Spiritual Identities and Traps

We’ve all heard – nobody is perfect… and we all know that is a true fact; identifying with being perfect is often associated with the ego and I can understand that, but I am also questioned sometimes about certain people’s choices, relating to their (new) spiritual identities that look like they have fallen into certain traps or stereotypes.  Spiritual identities and traps can easily enter your (new) life when your awakening does not come in from your own spiritual calling, but is just imposed by wrong beliefs or practices.

Many spiritual teachers lead on the belief that once you are awakened you have to lose your ego, or be at war with it.

Humans have a physical body that needs the ego to identify with that same body. Each individual person is comprised of the mental, physical and spiritual selves.  Each person is invited to develop their mental, physical and spiritual beings, as they please through any activity they so choose. Some are more oriented towards the development of their mental while others to the physical or the spiritual. There are even others (fewer) who dedicate themselves to be balanced through their whole - mental, physical and spiritual states.

The idea that as the “world turns” and evolves, many more people are awakening and beginning to step away from the “physical- ego-consciousness” to a spiritual enlightened version, and we begin to see ourselves as spiritual beings having a human experience is wonderful but may be also deceiving! We must remember that our life purpose on Earth, whatever the personal one might be, is primarily, to have a human physical experience, so why should we be called to “cancel” the ego? If we wanted just a spiritual experience we wouldn’t have incarnated, we might as well have stayed in the afterlife realm!

This is one of the spiritual traps – the ego trap!

I personally need my ego, but I need it balanced with the other parts of me. I don’t need an inflated ego; I need to be able to look myself in the mirror and see myself as I am – no more, no less – I need to have a good clean mirror to see myself as I am - I need to see my beauty as well as my flaws.

When you awaken you are often lead to believe you must do something to follow a certain path, or engage in certain activities like yoga, meditation or some esoteric practices, and some become intimidated or scared, thinking that if that is the condition, then they must be doomed because they do not want to follow any of those. These beliefs can actually block deeper experiences of each one’s truth; they may truly endanger or delay the actual awakening.

This is another one of the spiritual traps – the rule trap!

Once you know your truth, live it - according to your standards – nobody else’s. Make your own rules and regulations, the ones you know should be followed, the ones you need, the ones you want to practice. There is a huge difference between knowing the path and walking the path and the theory about spirituality is – there is no theory!

Confusing “spiritual” with a specific religion dogma or creed is part of a doctrine belief - a judgmental belief – “mine is better” that serve only the ones involved inflating their ego, while confusing others.

This is another one of the spiritual traps – the religion trap!

Spirit has no religion, follows no dogma, creed or gods, and being spiritual means you are using one part of your being! If you choose to follow the teaching of a certain religion, this does not make you spiritual per say – it’s only a preference!

I followed with certain amazement, the revelation of a certain person, I prefer not to reveal the name, a renowned spiritual teacher and many times best seller author that she no longer was a spiritual teacher because she was a “born again Christian”. She said she read the Bible for a year and no longer believed in the things she had taught in the past which she entitled them with “New Age” stuff. She has since then, preached the opposite of what she taught in the past. To me, this example is just one, another to affirm my idea – learn from everyone, follow no one! I did learn from her in my beginning, when I searched for information I needed to understand certain concepts in order to build my own. I thought it was kind of “strange” to my own perception; she changed her way of dressing for instance! She used to dress normally in her early videos, then she started dressing like a like a “fairy” and now she dresses normally again! But as I mentioned, she was only an example. There are many others that adopt new ways like, for example, they shave their heads, dress differently, change their names, their religion or become vegan and so many others think this is the way into being spiritual.

My motto: Learn from everyone, follow no one!

The idea that the awakened or the spiritual people are always in a “Zen” state of being is wrong and deceiving! Everyone has “bad moments”! Unless you have chosen to move into a Monastery in Tibet and do nothing but meditate, eat and sleep, you are bound to have “life” happening to you and give you some not so good moments. Luckier or maybe smarter are you, if you have learned techniques to shift your not so good moments into better ones, but completely annulling them from your life is just a fallacy.

I have read many a questions that are completely misleading which make me question myself the following: in this era of information why are so many people being mislead? Why is fantasy preferred instead of truth?  

I have read questions such as – “How can I open my third eye”? “How can I experience my Kundalini”? “I have meditated for six hours and still don’t feel happy, what should I do”? Having the courage to be honest and tell the truth when answering questions like these is not a problem of mine as that is my way of being; but the acceptance of the truth is not always well received or well accepted as these people are expecting an delusional answer I am not going to give.

This is another one of the spiritual traps – the game trap!

Being awakened and walk in a spiritual path is not like playing a game, where people play the part they feel like it, and figure they are entitled to a “forever happy life”, forgetting there is also a life to be lived! With the example of the questions I cited above, certain (many) say - I followed the rules - “I opened my third eye chakra, I raised my Kundalini, I meditated for six hours, and now what? I am not feeling any different yet”, what should I do?

The thing is – there is no script – there is no game to be played.

The important lesson to learn is that the awakening is not scripted and neither is living in a spiritual mode, sort of way.

Taking my example for instance, where I’ve chosen to follow my path of being a Reiki Therapist, among other alternative therapy healing techniques, I have chosen the path to service others, but I’ve also chosen the path of surrender to the will of a higher power in my life, and this surrendering gives me an absolute need to be balanced in my whole being (physical, mental and spiritual) in different daily dosages. The amount of time I meditate one day, might be different on the next day; some days I even have to meditate more than once.  The healing method I use for one person might not be the best for another, or even for myself.

Life is unfolding, life is happening with me and for me, not to me!

Life is unfolding, life is happening with you and for you, not to you!

Lastly, the concept or phrase “be in the now” is often confused and could be a trap as well. To be in the now, you have to focus on what you are doing now, and there is nothing wrong with that… the problem is the misinterpretation.

This is another one of the spiritual traps – the “be in the now” trap!

I love to see and savor the views while I drive in the rural areas, sometimes they are breathtaking and make the trip seem much shorter; there are people who travel the same road and don’t see the same view, and ask – what view? We are all different, so when we say to these people to “focus or be in the now”, we have to be very careful how we explain this concept.

Being in the now should be explained as simple as to be focused on what you are doing and nothing else! Whether you are driving, cooking, washing the dishes, writing, painting, eating, running, or whatever other activity you might be engaged in, you should be devoting all your attention to that and nothing else! There is a problem with multitasking, for instance, as it takes you out of the moment involving several moments in one. I often hear – I can multitask – as a plus, but if I were to give a rating I would rate it a minus, as it takes all the perception of the moment.

Be in the now is to be present 100% in what you are doing and nothing else.

The trap many take you into, thinking that you have to breathe deeply and go into a sort of meditation state to be in the now is ambiguous, as in reality this is only asked if you go into meditation or hypnosis state, because for everything else you just need to focus on what you are doing and nothing else.  

It’s kind of easy to slide into any one of these spiritual identities and traps, as you go along searching for information that is truly useful for your awakening. Having compassion and humility along with patience is necessary and helpful into better focusing yourself in your path, your journey, and your own personalized spiritual schooling, where you learn from everyone and follow no one.

Much Love and Light!