What is a Spiritual Journey? by Ng Chee Teng

When we speak of a spiritual journey, the common understanding is that human beings are on a journey to seek God somewhere out there in the heavens and that they are trying to reach a destination or place such as heavens or a higher realm.

Perhaps many have got it in reverse?

While we cannot comprehend the magnificence of our soul as human beings, try imagining putting yourself in the shoes of your higher self - your soul - in the realm that we call Spirit.

Fly with me.

Visualize the brilliance, unconditional love, powers and grandness of the angel that has your face on it. You have unlimited potentials. You are pure consciousness and light. You simply need to hold your thoughts on something and you would manifest it in an instant. Transcending time and space, you swim in the sea of consciousness and explore the infinite universes with the ease of a seasoned captain steering his ship.

You are a part of the God energy. You are in oneness with the God family that comprises of all other souls, energies and everything that exists and yet to be.

Somewhere in the now moment and in your exploration of the infinite universes and dimensions, you stumbled upon a most sacred and mysterious place called Earth and you paused for a moment, wondering what this most beautiful planet is all about.

You see billions of other souls walking on the surface, wandering on this blue planet in search of something, pretending that they are lost.

There would be many obstacles known as "fears" and you know the hardest of them all would be to conquer separation - to see the God in other players.

You stopped and asked the guardians of this planet, "What is this place? What are they doing?"

The guardians send the answers in thoughts to you and you immediately have an "Aha" moment. You get an epiphany of what this exciting project is all about and you already know that you want to be a part of it. You have played in many realms and planets but there is nothing like Earth.

Rolling up your sleeves, you agree to put on a veil and forget your own divinity. Classified as a journey because it has the elements of time and space, you are keenly aware of its difficult challenges as you have been used to an existence without these elements.

It has other rules like duality, birth, death, karma and reincarnation. There would be many obstacles known as "fears" and you know the hardest of them all would be to conquer separation - to see the God in other players. It would feel very real and promise the most intense of emotions. Still wearing the shoes of your higher self, you are without fears and feel very brave in taking on this game. You also know it is but a short excursion given the eternity of your soul.

What are the objectives and rewards of this game? We could perhaps say it is about applying your knowledge, going through the experiences and collecting the wisdoms that will push the evolution of your soul and everything forward. We could also say that it is about experiencing contrasts so that you would know light from dark, love from fear and compassion from judgement. But there is really no whys. You do it simply because you could. We could say your curiosity got the better of you. You wanted to know yourself better by experiencing what you are not.

It also does not matter what choices are made. There are no wrong choices, only different consequences and experiences. Each consequence is simply another experience and they all add to your wisdom bank that in turn expands the magnificence of your soul and all that is.

In oneness, all the souls have the knowledge of all others. Being interconnected with the sea of consciousness, we know everything there is to know in all that is. However, not every soul has the direct experiences. You have watched your friends engaged in various activities on planet Earth and like watching movies, you can understand what they are doing as well.

However, there is no substitute for the direct experiences. For instance, you may know all the rules of football and how to play it. You may even know the various strategies. Nevertheless, you could not partake in the essence of the game itself and how it really feels like to be out there in the field - the joys of winning, pains of being tackled and the disappointments of losing.

As a new member of project Earth, you wonder excitingly about all the possibilities ahead. While waiting patiently in the queue for your turn, you started chatting with other souls.

You learn that one soul was a mother in an incarnation and she reminisces how beautiful her children were and the immense satisfaction she had from seeing them grow up. Another soul behind you shares with you the passion she felt in being a part of a symphony orchestra and you can only imagine the splendors of the concerts she had played in. Another soul recounts the warmth and gratitude he felt when another soul gave him food and shelter during a disaster. This time round, he is going to be wealthy and he would repay kindness to that soul.

In this game, you have guides - experienced and graduated players - to assist you in case you get very lost in the complex journey. Together with them, you plot various scenarios of your incarnation and choose your gender, birthplace, race, parents, friends, life partner, children and many other aspects.

As you make plans to meet various souls who will play different roles in your life, you mull over the various ways you could meet and also promise to forgive each other if the game gets too difficult.

Once in a while, a soul will hesitate in playing a difficult role that could possibly hurt or harm you. "It's too much! I can't do this." They protested. Fearlessly, you reassure them that they are loved dearly and you need them to play the villains in order to help you learn. Out of unconditional love, they finally agree to these challenging tasks and you bid your temporary farewells.

After some last minute plannings, it is time to say goodbye and put on the veil. After adding layers of dross-like energies to your pure light body, you buckle up your earth space suit, step forward and signal that you are ready.

Then with an extremely strong magnetic pull, you find yourself drawn towards the gravity of planet Earth in a flash.

Total silence... Total darkness... Amnesia has already set in...

"Who am I and where am I?"

You could barely open your baby eyes as you catch a glimpse of several strange faces.

One day, after many trials and tribulations, you will once again rediscover your identity. You would learn that you are already divine, a master and perfect as you are. You are the human expression of the divine energy. And this journey through time and space known as life is your spiritual journey, your pilgrimage. Every moment of it is treasured as a unique and useful experience. Every choice adds to the definition of who you want to be and the wisdom gained from this spiritual journey priceless and forever a part of you.

There is no destination. We could say we are returning to home if we really want to put a destination to this journey. Home has always been around and we are but on a brief excursion to planet Earth. The journey is really all it matters here.

So perhaps, my friends, could this be our real spiritual journey? And if so, every one of us is already embarking on it regardless if we are aware.

Be joyous!

About the author: Joyouschee (Ng Chee Teng) hopes to add love, light and joy to the world through Cosmic Lighthouse Metaphysics Magazine, which he co-founded with Lee. http://www.cosmiclighthouse.com