Balancing Life and Spirituality
Something that has come up recently in several classes is the concept of and struggle of walking with a foot in both worlds – being spiritual, in whatever form, and still maintaining a home, relationship, job and other aspects of mundane life. Often, the two don’t seem compatible – and reality, they often aren’t. In many cultures and religions, those who are tasked with being spiritual mentors are either restricted from or choose not to partake in relationships, ‘normal’ careers or having a family. Although this seems like restrictive dogma, in reality, one who is wholly in a place of spiritual being is unable to maintain that place of being along with those physical interests because the spiritual world becomes all-consuming.
But that way of being is really only for a very few. Those are the people that go on to be masters, incarnate deities and prophets. They have made the ultimate sacrifice in giving up their physical lives so that they can be a human immersed in spirit – and thus, can reach back to tell other humans what it’s like through their prophecy, words of wisdom and personal gnosis. This sacrifice is made more than willingly because the person who chooses this path finds fulfillment in it.
I think it’s common for people to strive to be like Buddha or Jesus or similar incarnate masters. There is an implied sense of ‘goodness’ in someone who is holy, blessed or consecrated. It is also common to feel guilt or a sense of failure if you one is unable to achieve that state of ‘goodness’ and still manage to somehow find time to have a life. 
The fact is, those masters, and others, devoted their entire lives to living in spirit whereas, someone who feels that struggle, probably finds themselves attempting to balance an outside life with the need for spirituality.
Be realistic with yourself. It is my opinion that we wouldn’t have physical lives if we weren’t meant to live them… that we are supposed to have all of the aspects of a physical or mundane life that makes us feel fulfilled. There are people who are fulfilled without much of a physical life. There are others who could care less about spirituality and just want the whole mundane reality in as much wonderful physical detail as possible, as quickly as possible. There is nothing wrong with either extreme. But there is a middle ground that is perfectly ok too for people like me, and perhaps you… people who enjoy having a physical life and find it important – but who also enjoy spirituality and find it equally as important.
This way of being is often referred to as having a ‘foot in both worlds’. You decide how far into each world your foot may be. There truly is no pressure to have more of one or more of another – you must decide based upon what is important to you. If you try to meditate every day but you find there are other things in life that are more pressing or more important – then meditating every day just simply isn’t for you. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed or that you should feel any sense of not measuring up. Perhaps you can find another way of integrating your spirituality into your life that is more meaningful to you – or perhaps it just means that you are more comfortable having your foot in the physical world.
There is nothing wrong with being a more physical person than spiritual. Make a decision today to be as fully fulfilled as you can be today – in whatever form that takes. Allow yourself to feel that sense of pressure to be spiritual or religious lift away and simply enjoy living life the way you naturally feel you want to live it, spirituality or not – it’s why we have physical bodies after all!
