Fact & faith

If deepening human values is intrinsic to our human quest for happiness, then it would be in our interest to develop a more holistic and integrated way of learning about the world.  What if it became manditory to explore both the seen and unseen?  To reflect on what is perceptible and imperceptible? To ponder equal rationale for fact and faith? What if spirituality and science were both used as accepted and complimentary means of investigating human existence and survival? 

As it stands, people often take a scientific view or a spiritual view rather than consider them together.  Historical, socio-economic and policial reasons aim to convince us they must be separate. We're led to believe scientific facts are meant to disprove the logic of faith, mysteries and uncertainty.  While the significance and influence of modern Science redefine our motive for curiosity, Science is not the only basis for all that is known and that is also yet to be discovered.

Science definitely has implications for how we understand our world. What we consider to be acceptable or unacceptable behavior in ourselves and in leaders is influenced by perceived morals of scientists.  How susceptible are we to the influence of views around us?  Science develops and draws information from repeatable experiments and empircal data. We choose to believe the discovered limits of gravity, relativity, light, water and other physical laws or face the predicted consequences. 

At times, challenging limits leads us to fascinating new discoveries.  Consider the Earth was once considered to be flat and it used to be assumed we couldn't prove travel was possible beyond the understood speed of light.  These limits were shattered because humans questioned elements of Science.  If humans were to suddenly take everything as is currently understood to be true, then we would cease learning.

Spiritual views remind us that it would not be in the interest of Humanity if we simply act to facilitate scientific progress at the expense of everything else which offers insight about our world.  To recognize that other valuable ways of perceiving and understanding exist reminds us our motives for using Science should include heart and mind.  We also benefit from recognizing that Science is not well-equipped to answer philosophical questions, such as the meaning of life, which go beyond calculations and predictions of probability.   Human existence isn't limited to the facts that Science offers to provide.  To look beyond supposed facts, we must take a leap of faith.

Discuss things that matter

Talking openly about what's on your mind may seem like a huge risk.  You may be afraid of what others would think.  Would they reject you?  Would they laugh? Would they oppose you? Would their reactions matter to you at all?  The prospect of conflict or competition can be a huge deterrent.  Yet, isolating yourself and keeping quiet isn't typically a fulfilling choice.  Which steps could you take to learn to cope and finally get to the crux of what matters?

You could begin by learning to understand the reasons why approval may be important to you.  If you do not receive a kind of approval from certain people, how does it affect your confidence?  It's time to liberate yourself from narrow forms of expression that could play into your fears.  By changing your inner attitudes, you can learn to overcome fear and realize it compromises your pursuits.

In the Tibetan Art of Serenity, Christopher Hansard offers 7 relevant steps for achievement:

1) Learn how to make decisions that are free from fear, so that your progress shall be clear.

2) Choose pursuits that you love and give them the best that is in you.

3) Seize opportunities based on a clear and serene mind.

4) Learn to live in perfect comfort with your higher levels of power.

5) Know that there are mental and spiritual energies dormant in you that will only wake when there is a need.

6) Be willing to go beyond your limits.

7) Be prepared to fail greatly so that you can achieve greatly.

Appearance versus reality

How we experience life and what we show the world can be very different.  You may have faced potentially dangerous situations in the street or in personal emergencies, because you or others assume that you can handle any situation.   Putting up a brave front may be like refusing to face your own vulnerability. 

Remind yourself feeling discomfort simply reminds you that you're human.  You're not expected to know everything.  Feelings of uneasiness don't compromise your strengths and abilities.  Discomfort is actually an invitation to learn reasons for your feelings, to develop courage, to reach out and ask for advice.  Open-mindedness can enable you to grow.  Consider these points for reflection:

1) What you don't know can harm you: this isn't simply a question of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Many accidents aren't predictable, but learning how to adapt and better understand human interactions is very useful.  No matter what the situation, you can make efforts to raise your awareness about what's going on within you.  By asking when you don't understand or don't know what to do, you'll make more effective and rewarding choices in many areas of your life.

2) When image is everything, esteem suffers: if you decide its crucial to portray yourself as emotionally or physically strong, even when you're not, you may end up playing limited roles in relationships and depriving yourself of warmth and compassion that would enable you to thrive.  The risk of sharing your inner self may be scary, yet if you don't do it, your relationship may not have the strength to last.

3)  If you don't feel heard, speak up: when people around you seem more articulate and aware of what's going on, they may not know as much as you think.  Don't expect them to read your mind.  You may feel disconnected or challenged.  Treat this as an opportunity to get-to-know yourself better and to enable other people to get-to-know the real you.  Express what's on your mind.

Karma & success

Karma is a sum of all that you have done, all you are currently doing and will ever do.  You project your own ideas of heaven, hell and purgatories.  These mental images sharpen based on your feelings.  You can always decide to learn, to gain things from all your experiences.

You also create your vision of success and imagine what you need to experience in order to achieve it.  In order to know success, you must first evolve to determine your true desires.  This begins with you.  Evolution inside yourself results from the fulfillment of your desires. 

It has been suggested that each of us develops skills and lives as long as we're able to learn from our karma.  Success, in a spiritual sense, may then result from working through and separating yourself from Earthly attachments.  This differs from material success which is often measued in terms of acquired possessions.  It remains a mystery whether karma is infinite and constantly being renewed or whether it only exists for souls to better understand ego and physical desires.

Now or never

You may get to a stage where you feel like you need a new course of action.  The life you're leading isn't motivating you the way you want it to, or taking you where you wish to go.  What next?  You think about it.  You may forget about it and go back to doing what you did before.  Then, there are those people who simply act and surprise you perhaps as much as themselves.

One woman I know simply packed her bags rather impulsively and moved to the other side of her own country.  She initially sought a change of scenery and a new job.  By requesting a transfer to a new office, she found faith in her intuition grew and led her to move in rewarding directions. 

A guy I know began an aspiring pilot.  He obtained his license while working odd jobs and then, he was more than broke. Yet, he got into his old car with a map and a list of prospective employers.  He set out to drive through Canadian provinces and territories to approach small flight companies in person.  During this journey, he often slept in his car.  He developed a connection to his inner guidance.  Trusting his gut enabled him to take control of his life.  He's since flown to places as far away as Antarctica that he hadn't initially dreamed of.

A young woman I met did marketing for a call centre.  She loved science in highschool and had decided to take night classes to become a lab technician. She knew someone who had worked in a lab and that same path seemed logical.  Yet, the more this woman detailed her plan, the more she seemed to be trying to convince herself.  When I queried her deepest interest, she confided she spent all her free time on fashion design, but was at a loss of how to pursue it.  She had been trained to believe we must struggle to achieve predictable goals.  Upon reflection, she decided to listen more to her intuition which was giving her a greater awaress of her worthiest passions. 

A university friend of mine is quite a go-getter.  She works for a butcher and also does environmental emergency projects for the government. Juggling her interests in work to pay the bills didn't seem to enable her to experience fulfillment.  I encouraged her to explore her creative side, so she chose to take night classes in interior design.  This sideline interest is evolving to the point where she envisions her own consultancy.  She has developed a clearer perspective on her abilities and she has become the true architect of her new, stimulating life.