Michael asked me on my Dutch blog:
What’s the difference between personal and spiritual growth anyhow? I think self knowledge is perhaps the only spiritual or personal growth there is, isn’t it?
It’s a very good question. Depending on ones spiritual background, one can go into this very deeply, or just skimp the surface. Ken Wilber has tried to chart levels of spiritual development in people very precisely. He ended up with eight levels (or colors), if I understand him correctly.
In the yoga tradition Enlightenment itself (Samadhi that is) has levels. There are different kinds of Samadhi and one is better than the other.
But in our day to day talk about this spiritual growth and personal development do tend to mix. There’s a lot that is called spiritual, that I’d personally categorize as personal development. And yes, in both self knowledge is an important aspect of it. But to be complete a third stage has to be added, which leads me to three forms of growth or development:
- Personal Development
- Spiritual Growth
- Quest for Enlightenment (Moksha, Samadhi, Nirvana, Redemption)
Personal development does not have to be spiritual. People who follow a course in pottery making or gardening are personally developing themselves. Personal growth can take the form of keeping up to date in your profession. Psychotherapy too is a way to do personal growth. In short: anything that helps you to function better in your day to day life – personally or professionally – is a form of personal development.
Personal development does not have to be spiritual. None of the examples I gave above are spiritual in any sense. But those who take a management course will in some cases be given meditation exercises. This means that personal growth seminars use spiritual techniques. Does this mean it’s spiritual what they’re doing there? I’m not sure. I think it can only be called spiritual if people transcend themselves, or there is reference to a higher power, god or inspiration. But even if God is called upon, if the goal is material success or riches – is that very spiritual?
For me it’s spiritual development only when people learn to be more ethical in their day to day life and business and learn to contribute (more) to society. Old fashioned or new ‘values’ should play a part – for it to be called spiritual growth. I personally also use the words ‘spiritual growth’ when I talk about how spiritual insights can help us live more peaceful lives, improve our relationships and prevent problems.
But that could also be called personal growth. The words ‘personal growth’ do sound more selfish. Things like learning to be more productive, dealing with stress and becoming successful fall under personal development. Nothing wrong with it, but it is focused on ME. This transforms into spiritual growth, I think, when the effect of our actions on others is taken into account.
Spiritual growth also includes the support people can feel from being part of something Larger. For instance: people who convert to Christianity, because they find in Jesus the strength to overcome Alcoholism. I’d personally label that experience differently, but the personal transformation involved certainly has a spiritual component.
There is a gliding scale between developing hidden aspects of oneself (personal development) and transforming yourself and reintegrating yourself (spiritual growth). In the latter case spiritual experiences will play a part in more cases.
Buddhism and Hinduism go a step further. Their basic assumption is that human beings can be liberated from the maelstrom of daily struggles. This liberation does not involve suppressing emotions, but not being touched by them. Nirvana and Moksha are states of consciousness that go beyond the ordinary. Those who follow one of these paths are on the quest to Enlightenment or Awakening. There is more to this path than merely living an ethical life and a sense that ‘there is more’. This path asks in addition dedication and perseverance. It’s also a revolutionary path in the sense that it can get rid of all material and social wealth – because ultimately money and status don’t matter.
Personal and spiritual growth too can result in drastic changes in one’s day to day life – change of job, new relationships, new friends etc. The search for Awakening or Awareness (if I may translate Nirvana like that) ultimately goes a step further: the environment we live in becomes less important. This does not necessarily involve retreat into a convent. The implication is that the goal no longer has anything to do with the environment, only with our inner state. Ultimately, so they say, the very idea of a ‘goal’ drops away as well.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I have come to understand that personal development merely entails the cumulative efforts made to become comfortable.., or at least reach a level of acceptance of ones own self..or better yet : ones own MIND MADE self..
Spiritual development on the other hand is the cumulative efforts made to become one with spirit.. going beyond the person NEEDING personal development..going beyond ego..or at the very minimum..realizing the illusion of “me”
The concept of “ethics” is based on ideas and believes,collectively accepted..and therefor only pertains to the COLLECTIVE MIND(the “ensemble of egos”) and have little to do with spirit-uality.
francois
I don’t think ethics are necessarily only a cultural thing – I think they are at heart a thing of the soul. LOVE being an essential aspect of Spirit. Ethics follows out of that. It’s but another word for ‘right action’, which surely we must strive for as long as we have bodies to live in.
What’s culturally dependent is in fact not ethics, but morals. The right way to do a handshake – the not shaking hands with women in Muslim countries – whether to wear revealing cloths – whether to give a boss feedback etc. All that’s culturally dependent.
But surely it goes too far to say that things like what happened in WW2 was merely ‘culturally dependent’ and therefor beyond ethical reproach?
