We often use such phrases as “the spiritual path” or “the path of spiritual progress.” Sometimes we say that we are “treading” or “following” the path. But did you know that there are actually TWO PATHS?
They are both spiritual in their essence yet, as paradoxical as it may sound, one of these paths is in fact a form of spiritualised selfishness. This is an imperfect term to use but seems to be the most descriptive and applicable.
“How can a spiritual path be a form of selfishness?” you may ask.
It all depends on the aim, goal, and motive of the spiritual aspirant.
Some seek eternal divine bliss and complete liberation and emancipation from this world of suffering and its seemingly endless wheel of birth, death, and rebirth. Their aim is to become totally and literally remerged and reabsorbed in that infinite Source from which they came. Quite understandably, they wish to escape forever from conditioned and material existence. Some of them are actively striving and diligently working towards this great goal, whilst others merely keep it in mind and hope to somehow reach it someday.
Almost the whole of the Hindu religion is focussed in this direction, as is the system of Theravada Buddhism.
This path is called the Path of Liberation. It leads to Nirvana, to Moksha, to Mukti, to Brahman. It lifts one out of Samsara – the sea of suffering, the ocean of conditioned existence – and into Nirvana, the infinite ocean of unconditioned non-existence, which is Absolute Existence itself, “the vanishing point of differentiated matter.” One rebecomes the Divine Allness.
But then there is the other path, a path which seems unappealing and uninviting to the majority. The few who tread this path do so because they have come to realise the selfishness of the other....read more>>>...
