You

know, I think it is OK for a child to be clueless about some things. It is OK for some children to be clueless about Physics and Chemistry and sciences and engineering. I am one of those who just didn’t grasp those aspects of learning. What is not Ok though is for a child to be clueless about their spirit! Why? Simple. Every human being has a spirit.

It’s not “Woowoo”

I know I will still need to differentiate the spirit as I keep going. I am not writing about “spirits” as some people have accused me. Incidentally, this series on spirits has drawn quite a bit of a stir in some circles. My thinking is that I am vindicated writing about it especially when it captures people’s attention. It tells me that matters related to the human spirit are being confused with matters related to religion. It tells me that the critical nucleus of success is being ignored either due to ignorance or just flat out playing along with a culture handed down to us.

The Worst thing for a Child

I think the worst thing that can happen to a child is not to be reconciled with their inner core, their very essence of who they are. A child, any child is a messenger from the Divine who has come here on a mission to do stuff! There could be no other better definition for a child than this. The moment our eyes are opened to this truth, that’s the moment we will change our approach to raising our children. That’s the moment we will start appreciating success according to the spirit. The child is on a mission! That mission is never a selfish thing. It is a selfless mission to deploy themselves and make this world a better place.

We Are Spirit!

As such, I believe that all the necessary seeds of “making it in life” are first of all placed in the spirit of the human as a child. I believe that spirit is not something that they “catch” as they grow up. That spirit is actually them. In other words, the formation of a human is way before a fetus is formed in the mother’s body…but I digress.

The mistake that we do with life is that we come here and start looking for answers to life mostly outside of ourselves. We also teach our children the same thing. That is why countless people the world over are asking tough questions about life. This is not just people who have not “made it” in life, but also those who think they have and those who are seen by others to have made it.

Unwanted Success

They are questioning the essence and the meaning of life. This is because we all start from the wrong footing. We start approaching life from outside in, and we teach our children the same thing from the get-go. Granted, matters relating to the spirit are at times lofty for children to grasp, or so we think. So we focus only on matters outside of their spirit while teaching them. The problem is that we never graduate them and start teaching them things centred around their inner core, their essence and their spirit. We focus on the shell and the structure and not the core.

True Success

Every human being has a spirit in them. If anything, every human being is a spirit. My success is actually the result of being authentic to the formation and desire of my spirit. In other words, if I “succeed” in anything that is not connected to the desire of my spirit, then that “success” becomes an illusion.

Spirit-Led Success

You will know that your success is authentic when the following things happen:

1. It has impacted others
2. It has helped you grow to be the best version of yourself
3. It has observed laws of seeds, processes and time
4. It has a positive impact on other people
5. There is a sense of fulfilment and meaning

All these are matters that the spirit is interested in. The opposite of the spirit would be the ego. These two are always in a constant fight. Whoever you feed will always prevail.

Ego-Led Success

You will know that your success is egoistic if the following things happen:

1. The success primarily is for your benefit
2. The success is not necessarily connected to your growth to the best version of yourself
3. You have no problem using others to attain it
4. You have no problem flaunting laws of seeds, processes and time
5. It has a negative impact on some or most people
6. It leaves you empty inside, yet seemingly “full” outside.

Step back and reflect a little. What kind of success have you been pursuing? Better yet, what kind of “success” are we “innocently” teaching our children to pursue? Is there any place in their growth that the success based on the spirit is strongly emphasized and pursued? Is it even modelled to them from our homes?

Transactional or Serving Life?

The world today is so transactional and materialistic. [ictt-tweet-inline]We feel that “making it in life” is accumulating things and the esteem of men. Success according to the spirit is actually the opposite. It is to become the very best version of ourselves and “serve ourselves” to the universe.[/ictt-tweet-inline] This includes all that is our material gain, all that is our goodwill and all that we have grown to become after fully exploiting the most of our potential. It is a selfless thing.

When you are teaching your children to “make it in life” it is important that all these things are intentionally and seriously emphasized. If not, I am telling you that the default will just happen. The default in the world today is the law of the jungle: God for us all, everyone for himself and the devil takes the hindmost. Don’t you think that is the mantra of our education systems the world over?

Woe to Academic failures who are not Spirit-led

If perchance your child will not excel academically, chances are that their “making it in life” is doomed…unless of course, you have taught this child to be Spirit-led. Make no mistake about it: being spirit led is not what you see out there in religious circles. Religion is anything that wants to pass responsibility to a “higher power”. They want not to work but to receive miracles. Being spirit-led though calls for lots of commitment, hard work, and dedication and pushing oneself to the very limits.

Your spirit-led child will, for the most part, recognize that they have a huge part to play in the world. They will recognize that they are needed here. They will recognize that they are here for a purpose and that they do have a mission. They will know that they are already spiritually equipped to perform their mission and that they only need to look for the resources here on earth to do it. Not the other way around. I will continue with these thoughts in the next article.