many scientists are so impressed by the facts which are obtained in their experiments that they come to believe that there is really nothing else in the world which can be used to determine accurate dependable truth apart from science.

Mysticism is almost the exact opposite of science.  Mysticism is a means and method of obtaining truth which comes entirely from within the area of a persons own subjective experience.  If you experience a strange sensation or a sudden transformation within yourself, the changes which take place might be explained by a mystic to be the evolution of your higher Self and this will be something that only you can decide for yourself even if you meet another famous mystic who tells you that you are only experiencing a hallucination!  How any mystic can expect to feel confident about his or her version of truth often makes the scientist laugh out loud when he hears about it!

Although these two subjects have stood in staunch opposition to one another over the centuries, the dawn of a new science known as quantum mechanics has brought about an arena where science and mysticism are now studied together as one subject.  Maybe cats and dogs can get along after all!  Early physicists such as Werner Heisenberg, Max Planck and Edwin Shroedinger discovered that subatomic particles behave in a manner which suggests that the old scientific principle of “cause and effect” no longer works as well as they thought.  Some things in nature just don’t behave according to the laws of physics and they never will.  For this reason, it became necessary for modern physicists like David Bohm and Henry Stapp to consider more mystical approaches to the understanding of sub-atomic particles.  This has led to a modern scientific interest in the subject of consciousness and how a person’s subjective condition can actually affect the results of a scientific experiment.

Many people today are familiar with the way that scientists often set up their experiments in such as way as to affect the way he results will look.  If they choose certain test subjects based on certain preferences, for example, they will come up with completely different answers than another scientist who chooses different test subjects for different reasons.  This phenomena has also brought about a renewed interest in the study of “double-blind experiments” which often suggest a hidden bias on the part of the scientist.
A famous psychiatrist by the name of Dr. David R. Hawkins is one of the leading researchers in the connection between science and mysticism. Dr. Hawkins has developed a scientific test which employs the use of a person’s own subjective consciousness into an experiment and also suggests that the inherent biases of the subject can be bypassed by simply using this method known as “kinesiologic calibration”.  If his method proves to be useful in the future, it will mean a great breakthrough in the world of science and mysticism; two subjects which have previously appeared to be like coffee and lemon juice!  Come to think of it, I think I’ll go see if that lemon juice tastes good in my coffee!

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.

The word ‘wisdom’ gets thrown around quite often in spiritual discussions – often as the result of some profound insight. For many, wisdom is believed to be some special knowledge, reserved for a chosen few who has a deeper insight into life. Although this is true in many ways, wisdom has a much simpler and more far reaching meaning.

So what is wisdom really? For one, it is something that is valued in virtually all cultures throughout the world and throughout the ages wise people lead the way to a deeper understanding of life. Wisdom is not about having mere knowledge. It’s much beyond that and in many ways knowledge itself is not even necessary to have wisdom. Wisdom is an inner understanding that often contradicts intellectual knowledge.

Wisdom is almost always beyond the obvious and the conventional way of thinking. The majority of our thoughts are habitual – meaning that they have been thought before and the scary thing is that these are mostly someone else’s thoughts that we’ve become accustomed to. From this point of view wisdom is often a realization of our own erroneous thinking. When we recognize a great wisdom it is as if we see ‘a light’ inside our minds – a special feeling inside which leads us to a greater understanding.

Wisdom is not something you attain as much as it is something you grow into. For most of us wisdom is synonymous with an old man and a long flowing grey beard. Although it is true that wisdom comes with age, you don’t need to be old to be wise. Most of the profound insights that you will come to in your life won’t be about new ‘undiscovered things’ but rather a new way of seeing even the most mundane things. It’s almost as if you grow up and get born into a conditioned way of thinking and when you reach adulthood you have to grow out of it – shedding your skin to really live an inspired life.

For me all great wisdom is spiritual by nature. All great insights into life are insights that transcends the physical world and our mere observations. It’s metaphysical (beyond the physical)  and therefore it often contradicts conventional thinking. Wisdom is about seeing past the obvious appearances of things. When you do this you cannot help but to recognize something bigger and greater at work behind everything in life. This great invisible force that some call God is not confined to spiritual thinkers, but is the very force of life that flows through everything.

The true meaning of wisdom is having an intimate knowledge of God and the spiritual and metaphysical dimension that will help you see past the appearances of things to reveal a greater meaning behind it all. In Dr. Wayne Dyer’s 10 Secrets For Success And Inner Peace, he offers a great insight into wisdom. One of his secrets for success and inner peace is a definition for wisdom. He says that wisdom is avoiding all thoughts that weaken you.

