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WHAT HINDERS YOUR SPIRITUAL PROGRESS?
By SilverEagleDreamDancer

I thought this may be a good topic to share about. I would appreciate it if those who would like
to contribute would do so and stay to the topic because I'd like this to go in our library when it's
finished. During the course of your own spiritual development, what do you feel has hindered
your progress? How did you do to grow past it?

RavensStarr:
I think this is a great idea SEDD.

One of the very first obstacles that I encountered was my need for acceptance/approval. I knew
that in my heart I didn't believe the same things that people who were very important to me did. I
knew that they didn't see the world the way I did. So I shut up about my own view points and
tried to be a dutiful/good daughter/granddaughter and act like them and go to church and follow
that path. But it was never for me. After my grandpa died (he was an elder in the church) I didn't
feel as constrained to keep to that path.

One of the next obstacles I faced (and still do to an extent) is making sure that the path that I'm
on is not one of rebellion to the system that I grew up with. I was raised a very conservative
Christian, and even went to bible college. And because early life wasn't much on the warm fuzzy
side to put it shortly and mildly, I thought that maybe I'm just looking at this studying this for the
shock value. That's not the case as I realize now, but I do still check in on that occasionally .
Another obstacle I've faced is from teachers. I've done a lot of reading on my own (which
everyone here has) but some of the "teachers" I've encountered have been very skeptical of the
knowledge I've already gained, and what I know in my soul, and condescending toward me.
That's frustrating, but I just moved on figuring that that means that their particular system
probably isn't for me anyway. I'd like to find a teacher, and I'm sure I will when it's the right
time, but for now it's still a lot of self-studying from whatever pops up and grabs my interest.

Currently I would say that my biggest obstacle is myself. I'm a single mom and my son just
started kindergarten. I commute 3+ hours a day to and from work and once I get home only have
2 hours or less to get him fed, homework done, bathed and in bed. In the little bit of time between
when he gets to bed and I go to bed, I've just been wanting to relax instead of working on
workbooks, or meditating, or reading, or any number of things that I SHOULD be doing. I've
even been taking a couple months hiatus from the constant reading that I do. I already have in
mind the book I'm going to read next, but don't have the drive to pick it up yet. Maybe it's
because one of the last things I was reading was written at a very high level and was difficult to
slug through. Even though it was incredibly fascinating stuff. *SIGH* But this too shall pass, it's
only a season of rest I guess.....

In the end I know that most of the obstacles I face are from within myself. I believe that the path
is always towards a deeper understanding of myself and with that understanding comes a deeper
understanding of the universe and others (and also vice versa). My understanding of myself
within the past 2 years has more than doubled in my estimate (and also that of a very close
friend so I know I'm not lying to myself LOL). I think that a lot of my lessons have been around
accepting what I am and what I'm not. I figure they'll probably stay that way for awhile till the
powers that be are sure that I've "gotten it". LOL til I get it on every level more like.
But life sure would be boring if there were no challenges and nothing left to learn.

Unregistered Guest:
Wonderful idea, SEDD!!! As a child one of my biggest obstacles was the need for love/
acceptance. I was constantly trying to earn my mother's love and approval. From the time I was
quite young, I knew that I wanted to be a healer though I didn't have a name for it, I knew what I
was. I've never wanted to be anything else and that as I grew older I realized that I was always
going to be seen differently not only by my parents and family, but schoolmates and teachers,
and I understood that my family is the way that they are and I am the way that I am. My parents
tried to get me to their way of thinking and beliefs and I do follow them to a point, but my path is
my own and I go to church when I am called to do so.

Rebelliousness occasionally creeps in as I was raised by very conservative Catholic parents. A
few years ago, I'd even considered going into the seminary. My life wasn't full of the "warm
fuzzies" and I realized now that I'm on my own personal journey and I love it very much.
My biggest obstacle right now is working with 6 men on a large ranch as I am the Ranch Boss.
Sometimes its difficult to find time to meditate and pray, but I've learned to do so as I'm feeding
the livestock, thanking Spirit for everything and how happy I am to do Spirit's work. The men
are coming around and think it's nice that I pray as I work. I'm getting them to join in. So you
could say we're doing our churchin' as we work.

