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.
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