It is never easy to follow the spiritual path. However, we can say that in a way, we are all already engaged on it. Yes, since we all have wishes to fullfill and things to understand, since we all have our inner kingdom and a Spirit that wants to manifest itself fully trough it, we are all plunged in spirituality to a degree or another.

The best thing for us then, is to consciously make the choice to work on our physical and psychical matter. To start working on our spiritual world. To be capable of sculpting, controlling and directing what is happening inside of ourselves, and in this way, better ourselves and eventually, even our surroundings. Since we all carry this life within us, it is of great use, even essential to learn to focus on that life. We must not always be the victims of our inner states, but master them and direct them. We must become the kings of our own kingdom.

There are immense treasures to be found trough this work. And the best thing is that once we have found them, or rather, once we have chosen to really work spiritually to obtain these results, these treasures, the virtues are really ours. No one can ever take them from us.

Have you seen the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" ? That is a great exemple of inner treasures which really belong to their "owner". Even in prison, in an absolutely dark prison cell, with almost no food to eat and the heavy burden of constant solitude, the principal character of the movie ..... has music. Inwardly, he possesses such a great sensibility, such a great appreciation for it's poetry, that the sweet memory of an overheard melody never leaves him. It brings him calm, peace, comfort and even ..... a few sublime moments. He had worked to cultivate his sensibility, but also his intelligence, his will to always do the right thing, and that, no once could ever take from him. He also posessed great self mastery and was always able to cope with the most difficult of situations, and even in prison, he was even more free then alot of people living in palaces.

This may only be a movie, but it marvelously shows what many great human souls have been able to accomplish within themselves. For exemple, Ghandi had to face emprisonment many times in order to stay loyal to his convictions of justice. Socrates let himelf be conducted to certain death to maintain his ideals to the end ..... and that is why these great men and their ideals have survived troughout history ! The exemples of beings whom, by their bravery and sense of sacrifice have given a great heritage to humanity are many. Because here is perhaps one of the greatest usefullness of leading the spiritual life, we can come to overcome many of the fears which paralyze ordinairy human beings. Alot of cases in history, even in our daily lives, show us the importance of cultivating virtues. Wether it be before great obstacles or simply the small daily problems of existence on earth, those who are rich inwardly can face them in a much nobler way.

For exemple, for many people, waiting for an appointment can be real torture. But not for those who posess alot of patience. Not for those who have started to work on their thoughts and link themselves to Heaven and a high Ideal. Such a person would then see the waiting as just another occasion to do a bit of psychic exercise. And in alot of cases, it is even possible that he will not notice the waiting at all ! Yes, with spiritual work comes great inner strenght.

In the precedent exemple, waiting is involved, but we could very well have replaced that with a difficult person in our surrondings, or a shortcoming in our own selves which we would like to correct. Spiritual work makes people stable, very resistant to usually constraigning situations and that, simply because it helps them stay at a high vibratory state. They are above the clouds, flying in their inner liberty because they have gathered, trough time, the necessary qualities to face a great number of difficult situations.

All these luminous thoughts which are created by their work do not stay only within themselves. They can travel and visit many other beings whose minds are well disposed to receive them. The radiance which is emmited by a person who has beautiful thoughts and aspirations is absolutely contagious. Such a person can also help the people from it's surrounding or even complete strangers simply because they have perceived a simple joy, a soft harmony emanating as a fabric of light from that being. Very often, such a beneficial person does not even notice how her presence can positively influence others. That person works on herself in secret, but others benefit from it very openly. We have all felt one day or the other, a strong feeling of well-being around certain luminous persons, and had the desire to become like them. This shows that people who know how to maintain in themselves beautiful states of mind, who are capable of emanating something friendly and peaceful from their spiritual work, become great white mages. They help positive energies to circulate and neutralize negative energies at the same time. They transmit the impulsion that they themselves received once from a Living Source (an exceptionnal human being), and now spread that light around them in the same manner. And that, always in a spirit of true simplicity.

