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Receiving Spiritual Growth
We learn from an early age that certain actions and behaviors get us what we want. As little children, we learned how to behave in order to gain parental approval. During our school years, we learned to study hard in order to get good grades. These grades were necessary to get into college. The college degree was necessary to get a decent job. And once we got that job, we worked hard in order to get the promotion or the raise we wanted.
This pattern spills over into our relationships. We do favors for our friends. We return calls and social invitations to maintain those friendships. Even within intimate relationships, we may find ourselves taking action to gain our partner’s approval and love.
We have learned that taking action is necessary to get what we want out of life.
But now we begin a spiritual path, and enter into a conscious relationship with the Divine. A whole different set of rules apply, and they confound us. Coming into relationship with our Divinity requires no action, no doing. It requires nothing but being.
All of our life, we have been doing something to get what we want. The world is conditional. Everyone wants something from us - for us to be a good boy or girl, a good student, a good employee, a good friend, a good spouse or a good parent. Even we want these things from ourselves. Some people even think that God wants these things from us! We understand this system of doing in order to receive. We are comfortable with it. It gives us a sense of control. If we want something, we take action.
The Divine, on the other hand, is unconditional. In order to receive our Divinity, we must only be what we already are. This is hard for us. Spiritual practice is simply being. The spiritual path sometimes looks like we’re taking action - we meditate, we do yoga, we journal, we heal ourselves and others. But within these activities, what really matters is our state of being.
We must abandon all ideas of striving for a relationship with the Divine. We already have that relationship. It is unconditional, simply because we are. The spiritual path sometimes seems to create struggle and sacrifice. This is only because it is difficult for us to receive anything we have not “earned” through action. We think we have to work hard for our spiritual growth. This is the conditioning of the physical plane. In reality, we have to overcome our own discomfort with unconditionally receiving. The Divine has no agenda, no strings attached, no score-card tracking our spiritual practice. We do not have to prove ourselves or pass arduous tests in order to be found worthy of enlightenment.
All we have to do is embrace our true nature, and simply be that which we already are.
Can we allow ourselves to receive without doing anything in return? Imagine all the people who love you gathering before you to bring you the most wonderful, exquisite gifts, just because you are. Would you be open to accepting these gifts without feeling indebted to them? Could you just say “thank you” because you know you unconditionally deserve to have your heart’s desires fulfilled?
This is the unconditionality of the Divine. It is simply there, if we allow ourselves to just be. Nothing is required from us in return. How much Divinity can you allow yourself to receive?
Blessings,
Andrea
April 11th, 2008 at 2:40 am
Andrea, you’ve got me (and my team of guides) nodding in agreement while reading this lovely blog
This is so simple, yet it truly is one of the hardest things to DO. I feel this is also where spirituality is different from religion. Religions and doctrines all teach us to condition ourselves to find favor with God and men — they are not wrong, and they certainly do wonders to keep us away from trouble! Yet there will always be an underlying concept that we must ACT according to certain rules in order to receive attention or approval from up above. There is a very fine line between “just be” and “just be this”. I hope I’m making sense! 
April 11th, 2008 at 4:05 am
Hi Andrea
I downloaded and listened to your Discover Your Soul Purpose audio a while ago - what a powerful exercise! When my future self walked into the auditorium, I found myself whispering with tears running down my face, “so much love, there is so much love”… it was such a beautiful feeling of connection to everyone who was there and to the Divine, simply for just being.
Thank you for facilitating that experience for me!
April 11th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I think I really had to read this today. My guides were nudging me the same idea, that all I need to “do” is to wish and open up, and I guess they decided I would benefit reading it. . .
April 11th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
WoW!! Thanks again Andrea…….Yes, there is such difficulty in simply receiving….not feeling worthy seems to come with the territory of living, doesn’t it……..How odd that we desire so much, give some, and receive so little…..without expecting to owe……Very interesting and timely for my life….I am always conscience of what another’s agenda may be that I slow down in the action department of giving, since, who knows, how it will be received, if at all. And all we have to do is be ourselves????? Are You quite sure about that??? (tongue in cheek) Thanks!!!!
April 12th, 2008 at 12:58 am
It’s so simple and yet we make it so hard. Maybe some of it is because we don’t fully accept and love and see ourselves as the Divine does. We are only looking at form and what it does for us instead of being present and turning our attention to our Beingness.
Thank you for a wonderful and uplifting post.
April 12th, 2008 at 4:38 am
Thank you for the gentle reminder to simply be. Acceptance as we are without condition can be a challenging state to get our minds around. That’s when the beauty of nature calls be to simply go forth and be with it.
April 12th, 2008 at 7:12 am
To quote another enlightened soul: “The gift you offer another person is just your being.” — Ram Dass
April 12th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Thanks for this article Andrea, it is a good reminder for me. Yes, the idea that “just being” is where the real power is can be really difficult to accept at times as I tend to cling to the belief that I need to work hard at the “doing” part. in this state of being that you are referring to though, I can actually have all that I want now because I realize that I already am/ have what I want since its essence (the feeling I want to experience as a result getting what I want) is always available to me.
April 12th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Andrea,
You are right that we already have that eternal relation with God, and that is not something to be attained. However (and this is a big however) we do not know this in reality, and theory does not satisfy our soul. We desire to tune in to that Grand Relationship, but our efforts yield only glimpses (even tuning in and simply being is an action, a setting of the will).
