The Purpose of Spirituality

For many years I have been teaching a class that I call "Spirituality That Works." The point is that spirituality is supposed to add something to your life, that life should be better because you are on the spiritual path, or that at least you could acquire some tools or healthier attitudes to deal with life more effectively. When "The Secret" came out, it added the additional layer of getting stuff. You could use your spiritual power to get external rewards. In fact, it has led us to believe that if we are in possession of the right concepts, we have an advantage over those who don't know what we know.

Lately, it has dawned on me that while this has been a major selling point of metaphysical teachings, it is also one of the largest impediments to spiritual growth. By "this" I am referring to the notion that we think we deserve external rewards for walking a spiritual path. When things go well, we assume the path is working. When things hit the fan, we assume it's not. So, we tried harder, we read more books, we went to more classes, we practiced religiously and yet there was no outward effect we could count on. It is at these crossroads where many abandon the spiritual path because it doesn't work.


For me, I had to ask myself a most painful question--WHAT AM I DOING? I recognized that in the midst of my spiritual doings, that I of myself can do nothing. In a moment of clarity, I remembered something I heard once from the Course in Miracles: "Your worth is not established by teaching or learning. Your worth is established by God. Nothing you do or think or wish or make is necessary to establish your worth."

So what then is the purpose of spirituality if it doesn't work to get stuff and make life work? Are we all bound to find less and less value in it only to eventually abandon it or jump on another bandwagon?

No--there is one thing that will preserve spirituality as something that will never lose its value: and that is to use one's spiritual power to love God. Our sprituality is not about us, it is about a connection with God. The world can not be controlled by our affirmations that it can be. But if we seek the Divine simply to have a deeper experience of the Divine, a wonderful, delightful purification of the mind begins. We begin to find Peace, Love and Harmony right where we are, no matter what is happening around us. We begin to experience it at the core of our being.

Ernest Holmes wrote that "As deep cries unto deep, so my thought cries unto Thee and Thou dost answer. I am renewed and refreshed; my whole being responds to Thy love, and I am complete in Thee." I don't know about you, but for me, completeness is its own reward.