People think spirituality is hard and living the "proper" life nearly impossible. I believe this sad state of affairs is caused by two incorrect mindsets. The first is that all human beings are totally defective. This is brought to us by the purveyors of original sin and priests that like to hold on to power. The second is that we do not realize how many people are leading their 'proper life'. This is because we've been taught that the proper life looks like Christ's or Buddha's.
So before I share how to know if you are on track, let me change your idea of what a 'proper life' looks like. Please allow me to introduce you to Madame Rachou. She ran the Beat Hotel. She grew up around artists and once declared that it was her mission to 'protect' artists and give them a place to work. She ran the hotel with an iron fist. If you used too much electricity, a little light would turn on in her office and she would bang on your door and tell you to turn off your hotplate. By ruthlessly watching expenses she made sure she could rent rooms very cheaply.
The people that lived there William S. Burroughs, Alan Ginsberg and others who were the founders of the Beat Generation, the Beatniks. They were the inspiration to David Bowie, the forerunners or creators of the sexual revolution, anti-war viewpoints, and the hippies. The lite the fuse that lead to the acceptability of pornography (that one is of dubious value) and homosexuality. The blew up social bombs that led to a host of other cultural changes. In short, the Beat Hotel was the birthplace of a cultural revolution that freed people from the rigid box of 1950’s attitudes.
No one has ever heard of Madame Rochou but she lived her proper life and created an environment that created a new cultural environment. I have no idea if she was a ‘nice’ person, what ‘sins’ she committed or what personal demons she fought. As far as the culture is concerned, no one cares about these things. The simple fact is that we live in a much different social world because she ushered it in by living her proper life. She manifested her soul through doing the work of her soul. She did not care that ‘her’ artists were vilified for producing gay pornographic books or anything else. Society be damned!
This does not mean your soul’s work must be that radical.
Exactly how to find your soul’s purpose, is not the subject of this post. Learning when you are off-track is. Warning, I am about to share something that will lead you to believe that I am talking about sin. I am not.
Have you ever come close to doing something wrong? Maybe you were tempted to cheat on your wife and you were just about to say that one thing that would open the door. Maybe you were about to steal, had the object in hand and then put it back. Maybe you were about to tell a lie that would have saved you but damaged someone else. Remember that time. Remember that nervous tension that was in your body? It feels a bit like insecurity but with an edge to it. That feeling.
When you are doing something off-track you feel that but the volume is turned down. The sensation is an underlying tension, a tiny nervous doubt that does not even enter your awareness, unless you look for it. You could feel this when you decided you are going to be a great occult author, when you are going to open a bicycle shop, when you are about to take a job, when you are about to date someone. It can happen at any time. Notice that none of these things are conventional sins. What this feeling tells you is that you are about to do something that will prevent your soul manifestation.
The feeling you are looking for is not guilt, not fear, and not social anxiety. It is like that but more subtle. You have to pay attention. When you find it, do not do what you are about to do. The ability to pay attention and act with discipline is part of what it takes to find your soul purpose.
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