Secrets of Spiritual Happiness

Secret #29 - Finding Grace in Challenges
and Blessings from Tragedy

By Sharon Janis

Play this chapter from the Audio Book:

Every day God has a new challenge for the joy of one who loves Him. Such a lover of God never undermines these divine surprises. He knows that whatever God sends his way is meant to turn him into a perfect offering.

        - Gurumayi Chidvilasananda

Our responsibility in life is what we give to the world in response to whatever experiences are given to us.  

When difficulties come, see if you can look at them as challenges that are intended to refine, purify, or strengthen your soul.   Some people also like to think of challenges as karma retributions for actions they've performed - that they did something wrong in their past, perhaps even in a so-called past lifetime, and that act has now boomeranged back from the cosmic scorekeeper as their present woes.  

Personally, I prefer to keep my focus and interpretations on the idea of challenges as being lessons and gifts in an ultimately benevolent universe. This interpretation makes logical sense to me, and also allows me to grow without having to constantly descend into not-so-happy arenas such as guilt and self-condemnation.

I choose to think of God as a good and kind God, who is only tough when that's the only way we can learn certain lessons.   This is an example of choosing a world-view and God-view that helps to create greater spiritual happiness in our mind, heart, and soul.   Your world- and God-views are for you to discern and choose; I'm just sharing some thoughts about how I've come up with mine.

Although none of us really knows how this whole human being in a big universe thing works, we can still choose to contemplate worldviews that contribute to our comfort and happiness.   If you live your life thinking that God loves you, and that thought helps you to be a happy person, to perform good actions, and to ride the waves of life with a steady faith and joy, well then, does it even matter if God really does love you or not?   (Of course He does - I'm just making a point!)

With the right attitude, we may find that life's tragedies can actually bring wonderful blessings, because they have the potential to shake our worlds and create an opening for grace and growth to enter through doors that may have been previously crusted over by complacency, boredom, pride, desires, and expectations.

The United States of America went through a group tragedy just after the turn of this millennium, with the "9-11" terrorist attacks. The whole country came together to mourn, and, in fact, the entire world came together to mourn. For several weeks after terrorists ran those planes into the World Trade Center buildings, the Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania, our whole world was steeped in goodness and goodwill.

One website showed an amazing array of photos from just about every country, with beautiful memorials and mourning faces.   Hearts across the world were united.   How grand it was.  

That precious time didn't last too long because many agendas were waiting in the arenas of politics and human aggression, but while we were in that short but sweet "golden sky after the storm" phase, we were glorious, globally.   Humanity loved; humanity cared.   Celebrities came together and humbly offered their skills to do what artists are supposed to do -- using their God-given talents to inspire and create more goodness across the lands.   A world full of prayers and blessings arose to counter the evil that had shown its face.

Certainly, this tragic event did not go to waste in terms of giving us all food for thought and contemplation.   Each person had to contemplate so many questions regarding this event.   When we first saw images of airplanes hitting those twin towers, every one of us went through a shift of some kind and some magnitude - a soul quake , if you will.

Such shocking moments can be the best times for practicing what the yogis call sadhana : our active participation in our spiritual and personal growth, through mental, physical, and spiritual efforts.   When the heart is open and the mind is shocked, there is a rare opportunity to take great leaps in our spiritual awareness and consciousness.   During such times, instead of just "freaking out," we can make extra efforts to keep our minds peaceful, and to contemplate deeper lessons behind the various outer events.  

Usually in our lives, we can blow off this kind of inner spiritual contemplative work. Many people go through day after day of so-called living without even aspiring to see beyond simplistic, surface, black and white views of life.   However, this 9-11 terrorist event really forced everybody to contemplate. You couldn't just blow this one off completely.

We watched executives leap to their death from the highest floors of those burning buildings.   We saw faces filled with agony and shreds of precious hope parading through the streets of Manhattan, desperately showing photos of their missing loved ones.   We heard story after story of tragedy, as well as of triumph.   No movie could compare with what reality had brought forth.   We realized and remembered how amazing life is -- even, and perhaps especially in the midst of tragedy.

Powerful emotions gripped humanity. We had to contemplate topics such as death, hatred, intolerance, responsibility, and evil. We had to find more goodness within ourselves to balance out the horrors we were witnessing outside.  

As the United States moved into a truly impressive state of prayer, I contemplated how it is often only in times of extreme personal tragedy - such as at the end of our lives - that we remember what is really important. The veil of worldly illusion falls away, and the soul lost remembers the soul eternal.   Tragic events such as this can also give us opportunities to take great leaps of spiritual awareness and spiritual happiness right in the midst of our lives, if we are mature and lucid enough to make good use of those opportunities.

For months after this particular attack, television and movie studios also postponed showing negative images and violent movies.   Instead, we watched images of some of the best that human nature has to offer -- the dedication of workers at the site, the caring by so many anonymous helpers across the nation, stories of selfless sacrifice, the moving and heartrending "singing cop," the generous giving of charity, inspired and moving interfaith memorial services, and patriotic offerings of time and skills by celebrities, as well as non-celebrities. Everybody had to bring forth some goodness inside of themselves to balance out the evil they'd witnessed. Americans had a rare opportunity to bless our motherland with song, and to show our gratitude and respect to a country that - thought clearly imperfect - has given many an opportunity to grow and learn our life lessons in an atmosphere of relative freedom.   God bless America, and God bless the entire world.

An event as evil as these terrorist attacks actually has the potential to bring forth its opposite, goodness, because everything in the universe likes to stay in balance. So when you have something as evil and offensive as killing thousands of innocent people in a terrorist attack, each person who witnesses those events experiences some measure of good rising up within themselves. The heroism that many showed during and after this disaster is an example of how so much courage, love, and goodness can come forth in the midst of an explosion of evil and suffering.  

This shows how even something as horrific as those attacks can end up bringing even more blessings than tragedy - depending on how we respond to it.   The key is in what we do with the opportunity before it fades back into business as usual.

If we trust that this universe is in the hands of an omnipotent and omnipresent God, then we have to trust it even when things hit the fan. By practicing living with greater trust, we get better at it, just as with any other skill.   We learn to live in the spiritual consciousness and the worldly consciousness simultaneously. And on the spiritual level, everything's fine, everything is destined, and everything is for our good, always.  

When tough times hit the fan in your life, don't forget that every adverse event also carries the seed of potential growth to bring us individually and collectively into greater harmony. Learn to find grace in challenges and blessings from tragedy, and spiritual happiness will always be close at hand.