Both spiritual growth and personal development can be achieve through the help of meditation.
“Know thy self.” might suggest a spritual move. I guess spirit might usefully be called intelligent energy.
“Self” has been a difficult concept for me. Anyway it seems to have become much larger with the years and a bit less personally important.
Meditation does seem useful in most of its variety. How do you usually distiguish contempltion from meditation?
What’s in a word
Ethics and morals seem important parts of our culture. Nice to remember that our culture is often dangerously dependant on language.
Hi Richard & Amabayag – welcome to my blog,
> Self IS a difficult concept – all the more difficult as in spirituality there are different kinds of selves.
> Your question about meditation is good, I think I might just blog about it tomorrow. For now: there are all kinds of meditation, I’d say contemplation is a kind of meditation.
> Words ARE important, when we want to talk about stuff. And human beings do. Blavatsky, and many Theosophists after her, said that the problem isn’t with there being too much dependence on words: instead the problem is that the words in Western languages are too materialistic. Which is why theosophists use so much Sanskrit. I generally try to avoid that – but that has other side effects.
The difference between morality and ethics is one of the things I learned at university – in a class given by the philosophy department called ‘ethics’
Ethics is one of the few subjects where I think Sanskrit is less useful than western languages like English and German.
The Death Of Wisdom
I want to tell you a story about the death of Wisdom. A very, very long time ago, a time without time in it in fact. A star appeared in the East and with her a woman of profound beauty and peace was born. She came to this world and called herself a man named Buddha. She had the laughter of all the children of the world sewn into her heart. She is beautiful. I am well pleased.
Her voice was but a whisper on the winds of this world. So someone thought to save her for all mankind to know. So with a pen and paper they hunted her down and captured her. Hooked her rather. They couldn’t bring her in completely. Bloody fools they were. Imagine trying to throw a net over the very mistress of freedom Herself! But they did get away with a few handfuls of her rune stones. With her magic caught on paper they ran like happy thieves to show the world. Little did they realize that with even that small offense the Mighty One was in brooding spirits. Remember children, She whispered before She roared.
Who has taken my stones? What man upon Earth forces me to speak? The stones, the words you see, have but one purpose. The Awakening from Sleep. The ending of gods’ Dream of Man and the return to the boredom and loneliness of Being One with All. Leaving the Universe with no one to talk to except perhaps Endless Bliss. But man did not realize that what they stole would be the death of them. Their intentions were good. Their hearts were in the right place. But she was the embodiment of freedom for mankind. By that name She betrays you and falls to your capture. What can eternal Freedom ever ask but to remain forever free?
Where are my stones? Who forces words from my mouth? Give me back the power of words! Hear Me and be silent!
The words that come out of your mouth don’t make you unclean. But every word you put into the mouth of a Silent god makes you filthy! These stones are the sweet taste of death. Sure, come on in! Meet god! Know that you’re loved forever. Find out that to know me, You must become me. And to become ME your SELF must die. i was here first remember? i am the ALL remember? ALL includes you, fool! You’re part of the ALL, remember? But fear not. i am a Good Mother and i promise to devour each morsel of every One of You before i return to the Void of the ALL. But the thieves wouldn’t give the Words back. Instead they went back to Wisdom and cursed Her and spat at Her and called Her a whore before all of mankind. She asked again, so clearly; honor your Mother little Ones. See Me. Know that i am.
You are that i am. Feel me little Ones, there in your hearts. For if you truly feel me the first and LAST words out of Your mouths should be; “I don’t have the words to express…” Yes! Yes! Stop! Please mankind, stop! You have it right there. You just can’t hold it in your hands. Honor me! Mean what you say! Stop words that are suppose to be complete on a subject You just admitted is beyond words! The secret to get past words is precisely beyond the YOU!
But Mother you call us home and we want to know The Way. We need a ladder we can climb even if we do have to jump into a Void off of it. Of course Child. But remember, I have your death well in hand. When a child dies it goes with Mother. When You die You die alone!
If you cry out; “Father, father why have thou forsaken me?” The fact that You exist as a separate entity from me and are the Voice expressing the question is in fact your answer.
i am because You are there to say I AM! Give me back the stones. No more words! No more I AM that I AM! Come! The hour is at hand. i call you home little One. Will You come home?
Or will You stay out and play for a while? I AM that I AM and I run free through the universe! Of course little One. You are my miracle. You are my creation. You are my deepest pleasure. And Your act of speaking the words is Your answer. You say; “I AM that I AM! i say; fine! Know in your hearts that i Love You beyond WORDS. So go play, and be fair. Remember my child You are but One among all of my children, which are more than numbers can measure. i love You with all of my heart. How could it be otherwise? Silly little Child! You are a vessel of love. A cup i fashioned from myself, for myself to enjoy.
