Many of us have made the choice to grow in awareness and spirituality. It’s a beautiful and wonderful thing that so many are intentionally seeking higher levels of understanding and truth. We’re changing the world in subtle ways… and changing ourselves.

But the problem is that with a little knowledge and wisdom, our newly discovered truths make us feel great and wonderful and we want to share them with the world. We shout these truths unceasingly from the mountaintop, and then we stop growing. We’ve become enslaved in our discoveries. We’ve become zealots.

Following are thirteen spiritual myths that are pervasive in our world today...

1. We are one.

While it’s true that we are interconnected, at a metaphysical level, it’s not true that we are one and only one. It’s readily self-evident that we are connected yet distinct. To believe my identity lies only in the oneness of our interconnectedness denies my uniqueness, my preciousness, my importance. One Plurality is a better model of our existence; we are one and many, connected yet distinct.

2. Happiness is solely internal.

Abe Lincoln said that “most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” While there’s a high measure of truth in this statement, and while internal happiness is often a prerequisite to externally-fueled happiness, to believe that happiness is only internal discounts the beauty and richness of connecting with others, with experiencing life and nature, and with the feelings that accompany accomplishment. Happiness results from both internal thoughts and external stimuli.

3. This moment is the only moment.

Pure foolishness is this notion. Of course it makes sense to keep most of our thoughts on the present, on what’s in front of us and around us in any given instant. But to deny that time exists and is beneficial is counter to common sense. The past is a great teacher; without all we’ve learned in the past, we’d have zero knowledge. And the future… Where is hope devoid of the next moment, the next day, the next year? Sure, any of us might die today, and it’s great to live each day to its fullest, but our pasts brought us here and our futures lead us to newness and to growth. We exist not in a static moment but in a rising moment — where this instant meets the next.

4. Love is all there is.

Love may well be the force that creates the universe in which we dwell. Love may be the tie that binds one to another. Love may even be the most important of all ideals and practices. But life is more than love. Life is lessons, growth, connections, creation, destruction, choice, and will. Life is variety. Life is sadness and despair. Life is hope and purpose. Love may underlie all these things, but love is not the only thing. All creation serves our existence — love and lovelessness and infinite shades between. Love is a great foundation for life, but life is more than love.

5. The world is a creation of ego.

If God created the universe, did not God create our world? If God creates only perfection, is not our world perfect? And if there is such a thing as “ego” was that not also created by and of that same Divine Omnipotence?

To believe the ego is somehow imperfect and the source of all “problems” is to deny God’s perfection. Foolishness

6. Attachment is always an impediment to growth.

This is true only until it’s not. To hold an unhealthy attachment to things, and even to other people, is surely an impediment to growth. But the cure for codependence is not utter and complete independence but rather a healthy level of interdependence. We were created in this physical realm to enjoy both the physical and the metaphysical. We are not designed to live in solitary but in union and cooperation with others. To be overly-attached is not healthy — it is the fallacious assignment of undue value. But everything has value, and to assign each thing and person an honest value is a healthy level of attachment.

7. Pointing out the world’s evils allows us to fix them.

The only cure for any problem, real or perceived, is love. To coerce others to see the evils in our world only gives those evils more power. Resisting the urge to focus on the negative makes space in mind and heart to see the good in the world. Anti-war sentiments create more division and conflict, and war is, at its essence, division and conflict. Zealots never solve problems but only exacerbate them by creating more energy in the direction of those problems. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, it matters not whether it makes a sound because it has been made irrelevant.

8. Heaven is an unreachable goal.

Those who believe that paradise awaits, after we’ve died and left this plane of existence, deny the possibility that heaven is here, waiting only for us to open our eyes and see it. To live only for the future is as foolish as living only in the present moment. Life is fullness. Life, existence, all creation, was and continues to be created by the Creator, in perfection, as intended. Thy Kingdom Come is not a future wish but a present reality. The gates of heaven are constructed of your unwillingness to see your own divinity. Open the gates. Enter.

9. Judgment is always bad.

To not judge is to not see, and worse, to not think. Our minds are an important part of who we are and to not use them is to be led and controlled by others. The word judgment has been given a bad rap. Of course, we ought be kind and respectful in our judgments, as loving as we’re able. But to pretend as if there’s a difference between judgment and discernment is counter to logic. We judge what we like and what we don’t like. We judge all we encounter and measure against our ideals, our preferences, and our beliefs. To not judge is to accept blindly, a sure recipe for tyranny.

10. The last step of the journey is the hardest.

The illusion many have created that says that enlightenment is an abstract and unachievable state, available to only an elusive and exclusive chosen few ascended masters has no basis in truth. We are all created with the potential to see and embrace the light which pervades all, the inner flame which can never be extinguished. There are no “indigos” because we are all indigos, no “gurus” for the very same reason. The last step of the journey to awareness, to awakening, to enlightenment, is not a fearsome abyss which must be leapt across, but a door, a door which is never locked.

11. Everything is energy.

At a quantum level everything is indeed energy. Matter is composed of energy. You are composed of energy. But energy is but the basis. Energy, constantly in flux, is the building block for matter, for consciousness, for life itself. But as cells in a body are not the body itself, but only ingredients of that body, energy is not life itself but merely an ingredient of life, along with consciousness, will, organization, cooperation, and intent. Energy underlies all but is not the totality of all.

12. Your life is a perfect reflection of your thoughts.

Thoughts move the energy of the universe and create all matter, all wisdom, all truth. Thoughts indeed are the creative force that is our universe, our existence. But none of us exists in a vacuum. We are wholly and utterly interconnected. So it’s not only my thoughts which have created my reality but instead our thoughts which have created and continue to create our reality, our shared reality.

13. It’s all about _____.

It’s all about love. It’s all about forgiveness. It’s all about joy. It’s all about service to others. It’s all about experience. It’s all about wisdom. It’s all about creation, destruction, evolution, awareness, enlightenment.

All these are true and none of these are true. No truth is true in every context, from every perspective. Our universe is an amalgamation of many, many truths. Choosing to believe it’s all about any one thing, even a great thing like love, limits our ability to see that it’s about more than that one thing.

And more importantly, each has the potential to create in us a narrow view — tunnel vision — and to impede our growth, both individually and societally.

Only when we choose to set aside our beliefs, even those beliefs we hold most sacred, do we allow ourselves the opportunity to see more. And seeing is the first step to change, to our evolution.

Love and giggles,
Stevie Ray