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Authentic Spiritual Growth
© Dick Rauscher - Aug 1, 2007
The metaphor of a river is often used when referring to spirituality and authentic spiritual growth. Authentic spiritual growth is like a river. It calls us to a process of ongoing growth and the need to embracing change. We are always in a state of becoming. Authentic spiritual growth says that today we are the same person we were yesterday, but we are also a new person today. We see the world through the lens of a new consciousness.
When we are growing spiritually, this paradox makes sense to us because we are evolving into deeper complexity and greater simplicity. We become more comfortable with the silence. We find ourselves not "knowing" as much today as we did yesterday. Yesterday we had the answers. Today we find ourselves sitting with the questions. We are becoming more comfortable with mystery, the unknown, and with emptiness.
Authentic spiritual growth is learning to blow on the tiny spark or ember of the divine within us until it bursts into flame and we become the person we were created to become. We become more authentic. We become more self-aware, and as our self-awareness grows, we become more compassionate.
Our spiritual growth is authentic because to we are more comfortable with diversity and inclusiveness. We are less judgmental. We do less harm to the earth and to others. We create less conflict and violence in the world. The beliefs we held to so tightly yesterday are softer and less certain today. We are more enlightened than we were yesterday.
We take delight in showing others what compassion "feels" like. We spend less time telling them how to "be" more compassionate. I used to have the answers.
I don't know how to create peace in the world. But today I know how to create less conflict and pain than I did yesterday because I see the world through the lens of a new consciousness today.
As I grow spiritually and become more self-aware, I am beginning to see the beam in my own eye much more clearly. I find myself less concerned with the speck in my neighbor's eye.
I am growing spiritually. I am becoming more authentic.
PERSONAL COMMENTS
The New York Times ran an interview with ex-president Jimmy Carter recently in which he commented on the presidency of George W. Bush. For any ex-president to comment on a President still in office is unusual. What Carter had to say about Bush was very telling. He essentially said that the Bush presidency is the worst administration in American history in the area of international relations and human rights. I have never heard a more scathing comment on a sitting president by a past president.
Those who know me know that I am deeply disappointed with our current administration. As an American, I am ashamed and embarrassed at the lack of moral and ethical leadership in Washington.
I bring Carter’s comments to your attention, not to politically bash George W., but rather to point out the contrast between the ego driven “spirituality” of our current president and the egoless characteristics and qualities of an “authentic spirituality” discussed above.
I am by nature a hopeful and optimistic person. I try to see the positive in people and situations because I know that the only thing I really have any spiritual control over is my own attitude. I can choose to see the positive, or I can choose to see the negative.
I find it very challenging trying to find the positive in the spiritual foundation of the current President and his administration. I read a lot about his ego’s “religious beliefs” but I find very little evidence of an authentic spirituality in the President or his administration. President Bush appears to be unaware of the beam in his own eye.
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
The primitive ego of the inner-child that lives within each of us attempts to keep the world safe and simple by having only two categories of every thing. One is black and the other is white. This is called either-or thinking. Something is either good or it is bad. Other people thoughts, beliefs, and opinions are either right or they are wrong. Black and white thinking is very primitive and seldom helpful.
This tendency for black and white thinking creates a lot of conflict and violence in the world. All of the conflict and violence we are experiencing around the world today has its roots firmly planted in the soil of black and white thinking.
A very powerful spiritual practice for authentic spiritual growth is to learn to look for the "truth¨ on both sides of any black and white issue. This is especially helpful when others do not agree with your (always correct or "right¨ beliefs). If you can find the truth in the other person's position, you will be able to soften the conflict that often accompanies discussions that are based on primitive black and white thinking.
StonyHill Institute.
GOALS OF THE STONYHILL NEWSLETTER
We live in a world filled with conflict and violence. Almost everyone agrees that something has to change. There is an urgent need to develop a more compassionate global spirituality.
At Stonyhill, we believe it makes no sense to profess the values and morality of peace and compassion while continuing to manifest the primitive ego's paradigm of vertical power called survival of the fittest; a paradigm of power, control, and violence.
We must learn how the unconscious judgments of the primitive ego bring the seeds of conflict, and a sense of "otherness" into the world. If our personal goal is to do no harm to others or the world, then our thinking must consciously evolve and become more conscious or self-aware.
We will become what we think about and authentic spiritual growth is achieved only when we grow in self-awareness.
Traditional mainline religions are based on primitive pre-modern and violent tribal metaphors written during a time when our human consciousness was still very primitive. Until our mainline religions remove the violence contained in their scriptures and come to understand that most of the wisdom in their scriptures is metaphoric and should not be interpreted literally, they will be unable to offer the moral and ethical framework needed to create effective global solutions to the challenges facing us in the 21st century.
We will evolve as humans only as we become more self-aware and intentionally increase our ability to love unconditionally. A compassionate global spirituality is no longer just an interesting philosophic idea; the future of the human species may very well depend upon our ability to create it. The danger that we could destroy ourselves as a species has never been greater. The creation of a compassionate global community is the most important goal of human consciousness in the 21st century.
The Stonyhill Newsletter explores the insights and spiritual practices required to achieve the authentic spiritual growth that comes from deep self-awareness, understanding the primitive ego that resides in each of us, and the intentional evolution of our species consciousness.
The Stonyhill newsletter is written each month for counselors, therapists, clergy, and individuals interested in authentic spiritual growth, intentional growth in our human consciousness, and the formation of a compassionate, non-violent global community that openly embraces radical inclusiveness and diversity.
Namaste
Dick Rauscher
The Stonyhill Newsletter / Blog and the videos related to each Newsletter are designed to teach the insights and everyday wisdom contained in Primitive Ego Psychology. For more technical, in-depth articles on Primitive Ego Psychology and Primitive Ego Theory go to the Stonyhill website at www.stonyhill.com/articles.htm
QUOTES
The trouble with people is that they are busy fixing things they don't even understand.
We are always fixing things, aren't we?
It never strikes us that things don't need to be fixed.
They really don't.
This is a great illumination.
They need to be understood.
If you understood them, they'd change.
Anthony de Mello
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The Stonyhill Newsletter / Blog and the videos related to each Newsletter are designed to teach the insights and everyday wisdom contained in Primitive Ego Psychology. For more technical, in-depth articles on Primitive Ego Psychology and Primitive Ego Theory go to the Stonyhill website at www.stonyhill.com/articles.htm |
