Clarity in ways of spiritual living
As I have explored various spiritual paths, I found many suggestions or teachings that could be contradictory. This is a post to explain some of these.
First, we need to understand our own life situation. Are we married? Or are we single? Or have we already left the society and living like a hermit? Or have we chosen a full-time spiritual life as a monk? All these need to be taken into account before choosing a spiritual path.
What applies to a monk does not apply to people in the society. One can't argue that a monk life is better than a regular life. Each person has to choose their own path.
Where a lot of spiritual teachings get confusing is when someone takes a teaching applicable to monks and tries to apply in a household, or vice-versa.
As a householder i.e. as a wife or a husband, we are in a certain life situation. We need to do what's needed in that situation, like taking care of the family. Until these responsibilities are taken care of, it is not recommended to take a spiritual path that abandons the family. What was purely hormonal need at some time in the past simply falls away as we age, but we can't quit the family until all our responsibilities are fulfilled for the family. For example, are all the kids self sustaining? Is there enough money to provide for the future? etc,.
What I found in a lot of Indian spiritual teachings is denial of what is... like I am not the body, I am not the mind, and even some teachings which actually treat these as inferior aspects of life that need to be seen as burdens. This might be relevant for people who are totally in their Self, completely absorbed as mere existence (like Ramana Maharshi), or people who are completely possessed by thoughts, but such teachings are not that useful for regular folks. For us, body and mind are more real than our existence itself sometimes! Body and mind exist in Nature, so they need to be honored and taken care of. They should not be seen as "burdens". But once they are taken care of, we could integrate a spiritual path in our lives as well. Giving all our waking hours only to mind and body will soon show that we have given all our time to temporary things. We should always keep in mind that our bodies and minds are temporary, but still engage in them actively, lest we give way to depression.
Depression happens mainly due to over thinking and less Presence i.e. less attention to what is right here and now, right in front of us. Anxiety is also due to the same flaw. Once we take our attention away from useless thinking, we have a way to liberate ourselves. We still use the mind when needed, but it does not possess us anymore. This is why it is important to integrate a lot of spacious moments when we are in the waking state. While we sleep, we are unconscious and our mind can paint all kinds of dreams, but slowly our Awareness will be there even in our dreams. So we might be dreaming, but are still not affected much by it. First step is to be more aware in waking state, so we can slowly become more aware during our dreams. Once we are aware in those two states, what might ensue?
First, we need to understand our own life situation. Are we married? Or are we single? Or have we already left the society and living like a hermit? Or have we chosen a full-time spiritual life as a monk? All these need to be taken into account before choosing a spiritual path.
What applies to a monk does not apply to people in the society. One can't argue that a monk life is better than a regular life. Each person has to choose their own path.
Where a lot of spiritual teachings get confusing is when someone takes a teaching applicable to monks and tries to apply in a household, or vice-versa.
As a householder i.e. as a wife or a husband, we are in a certain life situation. We need to do what's needed in that situation, like taking care of the family. Until these responsibilities are taken care of, it is not recommended to take a spiritual path that abandons the family. What was purely hormonal need at some time in the past simply falls away as we age, but we can't quit the family until all our responsibilities are fulfilled for the family. For example, are all the kids self sustaining? Is there enough money to provide for the future? etc,.
What I found in a lot of Indian spiritual teachings is denial of what is... like I am not the body, I am not the mind, and even some teachings which actually treat these as inferior aspects of life that need to be seen as burdens. This might be relevant for people who are totally in their Self, completely absorbed as mere existence (like Ramana Maharshi), or people who are completely possessed by thoughts, but such teachings are not that useful for regular folks. For us, body and mind are more real than our existence itself sometimes! Body and mind exist in Nature, so they need to be honored and taken care of. They should not be seen as "burdens". But once they are taken care of, we could integrate a spiritual path in our lives as well. Giving all our waking hours only to mind and body will soon show that we have given all our time to temporary things. We should always keep in mind that our bodies and minds are temporary, but still engage in them actively, lest we give way to depression.
Depression happens mainly due to over thinking and less Presence i.e. less attention to what is right here and now, right in front of us. Anxiety is also due to the same flaw. Once we take our attention away from useless thinking, we have a way to liberate ourselves. We still use the mind when needed, but it does not possess us anymore. This is why it is important to integrate a lot of spacious moments when we are in the waking state. While we sleep, we are unconscious and our mind can paint all kinds of dreams, but slowly our Awareness will be there even in our dreams. So we might be dreaming, but are still not affected much by it. First step is to be more aware in waking state, so we can slowly become more aware during our dreams. Once we are aware in those two states, what might ensue?
Reference: Eckhart Tolle, "The Power of Now".
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