Hello and Good Friday to You!
Today I’m spending the day off with my buddy Matt Nichol. As you read this, we are probably hiking in the hills, laying on the stone floor in my house balancing our bodies and resting our minds, or out in the rock garden creating something fun for the neighbors to look at and wonder how we did it ☺.
I’ll update you on our activities on Monday and hopefully I’ll have some cool photos to share as well.
THE CHALLENGES OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH!
NOTE: My mandala says, “Use Your Heart To Feel What You Know” in Chinese and it is a beautiful prayer given to me by one of my students who achieve great spiritual growth using this as her daily meditation prayer.
It is a constant reminder to me that my heart, not my head is the only place I can understand life in its wholeness; the heart is the home if inclusion, while the head is the home of exclusion.
I’ve been fortunate to have a mother who has been on a spiritual quest my whole life. I have watched as she studied yoga and other systems and implemented them in her life. I’ve observed my mother, and many others (including myself) on the spiritual path and have noticed that there seems to be no correlation at all between how many challenges arise in their life and their level of spiritual development.
Having studied the biographies and lives of many spiritual masters, I can assure you that no matter how much God-presence they develop, it does not free them from the challenges inherent to the life experience.
A good example of this is OSHO’s life. If you want a great reference for what I’m sharing here, I’d recommend reading OSHO’s biography, which is called, Autobiography Of A Spiritually Incorrect Mystic, by OSHO.
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This book is one I rank in the top ten reads of all the books I’ve ever read, which is a LOT of books as most of you are aware.
It will become very clear to you that what I’m sharing here today is indeed the case, and can be reconfirmed by studying the lives of any of the great spiritual pioneers and teachers.
In my own life, I’ve had a number of my top students say things like, “Paul, with all the spiritual development you’ve done over the years, why is it that your life seems to be so full of challenges?”
I explain to people asking such questions that it is their misunderstanding of what spiritual development is that is exemplified by asking the question.
A common response I have to such queries is this: If you are an athlete in training and your training requires a high development of strength and related biomotor abilities, don’t you need to encounter resistance in order to grow?
Well of course the answer is “YES”, you do.
As we grow spiritually, we need to meet more resistance in relationships to self and others so we can find what it is that we’ve not yet healed from or fully understood.
For example, you could spend a year in a cave being taught by very advanced yogis. You could potentially cultivate enough chi to levitate, heal wounds quickly and do many other seemingly miraculous things.
You may actually begin to feel like you’ve made it, like you actually understand the Universe and God.
You may begin to feel like you are done here on earth and feel the urge to leave the earth plane so you can move onto bigger and greater experiences.
So, you leave that cave and walk down into the city so you can catch a train to a bigger city to catch an airplane to go home. You get on the train and find a seat. The train is full. This is a long train ride.
You eventually need to have a pee so you get up and walk to the toilet only to return and find someone sitting in your seat, even though you left your water bottle or some other marker to indicate that the seat is taken. What will you do?
You may choose to stand up and not make an issue of it, yet when you get hungry and have to ask the person in your seat to please move their legs so you can grab your bag with food from under the seat in front of them.
They may act as though you are a real pain in the ass for bothering them in their seat.
They may get more angry at you each time you need to get into your bag!
You get to the airport and go to check in. You may have arrived on a business class ticket, like I often do, yet, they may take one look at you and tell you that they are sorry, you can’t sit in business class dressed as a yogi; this can happen!
I was once told in the Sydney airport that they wouldn’t let me sit in business class because I was wearing Birkenstock sandals! I had to get into a pretty serious discussion with the flight attendant and ended up insisting to speak to her manager over the issue. After about thirty minutes, I was able to regain my seat!
You may then arrive home with your new level of spiritual development to find that the people who so often said they love you now act as though you are some strange outcast!
Your family and friends may well tell you that you are a sinner because you are practicing another religion other than the family religion.
I’ve had many letters sent to me by Christians who attended my lectures and workshops informing me that they have put me on their church prayer list because I’ve become a lost sinner by speaking of a unified philosophy of religion where there is no one is the begotten savior.
just a GOD of Unconditional Love that never says “NO” to any act – A GOD that knows no such thing as sin or sinners – a GOD that is the source and sum of all Gods and gods.
I have had CHEK Practitioners tell me that they could not be a CHEK Practitioner any longer because I don’t believe in Jesus as the only begotten savior!…
I’ve regularly met with the resistance of my own staff due to fears arising from negative feedback from the occasional student that is more afraid of burning in hell than simply looking rationally at what I’m sharing, which is essentially based on the authentic meanings of religious words; most of which such complainers don’t even understand!
I’ve seen amazing, beautiful, healthy spiritual people get cancer and die, leaving children behind.
I’ve seen such lives go from normal, productive, happy lives to being turned completely and utterly upside-down in as little as six months from the time they were diagnosed with a disease.
I’ve seen parents and siblings shattered because on of the children of as young as 1-3 years old got cancer and diet; they often become mad at God!
True spiritual development is not about running from or avoiding the problems of life: It is about learning to see such challenges as opportunities for growth.
I’ve learned that whenever someone can get under my skin and upset me, they are in some special way showing me where I’ve got growth to be had. Where I can learn to have more empathy and compassion for the rest of God.
Sure, I may get a little upset or even down right pissed off at times. I’m human and so are you. But I try and do a little better each time.
I forgive myself when I need to so I don’t wallow in the sorrow or guilt that I may have because I didn’t walk on water that day.
Sometimes I have to stop and cry. I don’t do that too often because there are not many people I can cry around with it scaring them and I don’t want to share my pain with people that can’t even handle their own.
Fortunately, the Universe has put Penny, Vidya, Gary Crozier, Rory Mullin, Donal and Cathy Carr, Ashley Mazurek, JP Sears, Dan Hellman and a few others in my life that have achieved enough spiritual growth to be present with me when I’m in pain and need someone to share my pain with without them trying to fix me.
Take a moment to celebrate those people in your life that can accept you as you are and share your pain without drowning in it themselves.
Take a moment to celebrate that when the bar gets a little heavier than you planned for, that the Universe is entrusting you as a living example of growth by offering you such challenges.
Take a moment to reflect on the choices you’ve made and see if you can get clear about which ones, if made again, will help or hinder you from truly living your dreams and growing.
Take a moment to express your gratitude to those that have risen to the place they can share empathetic and compassionate love with you without loosing themselves in the sharing or trying to fix you.
Take a moment to pause and breath when a new challenge arises and see if you can embrace it as a gift from the Universe.
That’s what’s got me through the many challenges in my life and I’m still excited to be on the spiritual path with you all each day!
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