Because it is very important not to take on a false attitude, let your spiritual work speak for you. Altough very often well intended, a false attitude can be difficult to live with as much for the surroundings of a person, who will feel the lack of sincerity, as for the person itself. This is of course true unless exceptionnal circumstances arise, where even if we feel indisposed, we still wish to help someone who is suffering more then ourselves. Very often in this case, our very wish to help, comfort and bring a bit of humor to someone will heal us almost instantly. But in general, to be able to spread something harmonious, we must ourselves be in an harmonious state. We are not speaking of a role, but about the true results of a great inner work. By growing spiritually, we start to love the people around us, our at the very least, we start to really love our Ideal. That makes us cheerful in itself, it warms our hearth, and makes us want to give good energies to everyone around us, naturally.

Of course, when we feel indisposed, which is a thing that can happen to even the most evolved of person on the spiritual path from time to time ( We have so much to learn ! ), the best thing to do is usually to just stay by yourself for a moment and try to understand what is the problem. Even if it lasts only a few seconds, the very fact that we stop to think and orient our inner currents in a different way can often help alot. We must, in times like these, stop everything if possible, and give ourselves time to think, pray and try to remedy to our inner state not only by our will, but also with our love for something greater and our desire to understand and act with wisdom. These states of mind always have a good reason for hapenning; either they come to us since we have not respected a great Law of the universe ( in such case, what we must do is correct our mistake and the trouble will disappear very soon afterwards ), or either it comes from outer events which have shaken us, which we have not yet been capable of transforming.

An image that i love using is that of the Alchemist entering his laboratory. First, he takes the time to really see the problem head on ( courage is a wonderfully powerful antidote ! ). He scratches his beard for a few moments, watches the different flasks that lay before him, and says to himself, alright, that is the problem to solve ! Now, what tools should I use to feel better, to better the situation. He inspects the propreties of the inner element which troubles him, and sheds a bit of light on it. He also calls, trough thought, his superiors, the souls which have surpassed him and asks them; "Here is the problem which I am confronted with, how did you, who have already faced it before me, solve it ?" And he stays attentive for a few seconds. He inspects the reflects present in his inner kingdom. Often, at this very moment, the heavens, his inner heavens, will help him in whispering (symbolicly) the solution under the form of an image, a positive current of energies, or simply a tought to maintain or an action to accomplish to solve the situation.

Our Alchemist analyzes, watches, weighs, listens and asks the opinion of his models and heroes trough thought, and when he has found the solution, eureka ! He as succeeded in changing the currents which were flowing trough him ! He has raised his consciousness, he has asked for inner support, and he now sees clearly. No matter what had plunged him into that state, he comes out of his meditation of a couple of seconds or minutes ( all this can happen very quickly of course, the trick is simply to be vigilant! ), he links himslef very powerfully to his Ideal of inner betterment and comes out convinced that he can now face the situation fully, and correct whatever needs to be corrected. He has been a good alchemist, is very proud of that and mostly ..... very grateful ! He stays humble because he knows that it is his inner angels which have guided him. All that he as done and that he is proud about, is to have known how to prepare the conditions so that his powerful inner advisors could manifest themselves fully.

His greatest reward is the following : since he has won a battle, since he has aquired what may be only a few drops more of self-mastery, well he knows that he is capable of facing difficulties. Since he has succeeded once, he knows that he will be able to triumph again. Where others break their heads again and again, complain and make everyone run away from them, he is going forward and evolving !

Let us also imagine for an instant, that we are souls that have been reincarnating for many lives in the goal of evolving. If we do not do anything to better the state of our inner kingdom, no one will do it for us. We will carry our weaknesses for a long time to come. If we forget this to concentrate only on material aquisitions, what will we have left upon death ? We will leave the earth rather poor in reality ! Of course, the idea is absolutely not to forget completely about the material world. If it exists, it is because it has its role to play and we must be able to feed, clothe and house ourselves properly. But to put all our focus on matter, even forgetting the fact that we are alive right here and now ..... no, everything would necessarily go wrong and we would feel a great void in our life.

If however, we enter into the great cosmic order of things, and by that I mean, if we take the decision to better ourselves as creatures, my God, what a beautiful future we will have ! What wonderful occasions we will have each day to grow ! And we will carry those inner treasures with us,the only real ones, during the great voyage of our evolution.

Thus, enging the spiritual path is difficult as it requires us to confront our difficulties and weaknesses ( not in fighting them of course, but by using them as a stimulant to replace them with new and better spiritual grooves. Whoever is linked strongly with his high Ideal will start to compare his habits to the greatness of his Ideal, and will naturally focus his energies on better things. In this way, there is never any reason to fight bad habits, simply stop feeding them, transfer your energies to better things, and they will naturally go away ). But it also permits us to never stay stangant and simply be a victim of our inner states. It makes us grow. Now that is a very rejoicing perspective !

