Here is a fine example of the development in human understanding. The two writings below have been done 7 months apart from each other. As you will read the individual who done the writings has approached each one from a different perspective. This is a useful exercise in development circles to see how our understanding changes.
The original writing "Spiritual growth as related to human understanding" can be found on page 19 in the channeled book. "The Light in your Life is Spirit".
A) SPIRITUAL GROWTH AS RELATED TO HUMAN UNDERSTANDING
This subject is vast in terms how we comprehend our understanding in relation to spiritual growth. What is spiritual growth? How can we measure it? Can it be measured? Our human understanding in relation to this how can this be measured? I suppose from this angle it is not something that can be clinically proved and there are many people out there who want proof before they can start believing in something. A guy I work with does not believe in the afterlife which is fair enough, he had a well known medium from Dunbar give him a reading and he was talking about his brother who had died and how much he was there for him in spirit. My work colleague does not believe in the after life, spirit or whatever name is chosen so how can he work on spiritual growth that he may not be aware of regarding his purpose on his journey?
I suppose in my case I am lucky I am aware of the facts to a degree but have conflict with my soul on a daily basis from miniscule things to more detrimental ones. But I feel there is nothing that I can't change, but change can happen with effort and application and it is I that is in the driving seat this lifetime and I have a satnav in God if only I switched it on more often. Human desire is a strong element in today's society and is it giving us peace of mind and hope for the future? Not really. I am lucky I am aware of it but there are many people who are oblivious to this situation which is only prolonging a sense of emptiness and hunger for more desires to be fulfilled. The capitalist system is collapsing before our very eyes like other empires throughout the ages in Mesopotamia, the Roman Empire and the British Empire to name but a few. You would of thought that the so called more intelligent people in our society would have twigged now that this system collapses in on itself as it has done for centuries yet we still use the same or at least a similar blueprint and keep making the same mistakes! Man is driven by greed and power and particularly in the western world and I feel this is what we as the masses are driven to attaining. But firstly this is an impossible dream for most of the world could not sustain itself and many already are starving and dying because of man's ignorance and greed for the dollar, gold, shares and property etc. We are in most cases a selfish, self absorbed society only looking out for our self and often at the expense of less fortunate individuals. Even if we attain this great wealth how many happy billionaires and millionaires do you see not many I bet?
Mankind right now is crucifying the life out of his soul and mentally diminishing the spirit within through his poor choices, ignorance, fear, indecision and uncertainty. However there are rumblings of discontent as people are now looking for answers outside of the normal paths that they take. Some are going towards God in a religious sense, others have taken the new age path and it is good to find like minded individuals but I feel what we look for down these paths is often misleading and has no true depth or meaning. With a lot of organised religion people go the church and the mosque every week and think that this will help their spiritual growth, but if they do not understand what spiritual growth is about how can they truly feel they are closer to God? The new age revolution has lead to a lot of charalatans claiming they have the answers and they are often admired by people looking for answers but mislead people by their false truths and superficial views on spirituality. We as humans still want others to give us the answers and this leads to a pretty big market for gurus, priests, Reiki Masters, ministers of the faith and so on. So what makes these people more elevated and enlightened than the rest of us? Are they super beings brought down to be worshipped, followed and adhered to? I am sorry but that does not sit right with me anymore, although I too have had people I have looked up to and wanted the answers and asked for the direction that I needed to go on in life. To a degree this helps if the person has one's genuine interests at heart but how can we know this for sure? I feel our soul is the core of whom we are and here lies all the answers, that does not mean to say that we cannot be inspired by other people but it is important we do not follow blindly everything they tell us. Even God could not give us the answers and fix things for us, what would we learn from this? That is like having the questions and answers of an exam paper in astrophysics and copying it down to gain the qualification; I don't think we would learn much do you? I feel God is part of the evolutionary chain as we are; it is just he has being doing it a lot longer and is more open to learning and evolving. Now I am not saying that we can become like God but we certainly can attain growth through effort, fortitude, courage, wisdom and an inner belief that we have a real purpose in being here which is beneficial to our own soul growth and the journey we are on. But do we want to and is it worth the effort? I feel it is even though I myself often take one step forward and three back yet I still want to continue on this path.
