Faith consists in believing even when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. —Voltaire
It’s important to hold and increase your faith as you walk the spiritual path because you are seeking something that is neither tangible nor measurable—the Self, your innate divine nature.
You may not even know that you are seeking your Self when you start. You only know that you want to be free from the constant desire and struggle for happiness.
You are tired of the persistent feeling of lack, and the relentless yearning to have more, do more, know more and experience more.
Spiritual masters from all traditions tell us that when we rediscover the Self within, we will attain permanent fulfillment and bliss. This is because the Self is the very nature of bliss.
There will be no more hankering for happiness from the ever-changing and impermanent things, people and situations of the world.
The Self is the ultimate goal of human life.
The spiritual path is growing in consciousness, purifying the mind and gradually unfolding this divine Self within us.
But how do we know that the Self even exists? The Self is a subtle essence that is not like any real world ‘thing’ that we can know with our senses or mind.
It’s impossible to prove the presence of the Self with our everyday, ‘seeing is believing’ mentality. So how do we come to know it?
We must first believe that the Self exists, and then come to experience the truth of what we believed in.
When belief is supported by facts, personal understanding and experience, it gradually develops into faith.
Faith arises from belief in the heart and understanding in the head.
Here are some ways to increase your faith and grow on the spiritual path . . .
To increase your faith and grow, begin by developing spiritual knowledge
Since we must believe and then strengthen that belief with understanding, the first thing to do is to develop our knowledge of spirituality.
We can nurture spiritual knowledge through reading books and articles on spirituality. We can also listen to spiritual teachers speak on our innate divine nature and purpose, and how to handle everyday problems with a spiritual perspective.
This is important because as much as we like to gain and engage in knowledge of our everyday world and news, a little reflection and first-hand experience shows us how inadequate worldly knowledge is in helping us deal internally with sudden illness, sorrow, and loss.
Spiritual knowledge gives us a higher vision of life and the right mindset to meet our challenges effectively.
For example, spirituality tells us that we are souls with lessons to learn and the people and circumstances in our life are meant to provide us with the opportunities to evolve in consciousness.
And so, when dealing with the loss of a dear one for instance, we will be consoled knowing that only the body dies. The soul lives on and our dear ones will continue their onward journey and lessons.
The best time for spiritual practice: The best time for spiritual practice is first thing in the morning, before starting your day.
This will ground you in sound knowledge that will help you face your day with greater ability and calm. You will be less likely to get swept away by the never-ending list of things to do and stresses of everyday life.
Put aside about 15 to 30 minutes for daily spiritual reading and reflection. Read from a spiritual or religious book. Then stop and reflect on what you have just read.
Taking the time to personally reflect on what you have read will help to internalize the spiritual truths.
The new knowledge that you gain will increase your faith, inspire you and help you grow steadily on the spiritual path.
Remember, your spiritual practice will not change your outer circumstances. But it will change you and your ability to meet the challenges of your life.
To increase faith and grow spiritually, choose your company wisely
The company we keep influences our state of mind, our way of thinking and eventually our character over time.
To increase our faith and grow, we have to seriously consider how we spend our time and whom we spend it with.
The people with whom we spend our time, the news we listen to and read, the movies and programs we watch, the social media platforms we participate in, and all other activities must be scrupulously chosen. They all affect the quality of our mind.
Just as you would never throw stinking garbage on the floor of your living room, you don’t want to purposely dirty your own mind with negative news, talk and people.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself:
- Is this (activity) worthwhile or am I just doing it to pass the time?
- Is it draining my energy and taking more out of me than giving to me?
- Am I learning and growing?
- Is (name of person) someone I want to spend time with?
- Are our interactions respectful, kind and loving?
Taking some time to stop and question your activities and the company you keep helps you make higher choices so that you can increase your faith and promote inner growth.
Increase your faith through prayer
When life’s challenges cannot be overcome through solutions from the world, we often look to God for help through prayer. Prayer helps to uplift the mind and tune it to God,
The best prayer is one that comes directly from your heart. Seeing yourself as a limited individual with finite resources, knowledge and power, you drop your ego and give up the control of a situation and surrender your personal will to the will of God.
Daily prayer helps you to you start to see the divine hand in all through the circumstances of your life. Your faith grows, and you understand that everything happens for the best.
You become aware of the miracles in and around you and you feel grateful for your blessings.
Daily prayer increases your faith in the divine and purifies the mind. This helps you grow spiritually.
Means to ultimate fulfillment
Cultivating spiritual knowledge, choosing your company wisely and daily prayer are three ways to increase your faith and grow on your spiritual path.
As you grow, the mind gains purity and you start to bring out the beauty of your divine Self within. Eventually, through long and sustained spiritual practice, you will come to rediscover your true Self and attain complete peace and fulfilment in life.
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