I think the majority of us experience the world in a very humane way, one that is full of the good, bad and ugly. In other words the “messiness” of it all is just a constant part of our lives reminding us of our conditions, limitations, and most of all our challenges that most of us strive to overcome. So how does spirituality fit into this “messy”  human picture of what we call our lives? I believe that spirituality is intrinsically interwoven into the perceived imperfections that we were born and raised with. If we were perfect beings living on planet Earth and our lives were complete and whole there wouldn’t be any room for growth. Think about it: if we were in a constant state of bliss 100 percent of the time would there be a chance to develop a deeper conscious state of awareness which would be manifested in refining ourselves? One way to do that is by exploring what Carl Jung calls our shadow parts and seeing the unique gifts that arise within us through this alchemized exploration process.

I think the reason why so many people get turned off by the thought of being spiritual is because over the years it has gained a bad rep for a path of being “perfect” and “pure” and not being “sinful.”  Religions have created so many restrictions and conditions in order for people to belong to their congregations that it is no wonder why many flee from the mere notion of committing to a spiritual life. I truly believe that most people are already on their spiritual paths being exactly where they need to be but without officially considering it to be ’spiritual’ based on society’s definitions and standards of what that word should entail. Passion, for example, is an emotional path that could set you in the direction of finding out more about who you are in relation to your external environment and circumstances. It has a way of accelerating the process of growth through an intense amount of energy and focus into whatever the storyline is at that moment in time. Our Emotions and psychological conditions can be seen as accurate indicators of our current state of awareness and/or habitual patterns. There’s a famous quote that I found when looking up the word endurance: “By your endurance you will gain your souls.” One must be brave and courageous to be here at this time and survive but in order to really thrive one must be heroic and a spiritual warrior.

The mere experience that we have of life in our day to day journey should be considered our ultimate spiritual path; anything other than that can be appreciated as tools used to make sure we don’t steer off too much from where we are supposed to be which is right here, right now.