Spiritual Growth

[BKR1974]

This is going to be the last post i make for a very long time (if you consider 2 years to be a very long time) ill still be around but im not going to be making posts and i will be able to respond to pm's

So through out my limited experience with this forum i was always the on asking questions not really giving any answers. right now i don't think im in the position to give answers but i do think im in the position to take a stance on a topic that i have wanted to discuss for a long time or at least see the opinions of others and that would be what is spiritual growth. so i see this phrase being thrown left right and center and yet i can't rap my head around it. reason being if growth is another way to say progress then where are we spiritually progressing to why do we need to spiritually progress and if progress means at one point there is a goal what is that goal.

to even take a look at this from a different angle if spiritual growth is this thing that happens when we experience things in our life and these experiences move onto the next life. then what did i learn from my last life and why cant i directly remember these experiences. and what is the goal out of rebirth if i cant even access my last life memories

to take this from another angle (last one before i get to my point) if im not the one that is growing but there is another being attached to me being my higher self and im just a medium to help him grow and all my past lives are just different mediums in different time periods  then why does it have to be so complicated why cant it just grow without me and why dose each medium have a life span before getting physically tossed away and conjoins with the higher self.

so my over all point of this is that why do we need to grow spiritually and why cant we just say its a cycle and there is no true progression its just us experiencing life and what it offers

so as you can probably tell my stance is there is no growth no progression its just us experensing       

[Stillwater]

I am of the same opinion. I don't think we are progressing toward anything. I don't think we are accumulating merit or knowledge or anything like that... I also feel we are just out here experiencing... maybe for its own sake. The world just is, and we just are with it. At least that is how I see it.

[dpk38]

See, the problem is with your perception of reality. You believe that there is a higher self who is governing your actions. You believe we are stuck in a cycle. You believe we are born here for no apparent reason. Now that's the mistake youre making. Don't believe everything you read on the internet, or hear from people. These words will shapen your reality. You will begin to see a tampered/modded version of it. Let me quote an example: If you believe you cannot achieve AP without reaching the vibration stage, you never will. What I'm talking about is something along those lines.

Learn to find answers on your own. Don't take what others are telling you. Listen to various people and collect information, and make your refined version out of it, but again, be open to accept anything. Meditation is one way out. It takes time, but you soon will understand what's going on. Don't worry, itll all make sense. I have found my life purpose; my life is so much more meaningful now! It took me a lot of.time to assimilate and assess my situation and understanding of life to get here.

Keep faith in god and keep searching for the truth.
Good Luck.

[Xanth]

This is going to be the last post i make for a very long time (if you consider 2 years to be a very long time) ill still be around but im not going to be making posts and i will be able to respond to pm's

So through out my limited experience with this forum i was always the on asking questions not really giving any answers. right now i don't think im in the position to give answers but i do think im in the position to take a stance on a topic that i have wanted to discuss for a long time or at least see the opinions of others and that would be what is spiritual growth. so i see this phrase being thrown left right and center and yet i can't rap my head around it. reason being if growth is another way to say progress then where are we spiritually progressing to why do we need to spiritually progress and if progress means at one point there is a goal what is that goal.

to even take a look at this from a different angle if spiritual growth is this thing that happens when we experience things in our life and these experiences move onto the next life. then what did i learn from my last life and why cant i directly remember these experiences. and what is the goal out of rebirth if i cant even access my last life memories

to take this from another angle (last one before i get to my point) if im not the one that is growing but there is another being attached to me being my higher self and im just a medium to help him grow and all my past lives are just different mediums in different time periods  then why does it have to be so complicated why cant it just grow without me and why dose each medium have a life span before getting physically tossed away and conjoins with the higher self.

so my over all point of this is that why do we need to grow spiritually and why cant we just say its a cycle and there is no true progression its just us experiencing life and what it offers

so as you can probably tell my stance is there is no growth no progression its just us experiencing

Spiritual growth... everyone has heard me talk about your "Intent", right?  Well, in my perspective, your goal for being here is to "purify your Intent".
It means making good Love-based choices, while making Fear-based choices will corrupt your Intent.  Your Intent is what drives everything you do & say.

Likewise, there is also a "Societal Intent", which is the Intent which your society uses to make choices.

So what goes with you when your physical body dies?  Your experiences and everything physical is stripped away, but it leaves behind the purification of whatever your Intent was.  THAT is what goes with you to your next incarnation.  You start with an Intent at a slightly higher purification level than you would have otherwise.  This allows you to begin to make MORE positive choices from the get-go, regardless of what situation you might find yourself in.  Now, this isn't always going to be an easy thing... and you could easily find yourself regressing... that's just how the ball bounces, right?  A good person doesn't always have good things happen, but you can always choose you how react to those situations. 

Anyway, don't give up.  If you don't think there's any reason for being... just take a look around and find the Love in the world.  THAT is reason enough.

[dpk38]

There IS a deeper meaning to this reality. Nobody has really gotten the answer. And those who did/do wouldn't be using internet to spread the message... Sadly.

[Stillwater]

Spiritual growth... everyone has heard me talk about your "Intent", right?  Well, in my perspective, your goal for being here is to "purify your Intent".
It means making good Love-based choices, while making Fear-based choices will corrupt your Intent.  Your Intent is what drives everything you do & say.

I mean this somewhat rhetorically, but when you speak of a being that must purify its intent, which being is this? We, that being, what other identity do we have? If as many of us here think, we are a sliver of the greater reality experiencing itself as an individual, why would the greater reality need to purify its intent? Doesn't the greater reality (god, higher self, source, whatever you want to name it) exist outside of time and space? If so, how could it possibly change? It is everything it is ever going to be, no?

