Are You The Only Spiritual Person You Know?
August 4, 2009 by Akemi Gaines
My dear readers, do you consider yourself spiritual? I guess so — you are reading a spirituality blog about “Lightworkers’ Empowerment & Ascension”. Now the second question: do you know other spiritual people at work, at your hobby circle, or as your relatives?
No? That must make you feel lonely. It’s hard to practice Divine Love when you don’t connect with your friends on a deep level.
In this article, I challenge you with your concept of a “spiritual” person because I think there is a stereotype of such spiritual seeker and this stereotype is isolating us. (photo credit)
Who is the holistic, New Age, spiritual person?
When I was starting my Akashic Record Reading service, I hired a marketing coach, who advised me to figure out my target clients. My actual clients don’t all have to fall into this target clients group, but it’s helpful to figure out the typical clients for the sake of effective marketing.
She told me my target clients are women in their thirties to fifties “who would read Oprah magazine.” Perhaps she practices yoga and eats Kashi whole-grain bars. The opposite of the guy who appears in the beer advertisement. I remember thinking, “But men, too, would be interested in my service and benefit from it a big time. I think about 30% of my clients will be men.”
Now I don’t have the exact numbers, but I think men constitute about 20 to 25% of my clients. In Spirit Guides Coaching, as many as 50% of my clients are men. As she said, not all of my clients fall into her target group — in fact many do not. . .
(By the way, this coach gave me many valuable advice and I’m so grateful to her. Her stereotype of the spiritual type was only a very minor thing and it was actually illuminating to hear her talk about this stereotype. If you are thinking of starting your own business, I highly recommend investing in a good marketing advice from someone who knows the kind of business you aspire to start.)
Profile of my clients
My clients — the people who order my soul reading — are very diverse. Demographically, they are women and men of all age groups. The youngest client who came to me on their own is 18 years old (I’ve done some readings for children under this age who were brought to me by their parents). Oldest? I don’t remember exactly, but I’ve done many readings for retired people. They come from all over the world. Because my website is English only at this time, many are from English speaking countries (US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand …) but there are many clients whose English is their second language.
Their professions vary big timing, too, including office workers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, CPAs, artists, owners of various size businesses, teachers, government workers, students, homemakers, etc.
Oh, and Christian ministers. I heard many Christian schools deny the idea of reincarnation, but the fact is quite a few Christians are accepting it. Organized religion is not about rigid dogma these days. There are also clients of other faiths and those who don’t consider themselves religious.
Some of my clients are healers, such as energy healers, chiropractors, doctors, nurses, counselors, etc. Some of them send me their clients for synergetic effects. I guess time is changing . . . just a few years ago, it would have been hard to imagine a M.D. sending their patients for soul reading . . .
Our own judgment against non-spiritual people
So perhaps a more appropriate question is: Who is NOT spiritual?
And I am immediately reminded of this quotation:
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardi
So everyone is spiritual. The person next to you on the bus, your coworker, your golf buddy . . . they may not be aware of their spirituality yet, but that awareness can happen in a flash second. Or one life challenge such as loss of a loved one, their own health problem, deeply disturbing relationship issue, or one sleepless night wondering the meaning of life.
We are all spiritual. It’s our own judgment to consider someone is not.
Start talking about spirituality
So do yourself a favor. Don’t set yourself up in a silo. Don’t limit yourself in the narrow circle of “spiritual” seekers. Start talking about spirituality with the people around you.
How? Well, standing on the street and asking the passers-by “Do you believe in God?” may not be your style. Relax, and just talk about what is on your mind, or ask them what is on their mind lately. Relationship? Money? Concern about potential layoff? These, like everything in life, can be discussed to spiritual depth.
I just shamelessly linked to my posts on each of these topics. May I even suggest sharing these articles with your friends — that will open up the discussion.
The person you talk to may or may not open up right away. But remember you are doing this for yourself. You don’t want to be the only spiritual person you know. And really, you may be pleasantly surprised. My coaching clients often say something like, “Well, the other day, I was talking with this guy — I knew him for many years but never really connected deeply. Turns out he is a lot more spiritual than I thought he was . . .”
Any comments? Let’s talk ^_^
Akemi, I love this point that we tend to divide the world into ‘spiritual’ and ‘non-spiritual’, and how silly this is. Of course we are all mind, body and spirit. I know this habit can become a problem for our ego too, if we let spiritual arrogance develop, thinking that we ‘more evolved’ than others. And I also like your ending section about beginning to integrate our different aspects and interests, and open up about our spirituality. Especially now, people we never expect are often hungry to talk about these things. It’s so easy to get trapped in the roles of ‘co-worker’ or ‘parent’ or ‘neighbor’ or whatever, and only relate from that level. So thanks for a thoughtful post.
Hi Lisa,
Yes, I really think it’s time for us to go beyond the self-imposed borders of “spiritual” person vs non-spiritual person, or the sociocultural roles like you say. It limits us in the narrow enclosures.
Wow Akemi, this is a great article.
This thing about separating people into “spiritual” and “non-spiritual” has been an issue I was dealing with recently. I’m glad I read this.
