Health | Spirituality for Seekers

Some people believe that spirituality and success are completely unrelated, and that you can’t have both at the same time. According to the common view, you must either pursue spirituality and leave success for other people, or you must ‘sell out’ in order to achieve success by casting your spiritual values aside.

This is a false dichotomy, and a brief look at the natural world presents a very different possibility. Nature shows us at every turn that it is perfectly normal for all of life to want to express itself as fully as possible.

Plants and trees grow and flourish; fish, birds and mammals have an instinctive drive to mature and multiply; new-born babies develop into fully-grown adults; and the physical universe itself is constantly expanding its boundaries. It is therefore self-evident that success is a perfectly natural thing to pursue, and an equally natural thing to achieve.

But if success is natural, why do so many people feel like failures? And how can a person experience success in life without sacrificing their spiritual values?

The Big Problem

The big problem in today’s world is that it has a very skewed idea about what it really means to be successful, and this demands that people take an equally distorted approach to achieving success.

Imagine a world in which apples become so valued by society that people go to any lengths to get their hands on as many of them as possible. Those who already have plenty of apples continue to grab as many more as they can in the belief that they can never get enough. At the same time, those who have no apples for themselves falsely conclude that they need to lie, cheat or steal in order to grab a few apples from those who have stockpiled plenty.

It sounds like a ridiculous scenario, doesn’t it? But pause for a moment and consider just why this hypothetical situation sounds so ridiculous.

In my opinion, the scenario sounds ridiculous for a couple of reasons.

The first is because we all know that there really isn’t a limited supply of apples in the world. On the contrary, there are as many apples as we want there to be, because any one of us can grow them from scratch. We don’t need to lie, cheat or steal to acquire apples – we can simply plant as many apple trees as we need and create our own orchard which, if tended properly, will keep us well supplied in apples year after year, for the rest of our lives.

Whilst there is some effort involved in growing apples, there is no pain or strain involved – and there is certainly no need to cast aside spiritual values or ideals – because it is a perfectly natural process. All we have to do is recognise the process by which apples grow, start working with that natural process, and reap the inevitable harvest in due season.

The second reason why the apple scenario is ridiculous is because there is no evidence to suggest that apples are any more precious than oranges, pears, plums, cherries, cabbages or potatoes. If I happen to be someone who enjoys pears or bananas, why should I spend my whole life chasing apples? Why not spend my life growing other crops that I would enjoy even more?

The Liberating Truth

The liberating truth is that success tastes different for each one of us, and that all of us can grow our own version of success simply by bringing our lives into alignment with the natural laws that govern such growth.

Most of us wouldn’t be happy eating only apples, or only pears, or only cabbages, to the exclusion of all other possibilities. Instead, most of us would like to enjoy a balanced variety of foods. Similarly, in real life, most of us would define overall success as having an enjoyable balance of health, happiness, satisfaction in our work, rich relationships and financial security.

The good news is that it is perfectly natural to want all of those things – it is just as natural as the acorn desiring to grow into a well-rounded oak tree.

The even better news is that there is also a perfectly natural way of achieving success in all its varieties, and you can succeed in life in a far gentler and more spiritual way than most people would ever think possible.

Grow It, Don’t Force It

Whether you plant an apple tree, or a pear tree, or you sow cabbages or potatoes, you can’t cause your crop to manifest by force. It doesn’t matter how hard you try, how loud you shout or how hard you work, your crop will only manifest when it is good and ready to do so, according to natural law.

If you want a healthy crop, you simply need to tend it and be patient as it grows all by itself. Trying to force the issue would only lead to frustration, and it could possibly ruin the crop altogether.

The Spiritual Way to Success

The Spiritual Way to Success is a series of 18 weekly lessons here at Spirituality for Seekers which is designed to help you to grow your own ‘crop of success’ the natural way.

You will learn what true success looks like and why spirituality is the most effective way to succeed in all areas of life. Just as importantly, you will also be given specific techniques, exercises and step-by-step instructions that will enable you to experience success at the highest levels in your own life, just as surely as day follows night.

Are You Ready to Succeed the Spiritual Way?

The Spiritual Way to Success series of lessons is being made available to anyone who chooses to support this website via Patreon. As a regular supporter, you will be making it possible for me to devote a great deal more of my time and energy to Spirituality for Seekers, and that in turn will help more of those who are looking to grow as independent spiritual practitioners.

Make no mistake, you were born to succeed in life, and when you get yourself in alignment with the way the world really works from a spiritual perspective, you will start experiencing success quite naturally.

