Spiritual search and development. Spiritual search and development - what the average person dreams of
Do not demand justice for yourself, give it from yourself to the outside.
Yuri Burlan
I don’t remember when the desire to engage in self-knowledge and spiritual development of the individual appeared. I didn’t count how much specialized literature I read, driven by a passionate desire to know myself, to find out what a higher power is, whether there is a God in the world, and how to live with these questions. I swallowed the information without fear of choking. But I never once asked myself the question of what my spiritual quest is worth. And one day this question arose on its own. This is where the fun began.
Spiritual search and development - what the average person dreams of
Thoughts about spirituality are a kind of indicator of a person’s readiness to learn something more about the world and about himself than he knew before.
The pre-New Year's rush is here - it's time to reflect on spirituality. After all, this is not only a time to take stock, to throw off tons of almost last year’s sorrows, but also a time to feel unity - with your surroundings, with other people. One day on the last day of the year, sitting in a restaurant and feeling like a “white man”, a woman (already almost well-fed, contented, but still a lonely woman), I realized that joy, not shared with anyone, brings the same joy instead of euphoria. strength disappointment.
I, like any other person, just wanted to fit into the system of humanity. For me, like many other subjectivists and introverts by nature, concentration on internal sensations often prevents me from fitting in, which sometimes puts me in a state of total isolation of my “I” (the world inside) from the world outside.
That New Year I felt it. I collected all the bottles of Italian champagne that I received as gifts for the holiday, opened the phone book and began to congratulate everyone in the hope that I could bump into someone with my bottles. In the end, they were all drunk in a club that I had never been to before, in a company that I had never seen before (with the exception of one acquaintance). It was fun.
The problem of subjectivists is illusory spiritual self-knowledge
For people like me, it can be difficult not to fall out of life because of its constant noise. Needless to say, meditation, philosophy, religion, various pseudo-scientific and near-religious movements that can help us renounce, “stop running and see the cherry blossoms bloom” are loved by people like me.
At first this brings tremendous relief, but then - imperceptibly - the illusory spiritual search turns into an endless process of absorbing information for the sake of information. Personal growth for the sake of growth. Your inner light gradually begins to fade. And the concept you built is crumbling. A crisis is coming, completely inexplicable, on the one hand, and completely obvious, from the point of view of system-vector psychology.
Spiritual quest - don't enter through the back door
So what is the cause of the crisis? Without knowing the reason why, you understand for sure that if you don’t get the desired result, it means you are acting in the wrong way, going the wrong way.
To begin with, let us understand what spirituality is. I cross out everything that the search engine produces like “a spiritual person should live not in the soul, but in the spirit” and other philosophical statements. For the first time, I really think about why I need self-knowledge and spiritual development of the individual (in a skin-to-skin way, from the point of view of benefit (for myself) and benefit (for others)).
Spirituality as a new content of me is an opportunity to experience myself in the world in a new way. Be balanced both inside and outside. Feel the unity and integrity of the world, but without concentrating on internal sensations, but crawling out of your inner shell.
Spirituality is a philosophical abstraction with a concrete result
In system-vector psychology, spiritual comprehension is the path that leads a bright and complete individualist, subjectivist and introvert to extroversion. That is, the ability to feel oneself as one with the world, without alienating one’s “I” from the world outside. Do not concentrate within yourself (for example, during meditation or reading esoteric literature), but actively realize yourself among people through creative actions.
Why is this necessary? First of all, so as not to feel a black hole in yourself and fit into this world. Last but not least - to create the right thoughts, and not receive others.
We often forget that we do not exist separately from other people. We are the system. But when you begin to experience the world holistically, it gradually dawns on you that you, your neighbor, friend, relative are a collective psyche. Psychic, framed in shells. As soon as you understand yourself a little more from the inside, the mechanism of this understanding spreads to others - just like that, from the inside, you begin to see what motivates each person in reality.
The result is a little brighter colors, a little richer sounds, a little tastier communication, a little more inclusion in the flow of life and a little more buzz from life. It’s easier to fit into it, without having to frantically convince yourself that you love people. But your responsibility is completely different. If we are holistic, then each of us is responsible for the actions of others, including negative ones.
Spiritual search and development - eccentrics out of this world
Not fun. Not easy. But this, according to system-vector psychology, is the spiritual development of the individual. In an effort to live (like eccentrics) not for themselves, but for others.
In order to repeat on its own scale the Curies, who decided not to patent radium and not to make money from their discovery, because it, the discovery, belongs to humanity.
