Question of the Day: spiritual (or material) success

[FutureHumanDestiny]

Aloha people!

Here's the question of the day: what motivates you towards having spiritual success?

we all face challenges but we need to persevere in our spiritual practice.

What motivates you to persevere and achieve personal spiritual success?

Many thanks!

-dale

[greybeard]

"Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all things will be added unto you."
Having been reasonably successful and enjoying that and now living on benefits im happy
So basically if your unhappy before having material things even if you become successful any happiness will be short lived.
Its down to attitude.

With studying the works of spiritual teachers for some time I have seen an increase in my serenity.
So its not what happens its my attitude towards it.
Acceptance is not passive it leads to clear headed action.--- no knee jerk reaction.
So basically im saying persevering with a spiritual path is very very practical in this world as it brings the benefits mentioned.
Fortitude also being one of them.
After a while its not a question of spiritual success or seeking anything-- there is no agenda.
Spiritual practice just happens for the pleasure in doing it.

Chris

[Beren]

Posted by greybeard (here)
"Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all things will be added unto you."
Having been reasonably successful and enjoying that and now living on benefits im happy
So basically if your unhappy before having material things even if you become successful any happiness will be short lived.
Its down to attitude.

With studying the works of spiritual teachers for some time I have seen an increase in my serenity.
So its not what happens its my attitude towards it.
Acceptance is not passive it leads to clear headed action.--- no knee jerk reaction.
So basically im saying persevering with a spiritual path is very very practical in this world as it brings the benefits mentioned.
Fortitude also being one of them.
After a while its not a question of spiritual success or seeking anything-- there is no agenda.
Spiritual practice just happens for the pleasure in doing it.

Chris

Really beautiful words Chris!
I agree with you completely.

For me motivation is unity with God and sharing that beauty with others.
It`s such a multiverse thing that I am in.

Fire is burning in my soul when I talk about Creator and God ,the source of life. Fire is burning - the flame imperishable for life ,Love and be-ing.
And joy of sharing that with other souls and realization of unity with all is divine experience.

[another bob]

Posted by FutureHumanDestiny (here)
What motivates you to persevere and achieve personal spiritual success?

After careful consideration and investigation, it's recognized that any other option is too dreadful to bother with.

On the other hand, if it's personal, it's not true success, since that implies a self that can be successful, and it's the fiction of that very sense of self -- the "me" story -- that obscures actual realization.

Going one step further, if Realization is perceived as some sort of a success, then it's actually a spiritual failure, since success implies attaining something that is not already the case, and that would be just adding something extra.

[another bob]

“Realization is our nature. It is nothing new to be gained. What is new cannot be eternal. Therefore there is no need for doubting whether one could lose or gain the Self. The state of Self-realization, as we call it, is not attaining something new or reaching some goal which is far away, but simply being that which you always are and which you always have been.
All that is needed is to give up your realization of the not-true as true. All of us are regarding as real that which is not real. We have only to give up this practice on our part. Then we shall realize the Self as the Self, in other words, ‘Be the Self’.
The state we call realization is simply being oneself, not knowing anything or becoming anything. If one has realized, one is that alone which ‘is’ and which alone has always been. One cannot describe that state. One can only be that.”

~Ramana Maharshi

(from Absolute Consciousness)

[Seikou-Kishi]

I think spiritual advancement is perhaps the only phenomenon in which the idea of success is inextricably linked. We all have talents which we don't think of particularly highly because it's just so normal for us, even if it's not for other people, but with spiritual advancement it's less like 'succeeding at doing' and more like 'succeeding at being'. Perhaps spiritual advancement is so appealing because we become more ourselves.

[Dennis-G]

Posted by FutureHumanDestiny (here)

What motivates you to persevere and achieve personal spiritual success?

My answer could encompass multiple motivations and curiosities, but to keep things simple, I've never found anything more interesting.

[Cilka]

Freedom from 3D enslavement and limitations.

