How do I Know if I Have it?
The more a person trusts in God, the more he or she acquires true courage, calm, and inner security. Since courage indicates proximity to The Almighty...
The more a person trusts in God, the more he or she acquires true courage, calm, and inner security. Since courage indicates proximity to The Almighty, it's a good indicator of spiritual awareness.
How do I know if I have spiritual awareness?
This is a question that every truth-seeker asks, both at the outset of his spiritual journey and for the rest of his days. Spiritual hunger is literally insatiable, for Shlomo Hamelech (King Solomon) once said (Koheles 6:7), "The soul is never satiated". The more a person gains spiritual awareness, the more spirituality he or she desires. Since spirituality knows no confines, there are infinite levels of spiritual awareness. The following eight parameters are a good diagnostic test of a person's spiritual gain, both for beginners and for advanced truth seekers.
Parameter one: Courage, calm, and inner security.
The more a person worries, the more he or she drifts away from God, since a worrier lacks trust in God. Conversely, the more a person trusts in God, the more he or she acquires true courage, calm, and inner security. Since courage indicates proximity to The Almighty, it's a good indicator of spiritual awareness.
Courage doesn't mean confronting an enemy tank battalion single-handed; it means steadfastly doing what's right with no trepidation, even at the expense of constant ridicule from others. Courage also means going with the truth wherever it takes you.
A courageous person's eyes focus on his or her spiritual goals, and not on peer pressure or social pressure. For example, if a 250-pound linebacker from the first-string football team sits down to a meal with his teammates, and is ashamed to say a blessing in front of them when he knows he should, he's a coward despite his twenty-four-inch biceps. Yet, when a fifteen-year-old young lady decides to dress modestly, even at the expense of ridicule or a loss of popularity among her classmates, she exhibits spiritual awareness – the type of courage that signifies closeness with God.
The more a person gains spiritual awareness, the more he or she realizes their dependence on God. Since The Almighty's strength and abilities are unlimited, one who depends on Him doesn't ever have to worry. For example, a person with a high level of spiritual awareness knows that his or her livelihood comes from God; no tyrannical employer can ever intimidate such a person.
People with spiritual awareness have a good feeling of inner security. They know that if they lose their job, The Almighty has plenty of additional messengers who'll give them a new job. Someone who lacks such understanding worries every time the boss frowns at him, or every time the economic news reports of a recession.
Increased inner strength to do what we believe is right is a sign of spiritual gain. The more we cultivate the spiritual side of our lives, the more we gain courage, calm, and inner security.
Parameter two: Happiness.
Happiness goes together with courage. Just as the divine soul is within a person, true happiness is also within a person, and is independent of outside factors. The more a person nurtures his relationship with The Almighty, the closer he comes to true happiness.
We often fool ourselves with illusions of happiness, such as:
* "I would really be happy if my husband made more money".
* "I'd be the happiest guy in the world if I could only get accepted to law school".
* "Boy, would a new Harley make me happy!"
* "If Johnny proposes to me, I'll be the happiest girl on campus!"
All four of the above characters are seriously misleading themselves. The first lady, whose "happiness" depends on a raise of her husband's salary, will never be happy, no matter how much her husband earns. Who's to say that the second, the student, wouldn't be a miserable failure as a lawyer? As for the third, maybe The Almighty refuses to give him a new Harley, in order to save him from a 100 mile-per-hour motorcycle spill. With today's divorce statistics, chances are 50:50 that the young lady in the fourth example and her Johnny will end up in divorce proceedings within the next five years. That's happiness?
Genuine happiness comes from within. A truly happy individual is one who is contented with his lot in life. Positive thinkers focus on the blessings in life, and regard life's difficulties as opportunities for personal growth.
Rabbi Joseph Chaim Sonnenfeld of blessed memory was the head Rabbi of Jerusalem in the early twentieth century, a pious scholar of impeccable character. One morning, he walked through the Arab market on the way to the holy Western Wall. A young prankster, an Arab vegetable vender's helper, threw a tomato at him, which splattered all over his face. The rabbi turned to him, and said politely in Arabic, "Shukran, hawadja", thank you, sir.
The lanky young Arab was amazed at the elderly Jew's reaction. "Why are you thanking me?" Rabbi Zonnenfeld answered, "You could have thrown a rock at me; it was only a tomato – thank you very much."
The Rabbi Sonnenfeld anecdote teaches that outside influences don't affect genuine inner happiness. Since happiness depends on true proximity to God, if you're not happy, you need to make some spiritual improvements to your life. If you've already started, and you're happier than you were last week, then you're making progress on the road to spiritual awareness.
Parameter three: Peace, both internal and external, the opposite of anger.
Peace is directly related to spiritual awareness, since arguments, anger, and cruelty stem from a lack of spiritual awareness. The more we gain spiritual awareness, the more sympathy, compassion, and peace prevail in our lives.
The above anecdote about Rabbi Sonnenfeld applies here as well. A person with spiritual awareness realizes that nothing can occur in the world without God's agreement. Rabbi Zonnenfeld felt no anger toward the vegetable vender's helper; he knew that a heavenly decree dictated that today, a tomato must splatter on his face. Therefore, he made no effort to retaliate, nor did he utilize his spiritual power for a bad cause, such as cursing the prankster. Rabbi Zonnenfeld did better than turning a cheek – he preserved the peace. After the vegetable vendor's helper realized that he had degraded a righteous man, he became the rabbi's close friend, and would personally escort the rabbi whenever the latter traversed the Arab market.
