Spiritual Growth: the Spiritual Challenge
of Modern Times
To grow spiritually in a world defined by
power, money, and influence is a Herculean
task. Modern conveniences such as electronic
equipment, gadgets, and tools as well as
entertainment through television, magazines,
and the web have predisposed us to confine
our attention mostly to physical needs and
wants. As a result, our concepts of self-worth
and self-meaning are muddled. How can we
strike a balance between the material and
spiritual aspects of our lives?
To grow spiritually is to look
inward.
Introspection goes beyond recalling
the things
that happened in a day, week,
or month. You
need to look closely and reflect
on your
thoughts, feelings, beliefs,
and motivations.
Periodically examining your experiences,
the decisions you make, the relationships
you have, and the things you
engage in provide
useful insights on your life
goals, on the
good traits you must sustain
and the bad
traits you have to discard. Moreover,
it
gives you clues on how to act,
react, and
conduct yourself in the midst
of any situation.
Like any skill, introspection
can be learned;
all it takes is the courage and
willingness
to seek the truths that lie within
you. Here
are some pointers when you introspect:
be
objective, be forgiving of yourself,
and
focus on your areas for improvement.
To grow spiritually is to develop
your potentials.
Religion and science have differing views
on matters of the human spirit. Religion
views people as spiritual beings temporarily
living on Earth, while science views the
spirit as just one dimension of an individual.
Mastery of the self is a recurring theme
in both Christian (Western) and Islamic (Eastern)
teachings. The needs of the body are recognized
but placed under the needs of the spirit.
Beliefs, values, morality, rules, experiences,
and good works provide the blueprint to ensure
the growth of the spiritual being. In Psychology,
realizing one’s full potential is to self-actualize.
Maslow identified several human needs: physiological,
security, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization,
and self-transcendence. James earlier categorized
these needs into three: material, emotional,
and spiritual. When you have satisfied the
basic physiological and emotional needs,
spiritual or existential needs come next.
Achieving each need leads to the total development
of the individual. Perhaps the difference
between these two religions and psychology
is the end of self-development: Christianity
and Islam see that self-development is a
means toward serving God, while psychology
view that self-development is an end by itself.
To grow spiritually is to search
for meaning.
Religions that believe in the existence of
God such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
suppose that the purpose of the human life
is to serve the Creator of all things. Several
theories in psychology propose that we ultimately
give meaning to our lives. Whether we believe
that life’s meaning is pre-determined or
self-directed, to grow in spirit is to realize
that we do not merely exist. We do not know
the meaning of our lives at birth; but we
gain knowledge and wisdom from our interactions
with people and from our actions and reactions
to the situations we are in. As we discover
this meaning, there are certain beliefs and
values that we reject and affirm. Our lives
have purpose. This purpose puts all our physical,
emotional, and intellectual potentials into
use; sustains us during trying times; and
gives us something to look forward to---a
goal to achieve, a destination to reach.
A person without purpose or meaning is like
a drifting ship at sea.
To grow spiritually is to recognize
interconnections.
Religions stress the concept
of our relatedness
to all creation, live and inanimate.
Thus
we call other people “brothers
and sisters”
even if there are no direct blood
relations.
Moreover, deity-centered religions
such as
Christianity and Islam speak
of the relationship
between humans and a higher being.
On the
other hand, science expounds
on our link
to other living things through
the evolution
theory. This relatedness is clearly
seen
in the concept of ecology, the
interaction
between living and non-living
things. In
psychology, connectedness is
a characteristic
of self-transcendence, the highest
human
need according to Maslow. Recognizing
your
connection to all things makes
you more humble
and respectful of people, animals,
plants,
and things in nature. It makes
you appreciate
everything around you. It moves
you to go
beyond your comfort zone and
reach out to
other people, and become stewards
of all
other things around you.
Growth is a process thus to grow
in spirit
is a day-to-day encounter. We
win some, we
lose some, but the important
thing is that
we learn, and from this knowledge,
further
spiritual growth is made possible.
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