How to Prevent the Bombings From a Spiritual Point of View

We were shocked last Tuesday afternoon, January 25, 2011 when we heard the news that a bus was bombed in Makati City, Philippines. Five were killed in that incident and 13 were injured.

Increasing Frequency of Bombings

Bombs are becoming more frequent these days. In the Philippines alone in the space of 11 years 21 bombs have been recorded, the worst one being the bombing on February 27, 2004 of the passenger boat Superferry 14 sinking this vessel and killing 116 people and injuring hundreds more. This was described as the deadliest terrorist attack in the Philippines and the world’s deadliest terrorist attack at sea. The 21 bombs in the space of 11 years killed on record 254 persons and injured hundreds more.

In 2009 there was a report from a military official that within a year 56 bombs had exploded or had been discovered in central Mindanao, the biggest island in southern Philippines. This is only in one part of the country.

If you add to these the bombs that have exploded or have been discovered to nearly explode all over the world, we realize that bomb explosions to hurt people are indeed becoming more common.

In the face of this tragic and very sad phenomenon, what can we do?

How To Prevent These Bombings

The reasonable thing to do is to prevent the explosion of these bombs. But how? Is there a way to prevent the explosion of such bombs.

There are people who say that we cannot prevent such man-made disasters from occurring. They have been prophesied long ago and will continue to do so until the end of this world.

But such a view is too pessimistic. It is like saying, “We are going to die anyway, so let’s die anyway we want, the earlier, the better.”

The realistic view is that while we cannot prevent all such bombings, there are measures which we can take that will prevent some, if not most, of these bombings. The prevention of some of these bombings is reward enough for the effort to prevent their fatal explosions.

3 Practical Suggestions from a Spiritual Point of View

I will give here 3 practical suggestions to prevent these bombs from being made and from exploding. Two of these suggestions can be done by individual persons immediately. The third is done better in institutions of learning and worshipping after the leaders of these institutions realize the efficacy of this method. They are all from a spiritual perspective. They are not from a military or police perspective which is to monitor the activities of suspicious individuals and prevent them from carrying their intended terroristic activities.

The first suggestion is very simple and yet it has been known to do many things, some of them impossible by human standards. This is prayer. “More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of,” said Alfred Lord Tennyson. Prayer can effectively prevent these bombings.

But by prayer here I do not mean the mumbling of prayer formulas from a prayer book or a sheet of paper. There is a parish here which ends the Mass everyday with a prayer using Psalm 91. It is a prayer for protection against harm of all kinds. The people recite this prayer. But this kind of prayer is not effective against bombings. For most of the parishioners it is just a ritualistic mumbling of prayers. It has not prevented the kidnappings and murders in the city.

Nor do I mean prayer here as going to a silent place and thinking about one’s self, about the values he needs to cultivate in his life, how he can overcome his faults, and then making a resolution to overcome these faults. Many are doing this in convents and monasteries, but this kind of prayer only cultivates the ego of the ones who pray.

By prayer I do not mean the loud, spontaneous but formalistic prayers of ministers before their congregation during their services or of prayer leaders before sessions or meetings.

By prayer I simply mean “conversation with God”, not mumbling a set formula of words, not thinking about oneself, not publicly showing religiosity. That is actually how Rosalind Rinker defined prayer, “conversing with God” and that is also the gist of Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada’s definition of mental prayer.

This kind of prayer, a sincere and real conversation with God can prevent the explosion of bombs because God in that conversation can share with the one who prays how to prevent these bombs from exploding or from being made, since many of these bombs have been labeled as improvised explosive device or IED. In other words they were made by improvising some gadgets to make a bomb explode.

The more people do this kind of prayer the more will there be possibility that God will teach us how to prevent these bombs from being made and set to explosion.

The second suggestion I have for the prevention of the making and explosion of these bombs is to avail of the services of the guardian angels. Each one of us has a guardian angel. But let us get a clearer picture of this being because most of us have a rather hazy picture of him.

Most of us think that a guardian angel is a winged human like being who is at our back. This is how artists have depicted the guardian angel. But actually this angel is a spirit. And because he is a spirit he has neither body nor wings. He cannot be seen by our physical eyes but we can feel his presence just as we can feel the blowing of the wind.

