Quote of the Day–The Spiritual Journey

This quote for today resonates with me, because it provides clues to the true natural of spirituality and the continual journey of spiritual awakening:

“The spiritual journey does not consist in arriving at a new destination where a person gains what he did not have, or becomes what he is not. It consists in the dissipation of one’s own ignorance concerning one’s self and life, and the gradual growth of that understanding which begins the spiritual awakening. The finding of God is a coming to one’s self.”–Aldous Huxley

About the Author

Aldous Huxley was an English writer best known for writing novels, including Brave New World–a futuristic novel set in the year AD 2540 (530 years from now). He was widely regarding as an intellectual, humanist, and pacifist as well as a philosopher.

What this means for me today…

I am currently reading a book by Deepak Chopra called The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life. This morning, I read Secret #6, which is titled “Freedom Tames the Mind.” Without basically regurgitating the whole chapter here, the general point is that our growth along the path of our spiritual journey is many times constricted by our thoughts regarding the collection of choices we have already made in our lives–and the judgments we have placed on them. Because the results of those choices–whether considered good or bad by our judgment–actually contain elements of both when fully analyzed, we are bombarded with a plethora of conflicting lines of thought referred to as samkaras, the Sanskrit word for “to flow together.” These “grooves in the mind” makes future thoughts flow in the same direction. This prevents us from actually exercising “free will” in decision making or “living in the moment,” as is so important in spiritual growth. We are, in effect, imprisoned by our past in this way, the problems associated with conflicting lines of thought based on an inaccurate perception of past events are many.

The Connection

The connection my reading and this quote lies in the answer suggested at the end of the chapter. The goal of the solution is to free the mind from these past considerations, so one can exercise free will, live in the moment, and make a “choice as if making it for the first time.” One might say that this might lead to a person repeating past mistakes, which is the common irrational fear, but this is prevented by discovering the part of one’s self–the Inner Self–that resides inside each of us and always knows the right answer. The “samskaras” from our past sit in between our true selves and the real answer–and need to be cleared away, so we can be free. Thus spiritual awakening occurs as a function of self discovery–the realization that we already have the answers we seek. We just need to look in the right place. With the right intent, even decisions that might be considered “bad” are reworked by the Universe that responds to our intent and can make “lemons into lemonade.”