Humanity is developing (contrary to pessimists who believe that it is degrading). The concentration of the collective psyche intensifies and along with it the potential with which each new generation is born grows. And we, people, have a choice of which charge, “+” or “–,” to add to the most powerful fuse that matures in the psyche (in one cauldron) and manifests itself in each of us in particular.
Without the question “is there a God” - a systematic view of spirituality
Thinking systematically about the topic of spirituality, you come to several conclusions.
Firstly, spirituality is not equivalent to esoteric practices, meditation and everything that develops the habit of masterfully turning off certain parts of the brain. Spirituality is a state in which you feel part of the whole, live for others and are responsible for everyone, not just yourself. The body - the outer shell - is a resource, and the most you can do with it is to learn to keep it in good shape and feel good, so that it does not distract from real spiritual work on yourself, from self-knowledge and spiritual development of the individual.
Secondly, you need to live to the fullest, giving your best and giving to the world what is inside you. After all, everything you do for others, you do first of all for yourself.
And finally, there is no degradation as such, there are different volumes of psyche and desire that are difficult to fill in the modern world in conditions of general disorientation. What can everyone do? Get your bearings. Learn to feel part of the whole.
When a person starts spiritual search? When he has a negative feeling that life is meaningless. Everything ends in death. A person goes through such agony and ultimately achieves nothing.
One day you will realize that life is insignificant the way we lead it. And you will begin searching for something more significant, something more blissful. This is the positive part.
A person's whole life is an imaginary projection. He wants to achieve what he wants. And he thinks that this is the goal of his life. And life shatters dreams because it is what it is. And not the way someone wants. No, reality is not hostile, it is a person who is at odds with it.
One day a person will realize this and will stop wishing for something, but will want to know “what is.” Spiritual quest is an encounter with existence without any desires. If there are no desires, then the projection mechanism will stop working, and the person will be able to see what really is.
Desires never give anything, they only promise. And they disappoint. Reality is always here and now, in the present, but a person is always in the future (in dreams, desires) or in the past (in memories). Desires, dreams are dreams. One day a person's sleep will be disturbed and he will awaken to reality, to the present. This is what man has always lacked - completion, ecstasy.
Spiritual quest- it means to be in the present moment. And this is possible only when the desiring mind is absent. The only time that exists is now, it is eternal, but we are not in it. You can call it meditation, yoga, prayer, whatever you want. The main thing is that there should be no mind. The mind cannot exist in the present. When you think about something, you are already in the past.
When you are here and now, you explode into reality, and reality explodes into you.
First realize the disappointments of life. Don't leave any illusion because you will become attached to it. Don't avoid anything. Recognize life's disappointments. Only then can you be in the here and now. Get past this negative part, and meditation will be easy for you, because no one wants or dreams anymore.
People run so fast that they do not see open existence. And the more frustrated they become, the more they increase their speed. And the mind tells them that they are not achieving because they need to run faster.
In India, the world is called “samsara” - the wheel. People run and the wheel also rotates. And if someone stops, the wheel continues to rotate anyway. You need to get out of it completely. Become a witness. And then the person will be outside of it.
Once aware of this vicious circle, a person becomes silent and blissful. He no longer expects anything, and therefore is not disappointed. He does not hope and there is no feeling of hopelessness. he is restrained, calm, strong-willed, unshakable.
Everything that can be known: God, moksha, reality, exists in the present moment, and only in it. Knowledge comes when you are here and now.
retelling of conversations of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho)
Since ancient times, spiritual search and development have been and remain the lot of a negligible number of people. This is not because most of the planet's population are, in fact, two-legged animals or, as some followers of radical spiritual movements like to say, “space junk.” The main reason for the low popularity of spiritual search is that a person’s instinct for survival tells him that, for starters, it would be nice to eat enough, have a roof over his head and a life partner to procreate.
The only trouble is that most people do not know when to stop in such aspirations and stop looking for more and more delicious food, an expensive roof and an ideal companion. In reality to a person in material terms, you don’t need so much, so that well-dressed people on advertising posters don’t lie to you. The main generator of happiness is our mind, and not the scenery around us. But this can only be understood by losing trust in society and the thinking that was brought up in our heads from early childhood.
The spiritual search begins with mistrust. When you are clearly sure that everything in the world is as it should be, and the order of things suits you, you have no time for spiritual search. This is why in most cases spiritual seekers turn out to be rebels. I remember the feature film “The Island”, in which the main character turned sideways to the icon while praying in the temple. Rebellion, however, does not mean that you are a spiritual seeker. You can rebel against the system either just for fun or to promote another system. A striking example of such a rebellion are small religious organizations opposing large state religions.
