A couple months ago, I posted on my facebook page a question about the relationship between money and our spiritual development, and someone commented there is no relationship. While we might sometimes like to believe this to be true — especially if we are not doing well financially — the reality is that our financial situation, like any other important aspect of our life, is directly and profoundly linked to where we are in our process of personal and spiritual development.

Now, this does not necessarily mean that more money = more enlightenment. There are plenty of wounded folks at the top of the economic pyramid who could benefit from our compassion. And, of course, not all money is created equal. How we earn our money is key. Even so, it is still true that there is some relationship between money and spiritual development.

What is it?

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When you think you've overcome dualistic thinking, you probably haven't.

When you get to the place where there is no good and evil, no self and other, and when you are able see these things as judgments and illusions — you will very like reject the old reality you used to live in where these things actually existed. In your new reality, none of these things are real, there are no opposites, nothing is separate, and all things come and return to the same source and are part of one unified whole. Hurray! You have overcome dualistic thinking.

However, to the extent you are now firmly rooted in this non-dualistic experience of reality, you have actually engaged in a different type of dualistic thinking. Just as you used to believe something is either good or evil, self or other, it can't be neither or both at the same time; now, in your apparently "enlightened" non-dual state of observation, you are, in fact, on one side of a new and more subtle "either/or" proposition — reality is either dualistic or non-dualistic, it can’t be neither or both at the same time.

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Ego is not the enemy. When you think it is, that is your ego talking anyway.

My impression is that the ego is the most often referenced and most often misunderstood construct in all of the spirituality literature that I have seen.

Sure, it is good to be able to transcend the ego, break the illusion of separation, and experience oneness with God and the universe. Yes, it is definitely a trap to act out from our wounded egos, from our pathologies that cover up our beautiful souls and spirit. It is absolutely hugely limiting if we can only experience reality from the standpoint of the ego, from the perspective of the little me, in this little body with only a tiny little window out into the vastness of the universe. And, our egos exist for a reason and are not the enemy. What's the expression? Hate the crime not the criminal. The truth is that a vast majority of people on this planet have egos that are less than 100 percent healthy, so when we see unhealthy egos acting out all the time and creating all sorts of problems, we begin to make the perceptual error of seeing ego as the problem.

Ego is not the problem. Wounded ego acting out is the problem.

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Karma isn't just about what we do; it is also created by what happens to us.

Often times when something bad happens in someone's life, we might think that person has bad karma. They must have done something bad earlier in life or in a previous life, and now they are reaping the negative consequences. While this may be true, there is another possibility that is equally probable. It could be that something bad happened to that person earlier in life or in a past life, and now they are reaping the negative consequences.

Huh? I don’t understand.

While the first and more common approach to how we think about karma appeals to our sense of justice, meets our need to believe that injustices are punished somewhere somehow even if not in a way we can see, and meets our need to think that life is fair, it is only half the story.

But, it wouldn't make sense for life to treat someone badly just because they were treated badly before, because something bad happened to them before. After all, they didn't DO anything to deserve this. How can this be karma?

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Your Life Is Like a Movie.

Do you know how to rewrite the script? Would you like to learn how?

It seems this is the Holy Grail of the personal transformation, success, metaphysical, Law of Attraction-type communities. How can we magically, maybe even instantaneously transform our lives? How can we go from sick to healthy, rich to poor, lonely to adored? How can we draw our most compatible soul mate into our lives? How can we get the dog across the street to stop barking late at night?

It would be nice if the "secret" really worked in a reliable way. Ask, Believe, Receive. Shabam. Presto. The universe is at your feet.

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Let's begin this fourth and final installment with a quick review of the three keys:

1. Surrender to Divine Will, Your Highest Self, Your Most Fully Conscious and Enlightened Self, or whatever other label you ascribe to what I am referring to here.
2. Move from partial truths to full Truth, and let go of illusion altogether.
3. Begin to develop and/or further develop your capacity to use the force of your own compassion as a tool to bring more healing and goodness into your life and the life of humanity.