The one who follows the spiritual path does not stay inert, he does not complain about everything because he knows that all soltuions can be found within himself. This work can be difficult yes, but it is a million times less painful then simply living uncounsciously, without ever understanding why such or such thing happens to us ..... and even less how to react to them in a positive way. It puts us in link with the superior powers of the universe and the sensations that are then felt in these blessed moments, are undescribable. They are worth a billion times more then any ephemary pleasure searched for by default or ignorance. We must have the good will to lift our souls from matter for a few instants at least, and leave all the prejudices and preconceived opinions of the masses on matters of meditation, vegetarian food, the service of an high ideal, etc.

That is what is most important, we must take the time to verify by ourselves what the souls who have surpassed have discovered. It is of no great use to simply discuss intellectually and outwardly of spirituality, we must live it and put in application it's methods to discover and understand fully why it is so necessary to the fullfillment of human life.

Those treasures, those benedictions, I would even say, that simple feeling of always evolving, always learning, gives such hapiness ! For exemple, you talk a walk in nature, and you find what you see beautiful ..... wait until you lead a spiritual life ! It is only then that you are truly capable of saying that what you are seeing is beautiful ! Our spiritual bodies become so pure, so transparent, so crystal like, that we are able to feel beautiful things a thousands times better than before ! And this, simply because we become able to really be attuned to beauty, as we come to realise that all along, we have always carried that beauty within our souls, we simply had to uncover it. We have cleaned ourselves and can thus have a much better glimpse of our inner Divine presence. All those who have lead the spiritual life have said so; you will feel alive with a life that is more rich, more abundant, more luminous, more useful, and you will feel that this life, Nature also shares it. You will then look upon her wih new eyes, opened for the first time and what you will then feel, will not be only that it is you, as a separate entity that is watching nature, that is "outside" of you, but rather, that you are constantly sharing the same unique Life with Nature. That you are alive within this Great universal Life. You start to understand why the great sages of all times spoke of Unity. You start to cultivate, slowly but surely, your feeling of cosmic consciousness.

Alot of beings have had fugitive feelings of such beauty and clarity, but that is not enough. We must understand why and how these superior states manifest themselves, and even learn to amplify them and spread their benedictions on all beings. For that however, a spiritual Teaching is required.

Because very often also, the thing that is missing in people who start on the path of spirituality, is continuity. They start their work following a spiritual experience or a hard difficulty which plunged them within themselves, but then feel so little, so far from their spiritual Ideal and models, that they abandon after some time. They do take an engagment, but only partially, without going trough the difficult part of the start. Of course, an engagement taken only with willpower cannot last very long. It is then very understandable that before the least difficulty, we renounce to continue as our hearts are not really there. To really be able to live spirituality harmoniously, we must not only understand the reasons why we take on the path of self mastery with our heads, but also ..... with our hearts ! We must love spiritual work for it to really become truly part of ourselves. If the hearth takes a liking to meditation for exemple, that's it ..... you are thankfully doomed ! You will meditate for the rest of your days ! :)

Engagement in spiritual life can be compared to this : we are presented with a new type of food, and in apparence, it seems much more sour then the "fast-food" to which we are usually used to. In the beginning, yes, we must convince ourselves and have the good will to try to at least, taste this new way of life. But it is strongly possible that once we have tasted it ( even if it was not the taste of easiness ), we fall in love with these new subtle flavours of life and that then, without the least effort of willpower, we keep on eating that food naturally. Whoever really feels the hapiness and the peace that are the results of this life, will feel such a love for spiritual work that he will not be able to live without it anymore, even if it is difficult. He will see that under the appearence of people who seemed to be leading a very "dry" lifestyle ..... terribly far from cigarette smoke, nightclubs, heavy food, alcool, ephemary fashion and public opinion ( poor spiritualists, it must not be easy to live without these....! ) were actually people who really, felt blessed. Yes, blessed even trough all difficulties. People who felt proud of everyday, climbing a new summit and that live a new Life ..... a Life of a superior degree and intensity by its vibrations. People who truly felt at home .....