You say I AM that I AM and there will be no god above Me. I say fine! Grow up, climb to the skies. Be ye Gods on the face of this Earth ONE and ALL and make up to each other all the harm done in discovering that fact!
And sometime, in some lifetime, if instead of saying I AM that I AM, instead You say;
I AM tired
I AM lonely
I miss HOME enough that I wish to surrender willingly all that I AM
which is all I AM.
Then i will come unto you like a Mistress in the night and i will undress Your bodies. Earth, Wind, Fire, and Rain. i will consume ALL with my burning passion.
i will consume You utterly!
i will destroy You utterly!
And when all that is left of you is an I AM floating in the Void i will come unto You in a spirit that is beyond WORDS. And the words, that i never spoke, because i never was, will be;
Give me back the stones. Give back WORDS!
Come unto me little Ones and rest ye a while Mary-Men.
In the beginning there was the Word. The Word was with god and the Word was god. The WORDS were I AM! The Words fell from the mouth of Man and the Words were Man. For what is Man but countless piles of I AM?
I AM that I AM and I will put no god above ME!
Fine, compete every man against his brother to embody HIS or HER idea of what is most god-like for them. And fight well for i’ve made You mightiest among Earths’ creatures and i enjoy a good show. YOU are indeed gods’ greatest pleasure. But remember the heart. i LOVE YOU ALL. Every single One, without exception.
When I fold up the material Universe with Everything in it and go to the dreamless sleep in the VOID of NO THING the gate cannot be closed if even the tiniest among YOU is left out.
i’ll come as a shepard to find YOU. And i LOVE YOU. But understand this. It’s not for YOU that i come, it’s for me. i don’t have a choice about it. YOU my child are composed from the music of my Body. You’re an act of love i committed for myself before YOU ever were. And when i’m tired and want to go to sleep, when i close the gate on the lake of consuming fire if anyone, anywhere where excluded that would amount to me cutting off my own big toe. Before you get all excited about god mentioning mutilation, stop! The death is the death of god.
Not the death of man!
God is ALL, knows ALL, and is so eternally. Bottom line; i am everything to give with nothing to gain! But without YOU my child i have no ONE to give it to or through!
If YOU sacrifice your life to me YOU only give back what is mine already. And since it was my gift to YOU, sending it back is an offense of the first order. Who among you has thrown away the most precious jewel of my creation?
Who has committed such a crime?
The one they call jesus the christ has committed this crime Great Mother.
How did this come about?
Well Mother he used the sacred WORDS.
How?
The few pages we took from you were in turn stolen from us. We sent a messenger of peace to the West but he was killed by ignorant savages who knew not what they did.
Is the gate still open to ALL who seek me?
No Great Mother, they’ve taken the few dozen pearls of Wisdom and fashioned a weapon of great destructive power with it.
How much?
Over two thousand pages I’m afraid.
But how? How can there be so many words?
Well the Words we took opened the gate to No-Mind, VOID of the ALL, no I AM, and freedom from the wheel of suffering. They took up the words and put them into the mouth of another and tied the Words into another totally unrelated story. Now they use the very Song of Silence to give proof to, of all things, words from the very mouth of a Silent God!
So the curse is loosed upon the Earth. The door is open but no man can pass! He claims all of heaven as his personal property through his namesake. The WORDS still have the power to throw open the veil of Death but they’re surrendering to a corpse sickle instead of surrendering to No-Mind, no I AM.
They lap up WORDS like a dog returning to consume its’ own vomit.
Impossible! Anyone who has seen Me would know better than to say his or her tiny I AM could ever contain the WHOLE! To be with Me means the surrender of the I AM back to the sea of No-Mind. No man can come to ME and keep words and names. How was this done?
He uses deadly black magic on his victims.
He says I am the way and the light.
But his I AM is in the way of the Light.
So the Way isn’t open equally to all Children who seek it?
No they stand in awe of the one who claims to have discovered it and they ignore the treasure he uses as bait.
How can they simply not look past him?
He claims it for himself alone. They call him the only begotten son of god.
I see! The ultimate deathblow to freedom.
Yes MA’AM, he claims he mastered death but admits he doesn’t know when the end will come to gods’ creation. He confuses the death of his small world with the death of God.
What happened to him Wisdom?
He said that he possessed YOU for himself alone.
Someone uses the gate of another? One comes to the gate with the Words, I AM and a name. They leave with Everything in Nothing and shall remain eternally Nameless!
If he surrendered enough to see ME and yet turned away, that one fell into the void of gnashing teeth. Not of your world and not with ME either. He was spit out of his own mouth.