The wise through the ages have said that the problem lies in our tuning mechanism – our bodies on the physical, biomagnetic, mental, intellectual, and other levels. What needs to be done is purification and transformation/transmutation of these levels to make them better receptors to the Divine signal. Yes, tuning into God to the degree we are capable of is itself a purification, as light dispels darkness. But we must also work at that re-alignment and purification by eliminating those elements in our life and inner bodies which are at odds with that attunement. It is like cleaning and polishing a mirror that it may more accurately reflect an image.
Ask, Seek, Knock, Jesus said. These are actions. Actions which require persistence. (The actual Greek text says keep on asking, etc.)
So both being and doing are required.
April 13th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Hi everyone,
Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to the comments. I was highly committed to doing absolutely not much for the past couple of days!
Focusing on the “beingness” - aaaaaah.
Irene - Exactly! Many religions place a conditionality on our relationship with God. Follow these rules, and you will get into heaven.
Mags - I’m thrilled you did the process and had a great experience! It will definitely keep serving you as a resource. Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it!
Akemi - Sometimes it’s so gosh darn simple, isn’t it? And yet, we find “doing” so much more satisfying. Often we are more “productive” when we let go a little bit and just open to receiving. Not easy!
Pat - You really hit upon a key point. Our relationship with the Divine and our relationship with ourselves is pretty much the same one. Examine one, and we can learn a great deal about the other!
Tom - Thank you! Yes, “being” definitely requires a level of acceptance that we can gloss over while we’re very, very, very busy “doing.”
Rose-Anne - Thank you for adding that quote here. It fits perfectly!
Adrianne - There’s another one of those things we think we have to do - to work “hard.” You summed up why this is unnecessary just beautifully!
ReddyK - I don’t actually think we can truly separate being and doing! Like you say, everything is an act of doing - even breathing, when it comes right down to it! But I do know plenty of people for whom spiritual practice - those purifications that you speak of - has become about “getting it done” and about achievement. I think this somewhat defeats the purpose of spiritual practice, which is about attaining a state of Being, right?
If we are constantly tuned to who we are being while we are doing and have the desire to tune into God, will right action not unfold? We can obsessively clean the mirror while never truly looking inside it. Or we can look deeply, and the smears and smudges will be revealed, no? And then the need to clean will arise out of what we see? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you know people who are in a state of spiritual striving and are holding themselves back this way?
I guess I’m trying to say there has to be a healthy balance between the being and the doing. And in our society, I think that doing is heavily over-emphasized!
As always, I so value your thoughts!!!
Blessings,
Andrea
April 13th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Andrea, you are so funny.
You know, I am starting a new series on my blog called Coffee Break — it’s about sense of humor — I might count your comment of BEING.
April 14th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Andrea,
I love these discussions because it forces me to think about and put into words what I really believe.
Every moment of every day we are making choices: Will we be proactive or reactive? Will we choose the easy or more beneficial difficult? (Sometimes the easy is the more beneficial, luckily.) Will we choose the pleasant or the good? All this sounds like a lot of work, huh?
When we talk about being and doing, some might think by “being” we mean passive. Regarding this, have built up habit patterns from lifetimes, not all of them to our ultimate good. If we are passive, these past habits will manifest, having no opposition. Then we are not in control, but our past is in control.
To truly BE, we have to be awake, alert. This requires effort. Especially at overcoming our past negativity and establishing ourselves in healthier habit patterns. We are lazy, and like the like the soothing images “being” brings up, like watching the cloud on a warm spring day. But in real spiritual life, those who have truly attained have done so through effort, sometimes strenuous effort, if necessary. In India, they have a saying, “making, making, Made.” The more we work, the more we can be.
It is comforting to know, however, that the path of effort is easier and more rewarding than that of being at the mercy of the roaring tempest of an undisciplined life.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
P. S.
I do not mean by “effort” the gut-busting exertion often associated with the word (though this may be required). Rather it is constant attentiveness to skillfullness whereby we become masters rather than slaves of our fate. With skillfulness, a flick of the finger may be sufficient.
April 14th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Great examples of striking a balance between “being” and “doing” are found in the natural world. A plant does not struggle to grow. Always aware of its true nature, it opens itself up to the plentiful gifts from God of sun and rain and in a joyful way and at its own perfect pace, it grows and flourishes. This same well-being is always available to us too and we are invited to relax and grow joyfully at our own pace. I guess it takes a level of trust at first to believe this support is always there and that it is ok to take as much time as we need, but when we keep this in mind the being and the doing just flow.
April 14th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
ReddyK - Love the comment - and the clarification!
Spiritual growth is definitely not a passive process - but it also is not a process based on achievement through struggle. I would actually characterize “effort” more as intention (which is definitely active) followed by attention (also active). Putting our intention and attention on our spiritual growth and whatever that growth requires could, I suppose, constitute “effort” …. but not necessarily struggle. I think the struggle and the exertion comes out of our resistance to growth. I think the struggle is what is most obvious to us when we are in the process of growth, and it gets stressed a great deal in various traditions - too much, in my opinion. To the point, I think, where some people equate struggle with spiritual growth and wear it like a badge of honor. Or come to expect struggle as part of the process. I think the struggle is actually optional - not a requirement for growth at all. What do you think?
Adrianne - Wow, that analogy fits so beautifully - I wish I’d started with that!
Thank you for adding it here, it illustrates the point perfectly.
Blessings,
Andrea