Spiritual Growth and Development: the opportunity of success and failure

One might strive by placing demands on himself, believing that to sacrifice is to love God. In doing so, he places boundaries and limits on what he can and can not do, what is and isn’t appropriate. When he succeeds, he often projects in pride and feels himself to be more special than some, stronger, more capable, more deserving than others. When he “fails” at doing what he put out to do, he oftentimes suffers and makes himself wrong, suppressing his loving capabilities.

While the willingness to sacrifice and challenge oneself to being a servant to God, a mystic or a spiritual warrior, can be expressed and practiced outwardly, in physical form, it does not necessary conquer one’s ego-ic tendency to compare by making wrong or better what it is he does and doesn’t do. While the physical realm of reality is the playground in which the opportunity to experience heaven on earth becomes realized, it is not in focusing on what we do and don’t do that makes it possible. When someone looks to be doing a particular thing, he may or may not be practicing being the love of God, the keynote for any and all spiritual warriors and mystics. Thus, whether one’s demands on himself either succeeds or fails, the opportunity and spiritual growth come from his presence; that is, who he is being and how much he is embodying the consciousness of love.

It is important to realize therefore that there will be times that one may "fail" to match their internal commitment. At other times, one’s abilities may exceed their expectations by far. In either case, One must ask who the commitment is for: the body or God. If one’s commitment is of God, then he is bound to forgive himself and see unity in embracing humility, transparency, and humbleness. If one’s commitment is of the body, however, he is bound to make himself wrong and dismiss himself and those around him even more. In remembering God, one may realize that life is in not making wrong or comparing, justifying what is right, through what he does and doesn't do, but in embracing both success and failure as an opportunity to grow spiritually in either case.

Whether a seed, a idea, a new relationship, a project, ect. produces as success or failure, spiritual growth and development lies not in boasting, comparing or making wrong, but in moving forward, acknowleding mistakes, and embracing Self-love.