After reading this article on Huffington Post titled The Ten Spiritual Transmitted Disease I started to wonder how one can get a spiritual check up.
I wish there were a way to test myself (or others) for their spiritual growth or evolution. When I heard of the ‘stress testing’ that the banks had to go through in the recent financial crisis I wondered if there was any type of ‘stress test’ that people could go through.
For me, spiritual evolution is reflected in one’s ability to appreciate, enjoy and love what life offers. One of the greatest challenges people seem to have is their fear of judgment or criticism, which is why I like the idea of a panel or group of people testing or judging me to give me a stress test. I would like that because I am always alert to the possibility that I am deceiving myself in some way. I watch for this because I have seen so many other so called spiritual people who have ended up deceiving themselves in some way or another.
But then again I could be deceiving myself in my assumption that being judged by people is a good stress test of one’s spiritual evolution. I might like that because I have mastered the skill of not reacting to people’s words so the judgments of people would not harm me, but I might be very challenged if a tornado came into town and swept away my home, something I have never experienced. I have had things stolen from me and I felt I did pretty good at keeping the light when my motor home was broken into and my computer was stolen, or when my bike, which I truly loved, was stolen a month later. But what if I lost everything and could not replace anything because I lost everything, including my ‘nest egg’ of reserve money.
So I wonder what others think would be a good way to examine oneself or another to test their level of consciousness. I recognize that the nondualist will challenge the language here wondering ‘who’ it is that is being challenged, but I recognize they do this because they just do not ‘get it’ when it comes to playing with the illusion of duality, which is what this exercise is all about.
So please, share your thoughts.
White-robed, I don’t adhere to appearances;
The true principle arises form Emptiness.
Because my mind’s without obstruction
Wisdom goes forth to all directions.
I only consider the lion’s roar–
I don’t let wild jackals yap!
Bodhi is said to be most marvelous,
But I scold it for being a false name
– Layman P’ang (740-808)