In the May Ah-Man Newsletter, I ask the question: What is Your Spiritual Foundation and What are The Four Pillars of Spirituality? The foundation is your belief in God/Higher Power/Source; a Power greater than ourselves. The Four Pillars are the structure.
The Four Pillars upon which we build our walls and roof are so simple that most of us take them for granted. Others have compromised their pillars and, thus, get blown around when the winds of life blow hard.
The Four Pillars are:
- TRUTHFULNESS: to thine own self be true, live within your means
- COMMITMENT: to others (work, friendships, etc.) and to marriage vows
- NON INJURY: not only in the physical sense, but also in words and thoughts
- FAITHFULNESS: to your system of belief in God
Why are these four pillars of spirituality important? Without each of them incorporated into your life…can you really have Peace? Can you understand all that Love is? Can you have full understanding of Wisdom and the life that unfolds around you? Will you have lasting Joy?
The answer to every one of those questions is no.
When each of the pillars is incorporated into your daily living, Peace, Love, Wisdom and Joy will flow.
Truthfulness is something that each of us knows the importance of. We all feel it when we’re not being truthful, right? Our belly barometer goes off; we don’t feel good about it and try to just push through it.
We convince ourselves that we have to do it because we need this…or we’re afraid of the consequences…what would people think about us if they knew the truth, etc., etc. When we continue to act in that way, we are cutting ourselves off from our Inner Self, God. Each time, we sever more and more of those cords that make us Whole and enable us to feel the connectedness. We begin to lie a little here and a little there and, before we know it, we are not even feeling bad about doing it, our belly barometer has stopped going off.
So being Truthful is not only telling and practicing (living the beliefs of your faith) the truth, but living the truth as well. What I mean about that is living within our means.
Convincing yourself that you should have something just because we like it, especially when we can’t afford it, does not bring lasting Peace, Love, Wisdom and Joy into your life. You might be happy for a while, but then when you are struggling to get out of debt because of it, those feeling will diminish.
We have to practice self-restrain and enjoy what we do have, for it is all a blessing and that’s the Truth!
Namaste,
Michael
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