Here’s how to be more spiritual!

February 13, 2013 by Mastin Kipp 32 Comments

Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra have said many, many times that we are “Spiritual beings having a human experience.” And this is SO true.

One thing I’ve found in the personal growth world is that many of us tend to focus so much on the spiritual side of things that we forget to be HUMAN.

I think that personal growth, spiritual work and walking on The Path are not really about being more spiritual. I think they are about being more human.

I used to think it was about being more spiritual, but that’s not what I am thinking and feeling today. Because, at the end of the day, what does being more spiritual REALLY mean? To me, it means simply to be more Loving. It doesn’t mean to be more right, or more in charge or more anything other than more LOVING.

And when we are more Loving, towards ourselves AND others, then the direct result of this is to become more HUMAN. When we Love ourselves and have compassion towards ourselves, we have more Love and compassion for others. This makes us more human. This takes away the separation and allows us to step into Oneness where we focus on and celebrate what unites us and love, but not condemn what makes us different.

So, instead of trying to measure ourselves against some spiritual standard of achievement of how we SHOULD BE and beating ourselves up for what we AREN’T, I truly believe it’s about being more LOVING and, as a result, being more HUMAN. After all, why would spiritual beings choose to exist in human form other than to experience the joy, ecstasy and total amazingness of giving, receiving and BEING LOVE?

This means – honoring our emotions. Learning from them. Not making them wrong. Not making ourselves wrong for always needing to learn. Not making ourselves wrong for not always getting it right. Not making ourselves wrong for our mistakes. Not making ourselves wrong for having our dark side and fear – NO.

RATHER, it is about accepting, loving and knowing that all these things are what make us human. And when we LOVE, ACCEPT and EMBRACE these, we raise our vibration (that is to say, feel better) and that new vibration emanates OUTWARD into the world and people can FEEL IT, instead of needing to PROVE anything.

To me, this is what the spiritual journey is all about – becoming more human.

How does this resonate with you? Could you benefit from being more human?

As always, the action happens in the comments below. Leave a comment and join the conversation! The TDL Community thrives in the comments and it’s a GREAT place to get support!

Love,

Mastin

###

Mastin Kipp is the founder and CEO of The Daily Love. Follow him on Twitter here.

Take what resonates with you in this blog and leave the rest.

Pin It

http://beyouliveyourdream.blogspot.com/ Sarah Noel

I love this! First off, you had me at “Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer.” Lol… two great spiritual minds of our time!

But secondly, I totally agree that we should all do our best to be as loving as possible. BE love! (I believe it’s Wayne Dyer that says that.) Or to quote Chopra “I choose love.”
Love centers us. It brings us to our highest vibrational point, as humans. When I’m feeling scattered and chaotic, I focus on my heart and say to myself “I am love” or “I choose love” and it always calms me. Reminds me of who I AM, at my core. Not who I am on an outward basis.

Sarah
http://beyouliveyourdream.blogspot.com/2013/02/be-empty-and-failing-is-impossible.html
Tracycbrindl

Yes, Yes Yes! Thank you!
Sindhujaa Kumar

Bottom-line: It’s all for a happier life

A more centered lifestyle helps us live to the fullest, and have the most meaningful/joyful life we can !

Live, love and laugh
- Tiffany
  
  Definitely and honor your dealing !
Jessicamagoch

Just sent this to you in a through the contact form. I wanted to add something I learned in kundalini yoga teacher training. The word man comes from the root word for mind, which separates us from animals. There prefixe HU means light. So a human is an enlightened mind. Not everyone is a human all the time.
amarie

Thank you for this reminder during this week focused on “love”. You speak what is true and real in every word. Thank you again. sending love to you as you represent well during your human experience. amarie
Mgclark3

Mastin you have been all over it lately!! ALL of the blogs this week (More Spiritual, Darkest Hour, Truly Possible, and Self Respect) have went straight to my heart and spoke to me in a very inspiring way. THANK YOU for your work. It is helping me and, I’m sure, countless others to be a better version of their loving selves.
Tiffany

My mistakes are what make me human….perfectly imperfect and loving life
Dranfenson

Being human also means that we have needs and it’s OK to acknowledge and ask for what we need. Having needs does not make us needy, but human. Having needs does not make us dramatic, but human. Asking and expecting our needs to be met does not make us weak, but human and loving of ourselves. A fine balance of spirit to stand in the truth of need without inflating them into drama, demand and expectation to be fulfilled from without, but by asking we become more grounded from within.
India

I was just having this conversation yesterday!!! You are always so timely with your message, and it really gives me a sense of well being. It is a new feeling for me to have found my tribe ~ for years I have felt alone in the most jovial of crowded rooms. To hear a message that resonates with a voice that has lived inside and been quiet for too long, I feel like can move safely through the world. With more people reading and Loveing you and your message I start to really believe we’re All going to be ok(more than ok:).
Blessings !!!
Mountaingal15

