Delusion #4: “My spiritual goals need to be based on my external beliefs”

“Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’  When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.”  Matthew 21-22

By external beliefs, I’m really talking about those things external to us that we believe we need to help us feel complete; i.e., the persons, places, or things we are attached to. Our attachments impact how receptive we are to God’s transformative grace. Instead of accepting an invitation from God to fulfill our desire, we tend to fill our appetite with the object of our attachment.

Ideally, as indicated by Jesus, there should be nothing between us and our relationship with God.  We know our human nature is not capable of that level of perfection this side of heaven; however, we should aspire hold nothing back from God and continue to progress in our goals to detach from the people, places, and things that we tend to obsess about.

This is where “Let go and let God” starts to really take meaning.  We let go of our egos.  We let go of our need to control the people, places, and things in our life.  We let go of lusts and material satisfaction.  We learn to shift our focus from anything and everything of this world to the ever-present God.

This is an ongoing, life-long journey.  Removing attachments from our lives is like cutting away the layers of an onion.  There always seems to be another layer underneath.  It helps to have someone on the journey with you to help be a source of motivation when facing an attachment is difficult.

To complicate matters, we can be in denial about how an attachment is present in our lives.  Our ego may even try to convince that we don’t really have an attachment or that a certain attachment has no impact on our spirituality.   Having someone else on the journey with you can be a source of objectivity in these times of denial.  They can help us see when we are simply blind to what we are being called to do by God.

It is also possible for attachments to become an entry point for spiritual bondage.  If so, assistance may be required to help identify and renounce the spirit that is trying to take advantage of the situation.

A spiritual director can help you work through your attachments by being a source of motivation, a source of objectivity, and an aid in deliverance.