Guardian angels are spirits who accompany us from the time we were born. They are assigned to protect us from danger and from untimely death. But we have to follow their instruction. That is where the problem lies. Most of us are not distinctly aware of their presence with us. Maybe we have heard about them in our catechism class or Sunday school, memorized the prayer, “Angels of God, our guardian dear”, but we do not have a personal relationship with them. Because of this we do not talk with them, much less listen to their warnings. And because they are spirits their warnings can only be perceived spiritually. We cannot hear these warnings through our physical ears.

These guardian angels can tell us when we are going to a place where bombs can explode. If those policemen looking for these bombs have a personal relationship with their guardian angels and listen to them, the angels can tell them where those bombs are located.

I myself have availed of the services of these guardian angels. I was saved from a hold-upper by their help. My fellow passengers and I were saved from an explosion in a van by them. No one was hurt even in the least. Miracles still do happen. Persons sent to kill me and my father were dissuaded in their plans by these angels.

Why do we not avail of their help? They are just there for the asking.

And the third suggestion I have for the prevention of the making and exploding of these bombs is to invite more and more people to undergo spiritual development. We do not have this kind of development in our schools and churches. But let it not be another subject, like Religious Education or Theology. Do not call it a course or subject. Maybe the educators and ministers can call it a Journey. Instead of asking the students and parishioners who would like to take a course in Spiritual Development, ask them “Who would like to take a lifetime journey in spiritual development?”

When people are developed spiritually, they are more sensitive to the spiritual forces around them and they can sense the manipulations of these evil spiritual forces behind these bombs. In a newspaper here which published the reaction of the Bishops in the Philippines about the bombing last June 25, one bishop said “We have to examine its roots”. This implied that he does not know yet the root cause of the bombing. Spiritually developed persons know already the root cause: the deep-seated hatred of evil spirits against human beings.

Effective prayer, getting the help of our guardian angels, and leading more and more people on the path of spiritual development are my three suggestions in order to prevent the making and exploding of bombs that kill and hurt human beings.

Click Here!

Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.

The Cure for Depression

Notice that I did not entitle this article “A Cure for Depression” or “Some Cures for Depression” but “The Cure for Depression.” This is because in my opinion what I am going to discuss here is not just one of the cures for depression, but the definitive cure for it.

Notice also that I did not qualify the word “depression”. I did not qualify it with an adjective like “physical”, “psychosomatic”, “psychological”, or “spiritual”. This is because this cure addresses all forms of depression, whether physical, mental, spiritual or a combination of these forms.

Many Cures and Techniques for Depression

There are many drugs, food supplements and techniques which are described as cures for depression.

There are drugs called anti-depressants which medical doctors prescribe for their patients with depression problems.

There are food supplements which are advertised as natural cures for depression. The advertisements say these are better than antidepressants.

There are also several techniques offered as cures for depression. One that I read of is a combination of simultaneously eating chocolate, listening to music and reading the Bible. Another technique which many have found effective is self-talk. This is talking to oneself using positive, encouraging words, rationalizing over the feeling of depression and its perceived cause.

All the cures I have just referred to do help in the management and control of depression. But they do not get rid of the depression because they do not touch the root cause of all depression: the dislocation of our spiritual equilibrium. What I am saying is that the root cause of all forms of depression, even physical such as extreme physical tiredness, is spiritual. If the root cause is spiritual, then the cure can only be spiritual. Only a spiritual cure can get rid of depression once and for all.

Surprisingly, in my readings on the cures of depression I notice that a spiritual cure for depression is not even mentioned. Reading the Bible is not necessarily a spiritual cure. It can be physical, just giving some exercise to the eyes and lips. It can be mental, just thinking of the ideas therein.

Before I name this spiritual cure for depression I want you to know that although it is spiritual, it does not necessarily involve going to church, saying some prayers, practicing meditation, doing good to one’s neighbor, not even following certain commandments of God.

There has been the idea since the 1960s that the cause of depression is sin and therefore to get rid of this you just have to confess your sin and get reconciled with God and with your fellow human beings. The cure that I will discuss here is not along that line. As I have already shown here http://developspirit.blogspot.com/2011/01/3-main-reasons-why-depression-is.html sometimes depression is a result of our effort to get rid of sin, not of committing a sin.