Every thought you have will either strengthen or weaken you. On this deeper metaphysical level of life, your thoughts create your life. Having the ability to ‘see’ and to realize this is what wisdom is really about. Virtually every spiritual text refers to the power of thought and how we create our lives through our thoughts. This great law, the Law Of Attraction is a controlling law in the universe that dictates what we attract and create in our lives.

Learning to distinguish and then to avoid the thoughts that weaken you will give you a greater sense of power and authentic energy in your life. Weak thoughts like anger, hate and jealousy always weaken you because it requires a counter force. Thoughts of love, peace and joy will only strengthen you because it never takes anything from you – it only ‘adds’ to you. In this sense wisdom will allow you to enjoy a greater sense of inner peace and it will help you to move right past conflict and confrontation.

So often we focus on what’s wrong in our lives in an attempt to ‘fix’ it. What wisdom teaches us is to shift from what’s wrong, to what’s right. Carl Jung once said that “what you resist persists” – wise words from a wise man who understood that what you think about, will only recreate itself in your life experience.

The true meaning of wisdom is to have the insight that’s beyond the obvious. It’s learning to see that beyond the surface level of life experiences, there is something greater and bigger at work. This invisible (yet knowable) life force is intimately connected to you and your thoughts. What you think about expands in your life and learning to avoid that which weakens you will allow you to cultivate your own authentic power and ultimately create for yourself the kind of life you really want to live.

What is enlightenment? This question has become very controversial and in many ways it went from a religious quest to a philosophical quest. In fact, it’s become so debated that there’s a magazine dedicated to the subject. WIE (What Is Enlightenment) is a magazine well worth picking up and it’s on the cutting edge of modern thinking about spirituality and higher consciousness.

Finding a definitive definition for spiritual enlightenment can be quite a challenge. Expressing in words the magnitude of this inner realization that we have come to define as enlightenment, almost always fails to fully explain the conviction and experience of having that profoundly connected feeling. The idea of enlightenment is often misunderstood as a goal or a state of mind that you have to reach in order to be truly spiritual. The idea of enlightenment is multidimensional and offers us some great insights into life and our own spiritual path.

A greater understanding of the meaning of enlightenment will help us to understand more of that spiritual dimension of life. To better understand what enlightenment is, let’s look at three great insights about what it might mean.

The first great insight into enlightenment is that it is a higher awareness. This higher awareness is an awareness of something higher or beyond ordinary everyday awareness (which is almost a state of ‘sleepwalking’ for most people). We all experience life through our sense and for the vast majority of people their experience of life is confined to this sensory experience. There is, however another level of life; a level that is beyond the mere sensory experience. God, soul, spirit – call it what you will is that presence deep within you that’s your constant companion in life. In fact it is the essence of who you really are.

This higher awareness is about recognizing that you are not just a physical being with the occasional spiritual experiences, but that you are in fact a spiritual being having a human experience. In the New Testament, St. Paul said that “you are in this world, but you are not from this world.” This awareness will help you to see past most of the mundane daily struggles that keeps so many people bogged down in an unhappy life. Whenever you are aware of this higher power in your life, you are in an enlightened state. By turning your thoughts to God, you automatically turn your thoughts inwards and become aware of God’s presence in your life.

The second great insight into enlightenment is that the world is the way it is because it is the way it is. Everything is the way it is and the proof for it is that it ‘is’. The question is what are you doing with what ‘is’. Enlightenment has been described as the quiet acceptance of everything. When you realize that everything in this universe happens according to divine law, you will have the insight that things don’t just happen and that there are no mistakes in this perfect system. We tend to strive only for an illusive state of ‘perfection’ and when things don’t work the way we want them to, we tend to call it ‘bad’.

The truth is that underneath our shallow perceptions there is something bigger and greater at work and this is why all the great sages were able to remain at peace in the face of great challenges. They knew that in this world nothing ever goes wrong. When Jesus was crucified he was able to forgive, knowing that even that was part of the perfectly orchestrated universe. When things don’t seem to be working for you, maybe there is something else that is working.

The third great insight into enlightenment is probably the most important. This insight is that every time you are at peace you are enlightened. Inner peace, although it has very little value in our culture, is probably the most important thing anyone of us can have in our lives. With a sense of inner peace you are truly happy and content with your Self. In this state your mind is quiet and you are connected to God. God and peace is synonymous and when you have inner peace you have God within. Inner turmoil suffocates your spirit and builds a wall around your consciousness that prevents you from living from your higher self and seeing life with a greater sense of clarity.

Enlightenment is within your reach. It’s not something to attain but rather something you connect with. It’s a state of being where you are united with your true spiritual origin – it is when you are connected with God and therefore everything in creation. Connectedness leads us to the realization that we are all one, which removes conflict and gives us a sense of inner peace which allows us to joyfully accept everything.