I agree with your thinking that we need to be more human rather than being more spiritual. I have longed to find meaning in my life and finally now I realize that all I needed to do was look inward. My life has become so much happier and i feel so much more at peace now. I just needed to lighten up and start loving myself for my strengths and stop focusing on my weaknesses. WE all have them and yes, that is what makes us human beings. How can you love anybody if you don’t love yourself first?
Maryanne

This is a big one for me. My family dynamic growing up was that my emotions were not welcome. I was shamed or got in trouble for being to excited or crying because I was sad. It ran the gamut. I learned to hide and hide from my emotions very well. This is something I’ve been doing a lot of work on, especially knowing that my emotions are not WRONG and I’m not WRONG having them. So the posts on this subject have been very timely for me. Thank you!
Kyndrac2010

This is so spot on today. Thank you for sharing it. I’m recently working on being a more spiritual person and more loving to myself and others. Struggling with being “perfectly spiritual” every day trips me up. And when I feel like I’m not being perfectly spiritual I feel not worthy. So, this blog makes sense and I contiue to be conscious of being human at the same time.
GretchenSandersNewsom

Just wanting to say that as a person in recovery, I try to live my entire life according to this standard. Our actions always speak louder than our words. Showing love and tollerance is key. When you surrender to love, you invite back love, always and in everything. I have gained a closer look to what it is to live a spititual life, I find God in all things, Even the worst…..
http://profile.yahoo.com/X62TYZOFY73G3AG45ZMHUM2NNU AndreinaA

Thanks so much for your message
http://www.are-you-there-kathleen-its-me-god.blogspot.com/ Kathleen Reynolds Chelquist

Although, I wouldn’t quite put it like that (becoming more human), I agree with everything you said. The more we embrace our EGO and use it as our guide, the more we will open our eyes and see that it is the illusion. “WE CAN ONLY GIVE WHAT WE”VE GOT,” so it is imperative that we don’t judge ourselves when we are see our self-righteous EGO. When people are into their spiritual growth, I find that their EGO’s can become more unruly. Mine definitely did. I was, “RIGHT,” after all. This is NOT our spiritual side. This is our HUMAN side. So, when I see well-known spiritual leaders acting this way…I see their innocence as well as their EGO. My job is to observe it…not judge it. What I know more than ANYTHING is that without a spiritual master in my life guiding me and lovingly showing me my EGO, I would have become MORE egocentric with all this spiritual knowledge. I definitely would NOT have cut my hair…LOL. The EGO can be SO subtle and tricky. Many people go to India, like Ram Dass, and receive help from a master who chooses enlightenment moment to moment. (It is a choice…it doesn’t just fall out of the sky.) Some find the master here in California. I did. Cinnamon Lofton: a gem yet to be discovered; a treasure beyond my understanding. A human being who is being who they really are: LOVE!!!
The Daily Commenter,
Kathleen
are-you-there-kathleen-its-me-god.blogspot.com/
Victor Force

I’ve always believed that my journey was not to be perfect but to be more of who I was created to be, in other words to be more real. That’s why I love the story of Pinocchio. It’s the story of become a real boy. I have been trying to get rid of anxiety doing spiritual exercises, when I read your post, a wave of peace came over me, that whispered to my ‘yes’ . Thank you Mastin.
Victor
Maura McCarley Torkildson

It seems to me that this post is about acceptance. Accept your humanity, accept who you are, where you are and most of all accept (and open) to this moment. I once worked with a great teacher and the greatest gift he gave me was to point me towards surrender to Presence. He said that we were not quite human yet because we hadn’t learned to use our senses rather than let them use us – in other words, become Aware, here, NOW. It’s so simple. Our minds like to latch onto our experience and try to make many things out of it. Which may be OK sometimes, but often we uncover the seed that was planted before it can grow, so intent to make something out of it, including ”spirituality.” Ever wonder what it is like to just BE! Watch a cat!

When we are totally present to all the sensation in the Now, there is no room for the mind or judgement. As I remember to surrender to presence, suddenly I am aware of the stillness inside me and the ocean of love that emanates from that still place.
Todd Dutch

Great topic Mastin, and so eloquently depicted! I found such feeling when reading it; I was quite moved! In the end there is magic in shifting from the Human Do’er to the Human Being…the focus really is all about and lives in the BEING. It is not important that I DO love; it’s BEING love. My projections are demonstrated in the BEINGness of everything I engage in. Letting go of the proverbial WRONGS is the magic in BEING LOVE. So living my life in leadership (leading our lives) is simply choosing what energy I exercise in my BEING which then supports the level of love I engage my life in every waking moment.
Linda Arbizu

Wow! You are so wise. Coming from a religious background as a child + abuse(physical, emotional, sexual–as a child and an adult), I embodied GUILT and fear. After watching “The Secret,” in 2007, I decided the most important thing I could learn was how to love myself, and then I could love my mate(whoever that ended up being) and children the way I really wanted to love them. My love and compassion for my children is what even gave me the desire to learn to love myself after three suicide attempts. It took me a long time to figure out my own emotions and desires because I was so out of touch with myself–because I hated myself so much.

