If you have a religious affiliation and it is satisfying

to you, you need not change it in order to practice

meditation. Meditation will enable you to be more

soul-centered and God-conscious. With progressive

spiritual growth, your understanding of your relationship

with the Infinite will improve. You will be

more insightful: more intellectually and intuitively

capable of discerning the difference between truth

and untruth.

Our daily spiritual practice routine, as helpful as

it is, represents only a portion of the time we have

to live our lives well. How we live every waking moment

is just as important as the time and attention

we give to our interludes of subjective contemplation.

It is in the arena of everyday circumstances and relationships

that we are provided ample opportunity

to demonstrate what we know and prove to ourselves

the depth and clarity of our understanding. If we are

not living well—that is, freely and productively—

we are not growing spiritually. How we experience

life is in direct relationship to our inner condition:

to our psychological health and maturity and our

understanding of the purpose for living, and what

we are willing to do to live our lives successfully.

Therefore, we should not become addicted to our

spiritual practice routines or be inclined to indulge

ourselves in inner work to the extent that we deny

ourselves the privilege (and duty, even) of participating

in meaningful activities and relationships.

Scheduled sessions of subjective contemplation

should be balanced with worthwhile activities. In

this way do we fulfill ourselves and the purposes of

life itself.