Being 100% on your spiritual path

[alpine9]

The spiritual path I'm talking about is the one that you incarnated into this body for not a cultivation path.

how do we know if we're on this path 100%?


I know there is somthing I should be doing and I ask myself every day

[James S]

It's not often we are on our paths 100%, but for the times we are walking it, you seem to feel it, or know it. Everything works, everything seems brighter & more alive. A lot of synchronicities happen.

Its sort of hard to put into words as its more a deep seated feeling.

Blessings,
James.

[Wizard of Light]

I agree with James , it is like a knowing.  I guess kind of the same deal they say about "how do I know I am really in love?" - you just "know".

Things don't seem a massive, constant uphill struggle.  They just seem to flow more from one thing to the next... not that there aren't struggles, because that is how we learn in life.

Things just "feel right", and the little signs around you just tell you that you are doing just fine.

[Kenneth]

A little story about how Airplane Autopilots works might enlighten this some more *LOL* ....

If you draw a straight line between two countries, and an airplane were to fly this cource by autopilot, it works like "a little to the left ... Okay, too much - well, a little to the right then - Ups, to much again", and so on and so on. In the end, the airplane will have been "on cource" only about 5% of the total flying time (each time it crossed the line) - and therefore OFF COURCE for about 95% of the time.

But - it STILL gets to it's destination on time ...

[WalkerInTheWoods]

I am 100% on my path just because I am. In my opinion we are all on our path 100%. To me it is not about always meditating and doing a certain thing. Even when I "get off the path" I am on it because some things make me become more aware of where I need to be and what I need to be doing. That to me is still "on the path" because those things are just as important because they bring about realization. So everyone is on their path, it is just that we are all on different paths leading to the same place.

[taoita]

This is the kind of enquiry that really bugs me.  Apart from anything else, it's a general intuitive agreement within yourself that you know when you are committed sincerely to growth, I think that it's pure and simple.

[almost there]

The word I use for that "path" is dharma.  I feel as if I have an internal compass that tells me when I'm on track.  It's the way James S. expressed it above:

...you seem to feel it, or know it. Everything works, everything seems brighter & more alive. A lot of synchronicities happen.

It's easy to get off the path without recognizing it, but eventually you start feeling uneasy, restless, depressed or distressed.  Then you just look within, find something you thought or felt you needed to do but avoided, and just do it.

[Greyfox]

A lot depends on how you define "path."  If your path is Gurdjieffian transformational psychology, you aspire to be "awake"--often, when you are "asleep," you don't know it--because you are "asleep."

I think everyone who is enlightened sometimes forgets that he or she is enlightened, and lapses into some sort of fear-based nonsense, anger or regret.

Still, for me, the whole "path" thing is a tad too linear to be relevant for spiritual/intuitive matters.

[Lestat]

Always.

We are always on the path, just sometimes we hit round-a-bouts that we stay on for ages until we fully absorb a lesson and move on.

You can never really lose the path

[Beecharmer]

Fallnangel77 and Lestat have got it right.

Ask yourself this ... are you dead yet? (aka "are we there yet?" - but on a grander existential scale)  No?  Then you're on the right path - and when the path comes to its end so will you - for this time.

Enjoy your choices.

[Tayesin]

The Path is your life, good and bad, and everything in between.  What path is smooth, has no ups and downs ?  Answer, the one not worth living.

Love.

[andonitxo]

Even the most filthy path is, in fact, a spiritual path. Both sages and bitches, both saints and thieves, they all are in a development path to learn the lessons they haven't done before.

Time ago I used to think: look at that woman, wasting her time cleaning up her home and cooking... but time after I realized there's evolution in cooking too, in all activities, in all paths.

What I don't know is what's up when you open your mind up to spirituality. Does it mean you're in the last tiles of the golden path?. Who knows, anyway it's as easy to be up as to be down in the next instant.

[Second_star_to_the_right]

I worry a lot about this, although....

I'd like to think that everyone is automatically on their path from the moment they're conceived.  Only it's up to us exactly how we get there.  What's important are the lessons we learn while traveling along that path.  We may even have to backtrack a few times.  I've certainly felt lost a few times in my life.

I'm not even sure that we have a real "path" to follow in the first place. (Career/family/etc.)  Maybe we're just here on this crazy planet to do good for others and handle life's difficulties with as much grace as we can.  Maybe our actions toward others and the way we deal with what life throws at us are a lot more important.

I hope that makes sense.

Kristin

[GroovyGoddess]

Although I've often wanted life to have a purpose, I don't think that it does. We may have a purpose from a spiritual standpoint, but we also have free will to choose not to follow it. Free will allows us to make our own choices so that we can see how those choices will affect us and other people.

[AndrewTheSinger]

There is no path to go, there is no line to walk upon, people that say you should go one way or another are trying to control you and make you complacent, there are just certain qualities we need to acquire in order to shine, and what they are I'm sure you know.

[James S]

Although I've often wanted life to have a purpose, I don't think that it does. We may have a purpose from a spiritual standpoint, but we also have free will to choose not to follow it. Free will allows us to make our own choices so that we can see how those choices will affect us and other people.

I absolutely agree that we have free choice.
Consider though that many of the choices we make were made by our souls prior to incarnating in this physical world.