Where are you with regards to these three keys? Have you already surrendered to your Highest Self? Are you concerned that you could spend an entire lifetime obtaining truth? Perhaps you have decided that the best place to start is with compassion — I mean who wouldn't want to learn to be more compassionate in a way that benefits themselves and others, right?

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Your compassion is the most powerful healing force on the planet. The most important thing you could possibly do right now — for yourself and everyone else — is to begin to develop and/or further develop your capacity to use your compassionate heart as a source of goodness and healing in your own life and in the life of humanity. — From the Introduction to the book, Impossible Compassion

There is a reason compassion is important in all of the world's great religious traditions, and is particularly central to Buddhism. Curiously enough however, there are some simple self-directed compassion techniques that have extremely profound healing benefits, but which to my knowledge are not widely known about or taught within Buddhist and non-Buddhist circles alike.

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The second of our keys — moving from partial truth to full Truth, and letting go of illusion — this process centers on a few themes. Developing discernment. Expanding our mind so that we can embrace and live into paradox. Healing the emotional wounds that cloud our thinking, warp our perceptual lens.

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Regardless of how you define happiness, regardless of which outcomes you wish to achieve in life, there are three keys to everything:

1. Surrender to Divine Will, Your Highest Self, Your Most Fully Conscious and Enlightened Self, or whatever other label you ascribe to what I am referring to here.
2. Move from partial truths to full Truth, and let go of illusion altogether.
3. Begin to develop and/or further develop your capacity to use the force of your own compassion as a tool to bring more healing and goodness into your life and the life of humanity.

That's it. If you do these three things, I promise without a smidgeon of doubt that you will have everything you want in life and more. There are no disclaimers to be made here, no small print, no qualifying statements. You will have and be everything you want, and more, if you do these three things.

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Grace is a super important topic that is, of course, central to Christianity, and which in my experience is less discussed among spiritual seekers who are exploring Eastern traditions and who are often times more in touch with Karma than with its counterpart, Grace.

Grace is the only force I am aware of other than Compassion that is strong enough to transform and transcend karma. Grace is when we get something better than we deserve. It is when…

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In this third and final installment, we will continue to discuss some of the most common reasons people fear enlightenment, as well as the antidote to these inaccurate belief systems.

Reason #3: I will spend all of my time in some meditative state and/or in non-dual awareness, and I really am not interested in that type of existence.

I am not really interested in that type of existence either, even though I am very intent on going deeper and deeper into enlightenment. Contrary to what many students and teachers of Eastern Spirituality believe, enlightenment is not about obtaining and permanently resting in the alternate reality of non-dual awareness, but rather it is in part about obtaining a full range of motion of consciousness, so that we have the ability to follow and embody our Highest Self in each and every moment, no matter where it takes us.

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In this second installment, we will continue to discuss some of the most common reasons people fear enlightenment, as well as the antidote to these inaccurate belief systems.

Reason #2: My spouse/partner isn’t enlightened enough, and I will leave them behind.

It is true that sometimes in marriage one partner is more actively engaged in spiritual pursuits than the other partner, and sometimes this can create friction or feelings of disconnection. It is also true that unique life events like a near death experience, loss of a job, or death of a loved one can be a catalyst for unexpected spiritual awakenings that do indeed disrupt the equilibrium in close relationships.

And, while these things are true, it is a mistake to think that your own spiritual progress can have anything but a positive effect on your spouse and on your relationship. If you are truly raising your vibration, then as you gather strength, you will automatically begin to raise the vibration of those with whom you are in close contact, including and especially your spouse.

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Whether we are conscious of it or not, many of us at some level fear or otherwise reject enlightenment. Here are some of the most popular reasons for doing so along with the antidote for each of these inaccurate belief systems. This topic is so important and so substantive, I will be splitting this post into three parts so that we have sufficient time and space to discuss it adequately.

Reason #1: I have to give away all of my money and material belongings.

The only thing you need to do to become enlightened is to surrender to your Highest Self, your Most Fully Conscious and Enlightened Self. By doing this again and again, over time you simply become your Highest Self, you embody in each moment your Future Fully Enlightened Self.

Does your Highest Self have money and material belongings?

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