Any teaching that has more than one follower is false. That is why the spiritual search presupposes an individual path, “through thorns to the stars.” On this path you may have mentors, like-minded people, but not absolute authorities in the form of books or gurus. If you have found some source of “Truth,” then your spiritual search is over. Only distrust of everything can help you move on.
Mistrust, however, does not mean that you become an unsociable and conflict-ridden person. In the tradition of spiritual search, there is such a thing as “flowers on the sidelines.” These are the very abilities that a spiritual seeker acquires. The nature of these abilities depends on the direction in which the seeker moved and what practices he applied.
The direction of spiritual search largely depends on the life situation that a person has. Very often the seeker is motivated by illness. Then the spiritual path begins with healing practices: yoga, qigong, pranayama or visualization techniques. Having recovered from an illness, a person understands that in the healing process a new, unknown world has opened up for him, in which everything is no longer as clear as it seemed before. It also happens that a person’s spiritual search begins with a craving for the unknown - those laws in accordance with which existence is built. The seeker masters methods that help him expand his range of perception and tries to understand how the world works on a spiritual level invisible to the eye.
Sometimes the system itself pushes a person towards a spiritual search, putting constant pressure on his personality. Renegades of all stripes, black crows, ugly ducklings and other “losers” are simply forced to stop the eternal social race for their own tail and pay attention to themselves. Why doesn't society accept a person? The answer to this question can be found in countless esoteric books. An excellent example of such literature are the books of Osho.
As a rule, if a spiritual seeker does not aggravate the conflict with society, then, thanks to the “flowers on the sidelines,” he very easily finds his place in the system and establishes contact with the people around him. Here it is appropriate to recall the book by Richard Bach “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”, in which the main character first refuses the general race for food, and then invents a unique way of obtaining it. At the same time, Jonathan does not specifically strive for such a development, but discovers a method of catching fish at depth by accident, in the process of studying the capabilities of his body.
The main thing in spiritual search, as already written above, is not to stop. You can also add that you should not take what you have achieved too seriously and reverently. As soon as you decide that you have become not just an ordinary seeker, but a person who has achieved certain successes on the spiritual path, these very “successes” become shackles on your metaphorical legs as you walk along the spiritual path.
Spiritual quest is a search for oneself. It seems strange, but civilization, which has maximally arranged our life, provided us with light and warmth, saved us from searching and obtaining food, has deprived us of connection with the natural world and the Supreme Source.
A modern person rushes from dawn to dusk in order to earn more money, to buy a larger home, to furnish it more richly, to buy a more expensive car. And then earn even more for the rest of your life in order to give out loans, maintain a house, car, dacha, housekeeper and gardener.
I always thought that it was not bad at all to have a big house, a good car and a housekeeper. The question is different: Is this really necessary for you personally? Or rather, this is just a stereotype of a successful person imposed from the outside, who must certainly be “packed with the attributes of material well-being.”
At a certain age, usually between 35 and 42, many people experience a spiritual crisis. And among them, oddly enough, there are enough “successful” and “packed” ones. Realizing that half their life is behind them, some people come to the terrible conclusion that in fact there was no life at all: just one “package”. As the great Dante wrote:
Having passed halfway through earthly life,
I found myself in a dark forest,
Having lost the right path.
And only then does a person, overcoming the pain of disappointment, set foot on the path spiritual search. Regardless of the “degree of coolness,” sooner or later everyone has to HONESTLY evaluate their life achievements. In fact, life is fair, although it takes a lot of experience to understand this.
Spiritual quest is a search for answers to life’s main questions: “Who am I? ”, “What am I doing?”, “Why did I come into this world?” Spiritual quest- this is the search for your life purpose, true purpose, the meaning of your existence.
It's great when young people take the path spiritual search: self-knowledge, creative self-development and self-realization. After all, understanding where and why he is moving, over time such a person does not experience the pain of disappointment. Even developmental psychology states the fact that only after completing the main tasks of a particular age cycle can a person freely move on in life.
So what? As before, will we transfer all responsibility for the lack of meaning in life, for false values, for the pursuit of other people’s goals to modern society, urbanization, the government, or will we still take it upon ourselves? Let us take upon ourselves and purposefully and consistently pursue personal growth and spiritual improvement. After all, for a mature and reasonable person there is simply no other way!
