When We Get On A Spiritual Path, What Does That Represent?

When we get on a spiritual path, something profound begins to shift — not just in what we believe, but in how we relate to time itself. Spirituality, at its deepest level, means arriving at a place where the past no longer defines the present. Where we have done the work, dealt with our histories, and now truly live in the day we are in.

A Life With No Reference to the Past

Where are we headed on this path? We are moving toward a place where our lives are all new — and there is no “old,” because that is what spirituality without reference to the past actually looks like. We no longer reflexively reference our past trauma, our past injuries. Not because we are in denial, but because we have moved past them. We have looked honestly at what happened with our fathers and mothers, our significant relationships — how those things affected us and what effect they can still potentially stir up. Because of that awareness, we no longer have to live in that anxiety. We see it coming. That means we are on the right path.

Awareness Gives Us Choice

When we have awareness of the moment we drift back into the past, we have choice. We have looked at our history. It is time to move on. If something comes up, yes — we examine it, because we are continuously making a searching and fearless moral inventory. But there comes a point in spiritual growth where we have truly departed from that oscillation: past, future, past, future, past, present. We are now more in the present than we have ever been in the past.

As we move further down this path, we begin to realize that the things happening in our lives have no automatic reference back to something from the past. We have entered a new realm — what some call the fourth dimension. A dimension we were designed to inhabit. We may not always know exactly what to do, but we have a way of life that guides us in the day we are in. My past will not be my future, because I have learned to live enough of my life in the present that it is genuinely new. I have truly begun to walk a spiritual way of life. And it is a freedom — the freedom of simply dealing with what comes up for what it is.

Experience Is an Asset, Not a Liability

At some point in life — often around midlife — certain fears begin to surface. “Am I still good enough? Am I still valuable?” These are lies. You are better than you have ever been. You know more than you have ever known. The experience you carry cannot be replaced with money. Every year you spend in your craft, your company, your calling — you become more valuable, not less. You should not just be getting paid; you should be getting paid more, because what you bring now took years to build.

We have to own that. Progression is always the direction. It is a great point in life when the past is simply “what happened then” — and what is happening today, even if it is unusual, even if it is a concern, has no automatic reference to yesterday. That is arrival.

Living Fully in the Now

When we arrive at this place, we can choose to live today for today — for what comes in this life today — with nothing else attached but what is actually here. That is what it means to be present. That is what it means to live a spiritual way of life: not a philosophy, not a concept, but a lived experience of the moment you are in.

Have fun with it.
Much love,
K.C.