My Earthly distractions are the reasons I am not getting with the program as these American gurus sometimes say, but that needs to be addressed and the sooner the better as time is ticking away and the evolutionary clock moves on regardless of whether I go with or against it. I know that if I had not started walking this path my life would have been one of fear ruling every aspect of my being. Even though I feel I am still a toddler learning the ropes, I am still an adult and have a responsibility for my soul and to be frank I have been and am still irresponsible for my growth. But no one can do this for me; the mosque or local church hasn't the answers for me as an individual or the Buddhist centre's or new age facilities that are around the country. That is not to say people within these places cannot attain spiritual growth they can but with it comes responsibility and every action has a reaction and a consequence to that action whether that be good or bad. The key is to understand our self and it does not matter how you get there as long as you get there because the evolutionary cycle moves on regardless of our freewill choices. It can be a good thing freewill but we are still children in spiritual development, I feel it is like giving a child the keys to a toyshop or sweet shop and telling them to be responsible and help the business to grow. The child has not got the understanding to achieve this as this takes time, effort and a mind for business through understanding. All that would probably happen here is the child would call his friends over and eat huge, copious amounts of sweets and play with the toys and let his friends do the same. Life has many distractions, many paths which are dead ends and fruitless through what we perceive are opportunities, chance meetings with people, poor choices and a lack of understanding through low self esteem and ignorance. Honesty is the best policy here if we can understand why and how we can keep shooting our self in the foot or making poor choices, whatever the reason maybe it is imperative that we understand the importance of it and the importance of nurturing our soul the life force which I feel is connected to God. Our soul is like a seed that needs care, love and attention we cannot afford to take our eye off the ball, it needs constant feeding and nutrients to survive and fertile ground on which to grow. Our soul needs love and security and if we did not get this in our earlier life then it is important we try and understand who we are beyond the masks and identities we have created along the journey, let's be truthful and let's be totally honest have we really made the grade? Maybe not but our life isn't over because we haven't found that inner peace and quiet confidence within our self, there is still time to grow. God can guide us but we need to apply and make a real effort to overcome adversity in our life to hold our hand's up and admit yes I could of done that better but I wasn't ready or was too self absorbed or fearful at the time, whatever the reason God's loving hand can help us but we are the gardeners to our soul he is the observer who gives us some insight and direction but we need to truly want to walk this path and understand how to unravel the past to create the future path which will lead us back to the source and God who loves us in spite of our perceived misgivings and shortcomings.
30/03/09
EP
Is this why man has failed to grow faster?
B) SPIRITUAL GROWTH AS RELATED TO HUMAN UNDERSTANDING
Where are we in our growth as a species in the evolutionary scale of life? I guess when you talk to the scientists, entrepreneurs and religious leaders in most cases they feel we have advanced as a species, but who is measuring growth? Are they the human beings who claim to be at the so-called enlightened stage of our development as a species here on Earth? There are even those who think we are the most intelligent species in the universe, the most advanced beings if you like. I suppose we have to be in an advanced stage to rape the Earth of its mineral wealth at the expense of Earth's fragile ecosystem! Very enlightening stuff this, pretty impressive. It certainly seems to be to the bank balances of the conglomerates and those in power. Yes we have moved rapidly in our eyes regarding our technical achievements of the twentieth and twenty first centuries, we can now communicate by text instead of face to face that is some advancement. As we become more embroiled in our technological advances and move from the Internet to the hyper net or whatever you call it we have become more isolated, insular and closed off from our friends, family and other people who come and go in our lives. Of course when we are communicating with others on the World Wide Web, skype, face book or whatever we can create ourselves in whatever way we want to be. How is this other person going to know we don't live in a mansion in Beverly Hills and snowboard on the piste in Aspen in the winter? Human beings in general have been deceiving themselves and their fellow man since we evolved from our Stone Age ancestors. In most cases we are driven by our desires and Earthly needs and the more we crave this need the more we are in disharmony with our spirit but how do we know that? Well that is up to each person to figure out for himself or herself. But put it this way if having a house in Beverly Hills is so great and having more money than you can possibly spend, then why are so many people who crave Earthly possessions and in some cases attain them so unhappy and so cut off from their spirit within? If you go to some of the poorest places in the world, the warmth and generosity you get in these communities is often genuine and the people often have no hidden agenda in wanting something in return for their warmth and hospitality. So what do they have that the wealthy people driven by money don't?
