I received an e-mail a few months ago from a friend who was writing about how she is fed up with all the violence and lack of compassion and consciousness in the world: "there's no point to spiritual development when things are this bad" she wrote.

It got me wondering, does spiritual development cause us to perceive the world as being a better place than it is? It is a dangerous path when a person begins to idealise their world instead of facing it.

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If we link the process of being more conscious to a particular group, ideal, or agenda, then what is the point? Is it true freedom? Or just a false promise of future fulfilment?

An old Zen quote holds:
If You Meet Buddha on The Road, Kill Him

I would suggest much the same in regards to all external pursuits of spiritual growth. For a person to experience true spiritual growth he or she ought to first cut all ties with external standards that claim to measure and evaluate personal growth.

Our Secret Place

It seems that when we do associate with a standard or specific 'method of spiritual development' then all other methods seem invalid. It becomes tempting to assume that one cause or another is the ultimate source of evil, and all other methods of thinking perpetuate that evil where as "our" method is the single true path.

It is tempting to climb the spiritual staircase that so often offers an idealised set of glasses through which to view the world. It's like creating a secret place where members of that group are safe and protected from the outside world. But does the outer picture get altered just because a new set of glasses are worn?

Spiritual development can cause our view of life to become too idealised.

The Romance with Being Miserable

To some extent we all idealise our lives whether as a part of spiritual development or otherwise. For a person claiming "I am free" and then coming home to be accountable to their guilt, dissatisfaction, and powerlessness, that sense of freedom has to be an outlet for their idealism! Each of us has a romance with the miseries of being human.

Climbing the spiritual staircase can often be seen as a path to escape the state of dissatisfaction that's present in ourselves or the world around us. If we achieve happiness, peace, and fulfillment then perhaps the world will become a better place - but will it?

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The experience of true freedom is not just a belief, not something a specific group can offer, and something available through special membership. Freedom cannot be sold, nor given, nor produced. It is within each one of us. It is the essential freedom to be our individual selves that is at the core of all life.

Freedom - emotional, mental, and spiritual - is far more than a level of personal evaluation. It is the power to be an individual in the fullness of the word, without measuring up to external standards or ideas. Spiritual development therefore should serve to allow us more freedom rather than restricting and repressing societies and people.

The Path Leads Out of Darkness

The aim of spiritual development is to empower each person to find his or her unique inner-light. Its aim is not to maintain the attachment that we have to the darkness. However, climbing up on a pedestal and ignoring the darkness in the world is not true spiritual development, it's still attachment to idealism.

Miracles are Possible

True miracles are possible, but this should not hold as an excuse for ignoring the pain and lack of consciousness in the world. Some people attempt to climb that spiritual staircase in an effort to achieve perfection - perfect happiness, perfect peace and non-attachment to the pain all around us.

In the words of Buddha, there is no peace or fulfilment while even just one soul is still in suffering. Part of spiritual development is realizing we are all interconnected on a deep level. Thus rather than escaping suffering, we share our suffering. It's not about climbing up and out from the world that we might see as wrong and invalid.

Perfection is Imperfection

There is a point in self-development where reaching a state of perfection, an ideal state of being, seems irrelevant. Instead the goal shifts towards aligning with one's true nature, his or her True Self. To realize this is also to realize that it's not a staircase that we are climbing up at all.

Each of us is both at the top and the bottom, at the start and the end, and in the middle too. Part of removing the blocks to our self-awareness is realizing that it's not about getting to the top at all. It never was.

Spiritual development is not all about happiness and endless bliss. To stop climbing that staircase… to develop abilities like compassion and understanding towards others and their personal paths is far more important.