A World Without Depression

Before I state this cure let us imagine that we are in heaven. Many people believe that when they die they go to heaven if they have done good on earth. I say “many” because not all people believe this. Some Christians think that when we die we just sleep, waiting for our resurrection; we don’t go anywhere after death, either to heaven or to hell. And other Christians think that doing good on earth is not a requirement for getting into heaven.

People of other religions think that after death we exist again in another form of life: as another human being, an animal or a plant.

That is why I say “many”, not “all” believe that when we die we go to heaven.

But for the sake of an illustration let us just imagine we are in heaven. With the definition of heaven as a state or place of complete and lasting happiness it would be impossible for us to see there a depressed person. All would be happy there. Christian theologians say that their happiness there would be according to their capacity to receive happiness. But each one’s happiness would be full. No one would be there only half happy. All would be fully happy.

And what would make them happy? Again Christian theologians say that what makes them happy is not having enough good food, functional clothing, sturdy shelter and freedom from diseases. What makes them happy, according to these theologians, is the beatific vision.

It is called vision because they see God face to face. It is beatific because it is a vision, a seeing, which makes us happy. The word “beatific” comes from two Latin words, “beatus” which means “happy”, and “facere” which means “to make”.

The Cure for Depression

The ultimate cure for depression, then, is the vision of God. In my opinion and according to my experience the cure for depression of whatever form is the vision of God, our seeing God. Because it is a seeing which makes us happy, fully happy.

What most theologians teach us is that this beatific vision can only be enjoyed by us when we are already in heaven, that is, after we die. And that is where I differ.

I say together with a few teachers of spirituality that this vision of God, this seeing of God face to face can be attained or achieved even while we are still on this earth. And it is this seeing God face to face which can get rid of depression forever from our life.

Réginald Marie Garrigou-Lagrange was a Catholic theologian who taught at the Angelicum (the popular name for the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas), Rome, from 1909 to 1960. He said “Fundamentally, the same divine life exists as a germ or a seed in the Christian on earth and as a fully developed life in the saints in heaven.” In other words what he is saying is that the life in heaven is begun on earth now. Now what makes us happy in heaven is seeing God. Therefore what makes us also happy on earth if we have this divine life is the seeing of God, not as clearly as in heaven, but still a real seeing of God.

Nicholas of Cusa who lived in the 15th century also affirmed that even on earth we can already see God and enjoy this vision of God. He wrote a book with this title, ABOUT THE VISION OF GOD.

This seeing of God while on earth is the ultimate cure for depression.

But you may ask, How do I get to see God when he is invisible? What must I do to see God?

The answer to the first question is: Yes, God is invisible because he is spirit. But because we also are spirits our spirit can see God, not with the eyes of the body but with the eyes of the spirit.

The answer to the second question is: There is nothing to do in order to see God. You just ask God for this and he gives this to you, but you obey what he tells you. Each one will have a different way of receiving this vision of God. I received mine by having a vibrant, lively relationship with Jesus through the Bible and the sacrament of Communion. Yours may be different. A Buddhist attains it in a different way. A person of another religion attains it in his or her own way.

Still depressed? Ask God to reveal to you his face. When you see him you will no longer be depressed. You can then follow the command to rejoice always in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 and Philippians 4:4, a command which we can never follow unless we see God face to face now, through a glass darkly, but as really as we would see him in heaven.

Click Here!

Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.

3 Main Reasons Why Depression Is Inevitable in Spiritual Development

Do not be surprised when I tell you that depression is inevitable in spiritual development. If you are really on the path of spiritual development you are going to experience depression.

This view is certainly contrary to those who say that depression, especially spiritual depression, is a sign that you have sinned, that you are misaligned in the working out of God’s will in your life. This view is the one generally held by that book SPIRITUAL DEPRESSION: ITS CAUSES AND CURE by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, published in 1966.

Depression Is Normal

My view is similar to that held by M. Scott Peck that depression is a normal and basically healthy phenomenon. Although I agree also that there are cases of depression which arise out of sin. But not all depression comes from our personal sin.

To help you to be convinced that indeed depression is normal and a healthy phenomenon, and therefore inevitable--if you are progressing in spiritual development--I am going to cite two cases of great persons of God. One is perhaps the greatest English preacher in history. The other is a person who has been called the greatest saint of modern times.

