For some time now, I've struggled with this idea: Get up and work, or realise ''true contentment,'' and do absolutely nothing constructive...because you don't need it to be content. You don't need anything at all to be content.
To get up and work, because there's work to be done, or to realise ''true contentment'' and side step the ''rat race,'' just sitting there, never changing or accomplishing anything?
I've put myself on either side of this issue:
1.) I strive for riches, wealth, power, prestige, fame, etc.
Spiritual atrophy comes by means of:
A.) I'm too busy for things of the spiritual nature
B.) I'm totally locked on physical symbols as ''my reality''
C.) I'm broadcasting the vibrations of lack/scarcity, which never return void.
-OR-
2.) I realise ''true contentment,'' side-stepping the ''rat race,'' accomplishing nothing at all
Spiritual atrophy comes by means of:
A.) The idea that work and striving are to be avoided for the sake of cultivating contentment--all means of striving are halted
B.) There is absolutely no progress, physical, spiritual, or mental. Movement has stopped.
...and found no peace, no contentment, no happiness in either one.
Contentment elicits the cessation of greed. You can't chase happiness and ''get it,'' because it's a state of mind. Chasing operates with a mindset of lacking--the opposite of contentment/fulfillment. Being content, there is no longer any imagined need for chasing contentment. Happiness or at least contentment/peace can happen at any time/all the time.
But there's also a need to progress in a spiritual sense. Maybe you've heard the song ''God-Shaped Hole.'' We can always ''do the human thing,'' climb the corporate ladder, save lots of money, buy nice things, etc. All of this striving for symbols of ''greatness,'' while still feeling the lacking of ''something,'' describes a situation in which the spiritual has been allowed to atrophy.
Contentment and progression can coexist: Our strivings and work are not to be a reaction/response to lack/limitation. Everything we do is, potentially, a deeply spiritual act, so that our work and strivings are our own steps as we progress spiritually.
''The actions we do, do us...'' ''Three men were laying bricks. When asked what they were building, the first one answered 'I'm building a wall.' The second answered 'I'm making a living for myself.' The third man answered 'I'm building a house of worship for God.' '' -Mother Rytasha
Regardless of how you feel about God, the previous quote points to the different ways we can approach the ''work'' of our lives. Everything we do is potentially a deeply spiritual act, with the potential to help us progress along our spiritual paths. Everyone is already on such a path, just as there are as many versions of God as there are souls. The need for contentment to halt greed, alongside the need for spiritual progression and development serve to underscore the notion that we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
About Progress:
Until we move forward, we're either moving backward, or simply marking time. And until we're ready to understand all the whys and wherefores about ''progression,'' the things that happen to us during our times of ''backward movements'' and ''marking time'' are as teachers and wake-up calls. (suffering and trials of life)
Reaping what we sow is sort of like echo-location to those who pay careful attention to it. As Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith says, ''pain pushes you until insight pulls you.''
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