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Continue ShoppingAscending the Spiritual Escalator: Embracing Imperfection on the Journey
Ascending the Spiritual Escalator: Embracing Imperfection on the Journey
By: Ian Mansell
The world that I grew up in had no useful understanding of the hierarchy of awareness. We knew that certain people were “born with” particular talents (Einstein, Michaelangelo, Shakespeare) which was explained by some mysterious combination of their parents’ genetics. And we believed in a medieval idea of education where, by dint of hard work, memory and repetition we could somehow rise above the ignorance of the working classes to become a ‘better’ person.
And at the other end of the spectrum we had saints like Mother Theresa, Florence Nightingale and Mahatma Gandhi. God only knows how they got there!
Then as medical science evolved we decided to add hormones and brain synapses to our explanations of why some individuals outperformed others. Nobody thought to speak about past lives though!
What a revelation it was for me when I discovered Living Illumination, and especially the Pathways courses! They gave me a roadmap, a ladder of spiritual growth, complete with explicit and practical steps to enable anyone to ascend to the best ever version of themself.
Did somebody mention the theme of this month is Escalate?
We are all on an escalator of spiritual growth. Like a massive multi-storied department store we are climbing our way up, exploring whatever adventures await us on each new level, slaying whichever dragons of misunderstandings that stand in the way of us moving up to the next floor.
It becomes clear that we are all on the same journey – upwards. We may spend many years or lifetimes exploring the level we are on before eventually deciding that this level has become boring – a bit too predictable – so we pluck up our courage and take the escalator to the next level up. Our soul actually thrives on any new challenge!
This next level may be uncomfortable at first – what used to work for us down below doesn’t seem to have much traction up here – and our old self will have to change. If we have invested a great deal in Who We Are, defining ourself by our career, our relationships and our possessions instead of our eternal feeling nature, we may find ourself rushing back to the down escalator: back to the comfortable old life – the fairytale world where we are no longer challenged to change, grow and refine ourselves.
And that’s perfectly OK. We always have free will. Sooner or later though we will decide to have another look upstairs... and put our foot in the water again.
Think of it like a trip to the beach for a swim: the water is too cold at first until we eventually submerge ourself, after which we love it so much we don’t want to get out!
Living Illumination has taught me to see a much bigger picture of life than the one I grew up with. There is this great hierarchy of awareness throughout the universe – the levels we call A, B, C and D with all their sub-levels within. [Each Pathways course cleans up another sub-level.]
Everyone on this planet is here because (whether we know it or not) we want to move up this ladder of awareness, of truth and of harmony. And we are all on the same ladder, just at different rungs on the same ladder.
Like a video game, each level has its own challenges to be met before you can move on up. And like Snakes and Ladders, you can slip backwards in unexpected ways when the snakes of confusion find a vulnerability in you that they can exploit.
We come alive spiritually when we have to extend ourselves to meet a new challenge. We become motivated, excited, enthusiastic – high-spirited – when we start to conquer the challenges of the new level.
It doesn’t matter how long it takes to conquer the challenge – we have eternity to keep tackling (or avoiding) it. We can spend countless lifetimes on the same rung, chasing our tail with the same delusions until we discover the truth that sets us free to advance.
There is no point therefore berating ourself for not progressing fast enough. That is all in the past. All we can do now, in the time remaining for us this lifetime, is seize the incredible opportunity now available to us:
Living Illumination is Spirit’s benevolent gesture to bestow us with the truths that enable us to accelerate our journey toward the light..... massively.
* * * *
How does this relate to this month’s theme of Perfection and Mental Health?
There’s been a saying recently in politics which I like:
“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good”
The saying refers to a political party threatening to block legislation which they basically agree with, but they want to block completely because it’s not as extreme as they want it to be.
‘Don’t let Perfection be the enemy of Good’ means we don’t have to perfect ourself where we currently are before we start our next step. That can become a formula for procrastination; an excuse to avoid trying something new.
Applied to our daily life, seeking perfection can of course be a worthy aim, motivating us to try harder and rise to new standards of refinement, but if we use it to criticise and belittle our achievements we will sabotage our growth, our self-acceptance and our self-loyalty. We lose the momentum of our natural spiritual growth.
Confused souls are only too happy to amplify our negativity and drive us into cycles of self-loathing and eventual despair - if we ever open our door to such thoughts.
It simply boils down to being aware of the great big out-of-balance tendency of the Visionary Gift.
Our Visionary gift can readily show us a picture of perfection, but we must learn, as with each of our gifts, that our spiritual progress will stagnate until we acquire the necessary self-discipline to avoid the out-of-balance traits of each gift.
Our mental health is really on the line if we allow ourself to indulge in the self-deprecating tendency of our Visionary gift. It is probably the biggest snake on the game board of life; to be avoided at all costs!
What can you do now?
- Take action – if your feelings are inspiring you to take action, check out our upcoming programs and one-to-one consultations at www.livingillumination.com
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Read other articles related to this topic:
#Perfection #Escalate #MentalHealth #SpiritualGrowth #HierarchyOfAwareness #SelfAcceptance #SelfLoyalty #SpiritualJourney #SelfImprovement #SelfReflection #PersonalGrowth #LivingIllumination #Challenges #FreeWill #Progress #SelfDiscipline #PositiveMindset #Awareness #SelfAwareness #SelfDevelopment #EmbraceChange #SelfLove #InnerPeace #OvercomingChallenges #Perfectionism #InnerStrength #Mindfulness #Wellbeing #PositivePsychology