Depression in Great Servants of God

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, considered as the Prince of Preachers, had recurring bouts of depression, especially after the 1856 incident when seven persons died and 28 were hospitalized after a stampede which ensued in the course of his sermon. This recurrence of depression continued until the end of his life. It was also compounded by criticisms from people and by his physical illness of gout. In many of the sermons of Spurgeon you can almost feel this depression as he appeals to you to turn to God.
And yet, here we have undoubtedly one of the most spiritually developed persons in history.

Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin has been called as the greatest saint of modern times. She was a Carmelite nun in Lisieux, France. Her writings, especially THE STORY OF A SOUL, testify to a very high degree of spiritual development. And yet she herself said that spiritual aridity, a form of depression, was her daily bread in that book. This depression was compounded by the criticisms of her Sisters in the convent for leaving her father so young and her pulmonary tuberculosis.

These two great persons of God tell us that depression is not something we do not encounter when we are serious with our spiritual development. Rather it is inevitable, as I will show in this article. Jesus himself was depressed in the Garden of Gethsemane and when he cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”

What Depression Is

But what is depression, especially spiritual depression? It is basically a feeling of extreme unhappiness, coupled by a sense of helplessness and hopelessness. Spiritual depression stresses the source of this depression. A person is spiritually depressed if this feeling of extreme unhappiness, helplessness and hopelessness arises out of her concern for spiritual things. It is not because she has no money, or no food on the table and no means to secure some, no friends or is sick or incurs failure in an examination or a business, etc. that she is depressed.

She is depressed because she wants to please and serve God and yet she feels that she is not doing this adequately and would like to do more. That is spiritual depression. This is the kind of depression that bothered Spurgeon and Therese. And this is the kind of depression that is inevitable in our spiritual development.

Why Depression Is Inevitable in Spiritual Development

Here are the main reasons why such kind of depression is inevitable in spiritual development.

The first main reason is because the path of spiritual development is a lonely one. It is a lonely journey. Not many are traveling with you along this path. Most of your co-parishioners are not interested in this journey, never heard of it perhaps. Maybe even your pastor or parish priest is not really interested in traveling with you along this path. He may think that as long as he can interpret the Bible or perform the sacraments he might be satisfied. Spiritual development? He says, ‘That is for monks and nuns. No way for me. I am practical.’

But even the monks and nuns may not be your companions. They may be interested in pursuit of personal perfection and want to improve themselves, rather than develop the spirit of the Word of God in their life, which is what spiritual development is.

So you are really alone in your journey of spiritual development. You are like a person on a journey at night and there is no light to guide you. No one is around to comfort you. How about God? He seems so far away. You are alone and at night and the least of strange sounds may terrify you. You want to develop God’s Word in you but no one is there to guide you. You feel depressed. It is inevitable. No wonder Juan de Yepes Alvarez entitled one of his books on spiritual development as DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL. When this dawns on your awareness that you are alone, you begin to be depressed, saying, ‘What’s the use, others are not with me. They are doing well in life. Why should I go through this lonesome darkness?’

The second main reason for spiritual depression is the thought of a love that is not requited, not responded to, only wasted along life’s journey.

If you were a suitor and you thought you were the best and had the best and had prepared everything to win your beloved, but instead you are spurned and rejected, you would naturally suffer dejection and depression. A few in this situation have committed suicide.

A similar thinking comes to you sooner or later as you progress in spiritual development. The Word of God came and lived with us to woo us for God and yet men and women have instead rejected him and crucified him. When you realize this you feel the slight that God receives from ungrateful human beings and you naturally feel depressed. The more you love Jesus the more you will feel this depression.

And the third main reason for depression to be inevitable in our journey in spiritual development is the realization of our inability to do anything in our spiritual development. We become convinced that everything is by God’s grace.

This is the moment when the saints realize that they are the greatest sinners in the world. They are not pretending. They really feel this way. They are now convinced that they cannot do anything to make progress in their spiritual development. But they remember when they tried to do much on their own to develop themselves spiritually. Now they realize their foolishness, thinking and acting as though they could do things on their own. They realize they had been rebels. And this depresses them.

There may be other reasons why depression is inevitable in our spiritual development. But it seems that these are the three main reasons: 1) loneliness in our spiritual journey; 2) feeling of unrequited love; 3) realization of our inability to do anything.

Any way out of this depression? Yes, there is a way. But it is too long to discuss it here now. I will deal with it some other time.

Click Here!

Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.