It’s funny, because you get people who are wise, have a lot of love and light, and a great intuition, who aren’t in the “spiritual” scene. Then you get people who are nothing like that who ARE in the scene.
I was scared of the world so I wanted to separate myself from “non-spiritual” people. But that ended up being pretty mistaken.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I agree. We need to be careful with the labels. Just because someone attends “spiritual” gatherings doesn’t mean they are spiritually developed or they are lightworkers. There are even those who use these labels to their own advantages. It’s good you see the lies of these labels now.
Akemi,
This was an interesting post. I agree that we need to be careful how we judge people about their spirituality. I have an old friend from high school who is sick with Lupus. We have stayed in touch minimally over the years, but lately she and I have been corresponding via email. It is touching to read her comments about what she is going through. She was always very hands-off when it came to spiritual matters growing up. Her family was very strict Baptist and my family was very metaphysical-minded. I think with this illness, she is really rethinking her life because she has really gotten deeper. To me, that is what it is all about. How true can you be to what you are here for? We all have a purpose. What is it that you have come here to do? So many of us are not in touch with this. In fact, until recently, I had no idea either. It is such joy when the curtain lifts and you are presented with a clear path! That is spirituality to me.
Thanks for talking about this. Have a great week!
Oh, Akemi! Thank you! I got my Gravatar!
Amy,
Yes, our challenges may well be our path to higher awareness. Sometimes we ignore what is right in front of us, for so long, and we need to be pushed a bit to open our eyes.
[...] so, there may be even higher role Pleiadians can play in Ascension. At this time, many “spiritual” people are in their own way, quite isolated, as I wrote in the linked article. Pleiadians can be a great [...]
i’m actually a follower of blog, i keep coming back and i don’t know exactly why…i just know i feel at peace when reading blogs like these..not a lot of people believe what i believe, I keep these things to myself… research about things metaphysically, spiritual when i was growing up…
keep on blogging, i love your ideas, it’s comforting to know that other people also feel almost the same way
diana,
Thank you for your kind words. Yes, online community is a great new way to connect.
I’ve always seemed to attract people having those “life challenges” and “spiritual crisis moments” – not that my own life hasn’t been full with them (as it is at present). I think people can sense who is “safe” to discuss these things with. But yes, I isolate, and seek solace in nature, stars, animals…and the brilliance of old soul writings past. I try to trust that the people that come into my “vortex” do so for a reason…although I’m also learning that it’s okay to have boundaries by the same token. Yes, sometimes I fall into judgment…but believe me, other-worldy entities quickly let me know that, from their perspective, I’m a 3rd grader. Keeps the humor in place. This site has “good energy”….please just trust your instincts about some sites, practioners, etc. Some hear the buzzwords and just run with them, not really knowing what they mean…
Akemi, I hear what you’re saying about not having preconceived ideas about people and I do talk about my spiritual ideas to those who I test the waters and see what they are willing to be open to. For me I find that I have a craving for really in depth conversations where I am talking with someone who is so open that they believe anything is possible. They have a limitless world view. Someone I don’t have to tip toe around because they are skeptical about this or that. Maybe it’s really that I just don’t want to be invalidated and told I’m wrong. So I just don’t talk about things that can’t be proven scientifically because I just know them intuitively. I tire of talking with people who need me to give them proof otherwise they blow me off and make me feel stupid. So that’s how I end up isolating myself. I feel unwilling to risk more rejection because of my spiritual beliefs.
Akemi,
I also believe in “oneness” – uniting with other people not dividing. It’s so sad that some people can’t see goodness and beauty. And I strongly believe it is because some people don’t see it within themselves….
Some people feels so depressed or unhappy that their negative emotions completely block out any experience of the love of people.
When people overpower others, it is because their egos need to feed it’s sense of importance. The TRUTH is humble and clear, and we know it not only by the reason, but also by the heart….
Essential TRUTH unites us rather than dividing us. It shows us how we are all ONE rather than separating us into good and bad, right and wrong. TRUTH unites us not just of undertanding, but of KNOWING. ONENESS is the place of PEACE AND ULTIMATE SECRET TO LIFE…..
So we should never get tired of doing what is good and never be discouraged to give up. We all should make an effort and our faith will produce a life of moral excellence, and that will lead us to know the CREATOR better. Knowing the CREATOR ( or the -higher power-) leads us to self control. Self control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to LOVE for other people, and finally we grow to have genuine love for everyone. The KNOWLEDGE of our CREATOR….If you suffer for doing right and are patient beneath the blows, you grow closer to the CREATOR, grow spiritually closer to the TRUTH and grow to LOVE everyone without judging them….Don’d give up on anyone because you don’t anyone to give up on you….
With PATIENCE AND LOVE we maintain an inner PEACE AND TRANQUALITY that allows REALIZATIONS to grow….
If we practice patience through meditations then we can learn the PATIENCE of not RETALIATING. If we retaliate, we simply create more negative karma, and we will suffer even more in the future lives until we get it right……
The, enemy of ANGER has no function other than to harm us….
PATIENCE AND LOVE FOR EACH OTHER IS THE virtue to everything in our lives……..so I strongly believe that LOVE is ETERNAL and it can never be destroyed in this LIFE OR after DEATH…..
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