Spiritual Growth: the Spiritual Challenge of Modern Times

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To grow spiritually in a world defined by power, money, and influence is a Herculean task. Modern conveniences such as electronic equipments, gadgets, and tools as well as entertainment through television, magazines, and the web have predisposed us to confine our attention mostly to physical needs and wants. As a result, our concepts of self-worth and self-meaning are muddled. How can we strike a balance between the material and spiritual aspects of our lives?

To grow spiritually is to look inward.

Introspection goes beyond recalling the things that happened in a day, week, or month. You need to look closely and reflect on your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and motivations. Periodically examining your experiences, the decisions you make, the relationships you have, and the things you engage in provide useful insights on your life goals, on the good traits you must sustain and the bad traits you have to discard. Moreover, it gives you clues on how to act, react, and conduct yourself in the midst of any situation. Like any skill, introspection can be learned; all it takes is the courage and willingness to seek the truths that lie within you. Here are some pointers when you introspect: be objective, be forgiving of yourself, and focus on your areas for improvement.

To grow spiritually is to develop your potentials.

Religion and science have differing views on matters of the human spirit. Religion views people as spiritual beings temporarily living on Earth, while science views the spirit as just one dimension of an individual. Mastery of the self is a recurring theme in both Christian (Western) and Islamic (Eastern) teachings. The needs of the body are recognized but placed under the needs of the spirit. Beliefs, values, morality, rules, experiences, and good works provide the blueprint to ensure the growth of the spiritual being. In Psychology, realizing one’s full potential is to self-actualize. Maslow identified several human needs: physiological, security, ba sense of belonging, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization, and self-transcendence. James earlier categorized these needs into three: material, emotional, and spiritual. When you have satisfied the basic physiological and emotional needs, spiritual or existential needs come next. Achieving each need leads to the total development of the individual. Perhaps the difference between these two religions and psychology is the end of self-development: Christianity and Islam see that self-development is a means toward serving God, while psychology view that self-development is an end by itself.

To grow spiritually is to search for meaning.

Religions that believe in the existence of God such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam suppose that the purpose of the human life is to serve the Creator of all things. Several theories in psychology propose that we ultimately give meaning to our lives. Whether we believe that life’s meaning is pre-determined or self-directed, to grow in spirit is to realize that we do not merely exist. We do not know the meaning of our lives at birth; but we gain knowledge and wisdom from our interactions with people and from our actions and reactions to the situations we are in. As we discover this meaning, there are certain beliefs and values that we reject and affirm. Our lives have purpose. This purpose puts all our physical, emotional, and intellectual potentials into use; sustains us during trying times; and gives us something to look forward to---a goal to achieve, a destination to reach. A person without purpose or meaning is like a drifting ship at sea.

To grow spiritually is to recognize interconnections.

Religions stress the concept of our relatedness to all creation, live and inanimate. Thus we call other people “brothers and sisters” even if there are no direct blood relations. Moreover, deity-centered religions such as Christianity and Islam speak of the relationship between humans and a higher being. On the other hand, science expounds on our link to other living things through the evolution theory. This relatedness is clearly seen in the concept of ecology, the interaction between living and non-living things. In psychology, connectedness is a characteristic of self-transcendence, the highest human need according to Maslow. Recognizing your connection to all things makes you more humble and respectful of people, animals, plants, and things in nature. It makes you appreciate everything around you. It moves you to go beyond your comfort zone and reach out to other people, and become stewards of all other things around you.

Growth is a process thus to grow in spirit is a day-to-day encounter. We win some, we lose some, but the important thing is that we learn, and from this knowledge, further spiritual growth is made possible.

Do Not Chase Happiness for You Will Never Catch It

Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it eludes you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it comes and sits softly on your shoulder.

- Henry David Thoreau

It is amazing to me how we lose sight of gratitude in our haste and search for more. So many in our world have put price tags or destinations on 'happiness'. Happiness will not be achieved when I get______________ or have _________ in the bank. This can be seen by the many who have such things and are miserable to the point of even suicide.

Happiness is a state of mind. Whether we want to admit it or not, we can achieve happiness at any moment if we but set our minds to it. All you have to do is take a moment and remember moments that brought you a smile. Make a gratitude list for all the things you have right now.

In school, a well provided student asked a group of us why the old man on the corner with the hot dog cart was always so happy. In her perspective, since he did not have the house, the car and the lifestyle she enjoyed, he could not possibly be happy. We talked her into asking him, how he always had a smile. He told us a story that still brings tears to my eyes. This wonderful man who sold hotdogs spoke of a war that few of us had first had a first had awareness. He told of a beautiful wife that still graced his home. He spoke of a daughter that had survived cancer. He then talked of how he had nearly died from a heart attack and he was thankful that the good Lord was given him another day to hold his wife. Needless to say, his story was far better told and much more heart rendering from his lips. I still smile at his final words. "Best of all, I get to stand and chat with pretty young things like you all day and get paid to do it." We all bought a hotdog with a smile and a bit of reflection on how much we take life for granted.

If you are chasing happiness, STOP, you will never catch it. You already have everything you need in your possession. Refocus on what you have and not on what you have yet to acquire. Would the journey for more then be about just adding to the joy you already have in your life. Whether it is marriage, business, relationships or even possessions, the grass is rarely greener on the other side. We have just lost site of the preciousness on our side of the fence. In this month of Gratitude, reflect and find the very thing you have been chasing - Happiness!



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