If you think about it, all we really do in life is try to rearrange the outside world so that our inside world feels a certain way.
The crux of spirituality is recognizing that the outside world is beyond your control - way, way beyond your control - and that the true path to well-being is to work from within.
This doesn't mean you stop interacting with the outside world, but rather, you stop using it to fix your inner world, which is all you really care about anyway.
So, what exactly are you rearranging?
As we go through life, we have some pleasant experiences, and many unpleasant ones. We learn from a very young age that which is comfortable, which we then seek out, and that which is uncomfortable, which we then avoid.
It's natural for babies and young children to push away uncomfortable things. The problem is, we never unlearn this habit.
From adolescence to adulthood, we push away uncomfortable experiences - including our own thoughts and feelings - and actively seek out the experiences that once made us feel good.
Ultimately, under the surface, all we end up doing in every area of our lives is trying to rearrange the outside world so that we find ourselves amidst experiences that make us feel good inside, while avoiding the ones that don't.
We all know this simply doesn't work, yet we continue to do it. If it did work, wouldn't you already be okay?
Think about all the big areas of your life - your relationships, your job, your finances, your physical body, your material possessions, your plans for the future - all of these things you try to control.
But why?
The reason is, so that they are arranged in such a way that makes you okay.
And this is the punchline; we spend our lives trying to fix the outside world because our inner world is not okay.
This is not meant to be a judgement on our species or a false outlook on humanity. It's meant awaken you to the realities of what's going on under the surface.
When you look at your own life, is there any area that you care about where you're not trying to manipulate the outside world in order to feel good?
Looking at my own life, I see my well-being tethered to specific outcomes. A perfect example is work. Besides earning a living to pay for basic necessities, I earn money to afford things that I think will make me feel okay. In other words, I'm spending my life making sure I have a stable job with an ever-increasing income so that I can continue to pay for things, so that I'm okay.
If you follow every action, everything you do, it always leads to a "so that I'm okay." The question is, why aren't you okay already, without those things?
That's the question of yoga, that's the question of spirituality, and that's the exploration of this blog.
How can I learn to be okay, regardless of what's going on around me?
Because if I can be okay on my own, unconditional to the trillions of forces of the outside world, I can perhaps live in a state of balance, while serving the world with all that I have to give.
Live with substance!
Gabe Orlowitz
