Does it makes sense to slow down spiritual development?

[Recursoinominado]

I suppose i am somewhat spiritually talented as i am not super disciplined and consistent with my sadhana but i feel i managed to raise my consciousness a lot since i discovered the spiritual path (5 years ago). Had i few sober mystical experiences and a few fuelled by psychedelics. 

I rank myself at stage Yellow/turquoise on the Spiral Dynamics and Construct-Aware on the 9-stages of Ego Development.

Yes, i know i could be overestimating my development but bear with me. 

I feel a huge "pull to God", constantly contemplating, being drawn to spiritual teachings, meditation, and all those things we love to blow our minds around here.

As this development happened rather quickly, having a well-ordered mind, solid goals and routines seem almost impossible. Reality feels more and more fluid every-day. For instance, i can spend months away from family and this does not bother me a bit. This can seem cold-hearted to most people.

I feel like i am on the "edge" of a huge breakthrough but i am also slowing down things in order to build a solid material foundation (solid business, financial independence) but this seems like a herculean task to accomplish.

The fear is to be too detached from worldly matters like family, career, money, etc to deal effectively with it. Yeah, yeah, i know: "who is the one who fears", but still.

There are those who the spiritual transformations made them don't give much of a fuck to survival of the body, which is against my life purpose. I do not want to go into some cave and bliss out of my mind until my body drops dead, but i do feel a pull toward this path.

Even the gurus i most admire are Ramana Maharshi and Neem Karoli Baba, both were deeply detached from physical matters to the point of risking the survival of the body at any point if the disciples were not too careful about their "vessels". 

I just want to be financially independent enough to "let go" but this seems harder and harder each day.

[Moksha]

Spiritual development is far more than Self-realization; it is the painful, purifying process of deconditioning your conditioned mind. Waking up doesn't dissolve the ego; it only makes you aware of it. It is the first step in lifelong journey(s) of learning to love unconditionally, without attachments. Only then does the ego die; nirvana is attained through reunifying with your ultimate nature as God.

[universe]

Have you developed your emotional mastery?

If not, and you live in a first world country, I guarantee you that you have an emotional need for lack of ressources. And your subconsciousness does it's job to accomplish what you desire.

Release on that need.

 

If you are deep into the spiritual path your Emotional State might be centered around Acceptance and Peace. Now, if you really don't do anything you are living in the lower stages like Apathy, Fear, Grief. These stage are real action killers and will tie you down. Coming back to Acceptance and Peace, while you can accomplish many great things in these states, for some work it is better to actually drop down a level into Courage.

Because when you are in Acceptance you might not be motivated to do anything and in Peace you can basically just bliss out the whole day accomplishing nothing and being okay with it.

So to get into Courage rememeber times in your life where you really felt courageous, adventurous, certain or alive. And sit with it and meditate on them. Release on all the resentment you have on Courage.

[Recursoinominado]

3 hours ago, Moksha said:

Spiritual development is far more than Self-realization; it is the painful, purifying process of deconditioning your conditioned mind. Waking up doesn't dissolve the ego; it only makes you aware of it. It is the first step in lifelong journey(s) of learning to love unconditionally, without attachments. Only then does the ego die; nirvana is attained through reunifying with your ultimate nature as God.

Well, i know all of that but i didn't get your point...

 

1 hour ago, universe said:

Have you developed your emotional mastery?

Not a master but i deal with my emotions better than 90% of people.

 

1 hour ago, universe said:

you live in a first world country

I live in Brazil...

 

1 hour ago, universe said:

 

If you are deep into the spiritual path your Emotional State might be centered around Acceptance and Peace. Now, if you really don't do anything you are living in the lower stages like Apathy, Fear, Grief. These stage are real action killers and will tie you down. Coming back to Acceptance and Peace, while you can accomplish many great things in these states, for some work it is better to actually drop down a level into Courage.

Because when you are in Acceptance you might not be motivated to do anything and in Peace you can basically just bliss out the whole day accomplishing nothing and being okay with it.

So to get into Courage rememeber times in your life where you really felt courageous, adventurous, certain or alive. And sit with it and meditate on them. Release on all the resentment you have on Courage.

I am actually acting from Courage and, sometimes, Acceptance and Peace for, at least, 2 years now. Huge changes in my life like selling all my stuff, backpacking, moving out from my home city, going to a big city without any guarantees etc. 

It is common that i feel good without having or achieving much and that's a small problem. I moved from being motivated by pain (negative motivation) to losing motivation when my general emotional and mental pain lessened. Then i am basically brainwashing myself every day to create an online business to reach financial independence, because i am pulled toward constant contemplation of Reality, meditations, doing pranayamas etc. 

[Moksha]

13 hours ago, Recursoinominado said:

Well, i know all of that but i didn't get your point...

My point is that spiritual development isn't about sitting in a cave and meditating your entire life. Engaging with the world doesn't imply slowing down your spiritual development. Just the opposite, in fact. If you want to continue growing spiritually, apply your realizations to the world. It's easy to fool ourselves that we are spiritual gurus, in the absence of challenges. If you want to test your current level of development, and build spiritual muscle, engage with and learn to love other people.

[Recursoinominado]

6 minutes ago, Moksha said:

My point is that spiritual development isn't about sitting in a cave and meditating your entire life. Engaging with the world doesn't imply slowing down your spiritual development. Just the opposite, in fact. If you want to continue growing spiritually, apply your realizations to the world. It's easy to fool ourselves that we are spiritual gurus, in the absence of challenges. If you want to test your current level of development, and build spiritual muscle, engage with and learn to love other people.

Now i get it.

That's actually good advice.

But we can agree that 1h practicing Kriya Yoga and 1h editing a video to post on Instagram isn't the same for spiritual development.

Self-realization isn't everything but i never said it was.

As you said, the spiritual path is brutal on many levels and that's exactly my point all along.

[Moksha]

1 hour ago, Recursoinominado said:

As you said, the spiritual path is brutal on many levels and that's exactly my point all along.

You got it, bro. Self-realization is critical, but it is only the first step. Ultimately, it's about Self-liberation, and that requires courage, integrity, and full on engagement with the unpleasantness of relative reality. People are a pain in the ass, but they are a great litmus test for your spiritual development. Conditioning is compulsive, and it takes sincere commitment to break free from it.