--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu <noozguru@...> wrote:
>
> "A lot of hippies and babyboomers are learning that painfully now."
> 
> Or perhaps materialism is better and spiritualism for existing 
> on this planet? Those who worship wealth may fare better than 
> those who follow a spiritual path?  

More likely it's that the so-called "spiritual" paths
ignored the value of Living In The Material World for
so long, and passed this down as a virtue. 

This was never the case, for example, in the shamanic
teachings popularized by Carlos Castaneda. His fictional
don Juan (synthesized from a number of real Yaqui shamans)
was clear that success in the spiritual realms was 
*dependent on* having mastered the material world, or
the First Attention. 

If you can't get by in that world, they taught, and with 
some modicum of style and class, you *don't stand a chance* 
of getting anywhere in the more refined spiritual worlds. 
The latter is *dependent on* having mastered the former.

My experiences in the worlds of spiritual development tend
to make me believe the wisdom of this. To make a long story
short, those who cannot cope with the material world, and
who wander around in a spaced-out state of mind that they
call "spiritual" don't last very long, and aren't missed
when the material world runs over them and leaves them as
roadkill. Being able to handle the material world, and to
turn it to your advantage, has a distinct advantage when
one ventures into realms in which one plays with more
subtle energies. Those who could not even master gross
energies don't stand a chance in that world. 

One finds the same mindset in many other spiritual teach-
ings, such as the Christian monks who refuse to beg for 
a living, and are required to develop skills with which
to pay the bills of the monastery they live in, and pay
for their own lives. There are similar teachings in some
Buddhist traditions, and in many other spiritual traditions.

It seems to be only the New Age and some Hindu-based 
traditions in which being spaced out and unable to find 
one's mouth with a fork, let alone earn a living, are 
looked upon as "spiritual," and a Good Thing.


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