Real and Ideal

I just finished reading an article by Tom Huston in What is Enlightenment Magazine (Issue 36 Apr - Jun 2007). If you aren't aware of this magazine, you might want to check it out. It is one of the few I read consistently and one of the best on discussing all aspects of Spirituality. The magazine's website is www.wie.org.

Much of the article is irrelevant to this discussion, but the author reflects on an important aspect of Spirituality. He references Robert Rabbin, a spiritual teacher and executive coach, as he points out the distinction between the ideal and the real in relation to Spirituality. He asks about "authentic Spirituality or enlightenment." Rabbin suggests that "We get real, not ideal," trying to be sure any spiritual quest has a practical, everyday component. While Huston, the author of the article, partially agrees, he worries that Rabbin is being too "mundane." Huston wants to "change, to grow to mature, to develop, to evolve and to otherwise transform my oh-so-less-than-ideal human self."

Huston claims that "spirituality is inseparable from 'transcentent ideals.' Intellectual "self transcendence" and practical "self acceptance" seem to be opposite ends of a spectrum. Perhaps in the middle is where we should be. I agree with Huston. Spirituality does involve transformation and a striving for ideas, but that must be tempered with the daily, necessary chores of being in a human form.