The Path Forward — Accelerating Spiritual Growth
3. Staying Spiritually Conscious
Next, – and this is the greatest factor in finding “super growth” — we are becoming aware of how and when we suddenly lose or are “Knocked out of our Spiritual Connection.” Typically, we can live in Spiritual Connection only for a while before losing it and having to seek it again. Becoming aware of how this “loss” happens in our individual lives is the key.
What we are finding is that we lose our Connection when we fall back to our old habitual ways of feeling better, those that we learned in childhood. These reaction patterns are particular behaviors that allow us to pretend we are okay and secure. We literally become unconscious to our authentic self and Spiritual Connection when we resort to these old habitual reactions.
The secret to making these old habits go away is to identify them clearly and then to catch ourselves as soon as they pop up. When we stay awake in this way, we can eventually transcend these coping devices most of the time, and thus stay in a more consistent Spiritual Connection – able then to move into a miracle life.
4. Turning our Unconscious Habits into Ways to Help Others
When we can honestly look at our old behaviors, another discovery can be made. Our old habits can be seen as an unconscious version of our inner talent: they are the very traits, once transformed, that we can use to help others.
Here’s what I mean. One way some of us cope with the world is to seek to impress others with our knowledge and accomplishments. It is a kind of “shining,” or a seeking of ego-gratification from others. At the defensive level, this attempt to impress then provides human energy (which makes us feel better as others pay attention). But, of course, as with any ego device, others catch on that it is a kind of bragging posture, a cover-up of our insecurity, and the defense breaks down as people realize we are pretending.
Yet, once people with this defensive style mature, especially if this happens from pursuing a Spiritual Connection, they realize they can authentically rise to accomplishment and self-confidence. In fact, they discover they have a talent for success, innovation and displaying authentic energy toward a goal, and this energy is contagious to others.
Thusly, this talent is their true gift from which others can benefit. They teach us to find this aspect of creativity and energy within ourselves.
The Enneagram
You probably have heard of the ancient growth system — brought to Western culture by the early twentieth-century mystic, Gurdjieff – called the Enneagram. To date, this system has been generally viewed in an overly psychological or religious way.
But viewed through the lens of Authentic Spirituality, the Enneagram allows us to accelerate our growth in the way I described above. It systematically reveals how our typical coping devices actually signal what our latent talent and destiny can be.
I’ll talk about it fully in the next blog, but here is a taste. The personality example I described above – the boaster who discovered that his coping mechanism could evolve into his greatest talent – is one of 9 typical personality types defined in the Enneagram. I realize that no one wants to be typed. But the beauty of the Enneagram is that you are the only one that can rightly type your personality.
Yet when you do, it gives you a map for accelerated “Growth.” All you have to do is figure how your ego seeks to defend itself, and you see what your higher-self wants to teach. It is a way to keep yourself on an ongoing synchronistic path toward your mission.
Next Blog Book:
The Enneagram’s Secrets
