Firstly, everyday living, including money making activities, is not excluded from any spiritual path. Many people see everyday living and spiritual practices as being two different things, but they’re not. We can use anything and everything in our life as tools for learning. Spiritual practices are not only about sitting quietly in meditation.
Secondly, you might have the urge to focus on quiet sitting fulltime every day for various reasons, and you might feel that attending your job gets in the way of this. So, you need to make a choice yourself, and your choice will be based on your level of desperation to get awakening/enlightenment. There’s no right or wrong answer here – making money or sitting quietly in meditation – you’ll choose the one that you’re more desperate to get.
Some people say that you cannot survive without providing yourself with food and shelter, even though you’re seeking awakening/enlightenment. If that’s your fear or that’s what you believe, then I can imagine that will always be the focus of your life, and thus that activity will stay in your life. I’ve seen some people that just couldn’t combine a job with spiritual practices, so they chose a life of fulltime spiritual practice. However, they started to experience poverty. But does that poverty have to be a suffering factor for you? Did you die or did you somehow survive through the poverty? Does that financial hardship matter to you when you’re so desperate to get awakening/enlightenment? Is fear of survival real or not? Does survival mean anything to you when you don’t have awakening/enlightenment?
You need to work this out before you choose. But please know that there’s no better life. I don’t see why it’s not possible to combine a job with the spiritual path. I don’t see why it’s not possible to have a family life along with a spiritual life. I don’t see why it’s not possible to find a way to devote entirely to your spiritual path if that’s the only way that you can see in your life right now. If you’re desperate enough for awakening, there won’t be much fear of survival in the first place, and you’ll find a way to be able to practise spirituality fulltime. Humans always find a way to get what they want. It might take time to work it out, but we seem to be able to manage to get what we want eventually.
So, what do you truly want? What are you so desperate for right now? What is the biggest fear in your life? What is the most important thing for you at this stage? They are the factors that will be contributing to your decision making.
Comments