An increase in spiritual awareness leads to a decrease in dissension-causing emotions such as anger, jealousy, and revenge. When we defuse the anger, jealousy, and revenge within us, we preserve the peace all around us. As such, spiritual awareness is the number one genuine peacemaker in the world.
When negative emotions weaken, positive emotions strengthen. The tremendous mental benefit of spiritual awareness leads to a higher level of patience and tolerance and a consequently much lower level of anger and impatience.
One of the best litmus tests of spiritual awareness is the peace of your immediate environment. If your home, your marriage, and your place of employment are more peaceful than they used to be, then you can take pride in your achievements, because you're fast gaining spiritual awareness. If the outside world hasn't changed, but you feel less negative emotions, you're still doing an outstanding job. Keep up the good work.
Parameter four: Improved physical and mental health.
Negative emotions take a serious toll on our mental and physical health. Feelings of worry, anger, jagged nerves, hate, and revenge lead directly to cardiovascular problems, digestive problems, lack of sleep, reduced concentration, and severe headaches, just to name a few. Negative emotions cause a long list of indirect problems, such as the physical and mental damages incurred by the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, the substances that people use for a temporary, artificial sensation of feeling good.
Thousands of years ago, our Sages taught that spiritual awareness heals. Today, any heart
specialist will tell you that emotional stress, worry, and especially anger take their toll on the heart. Via spiritual awareness, we alleviate these negative emotions, and consequently strengthen the heart.
Spiritual awareness reduces negative emotions, and therefore lessens the chances of emotionally related diseases such as ulcers, asthma, blood disorders, and miscarriages. Once you feel a general improvement in your overall vitality – the old twitch in your left eye disappears, you know longer feel the knot in your diaphragm, or you suffer a lot less from headaches – you're making great headway toward spiritual awareness.
Parameter five: Body – soul priorities.
Another rule of thumb states that the more a person has spiritual awareness, the more his soul takes priority over his body.
People who favor their bodily appetites over their spiritual needs are totally tied to the material world and devoid of spiritual awareness.
A person with a refined and developed mind loses animal appetites in favor of an insatiable appetite for spiritual awareness and the knowledge of God. For such a person, there's no difference between this world and the next. Why? The privileged souls who earn a portion in the world to come spend their time basking in the Divine light of the Heavenly Presence, which is none other than a sublime spiritual experience of boundless wisdom and understanding which surpasses all worldly pleasures. When you think about God in this world, you approach the spiritual bliss of the world to come.
Self-purification of bodily urges and of base inclinations is conducive to attaining spiritual wisdom and understanding. Therefore, if a person gives highest priority in this world to spiritual growth, then the material world becomes for him or her almost as tranquil as the spiritual world of afterlife. Such a person never dies – his soul simply deposits its physical shell in the grave and then ascends to its rightful position in the spiritual world. On the other hand, those whose entire lives are devoted to the body, lose everything at death. With an undeveloped soul, nothing remains after the body decays in the grave but sorrow and eternal regret.
When you find yourself thinking more about your soul and less about your next meal, you're gaining spiritual awareness.
Parameter six: Giving – receiving priorities.
Charity leads to improved spiritual awareness, as follows: Giving comes from the side of holiness, for God only gives, He never receives. Therefore, when you give, you act in a Godly fashion, and thereby attach yourself to holiness. The more one is attached to holiness, the more one gains spiritual awareness, and vice versa. Parasites, on the other hand, and those who take from others, come from the evil side, the opposite of holiness.
The above explanation is the key to any successful interpersonal relationship, especially marriage. When both sides ask, "What can I contribute to the relationship", they both become givers. Holiness prevails in such a relationship, assuring lasting success. When both sides have expectations of receiving from the other side, the relationship is a disaster, devoid of holiness, doomed to chaos and strife. True peace goes together with holiness. Evil and strife are husband and wife.
The more you gain spiritual awareness, the more you desire to do for others. Concern for others is the opposite of egotism. An egotist is a taker, interested in his or her own benefit, and therefore linked strongly to his evil inclination. Egotism is an iron curtain that separates a person from God. By giving to others, a person neutralizes those innate egotistic tendencies. People who give charity, who perform voluntary services for the community and for those less fortunate than themselves, and who are alert to the needs of others, achieve high levels of spiritual awareness.
Rebbe Moshe Leib of Sassov, Ukraine (1745-1807), one of the great Chassidic masters of his time, devoted his life to increasing his capacity of spiritual awareness. Once, he overheard the following dialogue between two Ukrainian peasants, who met each other in the marketplace:
"Ah Sergey, I'm so happy to see you!"
"Do you really mean that, Alexis?"
"Of course I do, Sergey. You are my dearest friend. I love you more than a brother."
"If you love me so much, Alexis, then tell me what my needs are!"
Rebbe Moshe Leib testified that the above dialogue taught him an amazing lesson in life: Real charity means giving according to the needs of the receiver, and not according to the desires of the giver. Also, true love means sensitivity to another person's needs. Such sensitivity comes from enhanced spiritual awareness.
An old Hebrew expression says, "The tongue has no bone"; the connotation is that words easily roll off the tongue. People often tell each other, "I love you". Do they really mean it? Why doesn't the expression succeed in appeasing an irate spouse? The answer is simple: True love comes from spiritual awareness. A giver is tuned in to the needs of a fellow human, and especially to the needs of someone close, such as a husband or a wife. If both husband and wife can pass the "Ukrainian peasant" test, then their home is surely a Garden of Eden, a haven of spiritual awareness.
To be continued…
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