So many people ask the question, “Why are we here? What is my purpose? What is the meaning of life” The answer is simple. We’re here not to achieve big earthly things, though some of us will, nor is it about anything momentous we’re meant to be doing in any way. It’s about spiritual growth gained by living a human life. Our growth will be made up of lessons, trials and eventual recognition of how we are nothing without something or someone far greater than us being in charge.
By putting our human self and ego to one side and digging deep inside, looking at one’s own faults and failings, being made to face the fact we aren’t perfect is how we start to open ourselves up to finding what life is about, what we’re actually here for. By digging deep and searching for truth is how we will grow in ways that prepare us for when we leave this world making us ready to enter realms beyond this one.
We’re all here for one simple thing. To learn. Not about earthly matters, but about spiritual ones. That said, our earthly experiences, sufferings, trials and hardships are what help us to grow and learn if we’ll let them. How we accept trials sent to us is what will decide how we’ll progress. Thinking about why such things happen and the reasons that often go beyond what is very obvious. Once we start using our spiritual side as well instead of just our earthly one, earthly trials, despite being so very hard at times, can become easier to accept and bear, even help bring us comfort.
Good times are given us in between trials to ease the burden and give us some respite from it just as children experience when at school. They learn during term time then have holidays to relax and enjoy life before going back to school once the break is over. This is what we as adults will have to experience for as long as we inhabit this earth.
Some of the lessons will be very easy, others very hard indeed, but most will be in between. The harder the lesson the more it will test us. Will we persevere or give up? Those who work hardest will achieve most. Stretching ourselves beyond what we often think possible is what will take us further in life, give more knowledge and ability to learn and possibly achieve more than others.
Questioning things that may go against all we’ve been taught or read up till now can be hard, but questioning everything doesn’t mean losing it or throwing it away to be ignored forever. It just means separating God’s wishes and what man added. Testing, questioning then finding out where that questioning and seeking eventually takes us. It might bring us back to all we believed in before, take us on a slightly path or a very different one instead.
Wherever our questioning and seeking takes us might be different to where it takes others. Sometimes it will the the same or very similar. Like all scholars, some will be able to achieve far more than others straight away, while the rest will take longer.
Look outside the box; under, on top and all around it rather than just at what’s inside. Don’t listen to what others tell you they believe you should be thinking or believing in, do your own searching and come to your own conclusions. A good teacher only guides you and teaches the basics. They can teach what is right and wrong about matters that are black and white, but they then leave you to search within the grey areas so you can come up with your own findings.
Good teachers want you to be free, to be where you’re meant to be in this lifetime. They don’t want you copying them or doing things parrot fashion. Individual spiritual growth cannot be attained by doing anything parrot fashion as though one size fits all. It doesn’t. Anyone teaching this is holding you back. Taking you into their ways, not your own. Those always agreeing with you aren’t always being genuine, they’re being people pleasers.
The best leaders and teachers are the ones who test us, stretch us, make us search on our own, dig deep and go beyond what makes us comfortable. Only by doing so can we hope to learn more and grow in ways God wishes for us. The worst teachers are those who always agree with us, never make us question, never test us or make us test anything or others and who try to make us as them and all others who come to them.
They pander to whatever you want to believe and never make you seek truth or deeper understanding. They keep you stagnant, stop your true growth which lies within us all if we have the strength and courage to seek it out and allow it to take us where we need to be. How easy to be a people pleaser who never contradicts you, tests or stretches you.
How popular are such friends or teachers who always agree with you or let you think anything you say is correct. This is to keep you in their fold, as their friend no matter how shallow that friendship is, or to keep you with other like minded people who only do as everyone else is doing. They feel safe being in a crowd all doing and believing in the same things. How stunted they are, but if they enjoy this, then that’s where they’re meant to be for now. Growth is not yet for them.
Over the many years I’ve been doing this work, people have either hated or loved me. There is rarely an in between. Those coming for help and wanting only someone who agrees with all they say are going to be disappointed. When they find I won’t do that they get annoyed and say I’m not as all other spiritual teachers. I say, “thank goodness I’m not”.
My purpose is teaching what I’ve been given to share to help people grow, reach a depth and level of understanding beyond anything they would otherwise stretch themselves to. Once you’ve stretched as a spiritual individual and have found knowledge others have maybe not yet learnt, you can still stay within the fold of anything you once believed in and belonged to, but you will now have a far greater understanding beyond that too. Having the two together can deepen your faith even moreso.
Those truly ready to challenge themselves are the ones ready to listen to what I have to share with them. They’re the ones whose spiritual growth takes off on levels others cannot hope to attain while being pandered to. It might mean staying as they are, but with far more awareness and wisdom than they had before.
Those who get annoyed at being challenged and walk away angry at me I never worry about. It just means this is not their time to move forward. Anyone getting angry at being asked to test is not ready to seek or grow even if thinking they are. When it is their time, instead of anger at being asked to stretch themselves and question, they will cherish such challenges and go willingly into them. Many have come back years later saying they now understand what I was trying to teach them.
They ask if I’m willing to help give guidance again. I always am. This is when they are really ready to grow, learn and seek. This is when they will start to find answers and do what they’re here for. I’ve had to do it and still do daily – always will seek and look for answers beyond this life that only heaven and God can give. We can all do it once we’re ready to recognise we are two people in one – human and spiritual.
Spiritual growth is not what others get you to do with symbols or rituals of their own beliefs, religions or any other gathering, it is about you and you alone. It has to be your way and can only be done without being hindered by everything manmade or man taught. Only when we are ready to look beyond those things are we ready to really grow. When being asked to test or question without these things making you angry is when you’re ready to move forwards.
For those who have read this post to the end, maybe it means this is the time for you to open your mind and start that search that will take you to deeper levels of understanding, awareness and maybe more wisdom. When the time is right it will happen naturally. If you need to try to force anything, it isn’t right or maybe it just isn’t the right time. Developing spiritually is an ongoing process till the day we die. And remember, it can only be done alone and at the pace right for you as the individual you are.
When we recognise the meaning of life is so simple, about individual spiritual growth, awareness and understanding, life becomes much simpler. Remember, it’s not about achieving great things or making a mark in history, but just about being here to grow and learn.