Spiritual Growth: Options for Sustainable Life

By ANIL K RAJVANSHI

A jackal and a cat met in the middle of a forest. The jackal asked the cat how would he get away from a tiger. The cat said: - I know one way and that is to climb the tree as fast as possibleÓ. Then it asked the jackal what his solution would be. The jackal replied: - Brother, I know 101 ways of getting away. For example, I can go into the bush, can climb up the rocks, can hide behind the tree, can go into a hole... -

Suddenly, a tiger appeared. The cat immediately climbed the tree while the jackal pondered - which solution should he adopt? Meanwhile, the tiger pounced on the jackal and killed it.

Too many choices sometimes create conflicts and problems, and lead to unhappiness. Recent scientific and sociological studies done on a large number of subjects show that there seems to be a direct correlation between unhappiness and the number of choices available.

These studies reveal that increased choices have put a tremendous demand on the brain to make the correct decision. However, modern lifestyle based on information overload results in short attention span and makes it difficult for people to think deeply about the choices. The fear of - missing out - on something is very high and this creates internal insecurity, producing a lingering feeling of not having made the right decision. It produces regret and unhappiness, and sometimes leads to impulsive choice making.

Often, increased choices drive greed. The internal insecurity of a person together with the desire to maximise the satisfaction and benefits from the choices leads to acquiring more and more material goods leading sometimes to a buying frenzy.

This leads to an ever-increasing spiral of wealth acquisition and spending to acquire more and more goods and services. In the craze to satiate their spiralling wants, people begin to live beyond their means. All of this produces an unsustainable lifestyle.

We live in a world of choices and in times to come they will only increase. Advancement in technology together with entrepreneurial spirit allows us ever increasing choices since they help provide material comforts. These choices are meant supposedly to satisfy the needs and the desires of humans.

However, most of the time people lose track of what is important in life. So, instead of choices helping to fulfill our needs they fuel our greed and sometimes become an end in themselves. Quite frequently a person gets satisfaction on winning the race for maximising his - choices - rather than using them to satisfy his needs. However, if we make our decisions based on our needs and not on greed, we can achieve a sustainable lifestyle that will help us attain happiness.

Spirituality can help keep greed in check. Once on the path of spirituality, our priorities change. The focus of life shifts more towards getting personal happiness through mental peace and less on material needs and desires and hence towards sustainability.

Yoga and other spiritual practices can help the brain become more powerful and nimble. Thus fortified, the brain can learn to process information very effectively, automatically limiting choice, simplifying the arduous task of having to sift and choose amongst a whole array of choices. Spirituality also helps make a person internally secure and humble.

Technological progress is necessary for our overall development. However, more than material development, it is our spiritual progress that allows us to make a better decision on choices and gives us the direction and mechanism to live a sustainable and happy life.