Goal Achievement and Spirituality

Author : Nneka Kelly
Is there a clash between goal achievement and spirituality or can they exist harmoniously?In most religious traditions, there is an element of "grin and bear it". A notion that suffering in "this" life is inevitable, and there is redemption or salvation in the other.Buddha was a prince that experienced abundance, some might say excess. He denounced his life, left his home and gave up everything in search of the Truth. When he finally got the Truth he explained that neither of the two extremes were necessary in life. You didn't need to live without anything in order to know the Truth.In Christianity, clergy often refer to the camel and the eye of the needle story. In some traditions it is interpreted as a mandate to denounce material possessions and embrace The Way. In others it is interpreted as a test. Since the guy was unwilling to give away his possessions he was unworthy to enter the Kingdom. Metaphysicians interpret it as a mandate to let go of our ego and to seek spiritual guidance.In personal development, there is significant importance placed on goal achievement. Striving for better, it seems, is part of the human condition. How do we reconcile the need to achieve with the religious concept of suffering? Some have reconciled it by saying that anything worth having takes hard work. In other words, if the goal requires you to suffer, then it must be virtuous. However, I cannot imagine a God that would require suffering to experience well-being, good health, and financial abundance.How about a different approach? One in which the elements of both goal achievement and spirituality are honored. We can blend the willingness to change, a right perception of suffering, and non-attachment to attain any and all goals, even the goal of enlightenment.WillingnessTo get something you've never had, you'll have to do something you've never done. The parable of the rich man was attempting to illustrate this point. In order to experience the Kingdom of Heaven, this man would have to do something he had not done. The parable is not so much about the wealth of the individual as it is about his unwillingness to change, even though the change seemed extreme.The same is true for goal achievement. In order to achieve any goal, you must first be willing to change. Maybe that change means giving up something tangible, or changing a behaviour, or giving up something tangible.Take weight loss for example. This is an area of personal struggle. In order to lose weight, I have to be willing to explore different foods and give up fatty foods, exercise instead of sit on the couch, and find companionship in humans rather than food. It's a tall order when I try to change all at once. However, willingness gets me headed in the right direction. When I take it one decision at a time, if I am willing to change with that decision, the change takes place. If not, well…I'm still working on it.Understanding of SufferingMaybe our idea of suffering is really out of alignment with what it truly is. Maybe, it's not just pain and anguish, but something else. According to the first of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, suffering is separation from anything that you desire and union with anything that you don't. In that light, it doesn't seem so radical and ominous. Maybe there is even a way to live without suffering.Non-attachmentEnter non-attachment.At one time I was convinced that a small business loan was the answer to a failing business. I was convinced that I could turn the business around if I just got this loan. I was fixated on whipping the business into shape. It was at this time that my cousin told me the tale about the monkey and the nut.One day a monkey sniffed a nut. The monkey found the nut, but it was inside a bottle with a narrow neck. The monkey reached into the bottle to get the nut and tried with all its might to pull the nut out of the bottle. The harder he pulled, the tighter he held onto the nut, the more frustrated he got. If the monkey only let go of the nut, and turned the bottle over, he would have the nut with no frustration.I was the monkey holding onto the failing business and holding onto the notion of getting the loan. I wish I could say that I was smart enough to let go after 3 years and turn things over, but it took 2 years after the story for me to get it.So often, we set a goal and pursue it like a rabid dog. We hold onto it tenaciously. When we finally look up from our way of achieving the goal and let go, we might find that it's not what we want or that there is such a better way to achieve it. A way that is more harmonious.Non-attachment or surrender does not mean giving up or not having any goals at all. It means that we are able to plant the desire in the fertile soil of Spirit and let it grow. It means that we are open to internal guidance. It means that we are open to the achievement of the goal for the highest good of all.The GoalIf you are a true personal development buff, you have a goals list. What are some of the things on that list? Lose weight, check. Go back to school, check. Start a business, check. Find my soulmate, check. Be enlightened, huh, um, what?Jesus said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and all these things will be added onto you?" I wonder what would happen if we truly took him at his word.What would it even look like to pursue the ideal of the Kingdom of Heaven? Would it mean sitting on a mountain top meditating day and night? Maybe that's why it's a goal so rarely sought. I mean, what would the break down of the goal of enlightenment look like? What would be the steps taken to achieve the goal? It's certainly not a SMART (Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timely) goal. How would we even know that the goal is achieved?Here's where I think that enlightenment and personal development have something in common. They are lifelong pursuits. They are both achieved by the achievement of smaller SMART goals. You may have a glimpse of enlightenment during a walk when you see a butterfly flit right by you. In that moment, you might clearly comprehend the nature of the Universe, God, and yourself. The challenge is in staying in that place all the time.I have found that when I am in a state of enlightenment, which at most happens for 30 minutes at a time, I can do things effortlessly. The most poignant thing is that ideas flow through me with complete instructions for their manifestations. It's in these moments that I think that synchronicities are set off in the Universe to help me achieve my goals.One of my goals is to experience more of those moments closer together and more frequently, until I abide in Spirit all the time. Enlightenment is at the top of my goal list and that makes my understanding of spirituality and goal achievement reside together harmoniously.Visit http://www.balancedlifecenter.com for a spiritual approach to personal developmentPeruse our archives at http://www.balancedlifecenter.com/archivesRead more articles like this one at http://www.balancedlifecenter.com/articlesNneka is a lifelong student of metaphysics and spiritual practice. Putting Spiritual Truths into everyday practice is one of her personal goals. Helping people do the same is the ultimate goal of her site, Balanced Life Center.
Keyword : goal achievement,goal setting,spirituality,personal development,spiritual growth,enlightenment,goals