[Solstyse]

A search for a purpose.
I think if people truly believe in anything ( a creator, spirituality, aliens ) the left and right brain can then work in perfect unity, unlocking endless potential.

[tonius]

I don't even know what spiritual practice or spiritual success mean, they are terms supposed to mean something usually, but not to me, all i want to know is who i really am, what am i doing here, how did i end up here,and if i willingly chose to be part of this. Everyday my point of view changes in some subtle way about my place in all of this, what i knew or thought to know yesterday is different from what i know today.
If that is ment by the term spiritual practice than i guess i am practicing a lot.

But the tricky thing is this search can get really tiring, and even when the usual answers come from the mind , like '' there is nothing to search,calm down, what it was, still is, forever was and is etc...'', that question mark still remains, and quoting budha or jesus may satisfy the mind or the ego ( in this case masked as ''spiritual'' ego, or anti ego ) but not that deep inquiring process. The truth is harder than it seemed to be for me at the beggining, when the ''all love and light'' movement had tricked me not to look further and be satisfied with answers that didn't really come from me, so new aproach was required.
The hard thing is to stick only to your answers,as in this mess of layers of illusion and deception you can't trust even your own thoughts, as you know probably most of them are not even yours. Add to this the daily life with its own challanges and things can get really hard. Who knows, maybe these ''difficultes'' were ment to be the point of all this, trying to feel infinite from this pespective is mostly supposing and simulating, until you are at the top of the mountain you can only guess whats there at the other side of it, but from what i see i guess there is another one.

My only recepie is to always ask questions to yourself, because the only thing you have real tangible proof is your own awarness , if you think about it all the rest is SUPPOSING. Good luck with your answers.

[markpierre]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'spiritual success'. I'd call that concept a BIG BIG obstacle. But failure isn't an option, it's part of the training. The only thing that concerns me still is an occasional temptation to believe that I can fail.
Not that 'it' can, but that there's an 'I' that has anything to do with the process. That truly is frightening, and fortunately untrue. If it were true, then yes, we'd have very little chance of ever escaping from perception.

Transformation from that self identified self to a self realized aspect of totality is mostly just all the pain in the universe.
Look at all the time we've spent putting it off. And look at some of the insane experiences you've provided to yourselves so far,
and managed to not be annihilated.

Unfortunately pain is the primary motivator for transformation, fortunately it's effective. But it isn't without it's carrots and rewards.

[Snowbird]

Posted by FutureHumanDestiny (here)

What motivates you to persevere and achieve personal spiritual success?

Many thanks!

-dale

I would have to use the term spiritual progress rather than spiritual success. Success indicates an end-point. Spiritual pursuit or progress is a never-ending process.

What motivates me toward this pursuit is an ingrained and never-ending desire for understanding, knowledge and questioning. I question everything and everyone. The study of politics (of all things) for an example, leads me to greater understanding of the spiritual void that exists in that area. Politics can either affect billions of souls helpfully and compassionately or can destructively and vengefully destroy those beautiful souls. The duality of this example is very representative of our world at this time in history. We are at a point of division. One group of souls is progressing toward the state of compassion and beauty and the other group of souls is progressing toward the state of control and destruction. In my mind, I see this division being formed by a flashing bolt of lightning. This lightening bolt strikes millions of times every day as we progress and make our soul choices. And yet, the ultimate beauty of this process is that each and every soul in this Universe is progressing on their individual perfect path.

[Ba-ba-Ra]

I suppose in the beginning it was searching for the release of pain, either emotional or physical. Then as I began the search it was my curious mind that was tantalized and wanted to know more.

As my life improved greatly from the quest, I continued because I liked this new way of feeling free and joyful. I would say at this stage, it's become second nature - not to say I have all the answers or always behave as I know I should. But for the most part I've learned to choose happiness in wherever I am or whatever situation comes my way.

[truth4me]

Posted by Cilka (here)
Freedom from 3D enslavement and limitations.

oh so true.......