Spiritual Maturity

I deal with a fair number of people on a weekly basis in my healing practice and with students, and have gotten pretty good at assessing their levels of spiritual maturity.  This is also something that I have paid attention to in myself as the years have gone by.  There have been some definite changes that can be seen as I look back on the problematic emotions, attitudes or behaviors of the past.  The following are a few of the hallmarks of spiritual maturity. 

The first, most important and often the toughest one involves taking total responsibility as the creator of your life.   Each person comes into this lifetime with a plan that has been created by their Higher Self.  This includes all the people we are to meet, the path we are to take, and the major events we are to experience.  The Higher Self is always in charge.  There are no accidents.  Even the most horrendous events are part of our plan.  There are no victims.  The interaction between the one who plays the part of the “perpetrator” and the one who plays the part of the “victim” is also preplanned. They have co-created the interaction for the learning and experience of both of them.  

This is where I have parted ways with several clients over the years, not that I expect everyone to be working towards spiritual maturity.  If a client adamantly insists that they are a victim and have had nothing to do with creating their life’s difficulties, their healing work goes nowhere.  They are wasting their time and money with me.  I am not saying that by owning what has happened to them means that they are running a masochistic and conscious self harming pattern (although some do), but if you don’t own it in even some small way, you can’t change it.  The spiritually mature person says “OK.  This very disturbing event has happened.  I acknowledge that I drew it to me for some reason.  What can I learn from it?  What are the hidden gifts that I have received?  How can I use this knowledge to further my evolution?”  Once these questions are answered, one can move forward using the problematic experience as a learning tool to apply to similar future events, if they even repeat at all!  

What is one purpose for the unpleasant and even violent incidents in our lives?  To further the evolution of the whole of who we are to a state of completion through the learning that can be had by experiencing these events.  This brings me to the next hallmark of spiritual maturity which is the ability to perceive that we are more than just the body that is living on the earth at this time.  This goes well beyond the concept of reincarnation.  At a consciousness level that is outside of time and space, all incarnations are happening at the same time.  All of those experiences are contributing to the evolution of the “whole” of us.  Once one grasps that concept, the need to be perfected or all that is by the end of this lifetime goes out the window.  We are only a part of the bigger whole and contribute to the evolution of that whole.   

I find that those who have attained some level of spiritual maturity also have an energy of being comfortably well settled in their body.  They are not easily ruffled, as many of their former emotional triggers have been resolved.  Because of this, it is easy for them to be the observer of the world around them, knowing that at all times, everything is as it should be.  They can honor the other person's path because of that knowingness. 

The Native Americans call this way of living “Walking the Beauty Way”.  Tread lightly on the surface of the planet, leaving no indication that you were ever here.  Live a life of minimal attachment.  Honor all others that coexist with you, whether they be human, plant, animal or any of the other nature kingdoms of the planet.  Know that there is a plan for all even though you may not know what the plan is.  The key here for us is to know ourselves intimately and completely inside and out.  Cultivate your inner connection and take some time each day for introspection.  You are all wise and ancient souls.  Acknowledge that and be that.