Hi everyone,

I have been reading for a while about spiritual life and development, done some meditation but altogether have a rather limited perspective on these things, and very little experiences of them.

Here’s a question that I have avidly searched for on the internet but haven’t found anything about.

It seems many talk of the spiritual journey we all take and its “rules” (for lack of a better word). It appears we live to experience in order to grow, and that this path must take some tenuous turns sometimes. Many say that some lessons on that path cannot sink in without a decent level of pain and suffering.

That is all well but my question is the following:

While things work this way and are not to be questioned, does a particular spirit necessarily need to be on that path?

I mean, someone who loves Karate or really desires to learn a foreign language will sometimes need to spend hours of discomfort practicing his/her katas or sometimes be frustrated with some grammatical lessons or tough vocabulary lists, these people who don’t care for these hobbies can just save themselves the trouble and stop, or even never start.

What of the spiritual journey? Can one just “stop” if not interested in the outcome? The laws one keep reading about (things like karma, reincarnation, this learning curve) are perfectly sensible if you take the perspective of the spirit that longs for spiritual development. But can a person/spirit not be interested in that particular path and refuse to undertake the efforts have to put in it? Just the way I don’t care for Karate and wouldn’t bother practicing?

Does our free will extend this far? And, in theory, what could a spirit do to “drop out” of that particular path?

I have been very curious about this and was wondering why this question is almost never asked, let alone answered. Can a spirit be un-interested in spiritual development?
And if so, what would be the course of action for “dropping out”? I have been wondering and came to the (so far rather flimsy) conclusion that to “quit”, a particular spirit would have to surrender its own existence, simply stop “being” for all intents and purposes.

Have you ever heard about this? Do you think one’s free will extends that far? How would one go about this?

I’m particularly interested in opinions, resources on the subjects and theories.

Thanks!

Why do you think that everyone is on a spiritual journey anyway? Many don't seem to be. They have already used their free will to stop as you put it

We are all at different stages of learning in each life, if a person doesn't want to learn the lessons they have chosen to learn prior to incarnating then they will have to learn them in subsequent lives. There are souls who don't want to progress and while they don't 'drop out' they are just left to their own devices until they decide that they are ready to continue to progress and learn, for that to happen one must incarnate to experience a world like Earth with both physical and mental limitations, we work through our own obstacles to enlightenment at our own pace, reincarnating with our soul groups to challenge and learn from each other and progress together. However, some souls progress through their lessons faster than others, but eventually we will be equal and the goal is to gain knowledge and understanding, to be closer to God.

Well Eduic, your answer is a good summary of a lot of what's written online. And this is exactly my point :

One finds many people arguing what you just argued, but almost nothing that takes a step back and asks :

-what if one is no longer interested in learning and growing?
-what if one finds that the price of these lessons is too heavy to pay?
-what is one finds that the ultimate goal is not worth it?

Would that one spirit still be forced into incarnation after incarnation, or "time out" until it would choose to start that process again?

Is existence mandatory? Could a spirit just decide, of its own free will, that the process is just not worth it, and decide to stop existing? Or does our free will end before that point?

The idea of spiritual growth and reincarnation is well debated and makes a lot of sense, from a limited perspective. If you take a step back and look from a broader angle, you start finding quite a few holes in the whole idea.

This is one of them and, in spite of years looking, I've not found much on this concept.

Any insight is welcome.



Yes, but what if one is not interested in snowboarding/partying/travelling either? These people have stopped but they are doing something else. I'm talking about the possibility of stopping everything.

In human form, you may decide you're not interested, but the fact that you're currently alive and incarnate on Earth is proof that your soul is interested in progressing, because to incarnate on Earth, a physical and mental world, one must desire to learn and experience physical and mental limitation in order to understand and accept their lessons in life. We all have certain traits that are profound and we navigate this world with our strengths and weaknesses that we have chosen prior to our birth, together with the other souls that are reborn in our lives in order to experience and learn from each other.

Going back to your question, on a soul level you can choose not to progress and learn, the problem with this is the lessons your soul would have already learnt may become stagnant and those lessons may need to be re-learnt, from that perspective there is further motivation to continue on with your learning. Whilst you may feel overwhelmed by your life experiences and that they are a heavy price to pay, know that your soul choose these experiences for itself prior to this incarnation and didn't think they were too heavy a price to pay, because the reward of gaining the knowledge and experience far outweighs the obstacles that are encountered.

Well the ultimate goal is the progression toward the all knowing being God, the point where living in the physical is no longer a requirement for your advancement, being in a position to help and assist others who are not yet ready to cease their incarnations in planning out their future lives that may provide lessons that are unique to their souls personal growth. The universe operates with complete choice for the soul, no one is forced to do anything, however, in order to progress one must incarnate into worlds with varying degrees of difficulty being either mental or physical worlds or both such as Earth, one of the more challenging worlds. Information is provided, but participation for each individual soul is optional, free will can be exercised not to participate and thus not to exist in incarnate form, however, you're already a soul and immortal who cannot cease to exist as a soul.