My only obstacle is myself and the occasional individual who chooses to change me and to force
me to their way of thinking. Rest assured, that will not happen. I've grown so much spiritually in
the last few years and it is so wonderful to experience the deeper understanding of myself and
others and vice versa. Life is all about the lessons and the journey. How blessed we are to
experience them.

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be
felt with the heart. - Helen Keller”

ShaeTheFireWitch:
I'll just say for me, it is getting to caught up in my head and the monkey
chatter, rather than listening to my gut. I am pretty earthbound in a lot of my ways and don't like
to take risks. But I find as I get further along, I am being called all the time to step further out of
my comfort zone and take risks. So for me, it's learning everything is not merely black and white,
but grey, polka dot and every other thing besides that. LOL

Arctickaiku:
It is just ..... that our .... awareness; i.e. the awake quality of our conscious energy gets trapped in
.....

A) .... The 3d dimensional reality .... i.e. physical reality .... (physical self) ....taking it to be the
only "reality" there is.
i.e. Unconsciousness about "the unity of multidimensionality" in "Being" (both within and like in
"Cosmos" ....)

B) ... Cultural/racial "social conditioning".
Like this astrologer Stephen Forrest said: "All our views of reality are conditioned by an
unspoken model of the world - and that model is always arbitrary and limiting. It is a mistake to
take a model of reality for reality itself".
i.e. We all have personal subconscious patterns of our psyche, that are also part of functional
collective subconscious (patterning). And it seems, that during the first three, four or five years
of age, a child becomes "acquainted" to this "unspoken model of the world" ..... which then for
the rest of one's life; - forms a kind of a "core-belief-system" ..... so taken for granted, that it
operates almost totally on an "unconscious-auto-pilot" .... level.

C) .... Preoccupation about the continuity of "autobiographical-self" ......
i.e. The attachment to past patterns and the continuation of "persona" as self-image. (Self-image
= defining one's self through the eyes of others) ..... striving to wards some mentally created
ideal/conceptual perfection .... i.e. projection of this self as ideal/conceptual image.

D) .... "Wanting all the phenomena of nature to be, by force, the same as our dialectic
logic"(Samuel Aun Weor)
i.e. Identification with the mind, as "I" = our subjective-reality = mind's summary of life,
universe and everything .....( which often is nothing more than a "mirror-of-self-reflection" ....
i.e. mind's own projections onto the phenomena, rather than a true perception of the observed)
This "I" then, by force, wanting to make the "external world" a reflection of it's worldview and
order = the same old, same old "mind-control-over-external-world" stuff ....... that in turn creates
this drama in life, mental & emotional states & ....

E)..... Not realizing that a body is a "vehicle" that has got many mechanical functions to it .....
.....thus the tendency to identify with these mechanical functions (thought, emotion) ...... blindly.

F) .... "Awake" energy of our consciousness .... trapped in suppressing/repressing/denying or
trying to control our "animal natures" or "inner dark".
i.e. lower functions of our body-vehicle ...... instinct .... sex-drive ....

G) .... Addictions
i.e. attachment to repetition, as though it was a kind of a "security blanket".

H) .... Fears
... it is important to observe how our fears affect us in our daily lives. All attempts to avoid
facing our fears by masking them with another emotion (anger f.e.x.) or instantly diverting our
attention to something else ....just seem to create furthermore "unconscious-energy-patterns-ofthe-psyche"
....
Becoming consciously awake to one's own subconscious patternings.
Learning to live from moment to moment.
Embracing our infant-like innocence ..... The openness of our hearts and the non-thought; -
spacious quality of our awareness.

WolfSpirit:
SEDD, Nutshells: not wanting to be "different". I grew up with spiritual people around me and
they appeared to be "different" to me, and I just wanted to be part of the crowd and not stand
out. Today I realize I/ we are all different, but that we can all find our point of balance within the
grand scheme of things: when we choose to do so. Today I rejoice in being different!

