Goals of Spirituality
One of the issues I am often considering is what is the goal of spirituality. For many Buddhists and yogis the answer is enlightenment, but that is also not really an answer as enlightenment is often a nebulous term meaning different things to different people. For some it is freedom from the karmic cycle of suffering but that can seem a rather negative result, a sort of ultimate suicide where one simply ceases to exist. For me, the goal of spirituality is rather simple. It is the elimination of misery and suffering from my life and filling my life with joy, lasting pleasure and satisfaction. The nice thing about this goal is that it is easily understandable and clearly desirable. Further, with this goal for spirituality there is ready evidence of progress. If your life gets steadily sweeter over the years with your practices, then they are bearing fruit. If you find that your life is getting progressively less sweet, perhaps even bitter, over the years, then you should probably consider what you can do to correct your path. Within Tibetan Buddhism, the rather nebulous goal of enlightenment is commonly replaced with becoming a Bodhisattva which is often more concrete. Bodhisattvas have many known virtues like limitless compassion and endless energy and wisdom. For me this is a much better goal as it gives us immediate objectives; developing the wonderful virtues of a Bodhisattva. Indeed, from my perspective, being a Bodhisattva is my definition of enlightenment (it is all that I am seeking in any case). It has been my experience that the more I develop the virtues of a Bodhisattva the sweeter life my gets. As discussed previously, the stronger my connection to the people around me, the more I view them as extensions of my own self (or at a more pragmatic level, feeling like everyone around me is close family or my best friend or both), the sweeter my life is. It is only when I focus on helping others (in contrast for our habitual tendency to exploit others) that I can enjoy the joy and satisfaction that is, I believe, our natural state. From the Mahayana view, being a Bodhisattva includes the vow to never accept full enlightenment until all others are ready for enlightenment. Until then the Bodhisattva works to bring others to their joyous state. I myself consider that vow as superfluous as it is only through the delusion of viewing others as separate and independent from ourselves that we can create misery suffering. As we develop our ability to see truly, how we are connected and inter-dependent on everything around us, then our lives are full of joy and satisfaction. Of course once we really appreciate others as extensions of our own selves, then it is very natural to work tirelessly and energetically to help others. No vow is necessary as we can't really achieve enlightenment until all our different aspects (which is to say all others) are ready for enlightenment. For me, there does not need to be any consideration of enlightenment and indeed that remains a nebulous concept to me. If I can live a sweet life and help others as I am able, there is no need for anything else. I really have no desire to end the cycle of death and rebirth; I would be happy to live as many lives of service as is needed (though numerous lives of selfish delusion certainly does not appeal). Click here to see the next rambling tale.This page was last updated on April 28, 2010