There is a missing piece in nearly all personal development programs.

Published by Ben Brown on

There is a missing piece in nearly all personal development programs.  The odd thing is that without this one thing the chances of someone finding lasting fulfillment are essentially zero.  Temporary highs from a stream of successes are possible, but without this, long term lasting fulfillment is not lasting at all.

Why is this missing piece avoided?  Because most people teaching personal development have not experienced it yet.  Many people rise to a level of wisdom and start teaching.  This is great and helps many people.  The unfortunate part for many teachers, they get stuck. They get so invested in what they are teaching, that they stop learning and growing.

What is this missing piece?  It is Self-Realization. An irreversible undeniable state where perspective falls into place and our true nature begins to make itself known.  When we even temporarily have an experience of our true selves, the incomprehensible and indescribable state within us all, everything else falls into perspective.

British scholar, Aldous Huxley, described this state in his Perennial Philosophy, “ life on earth has only one end and purpose: to identify ourself with our eternal Self and so to come to unitive knowledge of the Divine Ground.” 

This is the missing piece that is dormant inside us all, it is the essence of love and it is ones intimate connection with the creator of this universe.  Call it what you will, but without this intimate relationship as the number one thing in ones life, all other efforts are partial and will ultimately lead to a dry ending.  Thaddeus Golas in his classic underground book, the Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment, offers this advice, “Love as much as you can from wherever you are.” 

It may take years to experience the state that Aldous is describing, but we can all do what Thaddeus recommends, love from the deepest love we can. Doing this will move us towards the One Goal we all have in common, as Aldous says, “Life’s One End and Purpose” the only escape from duality.  And this is the one thing that almost all teachers never talk about.