Striking a balance between
our material and spiritual needs
Spiritual Growth: the
Spiritual Challenge of Modern Times
by Werner Boersch
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.
Abraham Maslow identified several human needs: physiological,
security, belongingness, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic,
self-actualization, and self-transcendence. William 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 Christianism, 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 Abraham 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.
Learning to know ourselves
is an indispensable encounter task for spiritually growing and for
to know our true reality. Our reality is based on our focalization
point. Changing our point of focalization will change consequently
our reality. Everyone has his very own reality because Life is a
state of mind. One has to know his real condition in this world, but
our all-day consciousness does not allow us to recognize our true
self's, so is it necessary to look inward in a very honest way for
to discover our weaknesses our forces, our fears and sufferings.
Therefore meditation is the only way to know honestly ourselves and
to grow spirituality. Only by loving ourselves can we love the
creation and the others, since we're a part of this creation. If we
are not in peace with ourselves how could we be in peace with
others?
Werner Boersch
Psychologist practicing Yoga since several years Webmaster & Site
Owner
http://www.meditationsession.com Meditation and benefits of
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