I have heard people say that to be spiritual in a material world; all materialism must be rejected for the spiritualist needs nothing, but their spiritual essences. I believe to live a spiritual life in this materialistic world is the opportunity to break illusions and delve deeper into the understanding of what life becomes as a spiritualist.

To understand the material world requires deep introspection. From early childhood we are conditioned to believe that for our lives to have value, we must be successful and prosperous. The self-lies we are taught is to value our lives IF we become this, accumulate that and ultimately reside there. We define who, and what we are based on external criteria, not on intrinsic beliefs and spiritual evolution.

With material eyes, we place importance on what we have accumulated in our lifetimes. One day a catharsis occurs and our material world becomes trivial compared to who we are and what we can become. In that instant, the process of detachment of materialism evolves into an attachment of spiritual potential.

Suddenly we realize we have too much materialism, not enough spirituality and strive for a balance. Many feel the need to declutter, remove all the unnecessary objects and ideas from ourselves and our lives. In downsizing, we release the worry, the frustration, and the responsibility for the maintenance of aspects of our lives. We are also shattering comfort zones and the many masks we constructed to avoid self examination and acceptance.

Stripping ourselves bare to rebuild ourselves spiritual can be a painful process because we must discard illusions that fed egos and maintained a false sense of identity. We must delve deeply within, and seek self acceptance and love often hidden deep within self. We must dismantle the material person and construct the spiritual being. Only when we have accomplished this rebuilding that we can live spiritually in a material world.

Our complicated nonspiritual lives evolve into simple spiritual lives where life is lived with appreciation of the moment. Our time is better spent in appreciation of what lies within. We are able to appreciate the beauty of quiet moments, of a sunset, of a child’s laughter because we are no longer trapped in piles of material illusions. With the deeper appreciation of our spiritual selves, we can make choices in how we wish to live our lives, and what we wish to accomplish with our lives.

With our spiritual identity, our views of the material world shift. We are no longer addicted to the pursuit of materialism to fill the voids within ourselves. We have a new and healthy perspective on the work we do, where we reside and what we maintain in our daily lives. We are not caught up in the rat race of the accumulation of more, more, more. We can balance our true material needs with our spiritual expectations and live healthy, happy and spiritually fulfilling lives.

Christine Howell
Guest Blogger
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~

Christine Howell frequently writes about accredited online degrees and college related topics for Online College Guru, an online college directory and comparison website.