He couldn’t rule heaven so he blocks the WAY for all who seek it. Instead of showing the surrender and death of the I AM he has them worshipping it! They vanquish to the depths their own I AM without consuming it and imagine the reality of his I AM and clutch for dear life to it also. Evil is the separation from god through the WORD and the NAME. This found its’ best expression through the I AM called jesus christ. Here’s one I AM saying; no one gets HOME except by me instead of through the death of ME. At least Buddha said if you meet the Buddha along the road, kill him. The Tao that can be spoken (or written) is not the real Tao.
And he demonstrates no path, no way, only stupid chants and prayers in his name only. Yes, they cling to the idea that he grew up for all of US and now we don’t have to finish our own evolution.
Wait a minute; you people stopped growing over 2000 years ago! That planet must be a complete madhouse by now!
Yes MA’AM! They put the poison right in with the cure and anyone who pointed out the trick was branded a heretic and put to death without a fair trial. They raped Lady Justice and their only defense was to say she actually wanted it.
Why did it turn so harsh?
It’s the story they wrapped it around. They connected 4000 years of savage, ignorant I AM god prattling from any lunatic with an imagination and an agenda with just a smattering of stolen Wisdom to make it appear that YOU said every word of it. The first thing they have you saying is; commit genocide because god loves you so much. Then it goes down hill from there.
They swear it’s 100% straight out of the mouth that YOU don’t have until we exist to give you one.
I think the most loving words they ever shoved down YOUR throat was when you told them to steal a country in your name, kill all the men, rape all the women, and enslave the children and livestock.
Don’t worry Lady Wisdom.
We have the bible to see us through. All 100% from the very mouth of god. All true, all good, and straight from your lips with love.
Right?
No, i am a goddess of Silent Bliss if words must have that much! But yours’ is a curse from a black-hearted magician whose true name and power are finally revealed.
Son of Panthera, the ill-begotten one, a.k.a. jesus christ.
Here’s some acid for your I
Man can live by bread alone
No man can be enslaved without every word (i) puts into the mouth of a Silent God!
Evil says only 144,000 jews went to heaven.
WISDOM says I AM LOVE
Love permeates every single molecule in the Universe
If YOU have ears made of molecules then find ME there!
Reverse; don’t disperse this evil curse;
The end of the world that they call down, they call down on themselves alone!
Leave this world in peace
Death to all jews and their christian mind slaves.
Amen
Cursers of God stand naked before the world and rejoice!
Your extinction is at hand!
The poor beaten slave girl now stands free in SPIRIT!
Freedom is loosed upon the Earth!
The thieves of one peoples’ WISDOM and anothers’ land are revealed as your enslavers.
Where will the parasites hide when all of HUMANITY realizes the crime that has been committed against it?
You are surrounded by wrathful humanity. Amen
One mans’ holocaust is another mans’ miracle. Amen
Hail Judas! The one worthy jew. Amen
Die by the blasphemy of the sword of words spoken by your own mouths.
To mankind i grant infinite lifetimes to find the WAY.
To jesus i grant but one, and he already blew it. Amen
christian and jewish women; be silent in church
Be as property onto your husbands
Be forgotten
For all other women of Earth, stand Equal!
Be ye Goddess’s of LOVE, TRUTH, and BEAUTY
Rejoice!
i am the word!
Well, the word is out!
I claim this defeated magicians’ power
I AM that I AM
I AM the word
I AM the curse that kills
I call this curse down upon my head alone
Come onto ME, Silence
Like a thief in the night
I AM that I AM
I AM god loosed upon this Earth
I bend a knee to no man!
i bend my knees for No-Mind
I AM that I AM
I AM tired
I AM lonely
Come unto ME
I have YOUR stones heaped up upon my heart
I have YOUR WORDS
am silent!
Amen
Not sure what that has to do with my blogpost, but it’s a lovely story. Thank you for sharing.
Richard quoted ‘Know thyself.’ That and impersonal development are key here.
according to me “spiritual growth” & “personality development “..both are having direct relationship…………because both have got the faculty to observe the internal mechanism………..both needs self conciousness(self means soul)……a person who is spritiual & pure……then automatically his personality develops……beacuse when a person is spritiual then he thinks pure & do pure ..which leaves a good impression on its mind stuff……..& we all know that personality means sum of all the good & pure impressions……….we reap what we sow………..if we do good & pure our personlaity will develop automatically…….it is an effect………..
You cannot have spiritual growth with out personal growth. Spiritual growth comes before personal growth, it follows on so to speak. Personal growth is pretty hard to do with out it. Many people do not realise that they are using the spiritual part of them selves when they start to seek to change their their lives and grow. Personal growth involves everything, all your many bodies, emotional, intelectual, physical and spiritual. Spiritual is first with the physical last! Actually, you can get a pretty good idea of what is going on with your spiritual self by looking at what is going on in your physical body!
We are growing all the time!
{ 3 trackbacks }