Just as the young oak tree doesn’t have to strain or strive to grow tall and flourish, so you don’t have to struggle to be happy, healthy and prosperous. In fact, if you are currently struggling – as we all have struggled from time to time – then it could simply be that you aren’t quite in sync with the natural laws of the universe. Get yourself in alignment, as you will learn in The Spiritual Way to Success, and you will start noticing the positive results almost immediately.

It is often the case that people begin exploring the spiritual side of life only when they or someone they care about face a health crisis of some kind, and this is probably because human beings know quite intuitively that the spirit plays an important role in physical health. When a person pursues spiritual development, the state of their physical health can often improve quite markedly, and even when one faces a condition which medical experts have diagnosed as ‘untreatable’, focusing on spiritual matters can still provide a great deal in the way of pain management, peace and emotional support.

In the scientific community, the ‘mind-body connection’ is well documented. For example, scores of peer-reviewed studies have shown that regular ‘mindfulness of breathing’ meditation has all sorts of healing properties, such as improving blood pressure, lowering cholesterol, reducing stress levels and even changing the structure of the brain itself. Other spiritual practices, such as chanting a mantra, spending time in a state of quiet contemplation or journaling on a regular basis, have been studied less extensively, but have still been shown to be similarly beneficial.

Whilst it is obviously a very good thing that spiritual practice is helpful to those who face health challenges, it should also be recognised it is something which can and should promote greater levels of health and fitness in those who do not face such challenges. In fact, if your spiritual development is not already helping you to enjoy greater physical health then it is probably the case that you need to look a little closer at your understanding of the relationship between body and spirit.

We usually talk about the body and spirit as if they are separate things, and that is fine for ease of discussion, but there is in fact no real separation, at least during your time as a human being. Whilst you are essentially a spirit being, you are currently living in a physical world, and you therefore need a physical body to operate effectively in it. The more fit and healthy your body is, the better it can serve your spirit, and vice versa.

‘… your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you…’ – 1 Corinthians 6:19

The biblical description of the body being a ‘temple’ of the spirit is a good way to view the relationship between the two, and if you were to live your life according that understanding, it is only natural that you would want to take the very best possible care of your temple.

So how can you do that? Well, your intuition is – as always – your best guide, but here are two essential principles that you may wish to consider adopting as a starting point…

#1 – Mindful Consumption

If your body is the temple of the spirit, you should exercise mindfulness and be respectful when it comes to deciding what you put in it. Consider eliminating (or dramatically reducing) proven toxins such as alcohol and non-prescription drugs from your life, and then exercise the same kind of mindfulness and care when choosing what to eat or drink.

Your temple probably won’t fall apart if you have a less than optimal meal once in a while, so you don’t necessarily need to skip the slice of cake on your birthday, or refuse a special dinner which someone has kindly prepared for you. On the other hand, habitual consumption of processed foods, or those which contain high levels of salt, sugar and saturated fats, will not do your temple any good at all, and could well be indicative of a deeper lack of respect for your general physical wellbeing.

On a mechanical level, your physical body is a superb piece of organic machinery, and like any machine, it will perform best only if treated with care. The cleaner your diet – which includes the liquids that you consume as well as the solids – the more efficiently your body will operate.

#2 – Temple Maintenance

Just as a church or temple building needs checking over and maintaining on a routine basis, so does your temple of the spirit. Neglecting to keep an eye on your medical condition, and to take regular exercise, means that time will take a much greater toll on your physical body than it needs to.

If you aren’t already applying this principle, start by getting checked over by a physician, and then adopt a schedule of regular exercise. The type of exercise that you take should be determined by your personal situation and preferences, so a thirty-minute walk through the park each day can be just as valuable as joining a Tai Chi class or signing up with your local gym. The important thing is to establish the habit of being active every day in a way that suits your current level of health and fitness.

The principle of Temple Maintenance also includes taking good care of your eyesight, hearing, visiting the dentist, being mindful of your posture and getting enough rest. If it helps, try imagining that you are merely borrowing the physical body that you currently inhabit, and treat it with care and respect for the duration of your occupancy.

The Benefits of a Spiritual Perspective

The idea that you should adhere to a clean diet, exercise regularly and take good care of your body are not new, but viewing these things as spiritual practices in their own right can be very beneficial to those who find it difficult to make their physical wellbeing a priority.

Adopt the principles of Mindful Consumption and Temple Maintenance today, start living by them on a consistent basis and your spiritual perspective will automatically help you to enjoy greater levels of health and fitness. Just as importantly, it will also help ensure that you give your ‘temple of the spirit’ the respect that it deserves.