“Success is meaningless without fulfillment-both begin within.” ~ Rasheed Ogunlaru
Before I start this article I want to preface it by saying that everyone’s definition of success is different. No one person can really decide for another what “success” means, but for purposes of the article, the success I am speaking about is the traditional one (societal view), financial abundance, high paying positions of power or fame, material wealth etc.
So of course we all know that there are more important things in life than money and success. For most spiritual seekers, the journey into their own minds, or to the secrets of the universe eventually takes precedence over chasing the things they previously thought to be important before their awakening process started.
While the rest of the world seemed to be chasing outward success in the form of all sorts of material items, powerful positions or quantity over quality relationships, the spiritual seeker begins to no longer resonate with such things. The inner calling begins and with it, the nudge to seek happiness from within instead of from outside also comes.
And while visions of a new world begin to fill our imaginations, one where things like the number in our bank account, gender, nationality or socio-economic status are no longer things to judge and stereotype people by, we must all come to the realization that as a whole we are not there yet.
Yes, a new consciousness is emerging and the old ways of doing things are beginning to fall apart to make way for new systems to be put into their place. However, since this is not a process that can happen overnight, we must still play by some of the “rules” of the old paradigm.
Even though our journey inward is fascinating, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have dreams of living our dream life, where we are living abundantly in a home we like or driving a car that we like. But, for many spiritual seekers the topic of money and success can be a touchy one.
It is no shocker as we look out into the world there are countless examples of people misusing their money and power in order to control or manipulate others. This can start to become extremely disheartening to the seeker.
We begin to feel like we are doing all of this inner work on ourselves, treating others and ourselves more kindly, and discovering what truly matters in life but what is it all for if we can’t afford to experience this earthly realm to it’s fullest?
It may seem as though all the people who don’t deserve to have money, success or power are the ones that do, and all the people who seem to deserve it the most are the ones that don’t, but why is that? Why do so many undeserving people live abundantly while many of the kindest, generous good-hearted people seem to have a harder time manifesting external wealth and success?
“I believe the ultimate aim of all human beings is to obtain happiness and a sense of fulfillment… I have always stressed the importance of combining both the mental and material approach to achieving happiness for humankind.” ~ Dalai Lama
While all seekers eventually begin to realize that it may be nice to experience a little bit of success and enjoy earthly pleasures, ego-driven, money hungry types also come to the realization that their life is lacking true depth.
Here is where the unconditionally yet extremely ironic universe we live in switches up the tables on us, only to force us to transcend previous judgments of what we deemed as “wrong.”
It does this by forcing each of us, at some point or another, to face the other side of the coin. The spiritual seeker finally realizes that love and light doesn’t pay the bills, while the “successful” money hungry type eventually gets the house, the car, the money only to realize none of it truly is fulfilling them because they have yet to connect with their inner self. And while neither journey is “right” or “wrong” both actually have to come to the exact same meeting point in the middle of the road.
The “successful” ones come to realize that they must look within for true happiness, and that means facing their demons. This involves, dissolving pain, unraveling ego, and dealing with emotions, and for a type that has built a life around their “image” in society and chasing only outward success this can be an extremely painful and difficult process.
And for those who have spent years healing their inner child, facing their feelings, transmuting blockages and connecting with their higher selves, they come to realize that while they may feel happy and fulfilled within, to just sit at home and feel “fulfilled” without actually experiencing life can become extremely dull and hum-drum.
To be fulfilled without taking the action to create something, or to give back to the world somehow by helping others and even manifesting financial abundance or some level of outward success would be a life wasted. And each has their own perks.
The type that comes into material success early in life gets to experience these things without much effort, and when they finally get to the point of looking inside of their own hearts for true lasting fulfilment they have already achieved societal success.
And the seekers find fulfilment from within first, which allows them to not be attached to their earthly possessions. They actually enjoy things more because they are not afraid to lose them. Coming out of duality consciousness actually forces us to face both sides of this coin to some extent or another.
We are all living our spiritual journey in a different and unique way, and while some people may not even know they are on a spiritual journey, none of us are immune to facing our own souls. The grass often seems greener on the other side, but this is only to give us the nudge to live our life to the fullest and to face anything we have judged (even if that thing is our own selves).
Success can be truly enjoyed when one is fulfilled from the inside out, and while it may seem that there are people who don’t deserve what they have, we truly never know what that person’s journey is about unless we have walked in their shoes. The best option is to always stay focused on our own journey and find the ways that we can manifest our dream life, internally and externally.
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