This is a very important question, can we have a spiritual awakening while society remains the same? Can we collectively change the inner without changing the outer? I ask this because I observe many people who behave as if this is the case, chasing after their own happiness and fulfillment while ignoring the issues Humanity faces as a whole. I can certainly see the appeal of doing so, places like the political world are very ugly, but ignoring them is not the answer. In fact, that kind of apathy is exactly what allowed politics to become so ugly.
To me, the answer is obvious: we need both an inner and an outer revolution. We need a revolution that erases the line between the "two". Your inner battles aren't unique to you, there are millions going through the same things. The self-destructiveness of fear, that affects every one of us, and we collectively manifest that in our wars, business and politics. You may believe it's only an elite few responsible, and while that's partially true, it's the responsibility of the masses to change things. Without the unconscious participation of the people, the systems of corruption would collapse instantly.
I see a great potential within the spiritual community to assist with this change. People like Martin Luther King and Gandhi, their connection to the Divine played a huge part in the social changes they helped to create. They took what they found Within, and shared it with everyone. They bridged the inner and the outer.
There's a need to look deeply at what it means to be "spiritual". I've shared my own feelings about that word, and I don't believe being "spiritual" necessarily makes you any closer to Spirit. Many, if not most, "spiritual" people started down that path because they weren't happy with their lives. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it often means their spiritual quest is rooted in a very negative image of the material realm. Their spirituality comes from a rejection of their "normal" lives.
Religion works this way too, for instance, Christianity teaches that the Earth is the realm of Satan. The natural world is supposed to be evil and brutish, and man is inherently sinful. Absolute rubbish, but the damage from these beliefs has been done. We've been indoctrinated with this idea that the spiritual realm is someplace else, and we get there by denying the physical. The spiritual realm and the physical realm are at odds with each other, they're supposed to be opposite and conflicting paths.
Just because someone applies the "spiritual" label to themselves doesn't mean years of this conditioning suddenly disappear. These religious beliefs have been firmly embedded in our societal values, even if you took religion away, they'd still be there. So spirituality has become largely about denial of the material, just look at meditation. For many, meditation is about blocking the material realm, blocking out the physical senses. That's why you're supposed to get into a comfortable position, in a quiet place, with eyes closed. The physical senses are viewed as distractions from inner peace. The outer is chaos, the inner is peace.
I'm telling you something completely different though, that the outer chaos is only a reflection of the inner chaos. While this is understood in spiritual theory, it's often denied in spiritual practice. Beware the practices that dull the senses, beware of practices that seek the Divine through denial of the material. In drawing a line between the inner and outer, you cut yourself in half. You have your "normal" life and your "spiritual" life, and this is the kind of spirituality that I caution people about. The kind that creates separation.
For me, meditation is something that can happen anyplace and anytime. It's simply presence and awareness, no more complicated than that. It has no requirements, no preconditions. I cringe a little when people tell me they don't have enough time or money to really be spiritual. To connect with the Divine, you don't need time or money, all you need is Now, and you've always got Now. If you want to view the material realm as a distraction, that's exactly what it becomes, but it doesn't have to be that way.
God Is Everything, but this is impossible to experience for someone who is divided within. You may believe God Is All, it's a popular belief now, but is it truly your experience? Do you see God within everyone and everything? If not, that's okay! This is about self-healing, not self-judgment, and the key here is to erase the line between your inner and outer worlds.
Now back to the political world, I'll bet there's many who were hoping I wouldn't bring that up again, but turning a blind eye to the problems are exactly why these problems have gotten so enormous. This is all interconnected. Here in the US a portion of our honest work goes to spreading murder and terror. This is totally unacceptable and it's up to all of us to fix it. If you're a "spiritual" person, yet you ignore these things, you have no business claiming you have anything to do with Spirit. There's nothing spiritual about ignoring the plight of your brothers and sisters. The individual who ignores the collective is ultimately denying a part of themselves.
On the Galactic Free Press, we often feature political stories, things many wouldn't consider spiritual at all. Not just positive ones either, but stories of massive corruption and ignorance. This isn't to promote a negative world-view, simply a realistic one. A negative person will react negatively, promoting things like cynicism and apathy as a way of coping with this kind of news. A more proactive person though, will start looking for ways of fixing things, both inner and outer. These are the kind of people we're here for, not people who simply wait and hope for change, but the people who truly are the change.
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