Key Factors of Spiritual Development (Part 2)

Key Factors of Spiritual Development (© New Life Awakening 2011)

So, I've been working recently on getting some material together for my new business venture called New Life Awakening. I thought it would be nice to share the journey I'm following to create my business. It's in a few key defined stages.

Stage 1: Gather together all the key factors of spiritual development. Read many ancient scriptures to extract their wisdom. Read personal development articles to decide what's important in the modern context. So far, I have captured (I hope) the essence of Sikhism, Buddhism, Hinduism (Vedanta), Kundalini Yoga and Meditation.

Stage 2: Group these factors into various common categories, for example, I created:

• 4 macro-categories: Being, Mind, Soul, Body
• 8 categories: Virtue, Perspective, Awareness, Relationship, Lifestyle, Purpose, Service, Inspiration
• 76 sub-categories: Managing Emotions, Truth, Fearlessness, Learning, Managing Thoughts, Openness, Balance, Charity, Contradictions, Dissolving, Graceful, Honest Communication, Independence, Innocence, Intuition, Kindness, Listening, Peace, Persistence, Present, Reality, Sacrifice, Self, Acceptance, Actions, Adulthood, Awe, Body, Clarity, Collaboration, Community, Compassion, Contentment, Controlled Speech, Dancing, Democracy, Dreams, Eating, Ego, Flowing, Forgiveness, Grateful, Heart, Humility, Humour, Integrity, Life, Love, Managing Change, Managing Pressure, Meditation, Music, No Comparison, No Competition, No Expectations, No Judgement, Non-Attachment, Non-Violence, One-pointed Mind, Parents, Patience, People, Perfection,  Personality, Perspective, Proactive, Purposeless, Role model, Service, Sex, Silence, Simplicity, Sweetness, Teacher, Transcending, Trust

Note: These categorisations will not make any sense on their own. Perhaps later I shall publish the Excel spreadsheet of all the factors if there is a demand for it, but for now I shall explain some of these factors in the commentary below.

Stage 3: Assess the importance of and prioritise each of the factors of spiritual development, to highlight which ones truly are the key factors of spiritual development. This will be done using the wisdom from Sikhism, Buddhism, Hinduism (Vedanta), Kundalini Yoga and Meditation, and using a mass survey to gather the ideas of the wider community (which I shall be sending out this week).

Commentary on Key Factors of Spiritual Development graph

In total I have identified 117 factors, out of which 68 are virtues; 13 are perspective based; 13 are awareness based; 8 are relationship based; 6 are lifestyle based; 5 are purpose related; 2 are service related and 2 are inspiration related, all which must be all be mastered in order for a human being to become fully enlightened.

If you see the graph in the top-left which is called the Key Factors of Spiritual Development, this graph beautifully demonstrates that the majority of factors are concentrated under the Being macro-category and Virtue sub-category.

The Being macro-category is different from the Soul, as the Soul is the essence of a human being and never changes, it's eternal, whereas the Being is the soul almost in motion and is always in constant change. For example, today I am 'being' courageous, but tomorrow I may be 'being' scared, but in both occasions my soul is always fearless. Thus by mastering all these various ways of being or virtues we can become in touch with our eternal nature, the soul. Virtues are qualities of being, for example, acceptance, patience, compassion. All these are important virtues which must be cultivated, developed, so that their flourish in full bloom like a flower.

The next biggest macro-category is Mind, with the sub-category Perspective. Perspective is about challenging our own views, opinions and notions about reality, truth, ourselves, our identity, the world and God etc. Its about how we see the world through our eyes.

Later, when I have delved a bit more deeper into the data, I shall publish some more statistics for all of you to enjoy.

What is the purpose of creating these key factors?

In many ways what I am compiling is a contemporary authority of all spiritual wisdom to date, so by the time somebody completes mastering all the qualities I've noted, there is absolutely no chance of them not becoming fully enlightened, radiant, royal, beautiful, powerful, humble, effective, God-like human beings. And I do not say God-like lightly, I really do mean God-like.

I have spent many years tirelessly experimenting with all number of spiritual technologies, philosophies, religions and producing results in personal growth and effectiveness for myself, but on top of all of that, I am not letting my limited experience and wisdom limit what factors will go into this list. Which is why I shall be opening up this list for debate and discussion, so that other spiritual people can add to it, refine it and together we can create the most comprehensive set of qualities to create fully enlightened human beings.

Producing fully enlightened human beings is the goal of my business New Life Awakening. I'm not going to waste my time on producing courses which just give people a buzz or make them feel good for a little while and then the effects wear off (which is how most personal development courses end up). Instead, I shall invest my time to produce comprehensive courses which cover every aspect of human development and as a result produce the best, most effective and evolved human beings on the planet. Also, as a result, I shall only work with those who are the best. Everyone who wishes to come onto a NLA course will be personally vetted by myself to assess their current level of spiritual development, to see if they are ready to take themselves to the next level which the course shall guarantee. This isn't just a passion for me, this is what my entire life is about ;). My philosophy is why patch a broken shell, when you can spend time shining an unbroken one?