11 Apr The Divine Gift We May Be Ignoring (we all have it …)
I recently got the strangest question from a reader. Apparently, she had been taught that we all have Soul contracts, and no matter what we do in this lifetime, we will “complete” our contract. We might veer off our path for a while, but we’ll always do what we came here to do. She wanted to know what I thought of this teaching.
To me, this made no sense. After all, that would mean we could all sit back on our couch, binge-watch Netflix, drink beer and eat cookies all day, every day … and we’ll still “complete” some Soul contract that we don’t understand or even know about. Why would we bother with any personal or spiritual development at all? Why exercise free will?
Unfortunately, religion has trained us well to put logic and reason aside when it comes to spiritual matters.
Over the centuries, having “faith” and believing in the unseen, inexplicable, mysterious and often totally unreasonable (virgin birth, anyone??) has become far more “spiritual” than thinking for ourselves and questioning what others hold as true.
And yet … the Divine gave all of us a beautiful mind, infinitely capable of reason and logic.
I doubt that we were gifted with this amazing capacity for thought, only for the Divine to then ask us to put reason aside for the sake of being “spiritual.” That’s sort of like giving a child candy and asking her not to eat it, in order for her to prove that she is worthy of the candy!!
Here is my suggestion for applying critical thought to spiritual teachings:
- Is what I’m being taught actionable? Can I use the information?
Student sometimes ask me questions about topics such as what happens to the Soul in between lifetimes. I honestly tell them I don’t know, and don’t care … but that we’ll all find out eventually! Truth be told, we could discuss all day about what the Soul experiences when it’s not incarnated … but why does it matter? We’ll never know for sure until we ourselves make our transition. And we certainly can’t DO anything with this kind of information.
And yet, so many spiritual seekers preoccupy themselves with information (and misinformation) that can’t possibly serve them right now.
Teachings telling us that we construct some sort of “contract” or “lesson plan” before birth and then simply follow a plan … well, that’s not exactly information we can DO anything with.
We’re incarnated now. We’re here to have a human experience, now. This is what our Soul has obviously chosen, or we wouldn’t be here … so why bother with anything other than teachings that help us make this human experience a kick-ass expression of our Divinity?
Can you DO the spiritual practice? Can you make new choices based on what you are being taught?
If yes … awesome! Then move on to the next step, which is to ask …
2. Can I experience the validity of this teaching in my own life, through actual RESULTS?
One of the reasons I have my students work with practice clients when they study Soul Realignment is because I want them to have the EXPERIENCE of presenting a reading to another person, and having that person confirm their accuracy.
See, if we only ever read for ourselves, we don’t really experience the breathtaking magic of the Akashic Records. It’s when you tell someone you don’t know all about themselves and NAIL IT that you truly experience Oneness and spiritual power in a way that is completely, utterly irrefutable.
That’s a RESULT that we can EXPERIENCE. It changes us forever. And that’s what our evolutionary path is all about.
We’re here to have a human experience, not a human information-gathering.
If you can’t prove to yourself in your OWN experience that what you are being taught is true because it helps you create new RESULTS … then the teaching is holding you in disempowerment.
I once had a spiritual teacher who certainly gave me a TON of spiritual practices to do, so his work was absolutely actionable. But when asked about what these spiritual practices were supposed to accomplish, the answer would always be “Just wait, you’ll understand it eventually, go meditate some more.”
The whole “you’re not ready yet” and “you’ll understand it eventually” play is an old-school guru-culture disempowerment mechanism that just keeps students on the hook (and paying their monthly fees.)
Needless to say, I still have NO idea what those spiritual practices were supposed to do for me. Leaving his program was one of the best choices I ever made, and I learned all about the kind of spiritual teacher I never wanted to become.
You are allowed to know WHY you are taking action on spiritual teachings.
You should absolutely have a reasonable expectation of some sort of new RESULT in your life, IF you are following instructions and taking action on your own behalf.
If you’re not told what results to expect – or if the promised result will conveniently occur only AFTER your death, as in the case of some religions! – then the goal of the teachings isn’t to empower you, but to give power to the teacher or organization you are studying with.
If spiritual teachings are valid, then you should be able to PROVE their validity to yourself, by taking action and EXPERIENCING a new result.
Anything else is simply unreasonable. 🙂
To your infinite wisdom,
Andrrea Hess