Introduction

There are many views in life: political, social, religious, psychological, scientific, financial, medical, intellectual, and more. This book is about the spiritual view.

In this book the word “spiritual” refers to the qualities that benefit our life. Spiritual qualities are the good of life that are possible to be aware of and expressed, but cannot be done or possessed.

They are not material, personal or conditional, yet they benefit our lives. A few examples of these qualities are peace, assurance, clarity, goodwill and gratitude. So the Spiritual View is about understanding that valuing spiritual qualities brings good into our lives, and heals our problems by replacing our personal thoughts with spiritual ideas.

This good is received as spiritual ideas which are expressions of spiritual qualities. They meet our needs and improve our life experience, right here and now. The Spiritual View makes the distinction that our life experiences are expressions of either our interest in spiritual qualities, or the Spiritual View, or our interest in self and others, which is referred to in this book as The Personal View.

The Personal View is conditional, where we try to man­age others and our experiences. This can often be strenuous, conflicted and unreliable.

It is the mental prison where most of us live and suffer, with the bars of the prison being thoughts about what should be and should not be, what we want and do not want. Replacing reliance on the Personal View with the Spiritual View frees us from this mental prison.

Once we become aware of this we have the choice, every moment, to live with the mental freedom of the Spiritual View.

For example, if we are more interested in peace than in having our way, we become peaceful and express it even if we do not get what we want. If we are interested in clarity, rather than being right, we become clear whether we are right or not. With an interest in gratitude for what already is, instead of getting what we want, we become grateful whether or not we get what we want.

Once introduced to the Spiritual View and its benefits, we can cultivate it over our lifetime and let it increasingly bring good to our lives.

Understanding the Spiritual View can heal our problems. In this book you will find chapters describing spiritual qualities and others describing the problems of the Personal View, all offering the opportunity to see the benefit of the Spiritual View.

This book does not speculate about our existence before birth or after death, but rather addresses what is being expressed moment to moment in our life. We do not need to believe in the Spiritual View, but we can consider its potential benefit . 

The ideas shared in this book have existed throughout human history and have been expressed in every language, every culture, in every moment of time. The Spiritual View is a fresh expression of these ideas for today’s world. It is not affiliated with any religion, sect, group, philosophy or school. It is meant to further the understanding of how good can be expressed for the betterment of ourselves, our families, the community, and the world.