The trick is to remember what those choices were and why we made them.

:question:
James.

[greatoutdoors]

James, you raise an interesting point -- and question. If the point of living multiple lives is to learn and grow, then why do we not clearly remember each prior life? If you were learning math and each new day you forgot the previous day's lesson, how could you possibly learn?!  :confused:

[James S]

I know what you mean Greatoutdoors.
It seems to be one of lifes little dichotomies.
I know I've been given an answer to that question somewhere, but I can't remember it. Maybe because it wasn't a good answer.

I think it has to do with remembering. Something to do with forgetting who we really are and what we're really here to do as we take on the inputs and influences of this world.
Bit of a bummer really, but I'm sure there's a good reason for it.  :confused:
Make that - there'd better be a good reason for it.  :exclamation:

[Leilah]

James, you raise an interesting point -- and question. If the point of living multiple lives is to learn and grow, then why do we not clearly remember each prior life? If you were learning math and each new day you forgot the previous day's lesson, how could you possibly learn?!  :confused:

Well, I'm learning and I don't know anything about my past/multiple lives. Although I like your analogy, in this case, maybe you should revise it.  

[greatoutdoors]

James, I am with you 100%! Otherwise we are circling this track for no reason at all and I for one could do without it!

Leilah, that is my point. I am also learning things in this life and have no real memories of past lives. So what happens when we die and come around again? Are we learning the same thngs over and over? I am sure that math student goes home some days very happy with what he/she learned. But the next day is it all to do again?  :confused:

[Leilah]

OH, ok. That's your point. I thought you meant it.. differently.
In that case, I really couldn't say. I hope were not learning the same things over and over again. Unless, were doing so because we didn't really learn it the first time around. So it'd be like retaking Algebra II because you failed it. But then again, I don't think anyone can fail in life.

It's a thinker, that's for sure. Although... I don't even think you can find the answers to such questions through thought alone.

[GroovyGoddess]

I know what you mean Greatoutdoors.
It seems to be one of lifes little dichotomies.
I know I've been given an answer to that question somewhere, but I can't remember it. Maybe because it wasn't a good answer.

I think it has to do with remembering. Something to do with forgetting who we really are and what we're really here to do as we take on the inputs and influences of this world.
Bit of a bummer really, but I'm sure there's a good reason for it.  :confused:
Make that - there'd better be a good reason for it.  :exclamation:

I think that there is a very good reason for us to experience the sleep of forgetting. Can a child ever experience truly being a child if it has the worries and cares of an adult?

A critical part of our existence is being open to experience the world through different perspectives. As adults we are conditioned by our environment and society. A child comes into this world without any conditioning, so it can see a totally unique and fresh perspective. It would seem to me that ignorance is a vital part of the human experience. Its actually a really beautiful process when I think about it. We're being trained to perfect each stage of our spiritual transformation so that eventually we'll come back one day and function in perfect harmony with our surroundings. If we were already omnipotent, how would we be able to appreciate the accomplishment and the natural joys that life has to offer?

[alpine9]

Now I know what puts you and keeps you 100% on you spiritual path.

That is to surrendering your will, mind and body to your inner spirit, higher self, or higher power. Then you will have spontaneous Right Action and spontaneous Meditation as byproducts.

[E]

Isn't that cool, Alpine9, when you ask a question and before it's all said and done you get your own answer?!  That happens to me often.  Of course, a year later my answer often changes or should I say, broadens.  I remember asking a question 10 years ago that I have just now begun to really understand.  Well, okay, 100 questions  .

I'm in tune with all the responses here.  Your path is your life, whether you are a householder or a guru.  As you spiritualize that path you begin to live in a different way.  For example, you don't curse that you have a pile of dishes to do and you are tired.  You have an accident and you don't fall apart over it.  Joe or Jane says something really irritating or against anything you 'believe' and you allow it without judgement.  You begin to see that the conditional world is just karma running off and not what you, they, and everything really is.  Negative attitudes begin to be replaced with positive character traits.

There is always that 'veil' on the physical level where we don't remember.  It is a very compassionate structure.  I know someone who, when she began to remember some past lifes, killed herself - and she was in her 30's!  So ya, baby humans are not geared to withstand all of that.  It's a continual maturation process.  If you get to the point of knowing your true self, past lives and other understandings begin to be revealed.  The Buddha had - what - 800 lives he remembered before he was ripe enough to set himself free.

There can be a confusion between physical life purpose and our true purpose.    What is the 'right' job, how should I fix my hair, who should I marry and on and on.  We use physical and mental properties to figure these things out and if we make mistakes, we do something different.
By true purpose I mean how we do our job, how we treat our spouse and children,  whether we are pretty and how we fix our hair (other than being presentable to society), how we rise above anger and jealousy et al.  Whether we can see a beggar on the street and know he is also on the path (as you've all pointed out) and love that part of him/her that is the same as us.

[Psionic]

It is true that we are always a 100% on our spiritual paths. Meditation and related techniques are a tool or catalyst to accelerate the evolution to the next level of consciousness(a.k.a. Enlightenment, Spiritual Ascension or Christ Consciousness). I have looked into spirituality quite a bit and I must say, evolving to the next level is the toughest thing you would ever try to accomplish in life.