I now look at where I am in my life and I must admit I do not feel strength of spirit and why is this? Well for one I am constantly avoiding looking at myself and working through my issues relating to the past. Now and again I may do a bit of work upon myself but I could be doing so much more. I had to drag myself up the stairs to type this but I am glad I did, as it is as if I am shedding dead skin as I open my mind to new possibilities for growth and awareness. The other day I was in a mess as I clearly felt my son was struggling and all I did was lecture him about taking the next step to do things outside of his normal routine. Academically he has done remarkably well and I am immensely proud of him to say the very least. However I feel he struggles socially and perhaps I am reflecting my fears and insecurities onto him, but I am concerned. But feeding him with my own fears and doubts is not going to benefit him, if only I had made more effort to understand myself I am sure this then would give me far more clarity and perspective of where he is in his life. This will take courage, discipline and a strong need to work through all my issues and negative thoughts relating to my past, I have got to start somewhere. My understanding of me is still limited so how can I help my son with his spiritual growth when I am frozen by my own fears within mine. Only I can change my perception of the world and my part to play in it and I feel it will take more effort on my part to achieve this but I have made small steps forward at times. But now I believe it is time to stand tall and march proudly forward overcoming all adversity and fear in my life, words are not enough action is the key to finally understanding the social paralysis I have created around my life and world. I have shut the door of my potential and frozen my creative self and I let my fears and regrets from the past haunt me. I cannot change the past yet I still more often than not carry it forward, weighing upon my soul and spirit for living. I feel it is time to cut the straps and walk forward and smell the roses.
We humans often struggle to overcome things in life because we simply fail to understand the mechanics of it all, when we break things down to their simplest form this helps to understand the simplest things in life that could prevent us from growing up and moving forward to a place where heartache and melancholy thinking is a thing of the past. As the John Denver song goes "It's Up To You", and it is up to us do we repeat the same mistakes on the cycle of our own heartfelt pain or do we break the chains and mould which we have let condition us to this form of living? I feel this in truth is about existing never striving to challenge our deepest fears and shying away from life and true inner peace and happiness. Would it not be better to understand our self and let go of the past, knowing we are no longer at conflict with our self but are striving forward and living and thriving on the challenges that come our way? I just watched an old cowboy film where the wagon train makes it way across America to Oregon to start a new life, yes their were challenges and people died along the way but the spirit of the collective group got them through their own adversity to succeed and start a new life in what was that time a new place undiscovered and unexplored. That sounds like my own soul and spirit within, there is so much I do not know and I believe there are opportunities to create a future in which me and my soul are one in the same, where I can share my experience of growth with other's and hopefully inspire them to create a better future for themselves and even be inspired by them and each person I meet in life. I am a novice at this journey of spiritual growth but only making progress can open the doors to my spiritual freedom, and applying my understanding then acting upon it can release me from my needless fears and anxieties. It's worth a shot in fact it sounds quite exciting, I feel quite lifted by this writing thank you God for using your battering ram to get through my thick welsh skull to help me see the wood from the trees.
6/10/09
EP
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