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Spiritual development

22 February 2021

The term "spirituality" has become a repository for a great many prejudices, projections, ideas, assumptions, interpretations, beliefs, directions, questions, answers and clichés. For many people, spirituality is synonymous with ‘floating’.

The origin of the word lies in the Latin "spiritus", which means "spirit". So spirituality is everything that concerns our mind. There's nothing floating about that. We all have a body and a consciousness, a mind, and that makes us human. And spiritual development is nothing more than the personal, inner development that we go through from birth.

For many people, however, this spiritual development is a symbol of a long search. An unclear path full of challenges that we must face bravely so that in the end we feel "inner peace", with ourselves and with the world. Or finally be happy. Or illuminated.

Every search begins with dissatisfaction. What we have now is not good enough. It could be better, and if we have to believe the books, magazines and social media, that is all within reach, and if we better do our best, it is also ahead of us. Around our need for meaning and the pursuit of better, a gigantic commercial hype has arisen. Everything is recommended to you and promised to become more successful and happier. But if there is one thing that makes you unhappy, it is the pursuit of happiness (or success, love, money, power...).

I believe that the main goal of life is to develop you. But not in the sense of how that is normally meant. It is a beautiful word that we structurally misunderstand. We associate development with learning, improvement, goal setting and progress, and progress is good, with a capital letter. To this end, we collect information and tools to be able to move forward and achieve our goal. We follow courses, read books, listen to people who call themselves leaders or gurus and gain as much experience as possible. Being busy with it gives our life meaning and direction. And our economy is growing.

But what if development is actually development? The very act of detaching ourselves from those wrappers with which we have been swaddled since birth? What those wraps are is different for each of us. They are all your (faith)beliefs, thoughts and rules, how it should be and how it should be. Everything that can make you despondent, distraught, anxious and depressed (but fortunately there are good self-help books, medicines and therapists for that again).

What is your essence, without all those wrappers? What happens to you when you see through the pursuit and search? What does your life look like from now on? Are you experiencing peace, or rather unrest? It is interesting to examine that for yourself.

From an early age, I walked a conscious spiritual path. Personal development received a lot of attention from me, and it has become an essential part of my work. But on this path to liberation, I have also become increasingly critical of ‘spiritual development’.

For me, spirituality means experiencing inspiration and fulfillment in who you are and what you do. Experiencing a sense of connection with everything that is in this world, and with a source of inspiration within yourself. The ability to (self)reflect. Not the past, not the future either, but this moment is what matters. Being present and able to be with both the light and the shadow in my life. Embracing with love all that I am experiencing at the moment. And from that openness to confidently walk my own path, whether it is already paved or not.

And for me, unfolding means seeing through everything you have taught yourself. It makes my life more airy and playful. I get to play every day in the biggest playground there is.

Some people sometimes ask me if I know a good hypnotist who can help them solve their problems. I always think, ' Hey, we're all already hypnotized. Isn't it ironic that we have to be under hypnosis to realize that?’ ?

I wish you much love and insight,

Dorien