Getting Close to Being Spiritual
Talk summary: In this podcast, Guy Finley talks about how a real spiritual life becomes possible for us when we begin to act on what we know is true.
Talk notes: What is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is someone who professes one thing, but does another. Is there anyone on earth who has not fit that definition at one time or another? We have all experienced firsthand the painful effects of living from a hypocritical nature.
A person who is beginning to be a conscious hypocrite is someone who realizes that the right thing to do in a moment of trial is almost always going to be the tough thing to do. The moment that we decide to do the tough thing, even if we fail at it, we are no longer hypocrites.
The whole idea of hypocrisy is intimately connected to one's will and desire. We do interior spiritual work because we want to be in relationship with a Divine Will. We want this Divine Will to be our life so that we no longer have to live in conflict as we presently do. But in order to have a relationship with that Will, we must learn what it means to surrender our own will to it, and surrendering is not always sweet.
Surrendering often involves an immense internal battle. The hard way is the way that almost nobody wants, but we must never hesitate to enter into the battle. Real spiritual work begins when we meet this hypocrite within ourselves. It takes a willingness on our part to see -- ten thousand times if necessary -- that we do not have the strength that we attribute to ourselves when we are merely thinking about spiritual ideas. When we weary of the empty sensations created by just imagining a spiritual life, we're finally getting close to being spiritual.
