Spiritual Maturity
Okay, clarification from various sources on Spiritual Maturity… My personal definition is the one that equals Enlightenment. I will add, you must rid yourself of all defilement on all levels of the mind, body and emotion, not just what you know, concern yourself more with what you don’t know, what effects, rules control you, without your consent, without you even knowing.
Go there. DARE TO KNOW!!!!!!
Please investigate what this concept means
to you personally on your Journey.
The world’s mystical traditions vary somewhat in their focus and emphasis–some may highlight surrender while others may highlight transformation and purification–but they all follow the same basic progression and formula for reaching complete spiritual maturity–
a state known as Enlightenment.
Qualities of Spiritual Maturity
Love, compassion and service: Love and compassion are often associated
with the beginning of a true spiritual life. Love dissolves confusion and fear and elicits kindness, openness and respect. Unless we love and trust ourselves, we cannot love others.
Compassion goes beyond a personal form of love to a love of All Creation.
Honesty and authenticity: No longer lying to ourselves and others about what we are doing and what the consequences are. To live as we really are without delusion about the reality of the past, the present, our self-hood and behaviors.
Physical, emotional, mental and spiritual clarity: Physical clarity has to do with attention to the body’s health and real needs. Mental and emotional clarity have to do with awareness, discernment and lucidity. Spiritual clarity has to do with wholeness, simplicity and sensitivity.
Responsibility and discipline: Becoming accountable for ourselves without feeling excessively responsible for others. Dependable and creative completion of our responsibilities and a disciplined approach to personal growth.
Serenity: A state of equanimity, inner tranquility and peacefulness
in the face of challenge and change.
Personal freedom: Letting go of attachments and Live in the Question(s) and turn problems into Answers, and Opportunities into Growth without drama, escape, or avoidance.
Tolerance and patience: The ability to embrace self and ‘the other’ in spite of perceived weakness or difference. To even move beyond tolerance to acceptance and celebration of difference and diversity. Patience means to take events and experiences as they come without complaint or expectation.
It also means all things have a natural time and place to be.
Faith, trust, and inner security: The ability to live without anxiety or doubt.
An inner security, free of fear and deprivation.
Wisdom and understanding: Deep insight, possible at any age, expressed
through everyday action. (The appropriate application of knowledge).
Gratitude, humility and willingness: Gratitude is the recognition of the little miracles that occur everyday. Humility is the ability to move beyond arrogance and grandiosity toward an honest acceptance of ourselves with all our perceived limitations and faults.
Hope, happiness, joy, and humor: Hope and happiness are states of well-being and contentment emanating from a deep feeling of inner wealth irrespective of outer events or experiences.
Joy and humor spring from a warm heart and a sense of the ‘cosmic game’.
Connection with the earth, nature and everyday life: Even though we may find great inspiration
in sacred systems or transcendent experiences, we recognize the sacredness of daily activities,
other people, other life forms, inanimate matter, and nature.
“It’s no good being an angel if you’re no earthly use.”
Living in the present moment: The ability to live in the present rather escaping to the past or the future. The ability to constantly ‘let go’.
A sense of wonder, mystery, and reverence: A direct experience of the cosmos which is intuitive, inclusive, and expansive. A sense of being aware of the profound inter-connectedness of all creation.
A sense of purpose and place in space and time: A sense of the unique and necessary place and personal contribution of each individual being in the world.
“Where does my deep gladness meet the world’s deep need?”
Also
These “ways of being” are expressed in terms such as compassion, tolerance, ease, kindness, humor, warmth, wisdom, authenticity, mindfulness, stability, openness, concentration, and so on.
Kant’s View:
Kant’s opening paragraph of the essay is a much-cited definition of the Enlightenment: “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from self imposed immaturity
for which he himself was responsible.
Immaturity and dependence are the inability to use one’s own intellect without the direction of another. One is responsible for this immaturity and dependence, if its cause is not a lack of intelligence, but a lack of determination and courage to think without the direction of another.
“Dare to know”,
is therefore the slogan of the Enlightenment.
