Being Spiritual And Practical

Being spiritual and grounded in the practical world at the same time

You probably see it all the time if you have made any effort toward self-development. At one time in your life you were ambitious, but then something happened and you became burnout. Then you got into spirituality and begin to live for a higher purpose in your life. But then you couldn’t face your old ambitions the same way again. This is why a lot of spiritual and religious types come off as not being very ambitious in the world. It is also classified as the lightworker syndrome. This is where spiritual types strive to make a difference in the world but they lost their ambition for worldly things. It ends up making you look really lazy to those you are trying to serve in a loving manner. The result is that they don’t want to listen to anything you have to say or even let you do anything to help them.

This is also a big reason why a lot of spiritual and religious types end up having breakdowns and going to a psychiatric hospital. They try to love and serve others and find out that the world does not respect sensitive types. So in response the worldly types take advantage of your hospitality and run you into the ground. If that is not bad enough they even laugh at you, or kick you while you are down so to speak. The weird part is that many of them are not even aware that they are doing it.  That is basically human nature acting in the natural realm and doing things automatically without any regard toward anyone else. At least until they come to the conclusion of their own need for personal growth and make a commitment toward self-development. 

Setting Boundaries

So how do you overcome this lightworker syndrome and get back to finding your ambition again? The answer is to ground yourself in reality.  Yes you can still focus on serving others needs to the best of your ability but remember to set boundaries. Don’t let people walk all over you as if you were a doormat.  Yes you can also be just as ambitious. Another feature of this lightworker syndrome is that spiritual types, having raised themselves to a higher level of consciousness, are now empowered to live a higher life. It is quite possible they are even afraid to live out their power so they try to act like they have no worldly ambition anymore. 

The good news once you achieve enough personal growth to ground yourself in reality you realize that you don’t have to give up your ambition to serve others. You can focus on serve others and, ironically enough, have all of your own needs met in return; almost without even trying. This is because you are so “others” focused that you became empowered to carry out your goals without as much effort as you did before.  The end result is your consciousness goes even higher. You find your true purpose in serving others and ending up satisfying yourself in the process.  The Jewish philosopher Victor Frankl said in his book Man’s Search for Meaning that we find our purpose by helping others to find theirs.

Service To Others

It is not totally uncommon to think you are giving up a lot in life in service to others; only to have it all come back to you anyway. When it does you feel less overwhelmed because you didn’t have to exert as much effort as you could have if you had been in a lower state of consciousness; where you were still focused on your worldly ambitions with no regard for others, at least other than out of some moral obligation or a religious responsibility.

This is why there are so many spiritual and religious groups that meet in mental hospitals. Not to mention the support groups, like Emotions Anonymous, that have a spiritual aspect to them. When people are down that is when they seek a higher purpose I life. They eventually get back up, as soon as they realize their own power, or their full potential, but they may have to spend considerable time in the wilderness practicing some serious personal growth and self-development.

- Erwin Wooten

http://ebishopwooten.com