Searching while impoverished

While much has been said and written about spiritual truth, it seems that few people have been empowered by the reality of the experience.

This is clear from the two main clues that demonstrate the poverty of spirit in the world today.

First, there is an abundance of fear, evidenced by the amount of conflict and violence in our world. 

And secondly, everyone is searching, although they might not be consciously aware of this.

Behind our consumption of the movie, the music and the exotic meal, behind our striving for position, power, pay and possession, behind our desire for attention, acceptance and approval… every human is searching for the three most important experiences of its existence:

• love in our relationships,
•  happiness in everyday experience, and
•  peace in our fluctuating and peace-less natures.

But the search is almost entirely externalized, which is why most of us miss the spiritual paradox of our times-

 we already have what we seek.

When we experience ourselves as we really are… soul not body, spirit not matter… we wake up to our innate spiritual qualities. 

Love, happiness, and peace never leave us; we leave them when we lose our awareness of our own spiritual identity.

These qualities of spirit are the source of all real wealth and true joy, and they are the greatest gifts we can give to each other.

---submitted by Alan Batten for Unity of Charlotte