Would you like enlightenment with that?
Instant coffee came first. Then instant noodles and instant messaging. And it seems that somewhere along the line we found instant spirituality. Or at least we hoped we had. Because it seems from that horrid moment when the alarm clock goes off and it's get breakfast for the kids/clean up/get dressed/rush to work/go crazy at work/rush home/sort the house and kids/make dinner/fall asleep watching the news..........we don't have time for anything requiring effort and practice and boring stuff like that.
Makes me think of the Mainland cheese ads - remember them? Two salt-of-the-earth blokes ruminating about how 'Good things take time'. Well guys, I don't know who your ad agency is, but I hope they didn't lose the contract!
So what is instant spirituality?
I guess it comes in many different packages. But every package offers pretty much the same thing - the ability for me to be able to manifest anything and everything my (greedy?) little mind can desire. (Uh hello.........wasn't the central teaching of the Buddha something about desire being the root of all suffering?)
So what wrong with this? Well I don't like to be the harbinger of bad news, but it seems to me that this fashionable trend does little more than satisfy insecurity and neediness. It would have us believe that if we could only focus hard enough on what we want - wham bang - it would appear. Like the genie out of the bottle. Wonderful. But then what? If we did get the magic formula wouldn't we be like kids in a candy shop - I want this one, and this one, and this one, and these ones...................
The mind is never satisfied. As the Buddha says - desire is the root of all suffering.
True spirituality is a ripening process. Like fruit on a tree. We don't try to rush the fruit, or walk away from it forever because it is still green......
If we want our own spirituality to ripen slowly and naturally what can we do to help the process? We must walk, every day, in that direction. We must first become clear about what we want. Focus on the possible. Do not allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the task before us - that will muddy the waters - as we all know, overwhelm creates anxiety.
There may well be those very rare individuals who, by a stroke of pure grace, stumble into the light in one mind-exploding moment. Perhaps Eckhard Tolle is one? (The Power of Now - a 'must-read' for anyone looking to understand what life's all about). But for the vast majority of us it is a life-long quest. I view the raising of my consciousness as the primary reason for my being on this earth - and this journey is one that I need to steadfastly and doggedly attempt to be aware of every moment of every day.
So it's every time I think a 'bad' thought I need to catch myself and re-direct my attention in the opposite direction. Every time I feel myself being pulled into the rip tide of uncontrolled emotion I need to pay attention. Nothing wrong with feeling our emotions - lots wrong actually with NOT feeling them - but that doesn't mean I have to react blindly. Before I speak I need to think about what I'm going to say and why. Likewise with my actions.
So a life of ripening spirituality is a life lived consciously. And more than that. Much more. It's a life lived as one on-going yoga practice. But that is a subject for another day.