How to Help Someone Find His or Her Spirituality

One of the things Aiden Wilson Tozer, a modern day prophet, lamented was the condition of our churches: ‘the shallowness of their inner experience, the hollowness of their worship and their servile imitation of the world in their promotional methods.’

Sixty three years from the time Tozer wrote those words we are still in the same situation. It seems that nothing has improved with our church condition. Our churches are still filled with men and women whose inner experience is very shallow, whose worship is hollow, and whose promotional methods are a servile imitation of those of the world.

Low Level of Our Spirituality

Since Tozer’s time we have had countless church conferences, more evangelistic camps than ever, an Ecumenical Council, several local church councils, synods, encyclicals, apostolic exhortations, books on church planting and discipleship too numerous to count, and yet the general level of our spirituality in the churches seems not to have gained in depth or in height.

The primary reason for this is that both church leaders and members in general have not yet found their spirituality. There is therefore an urgent need to lead more and more people, both church leaders and members, to find their spirituality.

Attempts to Raise the Level of Our Spirituality

Church leaders think that they have found their spirituality by their training in the seminaries, theological schools and updating seminars, by their involvement in renewal movements like annual retreats, monthly recollections, daily prayer exercises, etc. They do not realize these are not enough to have some kind of spirituality that really has an impact on their lives and those of others.

Church members may not even be aware that they have a need to find their spirituality. They think that accepting Christ as personal Lord and Savior and being filled with the Spirit are enough to empower them to witness to others.

That is why there is really a need to lead others, church leaders and members to find their spirituality. How do you start doing this?

A Way to Help Others Find Their Spirituality

First of all, the person who intends to help someone find his or her spirituality must himself or herself have a deeper experience of this spirituality. Water always seeks its own level. The spirituality of those you are helping never gets higher than yours as long as they are dependent on you. How can you help someone find her spirituality if you yourself have not found it?

If you yourself have had no in-depth experience of spirituality you cannot hope to help someone find her spirituality.

If you have already arrived in your spiritual life, if you have reached your destination in your spiritual journey, only then can you tell others about that destination and the way to it. Now you may help them find their spirituality because you have found yours.

The second thing to do after being certain yourself that you have found your spirituality is to make clear to others what the destination is in a life of spirituality.

You are like a tourist guide. When you guide a tour group, you tell the members of that group what the places are that they are going to pass through, including the culmination of their tour. You will not describe in detail what they will find in every place but you will give a brief and correct description of each place.

The same is true in the spiritual life. You tell those who follow you what this spiritual destination is, namely, union with God or others would prefer the term “self-realization.” Then you describe in general what this union with God or self-realization entails, that it is not a life in heaven, in the other world, after they die, but it is something accomplished while they are still physically on earth.

Again if you are a tour guide you will also brief your tourists on how you are going to your destinations, whether it is by bus, by train, by plane, by boat or by other means of transportation.

The same is true in the spiritual journey or a journey to find one’s spirituality. You tell your spiritual tourists the means of your spiritual journey, like reading the sources of your religion or faith, meditating on these sources in a solitary quiet place and obeying what the Spirit tells them to do.

Then you let them go and find their spirituality. Allow the Spirit to lead them where he wants to lead them. Do not interfere.

A very good way of doing this is by giving your spiritual tourists a copy of the book INTERIOR CASTLE by Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada. In this book she describes this spiritual journey, its destination and the means towards this destination. It is a spiritual masterpiece.

Imagine what would happen if our church leaders and members would devote their energies to finding their spirituality, to undergoing a journey in spirituality and enabling others to also undertake this journey. Do not think that this is not possible. I know of a Catholic parish where this is being done. I thought that its parish priest had mystics for his parishioners. No, they are not religious mystics confined in a monastery. They are ordinary human beings like you and me. And yet they are truly mystics, they are men and women in their spiritual journey to union with God.

If we have more of this parish where its parish priest leads his parishioners to find their spirituality, we would have more and more Christians who will act as levers lifting humanity and the rest of creation closer to their Creator. From our studies in physics we know that the longer the lever the easier it is to lift the weight on the other end of the bar. So also in spirituality, the more men and women we have who have found their spirituality and are spiritual, the longer our spiritual lever will be and the easier it will be for all of us to lift humanity and the rest of creation to our Creator.

Click Here!

Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.

Hindrances to Your Spiritual Development

Strangely the spirit is like a plant. Two organisms—one invisible, the other invisible—and yet they are very similar to each other.