Mouse:
For me it's the feeling that there's always something more to do, to learn, to accept, to embrace,
to understand, ... it's always something down the road - never *here* already. So when I realize
that I'm running way ahead of myself again, I can finally stop, come back *here*, and continue
to grow.

Tink:
We do. With our own fears, resistance to change, self-imposed limitations, self-criticism, self
judgementalism, etc. These things are usually brought about by reactions to outside forces and
influences such as parents, teachers, and peers but they inhibit our growth and progress never
the less. Learning to let go and trust ourselves and spirit moves us forward, usually one step at a
time but occasionally we manage to break a major barrier and make a leap that surpasses all
expectations.

Northernwolf:
Good one SEDD. Umm let's see, there have been a lot of valid points already raised in which I
can identify myself with.

1) I'd say genuineness, like really doing this for the right reason and not just for a trip or to be
different. I guess it could fall in the category of self-criticizing.

2) I think my worst enemy would be laziness and procrastination.

3) Sheas' got a good point about being too cerebral and not following my gut.

4) I find that at large the points raised by ArticKaiku are all very valid, especially the one where
it concerns me about ( the Preoccupation about the continuity of "autobiographical-self" ). Oh
my god, how many fears have arising because of that and the fear of changing myself and how I
would deal with that. How it would affect my life, world , entourage etc. That's a big one there.

5) I find that I'm not doing enough at time to progress, self-criticizing laziness issue here. I have
learned to be more lenient though and I've started to accept that this is my pace and that's the way
I work. When it comes to crunch time ( ie something that demands attention ) I simply do a lot of
overtime that's what comes to mind right now.

2CrowWoman:
I've been thinking about this question for a few days and the answer I keep returning to is
Nothing hinders my spiritual progress.

Every time I've thought of something that blocked me or held me back I can also see how it
taught me lessons. They were often long and hard, especially when I didn't "get it", but they all
helped me grow.

I've sometimes had to wait a long time before moving forward because of those hindrances, but
each and every one has challenged me to sink or swim, strive and grow.
Thank you SEDD. I never realized how lucky I've been to have weaknesses and flaws.

SilverEagleDreamDancer:
Exellant 2Crow! That's my answer too. And thank you to everyone who shared from the heart.
I've no doubt that it will benefit many people along the way. It'll be interesting to come back to
this thread in a year and see if you all feel the same way, or how things have changed.

RiverWildFireMoon:
This is a question I revisit often as I am constantly evaluating my own progress or processes. I
think a major hindrance to my own spiritual growth has been- impatience, expecting instant
gratification or results. Spiritual progress / change or the grand design, can take many life-times
or processes. The mechanical lights of our modern world are constant reminders of the shadows
we will face on our fast-forward paths. The Universe most certainly seems to have a natural
flow, one that I would hesitate to define in terms of 'time'.

Impatience can be a huge setback if we allow it to disrupt the natural flow of life-spirit-weaving -
magick etc. When I become impatient, begin expecting- those results too soon, I essentially end
up opening the flood gates of fear itself, rather than assisting the process of progress. Impatience
somehow suggests that we view our current position as -wrong. It is hard to be in tune, hard to
be accurately - aware, if we are fearing or doubting our own course of achievement.

Sometimes progress is waiting. Sometimes progress is taking two steps back, especially when we
need to gain the proper momentum in order to be able to leap forward or to where we perceive
or view as - being ahead. It is as if we are placed into a spiritual sling shot, as we seemingly step
backward it is actually an opportunity- to take a momentary glance around- to not forget, where
you have been. It is as if spirit is saying- remember all your efforts- this lesson. And in the very
next breath we are somewhere - ahead, somewhere learned and somewhere improved.

I find keeping a journal assists me greatly, more than tracking progress it seems to track my
personal detours. My patience is more often than not-- the most advantageous of my spiritual
assets.

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