How’s Your Spiritual Growth?

The idea of quantifying one’s own spiritual growth, it seems to me is one which lays itself open to a labyrinth of ego centred pitfalls. We are so well versed in justifying our own egoic nature and exaggerating our own self-importance that anything we believe is evidence of our spiritual progress must be Carefully examined. If the issue were one of psychological development then it may seem more reasonable. The criteria there are more clear cut, healthy ego function, good boundaries, self esteem aligned with actual achievements and so on.

But for our spiritual development what criteria of measurement exist? And other than our own intuition what do we have by which to measure?  Looking at development in the psychological realm is in no way indicative of development in the spiritual. As Adyshanti said once "I have met people with healthy ego function who are by no means ready to wake up, and I have met people with the most dis-functional egos who are ready to wake up" (paraphrased quote)

For spiritual development there is no agreed framework or quantified criteria that we can measure ourselves against. When such constructs exist they tend to lean towards the formation of systems of moral code, and we probably all carry images and beliefs of what is ’spiritual’ person is like. It seems to me the need to measure one’s spiritual growth could be a sign of a lack of it, as it is a notion so entrenched in logical, linear ‘human’ thought. Probably the construction, indeed the need of such measuring, can only lead to a strengthening of the ego’s belief in the prevalence of it’s own view of reality. For it is only the ego that can serve as the means of measuring. Beyond the ego the status of any such measurement is meaningless.

And yet our journey is through the domain of the relative self, and when you have been doing spiritual practices for some time it is inevitable to wonder if any progress is being made. When first beginning meditation for example progress can seem quite clear and distinct  at first. Then after some time it all seems to be the same with little noticeable change in the experience. It is in these periods when the doubt and questioning of progress tend to occur. These are the times when our deep commitment and intention come into focus.

In a period of my own life which was completely and solely dedicated to spiritual practice, I found great relief from doubt of spiritual progress, from something I read that Sri Aurobindo had said. It was in essence this -  enlightenment is inevitable, nobody is heading anywhere else. Some time later  I realized this truth as a direct knowing rather than received knowledge. My experience of this kind of direct knowing, is that it brings peace and deepens faith. It has probably been eight years now since that experience. In that time doubt has continue to arise from time to time, but has no lasting strength in the face of the faith from that direct experience.

 The problem with constructing a measurable criteria for spiritual development is that every person is unique in their own spiritual process. Another aspect of my own realization was that life itself is a spiritual process, and as such everybody is on a spiritual path. All that differentiates us is whether we are consciously engaged with the spiritual process, or not. Either way, it is going on, and progress towards enlightenment is inevitable.

Sri Aurobindo however had a sucker punch for all of us, especially those of us who might have grand ideas about our level of spiritual development. He said -  enlightenment is just the beginning!

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