Submitted by admin on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 20:15
Posted in
The changes that we track when we adopt a more intellectual approach to spirituality are the ones that bring our thoughts more into line with our principles. Of course, like in psychology, there are other changes than the intellectual ones that can be tracked but then you would probably use a different method. And just as you can define two kinds of changes in all areas of psychological development, you can find them as well in spiritual development. The first is a very slow incremental process with almost imperceptible changes while the second is a more sudden and quite noticeable step upward.
Messages are the equivalent of events in our everyday life. They stand out from the background of more routine activities. The better we understand the relationship between the everyday life of our soul, messages, the smaller incremental changes and the larger step-ups, the easier it will be to patiently and persistently apply ourselves to the tasks our messages point out.
The step-up that I have experienced in recent weeks took me by surprise. That’s not surprising because step-ups are always a little disorienting, as our customary way of viewing things is suddenly different. And although I had been working on decreasing my self-centeredness (with a spiritual INTENTION) and had glimpses of what I thought it might be like to be less self-centered, I had never imagined the change to be quite like it was. “Paul” was no longer central to my identity. How could “Paul” imagine what that would be like? How could he imagine that this change was not even primarily because of his efforts but a result of the natural development of my soul?
It's hard to describe developmental changes because they are inner experiences, so don’t believe that it is because it isn’t real. You will grasp things that have always been there but it will be in some way differently than before. You can imagine the difficulty by making an analogy to a step-up in your psychological development. You know it has happened because it happened to others, but you can't really describe what's so different—except that everything is different. In fact, a step-up can be so disorienting that you aren’t even sure what your own efforts contributed and what was the result of some other spiritual forces that you are unaware of.
To try to describe it, however, I would say that my spiritual beliefs in general feel less theoretical and more real, better integrated with everything else that I have learned in 67 years of material living. For example, I can now think that the universe is powered by a living, caring purposeful force that wants the best for all of us. There is no conflict with science. I am more attracted to spiritual life and less attracted to material life. It might be exactly what most religious people believe. Yet, each of us must follow our own path to reach the same goal. Each of us must go through the same stages of development in our own way.
I can see the change in specific situations as well. For example, I am not as upset by the ups and downs of life or by stories in the news. I find less inner resistance to putting aside my own agenda to help someone else. The value of my small efforts is clearer.
I have been working on decreasing my self-centeredness for as long as I can remember. Yet this is the most significant decrease in it that I can remember. I track whatever happens to me first in relation to my intention and self-centeredness, then in relation to any other factor. I do it for the same reasons that psychologists study one element of behavior at a time—because both psychological and spiritual life are so very complex. As you follow several sequences of change in relation to the factors you consider most determining, you can plot your trajectory. You can have a pretty good idea of what smaller changes you’ll need to make to consolidate your last step-up and what smaller changes will be needed to lay the groundwork for the next step-up. This is an invaluable understanding.
Send your comments about the changes you see in what you consider to be the most essential elements in your own spiritual development (as I do INTENTION and self-centeredness) by clicking on this link to add a comment http://www.decodeyourmessages.com/content/repeat-tracking-changes. If your changes were confirmed by a message, add your experience by clicking on the link http://decodeyourmessages.com/node/add/experience.
