by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA
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Our Earth is a big world, but it is not the only story in the universe, As our scientists learn more and more, our universe and our world gets bigger and bigger. The Industrial Revolution ushered in an amazing learning curve. There is so much to learn, that we struggle in a sea of information where such new information is almost obsolete by the time it makes its way to us. As all this developed, our spirituality seemed to take a back seat and materialism surged to the front. This created an imbalance between our material consciousness and our spiritual consciousness. In recent years there has been an escalating search for spiritual identity. To someone who is attempting to consciously participate in their spiritual growth, the selection of the right information flow and direction for this dedicated purpose can be confusing. We cannot read or learn it all at the rate that new information is available. We need to be selective based on our own criteria.
Having said previously that the universe has at its fingertips all the time and experience we need to grow and become, which is true, we as humans feel pressured in the limited lifetime we see in front of us. We must choose wisely. How do we do that? There are things we must learn to successfully navigate in our physical/material life such as life skills, job skills, relationship skills, and far too many others to list here. Those are all necessary to our physical existence and so they must have a place in our learning curve. We are wearing a body and have agreed upon this physical experience so it is important that we pay attention to our lessons on this level. For our spiritual development, an enormous array of possibilities await us. Again, selectivity is upon us because there is an enticing array of studies. Time to triage the possibilities.
We can meditate and listen to whatever universal consciousness is whispering to us. That is one really good way to determine what is most valuable. If you did nothing for your spiritual development other than meditation, you would eventually succeed. You can try learning hit and miss to see what triggers understanding and insight. You can follow a teacher, a belief system, a guru or spiritual figure. You can spend long hours in prayer. Just remember you are talking to the universal when you pray. When you meditate you are listening to the universal. You could make a pro and con list for a subject or multiple subjects and try a process of elimination to get to the core of your belief system. Whatever you choose as your process, you must look deep within yourself to set the standard or goal for your development. I have one caution (not rule) for you.
If we flit from subject to subject, rarely lighting long enough to truly learn something in depth, we will have superficial knowledge and our experience will reflect that lack of depth. If you want to be a pianist, you must pay the price. You must sit down at the piano to both learn and practice; that is what produces a pianist. If you want to be a metaphysician, you have to commit to your own personal growth and put in the necessary effort. You must create some depth in your subjects and your knowledge to achieve the wisdom that comes from a combination of both knowledge and experience. To just “know” a thing, does not make you wise; wise comes from exploring and experiencing what you think you “know.” Wisdom comes from knowing when to use it and when not to use it, from trial and error, from participating and observing. Wisdom comes from the experience of living.
I’ve been at this process for 40+ years. Spring of 1970 was my starting-to-wake-up moment. I am not fully awake, but I am a whole bunch more awake than I was forty years ago. I have had superb moments of “Ahas” followed by reality “comas”, followed by more light bulb moments (insights), followed by sobering falls back into physical reality. Your development is a process, one you must commit to and stay with regardless of the experience. To know there is “more” does not guarantee you will experience that “more” every time you reach for it; we are back to a win some, lose some philosophy. You must not give up. You must remain aware of the process and keep on keeping on. You must revel in the light and know that you cannot see that light unless it is contrasted with darkness. We are in a living experience of polarity and duality and our consciousness is seeking unity through diversity. Read that last sentence again. Is this mountain easy to climb? No, it is not. Is it worth climbing? Yes, it is.
Published on EZine online June, 2010, republished with slight editing.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.