Roadblocks to Spiritual Englightenment

In my article “Oneness – The Starting Point & The Ultimate Goal”, I focused on the need to heighten our awareness to the cosmic power and endeavour for Oneness with it. Although the article may resonate fully for some human beings, others may not find it relevant depending on their situation in life at a given time. For instance, for a person facing issues in a relationship and on the verge of separation, or for a person dying with cancer, spiritual awakening is not of interest given the urgency of the situation. Although Oneness is the answer to everything, at that given point of time, talking about Oneness will not please the individual and that person may not want to listen at all. Their priority is to escape their situation; they are unlikely to see spiritual awakening as an answer to that situation. Even if that person thought about Oneness for a moment, they would not be able to focus due to the mental state caused by their condition or illness. In a nutshell, not everyone is ready for spiritual awakening. (Or, not everybody’s situation is the same – because of this they have different priorities, urgencies, etc.). For this reason, not everyone’s preference will be Oneness or Spiritual Awakening, given their situation in life. I have come up with the following categories that people reach given the context of their life situation: CATEGORY I – SPIRITUALLY ENLIGHTENED:rnSpiritually enlightened individuals are those who have already made an entry into the spiritual arena, accepting and welcoming Oneness with open arms. These individuals do not carry an iota of doubt in their minds and are one with Cosmic reality. These individuals are incredibly calm and sorted by nature. The spiritual journey, which has brought them to where they are today, has helped them find inner peace while letting go of all obsessions. They are in a state of complete Oneness or wholeness. CATEGORY II – WILLING TO GET ENLIGHTENrnWilling to enlighten are those who have a direct interest in Oneness. They are ready to embrace spiritual awakening that will lead to Oneness with the cosmos. CATEGORY III – UNREALIZED QUEST:rnIndividuals in this group have a sacred mental space reserved deep within. They are not directly interested in spiritual awakening or Oneness, but these individuals find it challenging to interpret and understand the concepts of the Universe. They have umpteen questions hovering in their minds. The quest for clarity pushes them to draw insights from different sub-branches of spirituality, including the inception of the Universe, reincarnation, and the cycle of life and death, among others. CATEGORY IV – UNBELIEVERSrnNext up are the Unbelievers who put up a brave front while trying to cut off all ties from the world of spirituality and inner awakening. They are further subdivided into three categories: 1) Due to specific not-so-positive instances that have taken place in their lives – or terrible life experiences – these individuals are generally bitter by nature and often surrounded by black clouds. These individuals are unknowingly anti-spiritual due to the lack of something, say, good health, wealth, family, relationships, and career propositions in their lives. 2) This group is opposite to group 1. They possess all sort of worldly stuff and do not see anything beyond materialism. They do not want to explore any area outside of their comfort zone. Few of them are entirely happy and content, yet they do not feel any need for exploring spirituality. Although we may come across many people with a lot of worldly possessions and comfort zones, it is quite hard to see people fully contented. 3) This group falls between 1 & 2. They may lack materialistic possessions to some extent, may have a need or want of something mental or physical, but they do not see spiritual awakening as a necessity. STAGE V – WILLING UNBELIEVERSrnWhen someone is facing an issue (or more) in life at a severe level, getting out of that situation is the number 1 priority. Those issues may include but are not limited to, as mentioned before, a disease like cancer, a relationship being at the verge, financial hardship, etc. In other words, this is when a person is on the brink of survival in terms of physical or mental health, relationship, or finances. While there may be infinite types of situations to list, everything can be narrowed down to three main areas: a) Health (Physical and Mental) b) Relationships (Personal and Social) c)) Finances There may be a mix up of the above categories in someone’s life. In that case, it comes down to priority and need that, in turn, depend upon the mental state of the person. For instance, a person willing to get spiritually enlightened may also have low finances, but is looking at finding peace within. So, financial hardship does not bother them. Therefore, despite being in category V, this individual can be seen in Category II. One of the great spiritual teachers of our times, Eckhart Tolle, mentions in his book “A New Earth” (which is a must-read for everyone) that a “pain body” – when at extremes – may lead a person to focus more on inner peace. A pain body is different than a hardship. For more details about pain bodies, as suggested, read the book “A New Earth”. I’m just trying to relate that, on similar grounds, a hardship at extreme may also reorder priorities and a person post-setback may want to seek more significant answers. So, the categories can interchange before a person can become spirituality enlightened. While Category I is the goal for every human being, these categories do not form a ladder that needs to be climbed upward. Instead, a person from any Category can jump to Category I. Given the above categories and the fact that Oneness is the answer to all issues, we need to relate the above circumstances to Oneness. Categories I and II need no further detail than to comprehend that the key to all spiritual awakening or the final state is Oneness with this Cosmic Void. Categories III, IV, and V remain in question. Instead of focusing on Oneness, we need an opposite approach where the starting point is the given category – or more precisely, a given life situation where the endpoint is Oneness. In other words, we need to go from a life situation to Oneness rather than from Oneness to a life situation. The latter approach would resemble rowing a boat against the water flow in a river – it will not be as effective. We will discuss these categories in detail in my upcoming blogs, but for now I want to conclude that, irrespective of our situation in life, Oneness is the answer to everything. No person can eliminate the need for spiritual awakening from their life. After all, Oneness is the only answer to all life difficulties. What is required is a clear pathway from a given life situation to the state of Oneness.