What does a spiritual mid-life crisis feel like?
Category: Higher Purpose
May 2, 2021
A mid-life crisis is a common phrase in Western countries that describes a period of confusion and insecurity when faced with difficult choices and questions in life. The path they take from here on could make or break their lives and, more importantly, achieving purpose and fulfillment. But not everyone has a mid-life crisis, nor is it very common as a concept in Eastern cultures.
A situation like a mid-life crisis can be a good thing. It can trigger some deep introspection within us about the direction of our lives and take actions to make the best of our remaining active and healthy years.
But for it to be meaningful, the level of questions we ask ourselves must be related to a higher purpose and not about mundane aspirations or ambitions. Nor should it be about just our own lives or those of our close family members. It should be about something that leaves a mark and impact on the world.
What might a mid-life crisis look like for a spiritual person? We throw some light on the types of questions and answers that matter.
What is the true purpose of our lives, and have we found it yet?
In simple terms, it is about finding a Higher purpose in our lives – to become better spiritual personalities on an absolute scale of traits. Yes, that’s correct; we are referring to an absolute scale here – a time-tested, fundamental value system that captures essential traits like honesty, compassion, generosity, being collective and forgiveness, to name a few. Far too many things have become relative and subjective in our world today, so much so that we’ve lost track of a clear set of fundamental tenets that we need to focus on.
We need to make our inner selves significantly better and reach higher states of maturity. And for this, discovering, understanding and feeling the inner Self is the first step. Simply stated, we go deep to discover the truest form of our existence – our soul, then work on it during our lifetime to align as best as we can to the fundamental set of personality traits. While on this journey, we also make a big difference to the people and the world around us. We inspire and influence the establishment of truth, goodwill and goodness in this world. The world begins to change in small ways, one person at a time. More and more people gradually find the same higher purpose and pursue their self-improvement. They pass it on to more people, and a chain reaction is created.
We leave a mark on society and the world by the time we reach the end of our lives.
If you are anywhere in the journey of finding your inner Self and making it better, then yes, you have found the right direction and purpose. In fact, if you are reading this, then you are already on that journey.
What can make our lives fulfilling?
Many people have different answers for this. Many pleasures in life can make us feel like our life is fulfilling enough or that we cannot and do not need anything else. But the joy of experiencing the ultimate truth in our hearts and the deepest level of our consciousness is far superior compared to anything else. And that joy is more profound than any sense of happiness we can get. Happiness comes from comforts, the lack of a problem-free life, and even the good relationships we have. But happiness need not always be satisfying or fulfilling; it can cause us to want more. Spiritual joy (also known as “Satchitanand” where “Sat” stands for truth, “chit” for attention and “anand” for joy) is a unique experience of being in a heaven-like place. It cannot and need not be bought, given to us by others, or acquired through some means. It needs to be discovered and felt deep inside ourselves. This spiritual state has been talked about in every ancient spiritual scripture, and this is what all the great saints were getting human beings to achieve. Enlightenment, in other words. Once we experience this, we are fully contented, peaceful and all our negativity drops out. It will result in an automatic shedding of all the world’s problems if every human being were to seek and experience it.
To get this experience every day and to be instruments in showing it to as many people in this world is what a truly fulfilling life is about.
Where are we in this pursuit of this purpose and fulfillment?
Judging by the problems in this world, there’s a long way to go for most of the population of this world as far as higher purpose is concerned. But there is hope because there is a clear path forward. Alongside the tremendous technological advancements our civilization has made, the knowledge and quest for spirituality have also made significant breakthroughs. Through a practice like Sahaja, we’re crystal clear on how to access our inner Self and nurture it. We no longer have doubts or questions on the highest achievement on the plane of spirituality; at least we know what it is and how to get to it. What now needs to happen is a collective march towards that higher plane. We have our work cut out, and we know it’s going to take time, patience, perseverance, and hard work.
But we do not live in the dark ages anymore where people used to do crazy things hoping they would get their spiritual enlightenment. Worse, they did not know what it was or what it would feel like. So in a way, they sacrificed their lives to pursue something vague by resorting to extreme measures in desperation. That’s not who we are today or where we are. Thanks to the spiritual breakthroughs and the knowledge and practice of systems like Sahaja.
What can we do now to make the rest of our lives as meaningful as possible?
Prioritize spirituality over all else. Start actualizing spirituality rather than reading, thinking or merely knowing about it. Work hard on progressively improving our state of existence by accessing the higher state of consciousness in our meditation. Allow that great power that is now accessible to vitalize our inner subtle energy system and improve our traits. And yes, in the process, improve our health too. Greatly simplify our lives so that our attention is free from unnecessary and lesser productive ventures and pursuits. We want clear, sharp focus and a lot of time directed towards what could turn out to be the landmark evolutionary jump for our soul during this lifetime.
If we understand the teachings of the great saints and spiritual masters, they’ll tell us that this is what our soul really wants and is seeking. In fact, it has been seeking this eternally. But our thoughts, ego, and analytical mind combined with the distractions in this world cause us to come up short and the soul ends up being disappointed each time. But not this time. We’re going to be firmly on the journey, especially since we’ve found the opening already to an ocean of spiritual knowledge and experience. The doors to the practice of Sahaja are fully open, and we’re going to make the best of this.
Getting started and establishing our meditation routine will be a big start. The rest of the guidance and the answers we need will follow automatically; they are all inside us and waiting to be discovered. Time to wake up and get past the clouds of distraction in our mundane lives.