Spirituality seems to have a stigma attached to it that has undoubtedly turned many people in today’s modern world off from exploring it in more depth.

Even for those who have embraced some sort of spiritual practice in their life, they may find themselves unable to reconcile their modern day life, filled with the latest phones, and laptops, and clothes and the need for money with this certain “image” one thinks of when they think of someone who is ‘spiritual.’

The stigma I am speaking of is the concept of being completely un-attached — not relying on material objects, personal belongings, and relationships as the source of our identity.

When we think of some of the spiritual teachers that shape what we think of as spirituality today, such as Jesus or Buddha, we see seekers who have given up all personal belongings, left their homes and their families, and survived on meek rations all in hopes of seeking and or spreading the ‘truth’.

So of course, in our modern world where it is pretty much imperative that one needs some sort of money flow coming to them in order to survive, one may turn away from delving too deep into any spiritual practice for fear of having to do the same, meaning, give up all of their belongings and be ok without, their, gasp, phone.

It’s almost as if one thinks to themselves, “yes that spirituality stuff seems interesting and there is definitely something to it, but I’m not going to, like, sell all of my stuff and move to a cave in India somewhere and meditate for the rest of my life or anything.”

The good news I am here to share with you however is… drumroll please… no one is asking you to!

It’s about time we re-visit the age old teaching of not being “attached” to anything and explore how we can extract the purpose of this teaching while also marrying it with the fact that in today’s world, stuff is kind of required, money is kind of needed, not to mention we enjoy our clothes and our families and going to the theater and shopping and posting on instagram… so why do we have to stop?

What value does the material world hold for the spiritual seeker?

 

~via FractalEnlightenment.com