Life of a Spiritual Being

by Gregory Allen Butler

Why is it that one of the most disgusting creatures -- a cockroach -- has such a strong survival instinct? And while they are scurrying around trying to survive, thousand of human beings are committing suicide. If any living creature could feel justified in suicide, I’d think it would be a cockroach. Think about it, if you woke up one morning in a Kafkaesque kind of way, as a cockroach, wouldn’t you want to kill yourself? But they want to live. I’ve heard it said that if the world exploded in a nuclear holocaust that cockroaches would be the only survivors.

What is it about the human mind that makes suicide even a possibility? I think it stems from the mind distorting the picture of who we are. Sometimes people become overburdened with the denseness of the world. When life is a burden it’s hard to be inspired. And what does it mean to be inspired? I think it means to have spirit flowing through our veins. Life is an opportunity to be inspired, to have spirit vibrating to the core of our being. What we need to do is take advantage of that opportunity.

People who have taken advantage of that opportunity no longer cling to life, but they do cherish it. It has inner meaning. When life is made purposeful, the heaviness of life dissipates. It fades away because spirit, which is lighter than air, has made a home in the physical body. Every moment then becomes another opportunity to fulfill that purpose.

To live a spiritual life is basic common sense. When we live only through the gross body, without the influence of our spiritual nature, we suffer. It is a problem based on identification. The gross body is doomed to perish. Identification with it is bound to cause suffering.

If identification with the body is the problem, then the solution is to somehow associate with something that is not doomed to perish. How do we do that?

It’s easy to say we are spirit and not the gross body, but how do we develop a conviction about that? You could read he spiritual literature that points to it, such as the Bhagavad Gita, or a maybe the writings of a contemporary spiritual master, such as Meher Baba or Ramana Maharshi. Or perhaps you can relate to an inspired poet like Rumi or Hafiz, or a book such as Life Between Lives, which details the hypnotic spiritual regressions of countless people to the spirit world, where they spent time between lifetimes sorting out experiences.

Some people are consciously aware of past lives. To them there is never the issue of being identified to a physical body. It’s all just a passing show. They know they are spiritual beings having physical experiences. That conviction is of immense help in the effort to live a spiritual life.

But others are not so fortunate. They dread getting old. They fear death. They have no real purpose in life as there is nothing of lasting intrinsic value. They can’t even enjoy the present moment because they are living in anxiety about death.

If this is you, or someone you know, you might want to consider the services of a qualified hypnotherapist to prove to yourself that you have lived before, in another lifetime. For most people I think it raises more problems than it solves, but for this issue -- the lack of conviction about the immortality of the soul -- it could be a mind-expanding endeavor.

A word of advice: don’t get identified with who you were in your past life. The whole point of the spiritual regression is so you can find in yourself the ability to live fully in the present moment as a spiritual being who happens to be in a physical body. If you can already do this, don’t mess with the past. It’s just another layer of the illusion. The mystery isn’t a past life; it’s what’s behind the veil of consciousness -- right now!

Remember the movie Groundhog’s Day? The Bill Murray character became dedicated to living life fully, each moment, without fear of death, but only after countless frustrations and failures. What was there to fear? He had died thousands of times. What became of paramount importance was to live that one day perfectly, to win the heart of his beloved. He succeeded in his quest by thinking more of others than himself. His purpose was to discover within himself, life at its best.

It takes time for flowers to bloom, for fruit to ripen, and for a human being to discover that that the heart is infinite. And that is the ultimate in experiencing the lightness of being. No more burdens, just the joy of giving from the treasure within. That is the life of a spiritual being.