Material benefits are good only when they are the result of doing work that is loved and useful for other people, realizing true life goals, and realizing one’s earthly mission.
I’m not against houses and cars, I’m against sacrificing the main thing in favor of the secondary...
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The accuracy and reliability of copies of the Bible have long been the subject of the most frequent critical attacks of skeptics. However, in 1947, in the Qumran caves, the Bedouin shepherd Muhammad ed-Dib accidentally discovered scrolls of almost all the books of the Holy Scriptures, dating back to the 1st century BC. In order to determine how many errors appeared in the Bible over 1000 years, scientists compared these scrolls with later copies. Some time later, the results of research were published that shocked everyone: for a thousand years the Bible has not undergone any significant changes that could affect its essence!
It turned out that among the Jews, the work of rewriting the Bible was considered a special sacred act. There is information according to which, if during the course of work a scribe accidentally placed an ink stain, the entire scroll was subject to destruction. This rule was followed even if the mistake was made at the very end of the book, the creation of which took many months. At the end of the work, the copyist was obliged to check the number of words and letters in the original and the passage he rewrote. In cases where inconsistencies were discovered, he had to carefully search for where exactly the error had been made.
The scribes believed that every word in the Bible was God's Word, so they were afraid to distort it. Thus, thanks to their thoroughness and perseverance, we can confidently say that the Book we hold in our hands today is not an invention of man, but the authentic Word of God, written by the prophets. It should be noted that the 24,000 ancient manuscripts of the New Testament also force us to put aside any doubts about its reliability.
Speaking about the accuracy of the Bible, it should be noted that the facts indicated in it were thousands of years ahead of scientific discoveries. For example, in everyday life. 1.12 talks about the origin of species. Interestingly, concepts such as chromosomes and the genetic code, which open up the possibility of transition from species to species (thus refuting the theory of evolution), became known to science only in the last century. For example, Job's contemporaries believed that the Earth in its current position was held by elephants, whales, or giant turtles. However, God revealed the following to the righteous Job: “He ... hung the earth on nothing” (Job 26: 7). It was only in the 17th century that the laws of gravity were discovered by Isaac Newton.
Scientists of antiquity did not have a common point of view regarding the very shape of the Earth: some considered it square, others triangular, and still others flat. But 2500 years ago in one of the books of the Bible (Is. 40:22) it was said that “He is the One who sits above the circle of the Earth.” It was only in the 16th century that the Spanish sailor Ferdinand Magellan proved that the Earth was round.
Isaac Newton comes to the following conclusion: “The Bible contains more evidence than all secular history put together.”
Was the material useful?
Yes 0 No 0Spiritual quest Now there are many people in the world who have taken upon themselves the niche of being preachers and claim that their path to God is the best. For this they create their own religious movements. Often such people are excellent speakers. In most cases, the knowledge they give to people does not have a serious basis and is designed for gullible, naive people. The motives for such activities can be very different.
But those who truly want to come to God and sincerely embark on the spiritual path should not become discouraged, but in their search rely on the criteria that will be discussed below.
There are four main criteria for the truth of the spiritual path.
The first criterion is time.
It is safe to say that the spiritual path, tested by time, can claim to be true. Now in the world there are several true spiritual paths to God: Christianity, Hinduism (for example, Vaishnavism as its main movement), Islam, Judaism, Buddhism. They are time-tested, having been around for thousands of years.
The second criterion is the test of life of people who follow one or another spiritual path. To explore this criterion, you need to read and listen about the lives of such people (Saints). Having traced their life path, it is necessary to understand how they lived, what they taught and what example they left as a legacy for themselves.
The third criterion is the way of knowledge transfer.
For example, Vaishnavism is characterized by a chain of disciplic succession.
The fourth criterion is immutability.
Spiritual knowledge is the most serious and important knowledge and therefore must reach us and be transmitted in its original form from authoritative sources (without speculative philosophizing or distorted interpretations of individuals). It must have unshakable postulates and principles that always remain the same regardless of time.
These are the main criteria. Finally, it is worth emphasizing that each spiritual path that meets these criteria has its own unique spiritual taste of a person’s relationship with God. You can understand your spiritual path by communicating with people who follow them. Over time you will understand what is yours. God will tell you in your heart how you can come to him. Sincerity and purity of aspirations are important.
Just never think that your way is better than others. It’s just your path, the one that is closer to your heart. And people who go to God, like you, only in other ways, should be respected, appreciated and loved.
