Stop making these mistakes and move forward on your spiritual path.
Many believe that being wise is a thing of mystics or enlightened people.
And it is not true, not the whole truth (at least).
Being spiritually wise has more to do with being present than with attaining nirvana (although one thing eventually leads to the other 🙂
And as a mindfulness teacher, I have noticed over the years that the spiritually evolved or wise people I have met on my journey have in common that they have stopped doing these three things.
1. Giving up at the slightest change
What happens is that worldly people confuse quitting with letting go, which is not the same thing.
Quit leads you directly to the abyss; letting go, on the other hand, elevates you.
Letting go is necessary to follow what Christians define as “the way, the truth, and the life.” That is what leads you to heaven; is that peace in the Zen tradition called Satori.
Satori is a Japanese term that translates as “understanding” and that, paradoxically, for Zen monks, is a moment of no mind and authentic presence.
In other words, A moment of total surrender to Jesus, as Christians would say, so that the Holy Spirit can do his will in them, and thus they can self-realize themselves.
In chapter 15 of the Tao, you can read, “The master does not aspire to fullness. Without aspiring, without expectation, he is present and welcomes everything.”
And for this, you have to learn to let go, to surrender to the absolute, but never give up.
2. Thinking they know everything
Spiritually wise people know that he who thinks he knows everything learns nothing.
And although as a famous Zengo (Zen saying) I read in a book by Zen monk Shunmyo Masuno says, “Everything comes from nothing” If you think you are “Everything,” you will have no room for nothingness to fill you with its wisdom 🙂
Another Zengo says, “Each step is a place to learn.” It is because each step is different, and spiritually wise people know that their transformation is constant and that at each stage, they transmute into someone other thing, like the butterfly that comes out of the cocoon and ceases to be a caterpillar that crawls along the earth to fly towards the blue sky.
But for this transformation to take place, humility is needed.
And to be very clear that the opposite of humility is arrogance, aka being a know-it-all 🙂
3. Being ungrateful
Spiritually wise people understand the wisdom hidden in that excellent bible phrase (Matthew 7:13), “Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to perdition (destruction), and many are those who enter by it.”
In other words, spiritually wise people go to the less traveled path.
And that implies being grateful for what worldly people would label as misfortunes or defects.
And it is in the thorn where the virtue of the rose of wisdom is hidden.
All the misfortunes you survive (your thorns) are the gifts that produce the fruit of the wisdom and faith of spiritually wise people.
For example, in the Christian tradition, we bless the cross, the stigmata, the blood shed by Jesus, and the crown of thorns.
Which is to be thankful for what hurts because it transmutes and saves us.
And only some can understand that.
Life is a video game where adverse situations are often the path to our spiritual evolution. That is why he, who is spiritually wise, forgives and turns the other cheek. Because they know it is necessary to move on to the next screen in the life video game.
When they do, they unlock all kinds of serendipities, which seem like strokes of fortune, but are the fruits that come from embracing pain and purging sin: from breaking free and flying.
And that is something you only understand if you are genuinely spiritually wise.
A virtual hug
AG
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