Living with Reality

Dr. Rajesh Bhola
India
Apr 06, 2012

 Our teeth would not come out, our eyesight would not fail, our skin would not wrinkle, and our hair would not turn grey – this is our vision of heaven. Our lives do not conform to this heavenly picture, so we feel a corresponding shame. Then we spend huge amounts of money hiding the fact that we are not perfect specimens; or we wear ourselves out in supposedly spiritual procedures, that make us believe that we are—or are on the way to becoming—members of the chosen few. We will always be surrounded by the pleasant, the beautiful and the comfortable – and will live in heaven. We put on a front for the world, and cover up our infirmities – because we are ashamed. Spiritualism however, teaches that it is better to live in the human world than in heaven. Imperfection, suffering, pain, hardship and grief happens to everyone; it is real, and we do not need to be ashamed of it. A noble person is one who accepts the reality of adversity. The salvation of humankind will be found in the practice of a noble response to existential reality. That is enlightenment.