Anthony De Mello says in “Awareness: Conversations with the Masters” that spirituality is “the most practical thing in the world.”

This is my attempt to explain that to myself. You are welcome to listen in.

(I wrote about something else I learned from de Mello here. Hey Future Me and kibbitzers! It’s worth (re)reading.)

What is spirituality?

De Mello says:

I’ve spent a lot of time asleep. But I have woken up from time to time.

I recommend it.

De Mello says:

He says:

I’m good with spirituality as waking up and awareness. They kind of go together.

But why is spirituality the most practical thing in the world?

Waking up

I’ve spent days with this draft in front of me, writing and rewriting. I knew I had an answer, but I could not explain it. Not to myself. Not to anyone else.

And then, I woke up.

What had been muddy became clear.

Here we go.

Net return on investment

Let’s judge the practicality of spirituality by Return On Investment.

Over my life, particularly over the past few years, I’ve invested time end energy in practices intended to wake me up and help me become more aware.

What does my spirituality balance sheet look like?

What have I gained?

What have I invested?

Has there been an acceptable ROI?

Are the returns diminishing?

What do I do next?

What have I gained?

Peace. Love. Joy. Faith. Calm. Certainty.

Not that I did not have these things before. I did.

But now I have them in unprecedented and growing abundance.

The quality is better. The frequency is greater.

I attribute the increase to specific spiritual practices each pointed toward waking up and increased awareness.

What have I invested?

Time spent reading people like de Mello, Culadasa, Harris, many others.

Time spent thinking about what I have read.

Time spent writing. Writing is one of the ways that I think.

Time spent meditating.

Time spent listening to the outer and the inner.

Every minute spent intentionally loving, forgiving, being kind, being understanding has increased awareness.

Time spent doing therapy.

Time spent listening to music sometimes helps, sometimes not.

Has there been an acceptable ROI?

Holy shit, yes!

Maybe I would have ended in this amazing state no matter what I did, but I don’t think so.

I think that the time that I invested was necessary.

What would I give to get what I have?

In theory: pretty much all that I have. In practice, I’m still selfish and fearful enough that I would not want to expose myself to the consequences of being poorer than I am. Those are things to work on.

But holy shit!

Amazing ROI!

Are the returns diminishing?

No.

They are accelerating.

What do I do next?

Good question! Thanks for asking that!

1. Spend more time practicing, studying what you have learned that has been effective, and looking for new things to learn.

2. Spend less time on shit that does not matter.

3. Look for coaches.

4. Write more!Subscribe now