Why are you on this path?

[VinceG]

Why are you on a spiritual path? It's ambiguous, it's soul-baring. Wouldn't it just be so much easier to give it up? Instead of trying to love more, why not make some more cash? You can always be humble later. Instead of working so hard to learn to relate to others, why don't you just start a business? Business offers concrete, actionable results. Relating just gives you more pain. Why be creative? Creativity is hard, and people just want to attack you for it! Punching a clock, that's easier, and you get paid for it! Good luck getting paid as an artist. Why be so curious? Curiosity killed the cat, you know. Much better to have certainty. Certainty never killed anyone, people build careers on certainty! You can always blame someone else if you're wrong. You want a career, right?

I'll tell you why you're doing it. Because that other life, well, it just isn't worth living. And if that makes you judgmental, well, so-rr-rr-y! Others can have their cash, their security, their certainty. You can have love, laughter, beauty.

[OrangePeels]

There is only destiny.

The path, is the path of destiny, set in stone.

Weather one can change one's destiny or not, IS one's destiny.

[inri]

Originally Posted by VinceG

Why are you on a spiritual path? It's ambiguous, it's soul-baring. Wouldn't it just be so much easier to give it up? Instead of trying to love more, why not make some more cash? You can always be humble later. Instead of working so hard to learn to relate to others, why don't you just start a business? Business offers concrete, actionable results. Relating just gives you more pain. Why be creative? Creativity is hard, and people just want to attack you for it! Punching a clock, that's easier, and you get paid for it! Good luck getting paid as an artist. Why be so curious? Curiosity killed the cat, you know. Much better to have certainty. Certainty never killed anyone, people build careers on certainty! You can always blame someone else if you're wrong. You want a career, right?

I'll tell you why you're doing it. Because that other life, well, it just isn't worth living. And if that makes you judgmental, well, so-rr-rr-y! Others can have their cash, their security, their certainty. You can have love, laughter, beauty.

Like all physical life forms, we are pleasure seeking entities and as such, we naturally gravitate (albeit some faster than others) towards the ultimate 'pleasure'.... higher levels of peace, love, joy...much the same way a flower turns to seek out the light.

Our curiosity and desire to 'know' is merely the manifestation of our natural inclination to move towards that which is at the core of our being...Love.

[Oceans]

I realised recently when we conceptualise and analyse something too much (if at all) it loses its meaning/reason.

However, when I asked myself this question in the past, all I came up with is "it was always going to happen" – and I’m very happy with that answer.

I also answer that way when someone asks about the changes in me- it cuts to the truth and they usually don’t ask any follow up questions

I'm now just sitting back and enjoying the ride

[ButterflyWoman]

Originally Posted by VinceG

Because that other life, well, it just isn't worth living. And if that makes you judgmental, well, so-rr-rr-y! Others can have their cash, their security, their certainty. You can have love, laughter, beauty.

Becoming less judgmental has been part of my journey. Judgement is not conducive to spiritual growth. It limits you in myriad ways.

As for the other life, it's as worth living as any other life. It's all ONE. Those lives of which you're so scornful are still part of the One, part of Source. Consciousness is still present, even if awareness is not, so who are we to decide that a life that doesn't include some sort of "spiritual path" is wasted or useless or wrong?

For the record, I didn't choose this path. It unfolded on its own. All I have ever done is surrender when it became clear that resistance and struggle were futile and would get me nowhere. I am not all special or noble or wonderously wise and holy or in any position to judge. There but the grace of God go I.

Originally Posted by Oceans

all I came up with is "it was always going to happen"

Yes, I've had that realisation. It is what it is, it was what it was, and I'm uniquely suited to it. *shrug* To me, it's like being born with a beautiful face or high intelligence or some other trait deemed "desirable". It's not something you choose. It's just something with which you, for whatever reason, are blessed.

[zeitgeist]

Originally Posted by CaterpillarWoman

For the record, I didn't choose this path. It unfolded on its own. All I have ever done is surrender when it became clear that resistance and struggle were futile and would get me nowhere. I am not all special or noble or wonderously wise and holy or in any position to judge. It's not something you choose. It's just something with which you, for whatever reason, are blessed.

Every spiritual path traveler will probably come to this conclusion at one point of her journey. I am an economist by training and would add that as we move into a knowledge society where you are rewarded by your creativity and the human connections you establish, being a spiritual path traveler is helping your bank account as well.

[neilpage]

hello there! I feel you not know all facts of what others spiritual path could ever be!
A- I am LOVE
B- I push ambition in positive direction every for a better day!
C-Cash... I got some... buts uh' cash does not lead to spirit.. be both know you cant take it with you... no point in it but to give to others who don't have it!
D-Why be creative............. um' it exercise the brain!
E-Curiosity killed the cat. purpose I see not... open a book if so curiosity therefore certainty facts abound. not life loss...

f-You can have love, laughter, beauty.... IT'S IN YOU.

[VinceG]

Thanks for the feedback guys, it's been really illuminating.

[spacecadetglow]

Hi Vince. Love the quote in your signature.

Why am I on this path? I think it's because of my suffering. When none of your distractions can help you feel better, you crave something with a greater power. In those dark moments, I need God.

The pleasures and pains of the world are temporary. But God's joy is eternal, unaffected by outer circumstances. I'm working on developing that equanimity in order to more fully enjoy my worldly pleasure, which is just a taste of divine joy, and understand my pain and work through it. To learn my karmic lessons and eventually burn them all away until there's nothing left.

[Luciddd]

I dont want to pursue this path, but there is some evolutionary principle that makes me go there is like a little child inside of me and if I ignore it and try to go to the mundane world like everyone else, see it as a physical place like everyone else it start to beat the crap out of me.

The child is always wondering "Hey, whats beyond this?" and I say unto this part of me "Isnt that good enough or high enough for you?" and the child say "No, it isnt, I want to evolve to the last stage possible".

I experienced some state, which supposedly was done in a higher body and this state was beyond anything achievable on the physical plane, so you can be sure as the goal is very well worth it.

[theuprising]

because there is no security in that other life, it is full of fear, and also it is not where happiness lies. You get happiness indirectly from wordly things, and sometimes none at all.

[ButterflyWoman]

Originally Posted by spacecadetglow

Why am I on this path? I think it's because of my suffering.

This is a very common background for those who spiritually evolve (I really do think of it as evolution, or transformation, rather than as something "chosen" like a career or a diet or a lifestyle). I have a background that includes all kinds of suffering, abuse, and so forth. Transcending it has been part of my journey, too.

[Mariana Trench]

Huh. Those last lines really get me. It's just how I've been feeling lately: that living with love and trust and forgiveness is worth it--because nothing else is. I've felt like this before and I have no idea what's drawing me in that direction. Weena posted a poem by Mother Teresa that really coincided with that feeling. It just seems like I've been imagining it and it feels so liberating and right. I'm feeling the implementation is going to be tumultuous.

[ChrisGinsburg]

Because this path is the only path that is real. I've always been walking down it. To walk a spiritual path is to simply remove the blindfold.

[taylor]

There is no other option.

When your body dies,

what is going to last?