The Spiritual Challenge

Everyone has the opportunity to contribute something unique for the betterment of the human race. It’s this deeply unconscious impulse of original inspiration that drives us on through all the hardships and depravations in the great movement of life. The experience of life consists mostly of undergoing challenges and overcoming adversity through, for example, coping with a physical disability or having to sacrifice time and energy in the struggle to make ends meet. Regardless of one’s wealth or position in society, nobody escapes having to confront the difficulties of life in one way or another.

Living is a process of experience through which a psychological shape of the world is created, with the person at the centre holding it all together. This centre is supported by the deepest attachment to the world. Every moment something is happening which is either strengthening the attachment to the material world or eroding the resistance to the harmony of life. The greater the impulse to control the personal world, the stronger the desire to succeed and wield power over others. For someone less able to control external circumstances, the centre of their world is less secure and vulnerable to be shaken by the waves of external forces. The normal way of living shields the centre by emotional layers of self until, through grace, the personal centre is shattered. This happens through the willing acceptance of the man or woman, as is usually the way in a spiritual awakening, or through events and circumstances that bring about a complete reappraisal of the life.

The unique spiritual challenge reveals itself through the living process in the reflection of the outer circumstantial life. The range and diversity is infinite and beyond any rational understanding. For example, what may appear second nature for a professional speaker to deliver a speech in public may to another be akin to scaling the highest peak. Or perhaps for someone whose fear of entering a relationship has suppressed their deepest yearning for intimacy with another; their main challenge in life could be to take a chance on love. Regardless of the life’s direction, each particular challenge alters the consciousness, not only of the individual but also serves others to bring about the possibility of a radical shift in perception.

One of the hardest challenges at the early stages of the spiritual process is dealing with loved ones such as family members or someone in close relationships still comfortable with their habitual way of life. To be true to the awakened state it may be necessary to leave them behind so that the new phase of a more conscious state of being can be lived. But through being true to life, the parting of the waves creates a potent field of spiritual energy for those left behind, should they be able to let the loved one go on to realise their potential. Such an action of consciousness then instigates the next sequence of events that will further challenge the individual’s resolve. And so life unfolds where each challenge valiantly faced removes another impediment to the realisation of truth.

Eventually, the tap root is recognised as the deepest attachment which, unbeknown, has been shielding the full potency of the divine connection with the source of originating light. By now, the virtue of all that has been gained in the epic struggle with the emotional self takes the perception beyond all superlatives and into a place of indescribable wonder; the protected centre of ignorance is now a shimmering portal to the other side of existence. The creation is now perceived as an inner and outer whole, with the individual consciousness a centre without position which responds to the challenges of living in harmony with the ongoing perfection of life.