As the age of spiritualism grows more ubiquitous, new schools of thought regarding the “proper” path toward a purposeful, enlightened life seem to spring up every year. This movement is nothing new, of course; we have experienced societal spiritual awakenings countless times throughout our known and unknown histories.
However, like the constant barrage of new health, wellness, and diet movements, the sheer plethora of ideals, philosophies, and methods of enlightenment can easily overwhelm the hearts and minds of the very people they aim to guide.
For many of us, trying to find the “right” path toward purpose and enlightenment can feel like running through a cornfield maze blindfolded while random “teachers” jump out and hit us with a big bag of their ideologies.
So many questions arise on this seeking path:
- What is enlightenment really?
- What is the most effective method of meditation?
- What is sin and how do I stay away from it?
- What is the ‘right’ way to pray?
I cannot claim to have the final answer to any of these questions. In fact, I don’t believe a single “right” answer exists, and that is what I aim to explore with you in this post. First, let me share how I came to this conclusion. Like many seeker quests, mine started when the bottom fell out of my life and I had my first (but not last) “dark night of the soul.”
🚪 Knocking on the Door of Silence and Boredom
John Kabat-Zinn once said, “When you pay attention to boredom, it gets unbelievably interesting.”
As a young man, boredom and silence were not concepts I was familiar with. My life was full of distractions, addictions, mindless entertainment, and striving for material things (i.e., working really hard for work’s sake). I lived by two main philosophies:
- What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger (no matter what).
- If something in your life isn’t working, you’re not trying hard enough (i.e., hammer a square block into a round hole).
Thankfully, my higher self—or spirit guides, angels, or whomever you wish to give credit to—realized I wasn’t going to figure it out on my own and forced me to do something differently. It started when I finally opened the door to silence and boredom.
I can’t pinpoint the initial “why” behind my decision to begin meditating, but that first sitting with myself, blocking out everything external, was like dropping Alka-Seltzer into a liter of cola. My entire reality began to crumble day-by-day. There were many moments where I truly felt I was losing my mind!
I slowly became less interested in the distractions and more interested in exploring this new inner world that had existed all along right under my nose.
🧘 The Meditation Maze: Why Every Method Works (and Doesn’t)
My exploration into meditation was anything but smooth. I bounced from book to book and a seemingly unending multitude of methods, including:
- Chanting
- Spirit quest visualizations
- Chakra cleansings
- Breathwork
- Complete silence and stillness
- Binaural healings and activations
So, which meditation worked best? My answer is: None of them and all of them.
Every type of meditation is its own shape, meant to fit its own hole—the “holes” being whatever it is that is keeping you from silence and stillness. The most important tidbit I found during this chaotic quest for the perfect method is that if the block doesn’t fit the hole, it cannot be forced!
- Sarah Blondin’s guided meditations helped me work through deeply repressed emotions and shed many tears.
- Chanting worked incredibly to block out the cacophony of noise produced by my monkey brain.
- Chakra clearing meditations helped me learn how to move and focus energy throughout my body.
- Pure silence allowed me to really pay attention to what my body was trying to tell me the whole time.
There is no ideal way to meditate, just as there is no ideal way to create art. There is only your way based on what your consciousness needs at that moment.
***What spiritual tools are you currently trying to force that might actually need a different shape?***
🙏 Prayer: The Ultimate Act of Courage
As humans, we are blessed with the freedom to choose our own adventure. The philosopher Thucydides encouraged us to explore this freedom when he said, “The secret to happiness is freedom…And the secret to freedom is courage.”
It takes a great deal of courage to step into the unknown and explore uncharted territory, which is what most of our subconscious selves typically are. It takes even more courage to admit we cannot do it ourselves and ask for help! This moment of monumental courage is prayer’s cue to enter.
Who you pray to and what you pray for are somewhat inconsequential (I’m sure that will ruffle some feathers). All I can say is what I have discovered along my own path:
- It is the intent behind the prayer that makes the difference.
- The act of prayer is the act of letting go of ego.
- It is the opening up of awareness to something greater than ourselves.
Having the courage to step into the darkness and ask a friend (whoever we pray to) for a flashlight is an act that tells the Universe we are truly ready to walk our highest path. Prayer is an alignment tool meant to fine-tune our frequency to match the frequency of Love. It is the ultimate exercise of courage and will power.
🖤 The Polarity of Love: Re-thinking Sin
Hold onto your butts because this is where I’m highly likely going to kick some ant hills.
In order for something to exist in our 3D human consciousness, everything has to have some sort of **polarity concept** embedded into its core. The frequency of Love, therefore, must have its polar opposite in order for us to perceive it. This concept leads me to exploring Sin.
According to many traditional schools of thought, Sin is any act not in accordance with specific laws passed on from God. But an early twentieth-century spiritualist and channeler, Edgar Cayce, suggests:
“Sin is basically a life activity directed selfward rather than toward the service of others,” and “sickness is sin lying at your doorstep.”
This definition resonates with me, as I see Sin as any exercise of the power of will toward anything not in alignment with **Love for others and self-** simultaneously.
By this definition, it becomes rather easy to define Sin and avoid acting sinfully. It is not necessarily by following specific rules to the letter, but by aligning every thought, act, and decision toward Love for others and self simultaneously. In fact, one might postulate that **ANY separation of self from others is the root of Sin.**
***Does this definition of Sin resonate with you, or does your spiritual framework define it differently?***
🔑 Conclusion: Alignment is the Key
What do I know? I’m just a curious seeker trying to figure this whole thing out with the rest of you.
What I can conclude with is that **the key to life is alignment.**
What are you aligning yourself with via your thoughts, decisions, and actions, and how are those alignments reflecting in your outward life? If you find yourself needing an alignment tune-up, the unconventional tools of **prayer, meditation, and avoidance of Sin** (as defined by Love) may just be the tools you’ve been looking for.
Insight exchange 
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