Before getting into detail about how I practice and view spirituality, I wanted to blog about a couple reasons why I had neglected the spiritual side of life until now. As I wrote this blog I realized I had much more to say about this and have split it into 2 parts.
If you knew me from 2001 to 2008 you would know my world was driven purely by results. I sought out return on every activity I performed. I was in college in 2001 and in that point in my life the return for getting a degree and good grades was a good paying job. So I slaved away to complete my bachelors in 3 years in order to get the good job. In my mind the spiritual aspect did not even enter my life. As I reflect and learn from the past I see the 1 key reason the spiritual did not enter my life and 1 key reason that even if spirituality had entered my life I would have not taken advantage of it.
The first was I did not realize how much there was to gain in life by being my spiritual self. I was caught up in the day to day and not appreciating the beauty everyday life has to offer. It’s like chasing a one dollar bill through a maze without realizing that the walls of the maze itself is made up of billions of dollars free for the taking at any time if one were to just stop and look for it.
The second would be that even if I saw the money on the walls of the maze I thought it would take me too long to be able to get the money into my pocket. The return on investment for spiritual reflection and practice takes much longer than many physical things in life. It is a life-long practice and process. It’s like someone telling you there are huge amounts of money on the walls of the maze, but you can’t see it. They keep telling you to stare and be patient and you’ll see it one day, but you look everyday and you can’t find it. Some spiritual leaders would even say that seeking or desiring a return from spirituality is the exact antithesis of spirituality. They would say to gain a return on spirituality one must have no desire to seek any result, but to appreciate the process that is life and from that to gain enlightenment. My mindset was very results oriented and even if I knew the benefits of spirituality, I would have difficulty in not chasing that 1 dollar bill around the maze.
More discussion on why I neglected my spirituality in a future post. Until then, stare at the wall of your life and try to find the hidden wealth there.
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