Energy follows thought and where we put our focus is where our energy goes. When we consciously focus our vision that energised thought becomes even more powerful.
We have a choice about where we put the focus of our vision and I am not suggesting that everyone should or could or needs to put it in the same place, but I do believe it is something worth thinking about.
All too often we don't question what our view of the world is or why we have it. Such things are often absorbed, like 'ink' on blotting paper, through family, friends, society, religion or culture and we 'see' through them to a world of our own creation and interpretation.
It's a Rorschach world out there! Just as the famous psychological test reveals perceptions and beliefs, conscious and often unconscious, so too is the world we see and experience the result of our perceptions and beliefs.
Perhaps the truest words ever spoken are: All is perception. And what you perceive is sourced in what you believe and what you believe is mostly what you have learned, by omission or commission, and often not what you would choose.
So what does it mean to say that you take a spiritual view of the world? It means that you see the world as something far more complex than what is available to the five senses. It means you see, or seek, a greater purpose in all that happens and divine a meaningfulness to all that you experience.
It means you are open to everything and all possibilities as part of the rich fabric of this world and your life.
What it does, I believe, is to make life more meaningful, more substantial and more purposeful and it is meaning and purpose which human beings seem to need for their survival more than anything else. That and relationship. It also broadens your horizons and possibilities and that of the world, beyond imagining or perhaps because of being able to imagine or accept that there is far, far more to this experience, this life or this world than 'meets the eye' or the I. There is so much we do not see because we take a limited, materialistic vision of this world.
If one takes a spiritual view of this world, or rather, approaches life with a spiritual focus or vision then it does change things dramatically and for the better. Although 'better' is a subjective description. A better way to put it, perhaps, is to say that a spiritual view of this world is richer, deeper, higher, wider and far more wonderful than any other.
And let's be clear, taking a spiritual view of the world has nothing to do with religion. Religion can of course be a part of it but it does not need to be and in fact, religious belief and religions systems often limit our ability to see the world through spiritually focussed eyes. And that is because all systems are about rules and paradigms and structures and religion is no different.
Anything which has rules has limits. That is not to say there is not a place for rules in this material world because there is. They are in fact vital to the maintenance of an ordered world: but that is where they should stay, in the material world.
The spiritual world by its nature does not have and does not need rules because it is not a literal thing but a way of 'seeing' and experiencing. It is not a system nor a paradigm; it is a state of mind. A spiritual view of the world is open to everything - we disbelieve nothing - and that doesn't mean we believe everything, it just means we reject nothing because everything is possible.
A spiritual world is a resource we can mine to gain greater understanding of this material world, our material selves and everything else. It is infinite, without limits and without rules. It is about being open to all that is and seeing all that is, no matter how traumatic, challenging, painful or shocking, as a part of something greater.
Seeing the world through spiritual eyes does not make life easier, but it does make it richer. It does not make you safer, but you will probably feel 'safer' because in a spiritual world there is no safe place which means there is no dangerous place - there just is the experience.
Seeing the world through spiritual eyes will not necessarily make you wiser or smarter, but it will make you more content; with yourself, with others and with the world. The thing about seeing through spiritual eyes ... which is about what walking a spiritual path is ...will be a clearer focus on how perfect, meaningful, wondrous and magical this world is. And how perfect you are.
When you see through spiritual eyes there is no right or wrong; good or evil; black or white; right or wrong ... there is just the experience and the challenge to find meaning, purpose and fulfillment in everything you experience. In truth, a spiritual life is not a life, it is a succession of moments; a continuous state of being in a Now which is as perfect as it is as you are and always were.
There is no right or wrong way and not everyone is called to walk a spiritual path or to see the world through spiritual eyes... but many are and even more do not know it. And when you see the world through spiritual eyes you don't leave your material focus behind, you take it with you. It's a vital tool, like the ego, in functioning in this world... but it is just a tool.
The problem with seeing the world through material eyes is that it makes it impossible to also see it through spiritual eyes. The material paradigm which came to us courtesy of Newtonian/Cartesian beliefs has no place, no room and no time for the spiritual.
But the spiritual view of life is more than happy to spend time with the material ... in fact it welcomes it, because, the spiritual view of life embraces and incorporates everything, including the material.
The easiest way to find out if 'seeing through spiritual eyes' is for you is to spend a week, making a focussed effort, to see everything and everyone through a spiritual focus and see how it makes you feel. If it doesn't make you feel any better then you are absolutely fine as you are and should trust your own view of the world as the right one for you.
But if it does make you feel 'better', as in calmer, more content, more compassionate, more loving, more fulfilled, then it's a sign that you are meant to see the world through spiritual eyes and it is time to begin to learn to do just that.
The Ninth Lesson on the Spiritual Path is: Choose how you see the world.
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