They are very similar to each other in terms of growth or development, particularly in the hindrances to their development.

A plant grows or develops with the help of the sunlight, the soil, the freedom from predators, adjustment to climate, and the help of human beings.

So also similar factors help in the development of the human spirit.

This article discusses the hindrances to spiritual development. You can develop faster spiritually if these hindrances are overcome or eliminated in your life.

First Hindrance to Spiritual Development: Lack of Exposure to the Word of God

A plant needs sunlight. This is very basic to its growth. It cannot be kept indoors most of the time, unlike animals and human beings. In a similar way the human spirit needs the sunlight of God’s Word.

The Scriptures say that the Word of God is a light to the path of the righteous. The sun not only gives light, it also gives out heat and warmth. The Word of God also warms the heart of spiritual persons.

Failure to expose the spiritual person to the Word of God is the number one hindrance to spiritual development. This exposure, like the exposure of the plant to the sunlight, needs to be done daily.

Second Hindrance to Spiritual Development: Lack of Engagement with the Problems of the World

Plants need soil in order to develop. Today we know that there are plants which are no longer planted on soil. Some species of plants just hang on air. Other kinds grow on water or some kind of liquid. But even these grow above the ground and are nourished by substances which are naturally found in soil, like nitrogen.

In a similar manner human spirits need the spiritual soil, the events happening to their lives around them. They move in the midst of world events. Even the hermit or the most enclosed monk is surrounded by air, vegetation, buildings, electromagnetic waves which make available information about the events around him with the touch of an electronic gadget. These events spur the spiritual person to live on, to pursue spiritual growth. After all he develops spiritually in order to be of benefit to others. The human spirit who lives only for himself is more barren than the most barren of deserts.

The life of Thomas Merton helps us reflect on the idea of spiritual soil. He was a Trappist monk, a member of one of the strictest Order in the Church. And yet he did not live just by and for himself. He thought of the world around him and wrote of the many things he observed around him. Because of this he developed spiritually faster than his brother monks and left us lots of spiritual food.

The second hindrance to spiritual development is forgetfulness of the world around us, a forgetfulness that is like uprooting a plant from the soil.

Third Hindrance to Spiritual Development: Inappropriate Spiritual Climate

A plant needs to adjust to an appropriate climate. There are some plants, like bananas, which cannot grow in cold places where snow abounds. Other plants cannot grow well in warm climate, like apples.

In a similar manner human spirits need the proper spiritual climate for their development. There were two periods in the Christian Church history when there was an abundance of saints: the first centuries when there were persecutions, and the Middle Ages when Christian learning flourished in Europe.

The third hindrance to spiritual development is an inappropriate spiritual climate. When most people turn to material comforts as a way of life, their spiritual development is suffocated by the things around them. But when more and more people react against materialism, more spiritual development is bound to happen.

Fourth Hindrance to Spiritual Development: Envy and Maliciousness of Evil Spirits

Plants can be stunted in their development by predators: human beings, animals, or fellow plants. Some human beings cut plants indiscriminately. Animals graze on plants. Other plants which grow faster and therefore consume more nutrients from the soil may grow very near to less fortunate plants, stunting their growth.

In a similar way, there are spiritual predators, spirits who envy our human spiritual development and thwart it. Paul the Apostle warns us that our real enemies are spirits who roam this world. They too hinder our spiritual development. They are the fourth hindrance to spiritual development.

Fifth Hindrance to Spiritual Development: Lack of Good Spiritual Directors or Coaches

Plants tended to by a human gardener develop faster and better. Wild plants do develop. But plants in a garden cared for by a human being develop more.

In a similar way, human spirits who have good spiritual directors develop faster and better. We now have spiritual coaches who guide others in their spiritual path. Some of these coaches are good, others are not so good. The fifth hindrance to spiritual development is lack of a good spiritual director or coach.

These are the hindrances to spiritual development: 1) lack of daily exposure to the Word of God; 2) forgetfulness of the events around us; 3) inappropriate spiritual climate; 4) spiritual predators, spirits who envy our human spiritual development and thwart it; 5) lack of a good spiritual director or coach.

It is up to you now to discern which of these hindrances are more effectively hindering your spiritual development. Then you seek ways to get rid of or minimize these hindrances.

Click Here!

Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.