My challenge right now is to honor my own emotions, now that I know what they are. You write: “… Learning from them. Not making them wrong. Not making ourselves wrong for always needing to learn. Not making ourselves wrong for not always getting it right. Not making ourselves wrong for our mistakes. Not making ourselves wrong for having our dark side and fear – NO” That is profound! I am learning to practice this acceptance while still embracing my goals. That is tricky… Unconditional love but still working toward a goal-striving implies not accepting where you are- so how do you do that?

Just think what a world this would be if more of us really LOVED ourselves and each other. No more name-calling, bullying, abuse. Just the freedom to be who and what we really are: PURE LOVE–in whatever expression we choose for ourselves. Imagine the freedom, and power of collaborating together in love. We could actually address the solutions, instead of blaming each other for the problems. What would our government look like with that kind of “liberty for all?” or our family units- each person nurturing and supporting one another, developing our talents and gifts? I have a dream…
Sonjakay

Perfect timing again!
I have spent so much time TRYING to be spiritual.
This past month while meditating I realized that meditation time is my time to travel to places where I came from, and I love it! But I need to love that I chose to be human for a time. I am going back where I came from, but for now I am experiencing humanity. I signed up for this experience. I have been hearing from Archangel Metatron that I am here to enjoy and learn. Its great I meditate and Source loves my visitations. But I am here for a purpose.

Today after reading your blog, It is more confirmation that what I have been hearing from Metatron is TRUE! Thank you!!! I love synchronicities.
Jenb

Mastin,
I love this! Thank you for reminding me about the Spiritual side to becoming more human.
http://twitter.com/LolaPWright Lola Wright

What I love about this post is the paradox! It is in fully accepting and celebrating our humanity that transformation is even possible. Otherwise, it’s just spiritual bypass. Love it!
pb

how timely-YES!
Tanyah

I AGREE…transparency, being direct/straightforward/human, and LOVING are essential parts of getting closer to God as well as tearing down the walls that we, as well as others, have put up. Love, casts out all fear.
Wynnrhys

I think you are right on!
Cole

“In the end only kindness matters” – Jewel -
Christina Masterman

I so agree with everything you say here Mastin. To grow spiritually is to embrace our own humanity – every scattered and forgotten bit of ourselves – the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s about being more of who we are, rather than less. It’s about no longer being interested only in projecting our ‘best’ side, or changing ourselves into the model of perfection we think we should be. Our only job is to show up and be fully human, get out of our own way and fully surrender, dying to our ‘ego’ self so that the light of the divine can really shine through.
Natsergent

I love this piece!! Being that its valentines day I think it’s a wonderful time to remember that in the words of John Lennon “all we need is love”! So simple so true! The world would have mankind believe that the only worthwhile accomplishments are related to how much we accumulate; and while I have no issues with abundance, I am no longer focused or better yet preoccupied with such “goals”. At the end of it all we are not the summation of how many cars, jewels, or homes we acquire we are but the summation of love; how much did you freely give without ulterior design, how much did you do to help those who cannot help themselves, and also how much did you forgive? Happy valentines day an let your love shine on high every day and every way you can! I believe we can turn the whole world around with random acts of love, kindness, and simply smiling and saying good morning to anyone who looks like they need it!! Namaste!!
http://www.facebook.com/filia.chen Filia Yueting Chen

I totally agree with “being more spiritual is becoming more human”. I have walked the same path myself. A few years ago, I was offered a second chance to live a new life and I used seeking “spirituality” as a tool for escaping the real world and also as a way for my ego to feel more superior. I spent most of my free time reading spiritual literature, practicing Yoga and meditating. I learnt to quiet myself down that way but within a few months time I realized something very important is still missing in my heart. No matter how much meditation I did, I still could not fill that feeling of void. Then I finally realized it was “LOVE” that was missing in my heart. Meditation and Yoga taught me SELF-LOVE but without the “love bridge” connecting me to another human being, that “love” felt incomplete and lonely. I didn’t know what to d, so I started praying everyday-praying that God will guide me to that “love bridge”.

Finally, love found me at my least expected time and place in life. Finally, I learnt the “love bridge” is always within me-is to give love unconditionally. Finally, when I gave my love away without expecting return, I felt COMPLETE. Of course, I was vulnerable at that time but I also felt amazingly invincible. I think that’s what it means by being “HUMAN”.

May you all have the courage to “LOVE”, to be “HUMAN”, and to enjoy a wonderful Valentines’ day!

Filia
http://twitter.com/_KimberlyHolman Kimberly Holman

A beautiful message for Valentine’s Day.
http://twitter.com/_KimberlyHolman Kimberly Holman

This is a great article and I think you’ve pegged what it means to be human and spiritual. Thanks!