The Personal View or The Spiritual View?

Since childhood most of us have accepted the Personal View which centers around the thought that the good of life is “what makes me feel good”, and “getting what I want”. This motivates us to do what we have to do to get what we want to feel good. This common view is accepted everywhere.

In the context of the Personal View our thoughts are about ourselves and others. They are conditional thoughts about what should or should not be. Who we are is defined by what we have and what we do, often in comparison with others.

The problem with the Personal View is that the gratification we get does not last, there are just mo­ments of fleeting happiness. This requires continuous effort to get what we want to stay happy, and there is no assurance we will be successful. We then have highs and lows of success and failure as we navigate our lives through what we want and do not want.

In the Personal View the good of life seems to be outside ourselves and we need to go get it.

But there are times when we might see expressions of goodwill, integrity, generosity, peace, assurance, gratitude and clarity and be drawn to them. At other times when we are suffering from thinking “I am not getting what I want” we finally ask: “is there something else that would be good for me?”

Then we are receptive to an abundance of good ideas beyond the narrow personal view of relying on our thoughts about what we want.

We are then liberated to receive what is needed in the moment. This is The Spiritual View where we recognize that our interest in spiritual qualities benefits our lives. Even if we slip back into the Personal View, we now know the Spiritual View exists.

The Spiritual View is not hard to understand if we are interested in it, but it is difficult to be interested when we are self-concerned. And even if we become free of self concern, even for a moment, it is difficult to maintain as the prevalent mental climate of the world seduces, provokes and intimidates us to return to the Personal View.

The Spiritual View is a way of seeing that brings mental freedom and a better life. It is different from the Personal View which is what almost everyone accepts as the only way. The Spiritual View brings peace, assurance and goodwill while the Personal View brings temporary happiness and the mental burden to maintain it.

Moment to moment we have the choice between being interested in the Personal View or the Spiritual View. We are the gatekeeper of which one we chose, and this makes the difference in the quality of our lives.