Embracing Reality

In today’s day and age, a person’s worth is often gauged specifically on how productive he can be in the worldly life. Often it is seen that in in-spite of a person being creative, he is looked down upon by his peers if he is not productive enough. Indeed in today’s world, a CEO of a profitable commercial venture is regarded with much more respect as compared to an artist who may be struggling to make ends meet. In the worldly sense of the term, if you take things for what they are it makes perfect sense; ingenuity does not always sell.

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However the point of the matter is which is more fulfilling spiritually. Does being a ruthless CEO or a focused entrepreneur mean that you are spiritually a lost cause ? Does being a goal-oriented manager mean that you are a spiritual failure ? Is spirituality something that is only alive in eccentric hearts and selfless deeds ? Those are the questions that often plague the worldly seeker as he tries to make an honest living in today’s rat race. Often a seeker feels confounded in the conflicting ways of the world and that of the spirit; ultimately leading to dismay and disarray in both fields.

In this scenario the point that many of us often forget is that there are no absolute truths in the universe. The only absolute truth of the universe is that it exists. Hence being a spiritual person, one cannot simply live his life on the assumption that the materialistic world does not exist; or is simply an illusion. Similarly for a worldly person, there is no denying the fact that the realm of the spirit exists and is equally as real as the world that he dwells in. We have to understand that both exist, coagulated with each other; and to turn away from one is to effectively run away from the other.

In today’s day and age, we are often caught in weird paradoxes wherein we need to embrace both the spiritual and the worldly life. A true seeker cannot simply be spiritual, leaving aside all his worldly cares; thinking that they are mere illusions. If he does so, he would simply be a fool. The only reason he feels that they are illusions is because there is someone else who is tending to those aspects of his life, while he can pursue his spiritual desires at leisure. However the moment he needs to get embroiled in the worldly duties, he would no longer remain spiritual; for all his spiritual attainments would only be pseudo-realities that were experienced under specific conditions. Spirituality is universal in its nature; and realization is something that comes when you embrace the entire truth; not a convenient part of it.

So coming back to the point at hand; how would one seek to strike a perfect balance between his spiritual and worldly lives. The answer is that one choose to live in the moment and make dispassionate decisions based on intellect. If one chooses to live his worldly life in such a manner, there would be no interference in his spiritual goals. The problem only arises when our passion fuels our ambitions to such an extent that we compromise our ethics and ideals to gain an unfair advantage over our competition. That is when we deny the existence of our soul and hence turn away from the spiritual path.

In the worldly ways of life it is often best to consider yourself as a tool in the hands of a greater power whilst always looking for new ways to be productive. With such an attitude, one gets all the peace, success and satisfaction that he desires out of his worldly life. That leaves the path open for his endless flight of mirth in the spiritual realm.

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admin | March 18, 2013 6:02 pm

5 Comments

By Umesh, March 19, 2013 @ 1:55 pm

Excellent article.
By Medha, March 21, 2013 @ 10:23 am

The article very neatly explains the term ‘reality’.Be it a spiritual world or a materialistic ,one has to practice the same qualities such as perseverance, patience,even diplomacy is needed to dodge the ones who try to stop you from progressing.Money is very essential in our day to day life and if a spiritual person does not earn his livelihood,he becomes a burden on those who feed him,and take care of him.In that case however noble his intentions may be he is bound to face humiliation.So one should earn enough to fulfill his requirements while pursuing the spiritual path.so I feel that we can’t label any quality as good or bad as we need to use all of them at some point in our lives.Intentions can be good or bad and act as a deciding factor as to whether it is a good or a bad karma.And indeed living for moment to moment is a great way to be alive,one should learn it.A very good article and the daily quote.
By Pravin, March 22, 2013 @ 4:46 pm

Excellent article,Good
By Umesh, March 23, 2013 @ 8:33 pm

article explains in good way. every person on earth has worldly and spiritual life. the worldly life are there because of past karma in earlier lives. the person needs to neutralized karma. spiritual life helps him getting finish the karma. as admin has said earlier, they are just equations. it is important how productive and creative the person is in this world. as karma gets finished, the person’s materialist, worldly activates reduced and person naturally inclines more towards spirituality. every person has these two lives in this world; can be called as two faces/ angle of person. if person can live his life based on principle of ethics, this will help him finishing his karma. Reason for spiritual books call this as illusion or maya, since all this is created, so that person gets chance to finish his karma
By Manjusha, April 24, 2013 @ 11:34 am

very good article as always. all difficult aspects of day today life .well explained.