Isolation on the Spiritual Path

I came across an article that was very well written and discusses isolation when on the spiritual path. So many times I have discussed this or heard people say how alone they feel. Awakening, which is not an event that just happens once, often leads to a change in the person. They are not the same person they were before awakening. Often this causes them not to relate to friends and family in the same way. Often they also begin to be and feel misunderstood by their friends and family and without much compassion and understanding being given to them. Eventually many will shy away from certain people, end long term relationships with family and friends, etc. Before they have moved on to bringing new people into their lives, that are more of a match for them where they are along their path, there is usually a period of alone time. Isolation which at first is more self imposed because of the behavior of society and then eventually more non-self imposed due to the spiritual path they are on and their spiritual work. Self imposed isolation is the loneliness that is bothersome to most. The latter type of isolation that is not self imposed is the type of isolation that the person is more in acceptance of, regardless of what others think or society says is acceptable. In the beginning we hear many say how they “need to have friends to hang out with and spend time with” and that is them resisting and fighting against a higher stage of awakening. That is how I describe it although anyone at that stage would suck their teeth, roll their eyes at me and fight me tooth and nail to prove me wrong. Yes they would at the level they are at and that’s no concern of mine. It is their job and their own path to fight their way out of that stage and break through it and if they don’t that is on them if they are being stubborn and letting their ego control them in this way.

The spiritual path does require sacrifice even beyond periodic isolation. Sacrifice of everything that is not real and is just the illusion. The only thing that is real is God/Universal Light. So by process of elimination think of all that I just stated is not real. What about your job, those co-workers that annoy you, your marriage/relationship, your kids, your car, your house, etc. If your house burned down you would be upset but a person who has reached a level where they know, from understanding that is coming from within, would not be upset because the house was never real. In the scheme of what they came here to do (in this lifetime) the house is of very little importance and we can move on from it and build a new house no matter how difficult that may be. Think of the symbol of the spider. Always building its house in inappropriate places where it is going to get torn down or blown away by weather. It does not bat an eye when this happens but instead just simply moves on and builds a new house, even more elaborate than the last, never looking back or being traumatized by the experience.

If you would like to read the article I came across –> http://maryshutan.com/spiritual-awakening-and-isolation/