Spiritual does not equal impractical

Filed under Notes on 2. February 2007 »

Often when people read about spiritual awakening, finding inner peace and becoming free of suffering, they tend to feel that the solutions presented are not practical or applicable in their own lives. They may read something that they know points the way to freedom, and even have glimpses of a state of deep peace, but then fail to see how it can work in modern, everyday situations. For many the concept of ‘enlightenment’ carries with it images of old masters, temples, and monasteries; an environment that seems more conducive to spiritual practice than their own. A concept that “sounds nice, but doesn’t really work in the real world,” as if spiritual wisdom only belongs to a fantasy land far removed from our own reality.

The Tao has a verse dedicated to this, which goes:

Some say that my teaching is nonsense.
Others call it lofty but impractical.
But to those who have looked inside themselves,
this nonsense makes perfect sense.
And to those who put it into practice,
this loftiness has roots that go deep.

Much of the confusion, and the inability to see the teaching in context with what we perceive to be reality, has to do with thinking that our problems are much too complicated for such simple advice. Our social conditioning teaches us that reality is complex, difficult, and devoid of wonder — that the simple world we saw as children was an illusion, and that growing up is a process of disillusionment rather than the other way around. We also tend to think that spiritual awakening comes at the cost of losing touch with reality, and that being enlightened is to have separated yourself from the effects of the so-called real world.

These beliefs need to be questioned, and if you ever feel that a spiritual teaching sounds nice but impractical, ask yourself, in the words of Byron Katie, “honey, is that true?”