Expecting God or a miracle to fix you is one of the dangers of spirituality

I've read a few accounts of people who had what seemed like a moment of enlightenment and were totally set free from problems such as addiction and depression. These people might credit God for their transformation. I've seen a few people say that God has transformed them or kept them safe from harm. In one of the 12 steps, the first 3 steps (courtesy of the Alcoholics Anonymous website) are:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

I've never had any issues with alcohol, but I could easily swap the word 'alcohol' for 'the workings of my mind' and resonate with all these 3 steps. I've got to the point where I felt completely helpless and that only God could fix me. 

However, using the word 'God' conjures up the image of a being completely outside ourselves; someone who we need in order to function properly. I would like to substitute the word 'God' for 'Higher Power' and also grasp the notion that this Higher Power is something that is within ourselves. This may seem a hard concept at first - I haven't completely got my head round it yet as I've always seen God or The Divine as something outside of myself. 

But sooner or later, if we keep relying on something outside of ourselves to fix us - there's a chance we might become unstuck. 

AVOIDANCE AND SPIRITUAL BYPASSING

Avoiding our thoughts and feelings is absolutely rife within our society. I was reading a thread on Facebook the other day regarding keeping the TV on as background noise, and there were several comments along the lines of 'I keep the TV on because I don't want to be alone with my thoughts and feelings'. And sometimes this may be the sensible thing to do - I can definitely say that I have used technology to avoid my feelings coming on too strong. 

Many people know deep down that if they were to be alone with their thoughts, it could bring up a big can of worms - the collective amount of unresolved trauma must be absolutely huge. 

Trying to avoid or bypass our $h!t through various forms of spirituality is rife too - be it through meditation, prayer, trying to stay present, making affirmations that we are a divine human being in God's image. 

We'd all like a sudden awakening where everything becomes beautiful and the state of oneness with everything is felt - but the reality is, for most of us, this isn't going to happen. 

THE REAL WORK

There's a lot of talk about 'inner work' particularly within spiritual communities. My view of inner work has changed massively in the last few months. Facing unresolved issues can be absolutely brutal, depending on the level of severity of these issues. And what I'm realising is - whilst I can call upon a higher power for help, I have to do a lot of work myself. 

This has been hard for me to come to terms with, as I knew that I was seriously fucked up inside; how could I ever do anything that requires so much effort? 

Don't get me wrong, spirituality and asking for God's help can be beneficial for a while; it was for me. But now I have to work with my higher power rather than expecting this higher power to do all the work. 

Image courtesy of EthanDavis 01

As the saying goes 'God helps those who help themselves'. 

I probably wouldn't have been able to face myself properly before this year. And, as synchronicity has determined, there are some great resources on YouTube on the subject of complex trauma and PTSD which have been a beacon of hope and provided a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, this after all hope had been gone. 

True spirituality to me is going deep and being willing to look at our deepest shadows. This is one of the most difficult things we can ever do; for some of us, the most difficult thing by far. Expecting God to resolve our stuff by a sudden burst of enlightenment is not going to make society a better place, as it just doesn't happen for most people. 

We can use the tools we have such as meditation, prayer and journalling, but we have to be willing to put in some hard work if we are to recover from any serious issue.