Twenty

or so years from today, your young ones will be full adults. Some of them smack in the middle of your shoes—where you are right now. Step aside for one reflective moment and ask yourself this question: If they will be approaching life from the way you are at the moment, what are their chances of “making it” in life? If they do not have aspects of the spirit inculcated in them, do you think they will make it?

Back in the day

When our parents were growing up, they were taught that “education is the key”. That is the spirit with which they approached life and to a large extent, it made sense to them. A good percentage of them that took that advice actually did make it in life. Guess what? With the evidence that they received, that is exactly what they passed on to us: Education is the key. So we mostly went to school dutifully and for the most part, most of us have Certificates, Diplomas, Degrees and other multiple academic papers. [ictt-tweet-inline]Perhaps since Adam, we are the most “educated” bunch of all generations, but the question is, is that education the answer? Is it still the key?[/ictt-tweet-inline]

The focus of Spirit

The end result of our pursuit of education and “making it in life” has desensitized us from matters related to our spirits. You see, the basic makeup of a human being is not just flesh and blood and bone. A human is first a spirit. A spirit is not just interested in living. A spirit is interested in making things happen, bringing dreams to reality, making things better for others, inventing, creating, innovating, growing and improving. [ictt-tweet-inline]A spirit’s interest is not primarily to “make it in life”, but to make astounding things from the realms unseen to manifest in the natural.[/ictt-tweet-inline] Spirits are clothed with bodies in order to fulfil that agenda on the empirical realm—the earth.

In the process, great projects are brought to life. These are seen through the arts, architecture, engineering, music, painting, business, leadership and relationships. [ictt-tweet-inline]All the genius you see out there is a direct derivative of the spirit! Anything genius or breathtaking you see today was simply downloaded from the spiritual realm.[/ictt-tweet-inline]

Where is the anchor of our Teachings?

However, we seldom get taught how to tap into this realm. Well, probably for us it is late. But how about our own children? What are we teaching them? How are we raising them? Is it with the same dictum as our parents were raised? Is it with the same “law” that we were raised with?

I find that we are so keen to teach or “educate” our children on some “disciplines” or “subjects” or “courses” or “career paths” but we fail to start from the spirit. You want your child to be a doctor for example (the most common desire for parents world-wide). Well, that’s Ok, but is that need anchored in the spirit?

Very many of us are guilty of looking at very many shiny objects in terms of “careers” and totally ignoring the essence of individual lives. We do this as we are mapping out their futures. So when we are looking at our children, we are branding them according to career paths and not according to matters related to the spirit. That’s why we end up with nurses who abuse patients, doctors who procure abortions and police officers who rob the people that they are supposed to protect.

Three General angles of approach

When it comes to raising children who are spirit-led, there are three angles to take.

1. Purpose

The first is to see the child as an eternal spirit who has a mission here on earth. They do not find the mission here on earth, but they come when it is already decided for them—that’s why they came in the first place.

2. Attitude

The second way to look at raising spirit-led children is to develop their attitude. Academic papers are akin to “hardware” in my view. The attitude that someone possesses is akin to the “software” of that person. It makes no difference when you have state of the art hardware with faltering software. Any flaw in the software will most definitely plague the hardware and the whole structure will malfunction.

3. Natural endowments

The third way of raising spirit-led children is to excavate what is inside of them. Why would a child be gifted with numbers? Wouldn’t it be for the purpose of solving problems relating with numbers? The same applies to sports, arts, speaking, businesses and entrepreneurship and so on.

The problem we have is that of these three areas, seldom do we have in our schools and even in our homes, an intentional design that nurtures the spirit. I can prove this to you. When people graduate from school, what normally is their focus? Is it on the environment, the world, and other people to make them better or is it on themselves to “make it in life?” Think about that seriously.

Now we get to know

Increasingly, we are discovering that “making it in life” is not necessarily possible with the single formula of “education is the key” and all its “relatives.” We are discovering that several aspects of the spirit are absolutely critical to “making it” in life. We are discovering that things such as inner drive, passion, and commitment will catapult someone way ahead of others who lack these. We are discovering that such things as integrity, trust, and honesty are critical in “making it” in life. We are also coming to terms with the fact that the spirit of excellence and finesse will almost always catapult someone to greatness regardless of their “hardware”. Not to mention that such grit aspects of the spirit like determination, consistency, dedication and momentum are critical to life.

Gone are the days when we thought that only the highly educated will make it. Highly educated people that lack aspects of the spirit are a dime a dozen. They are so many out there, but for the most part, they do not make it. That is why you and I have to think again how we shall prepare the next generation to “make it” in life. One thing is for sure, you cannot use the same means that your parents and your teachers used. Increasingly, you and I must nurture all the aspects of the spirit in our children. I will continue with these thoughts in the next article.