This is one reason I am skeptical of world views that involve progression or accumulation of merit or purity, etc. The whole thing seems more coherent if we are simply experiencing a sliver of the greater reality at a time. If the greater reality is infinite, it is and is experiencing all things. We are just one shade of those experiences, in that world view.

I think current society has a positive view of change and progress. We always want to be improving ourselves, moving forward. Maybe we are projecting that view onto metaphysics. We want to feel we are constantly becoming better beings, and that the future will always be better than the past.  Maybe it is a matter of accepting the present moment for its own unique grace, and not needing it to be better than what came before, or needing the future to be better than the past.

I am not really proclaiming one view over another though. In the end they are all speculations. It is good I think to remind ourselves that our answers are far from complete. Always be wary of those that claim they have a grasp on truth, and be careful when your language begins to have too much certainty woven through it. I know it is a danger to me as well 

[Xanth]

Are you struggling with the question of "why are we here"?

[PlasmaAstralProjection]

Personally I take both views. Some of us will progress and some of us will devolve. IDK how many or what the percentage is but that is just the way I see it for a number of reasons. One being that if your body and especially brain get mutilated I don't think there is a terminator effect that will piece together your mutilated body/mind/soul in the afterlife. On the other hand I do think that humanity as a whole is moving toward a greater cause. You know the famous Thomas Campbell said that in each reincarnation we get a better life if the one we lived was one of good choices. I personally believe with good reason that science will lead scientists and researchers to be able to eventually awaken us spiritually by being able to give anyone the ability to astral project and meditate like a Zen master with little to no practice. Thomas Campbell also said that we tend to reincarnate to the same place. So if this is your current reincarnation the chances are that you will come back here again. Unless it's better to reincarnate or go someplace else but that usually isn't the case. I and many others are in the belief that we are in the birthing of a new age here on earth. And IMO science has started that new age and science will be the path to finish it. Once we get to the point where we can do full body and mind immersion video games we will be close to discovering ways to induce astral projection via technology. So IMO progress is very slow and it may not seem like much is happening and in a way that is true but in the big picture that is wrong.

Don't give up and keep you sight on the truth by seeking. Good luck BKR1974.

[Stillwater]

Are you struggling with the question of "why are we here"?

I don't really have a definitive answer, and I gave up needing one.

I lean toward the view I first expressed, but I guess for me it is more about questioning assumptions, than about offering a solution, because I don't have one myself. That is sort of the thing about philosophy... it makes you better at recognizing incomplete arguments, but it also leaves you with fewer things you can actually know for sure, for the same reason.

I guess for me it is more I am content to know I just don't know 

[Bluefirephoenix]

I think one of the important things to remember here is that the answers to deep issues of life and meaning I don't think can be answered on a global level. Interacting with the whole then going back to the illusion of solitude gives time to study, reflect and grow. There may not be an objective truth because the actual truth is so big it's all emcompassing. We cannot exist outside of the whole, only create ( by us or by the whole depending on your belief) an illusion of solitude.

[MeditationMann]

There is often a misconception with our perception of reality. The purpose of us to grow spiritually is to help us learn a particular lesson. It's hard to see it from a physical standpoint, but from the spiritual standpoint there is an inherent reason as to why we incarnated into the human life. In order for us to grow spiritually requires us to learn a specific lesson, if that lesson is a lesson that can be learned here on earth then that is where we go. But we are one of the densest beings there are in the universe and even as complex and smart we think we are, we don't know a fragment of really takes place; our bodies wouldn't be able to handle all of that energy processing through it.

Think of our bodies like a vessel containing a spirit. The spirit possesses a massive amount of energy and for that amount of energy to be incorporated into a body often the body won't be able to handle it so the body will die. Therefore only a small portion (essentially) of our higher self occupies the body. So you could say we are living a duality, which is living a life in the physical and spiritual realm.

We come in with our memory wiped because if we knew the things our higher self knew then there would be no point in us coming to earth to learn the lesson in the first place. That's the thing about being human, it is like the ultimate spiritual test because of the ego and how it influences the karmic cycle both with ourselves and others. We often fall asunder to this cycle by intermingling in the lives and karma of others, thus keeping us here until we learn the lesson that we originally came here to learn.

But spiritual growth is similar to school, we must learn the specific lesson along the way in order to progress to the next level. You can't go from kindergarten to college. This is how the spiritual realm is governed as well. But it seems like an endless, pointless standpoint from our standpoint because we are looking at it in a much more small-minded manner. We will never be able to fully understand the big picture of things because our body would not be able to handle it. But once we ascend to the next level (when we die) we will be able to learn from our earthly mistakes and grow from them.

Being a light being is a much more beautiful experience than anything we could ever dream about in the earthly realm. I'm not speaking from a personal experience obviously but that is what I have learned on the matter and after years of thinking and reading about those things lol

[Bluefirephoenix]

I think I should add this. Spiritual growth is a struggle. It requires intent and focus to get anywhere.... much like going through college. You cannot just loaf around and get where you want to get. You have to study. ( unless your super intelligent)  and you have to work at it. Spiritual growth is no different.  A do or die attitude will go a long way to help you make some serious inroads to who and what you are and why your here. I kinda followed this that and the other thing for a long time ( about 10 years)  When I followed my own intuition and went off the beaten path and start looking at the hows and whys of your inner being with intensity and focus then you will find that things move forward. Energy responds to intention and focus. If you put it into spiritual development and keep there steadily focusing on what you want to accomplish and not letting go til it happens then you'll make really good progress. Dabbling around just lends itself to frustration if it's kept up long term ( It's not a bad things for exploring which direction you want to go )

everyone here has a good point. But what you take out of the information given to you here and go forward with has to be done in a focused way and it has to be lifestyle change rather than a project.