How To Develop As An Individual By Weise, Christian

Level confusion 

Somewhere in Africa at the foot of a mountain someone accidentally kicks a stone and perceives a well-familiar sparkle. ‘Hmm’, the finder goes, ‘could that be a diamond?’ He shakes the stone, looks at it from all sides and decides to give it to an expert in the city who indeed confirms that this is a diamond in the rough. The expert removes some debris surrounding the stone, cleans it, grinds the stone into shape and then polishes it. Behold, a beautiful diamond sees the light of the day for the first time.

There is level confusion in the spiritual community and I hope the diamond analogy can shed some light on it. Some say that we are the creators of our own destiny and that we should empower ourself until we reach the stage where we can manifest what we truly aspire. Sone say we should be selfless, others say that there is no’I’ in the first place. So what should we do exactly with all this confusing advice? The solution to the problem is to appreciate each stage separately. There is a time to empower ourself. There is a time to let life’s problems transform ourself. There is a time to let life just flow through us, and there is the stage that our sages talk about when the ‘I’-identity disappears altogether.

Take the need for self-development. Often we sign up for a spiritual quest because there is something bothering us inside. We wish we could be happy, serene and loving as the spiritual masters claim we can be, but it is spiritual by-passing to wish to be ‘there’ where the masters are while life presents us concrete problems to work on. So instead of seeking to become selfless we should in this stage do exactly the opposite, strengthening the part of our self that is in conflict with the environment. We are ‘too nice’, ‘too passive’, ‘not goal-oriented enough’, ‘not assertive enough’; you fill in here the part that troubles you.

The second stage is self-transformation. We might exactly be where we think we should be as far as developing our self is concerned but life still grabs us by the horns and takes us for a ride. We experience transformation. Every year we experience how piece by piece we lose a bit of our self. The third stage is just being. We are our authentic self and life is just flowing through us. We are a medium, everything else a higher Force accomplishes through us. The last stage in the spiritual evolution is when the experiencer becomes the experienced and the ‘I’-identity disappears completely. 

Going back to the diamond analogy, self-development is the moment the finder stumbles on the diamond in the rough. We awaken to some spiritual talents and we want to make good use of them. We are tired of the ongoing frictions we experience with our environment, lost love, economic struggles, inner turmoil, and decide to look for answers within rather than blaming others or some external circumstances. Then comes the stage of transformation. We have worked on our self, we put our best foot forward but there is still a lot of resistance that we face in life’s ups and downs just as the diamond in the rough is being worked on by the expert.

There is a time of just being, that’s when life merely flows through us. That’s the stage when the admirer of the finished stone realizes that the light flows through it, creating the sparkle. Lastly, there is a time when the experiencer merges with the experienced, the realization that there is no self. This phenomenon is a dream-like stage and gets increasingly harder to put into words. It is like a scientist telling the owner of the diamond that on the smallest level the hardest material in the world is nothing but energy spinning at mind-numbing speed.

This stage comes when it comes but don’t miss out on your life in your desire to be ‘there’. The life that you are facing is here for a reason. It’s factually correct to say that the diamond is not real but that information is probably not that useful for the owner who wants to use his diamond as an anniversary gift for his wife.

I have traveled this spiritual journey for 12 years now and have discovered that life encourages us to be the gem we are born to be all the time. The problem of spirituality is often level confusion. Folks rightly feel that they deserve better but instead of reaching out to a life coach or a therapist to do something about their weaknesses and inner struggles they go to a guru who tells them about the bliss, serenity and love that awaits them.

Listen to life it has all the answers. All problems, struggles and interferences are gifts from the Beyond designed especially for you. Don’t negate what’s meaningful to you, find ways to get what you want. Be the sparkling diamond God wants you to be before you realize that you are nothing but energy in motion. Let life decide what is good for you and not some holy man.

You might not be our body but you can use it to give your partner a mind-blowing spiritual experience. You might get encouraged professionally to become more assertive and find that it is not in conflict with spirituality at all. You find that everyone benefits from that transformation and your career takes off.

The solution to the level confusion is to stop wishing to be ‘there’ where the sages sit and being more willing to explore the here and now. We have to be willing to let life transform us in order to become the gem we are meant to be. Following Awakening, I spent 10 years in the same professional environment before moving on to become a writer and spiritual coach. These were the best years in my career. I observed ‘Oneness’ at work in a fairly competitive environment.

I learned to listen to my well-wishers as well as those who appeared to be on a collision course with me. I discovered that I was a gem in the making when I consciously decided to become more assertive to make my message heard surrounded by folks who were way louder than me. These ten years of competing with the best while at the same time sticking my my own spiritual rules did transform me. I reached the stage of just being and letting life flow through me even at work.

Everyone can discover this magic in real life as long as they are willing to also develop their self and allow life’s frictions to transform them. Glimpses of the ‘I Am That I Am’ experience when the illusionary self disappears came later but they were also not any more magic than the time when Awakening first kicked in.

Each phase has its magic, each period has its moments when we are reminded that we are human after all. So don’t miss out on the gem right in front of you in your quest to reach the top of the mountain. Each stage —self-discovery, self-transformation, the stage of being and the no self experience—has magic to it. Whether in the tough or polished. You are that gem always

Mind the level confusion. Mind the spiritual by-passing and accept where you are in your stage of life. Every stage comes at the appropriate time. Meanwhile, enjoy what is in front of you.