Why We Do the Inner Work
We do not do spiritual work to gain anything. Rather, we do the work because it is our natural purpose of living. Like all natural things (the trees, plants, animals), we exist to grow and to evolve. And this growth is not done in just one lifetime, but over the span of many cycles and many lifetimes.
We have time, but time is also not to be taken for granted. And the precious experience of living a life is not to be taken for granted either. It is our birthright to continuously change, go through the perceived “ups and downs” of life, face challenges and struggles, not know 100% and make decisions anyways, learn through all of it, and to follow our unique path and wishes just for us and no one else. To experience love and loss, grow from pain and uncertainty, feel utterly alone and sometimes beautifully connected, feel sadness and joy, question everything, wonder what could be? The beauty of living is in all of it. Our pain and our joy is what gives life depth and nuance and meaning.
Each life experience is unique and entirely necessary to learn the appropriate lessons of a lifetime. For there is work to do. And while we may all commonly believe that the “work” is to literally work a job and make money, there are other tasks at hand. Working a job and making money is just the experience of learning how to cultivate and embody skills such as discipline, focus, ambition, resilience, manifestation, and creation. And from there, one can move on to learn higher spiritual lessons when the desire moves from resources to meaning. Learning and practicing skills is how one embodies them over time.
The challenges, obstacles, fears, and pain are all a critical part of how a soul evolves. It is in the breaking down in which we can build back up to strengthen and grow. But only when lessons are truly learned through honest and patient feeling, seeing, acknowledgement, acceptance and introspection. Every pain and every challenge forces us to see and feel more, if we let it. If one denies it, one denies the opportunity for growth. One of our greatest goals for growth is to learn how to open our hearts more, feel more, perceive more, and learn more beyond humankind’s incredibly limited understanding of the Universe. One is only as strong and wise as the pain they have endured and grown from.
The work is not in the overlooking, displacing, or bypassing of what triggers us, what pains us, what challenges us, what angers us, what frustrates us. To grow, one must accept personal responsibility and be brutally honest with it all — be willing to see and feel yourself as you are. Not what you want to see and feel. Burst your personal bubble, perceive beyond your personal experience and thoughts, learn to see the bigger picture of what the experience is trying to teach you.
All too often, individuals want to do the spiritual work to gain something, whether it is manifesting more wealth, true love, perfect the image of the self, achieve a higher vibe, or ‘gain’ esoteric achievements or enhanced spiritual abilities. People participating in the spiritual industry oftentimes want validation and proof of a job well done. Oftentimes putting much of their effort on the external/physical and less on the internal. But the real work is on the internal—much of the healing process involving being alone and diving into the inner depths of darkness. Not all spiritual work is sunshine and smiles. And at the end of the day, all of the inner spiritual work is for your development and no one else’s approval.
The truth is that true and sustainable personal growth lies in our willingness to be brutally honest and open with ourselves, and in the purity of our intent. Self mastery begins with the willingness to honestly and accurately assess the self beyond illusion and desire. One must accept that the work is never done, never completed, and never perfected. As long as you live on this Earth, you have lessons to learn. Once you accept this and release into the experiences to learn from, you will grow naturally and effortlessly in your own time and pacing. And all that your soul desires and dreams of will naturally unfold. The intent of spiritual work is not to gain, but to open.