 When we embark on the Spiritual path consider it a karmic blessing after tumultous lifetimes of seeking we get another shot at it in this lifetime. An important question to ask yourself is why you are living the Spiritual path in the first place. What propels you to live the life of a Seeker? What do you think you will get out of it? Do you think your life will miraculously change for the better? Do you think all your problems and worries will go away?
Do you think you will never have to suffer anymore? Do you think you will become a better more enlightened person? Hmm probably not. Actually you will not gain anything from living a truthful Spiritual life. You will have zero, nada, nothing. You wont feel full of joy like feeling you won a lottery and you wont have uninterrupted bliss. Your problems will not go away, your partner may leave you broken hearted, and your neurosis will likely remain the same. Well this dosen't sound very inviting after all? What the heck do I get after meditating for so many years, doing all sorts of Spiritual practices, reading so many books, repeating thousands of mantras and doing hours of yoga on the mat? Why do I need to work so hard and live a Spiritual path for so many years if I get zero in investment? Well all this seeking that you may be doing is preparing you to drop away everything so that all you are left with is absolutely nothing. No ego no drama. You were born naked and with nothing and rightfully so you should die with nothing and nothing to hold on to. In a nutshell what you can get out of a Spiritual life if it were to give you anything of value is peace of mind. That's really all there is.
If you got into Spirituality, zen, buddhism or any other path because you think its special and that you can get something out of it if you practice really hard your sadly mistaken because you will get nothing except peace of mind. Dosent sound very attractive it's actually pretty boring. But peace of mind in this relative dualtistic world we live in is an important and precious commodity. The first noble Truth that the Buddha taught is that life is dukkha(suffering). To be in this human form you will experience all sorts of suffering either mental, emotional and physical. You will get sick, grow old, may get stricken with cancer, lose your loved ones, lose your job, you know the shitty aspects of life. So having peace of mind is a pretty good friend to have around. I see peace of mind as being content with life as it is. To accept life as it is not the way you would like it to be because your dissatisifed the way things are going can destroy your peace of mind. Your natural state is at peace. No matter what inevitable awful or dreadful thing happens to you if you can accept the way life as it is the way things really are the peace of mind which is your natural state can relieve the burdens of your mind.
Your outward life is a reflection of your inward life. To be more at peace life will naturally feel lighter much less burdensome and will seem like everything in your life just falls right into place. The peace of mind that naturally comes from living a Spiritual life is indeed very useful and a strong ally. You may have finanical security for life, have the most beautiful partner, have the greatest body, manifest things easily and accomplish all your goals but the restless nature of mind will have you wanting more. You never feel quite satisfied you can feel depressed and unappreciative. To accept things just as it is without the burdens of mind and to be at a state of peace no matter what happens to you is worth more than all the money in the world. Your natural state your true self is always at peace. Your peace of mind is the most important precious thing in your life. You will need it when things are not going your way.
 Rey Mestidio is the administrator of buddhimudra.com He practices zen and works with koans. He considers himself a lazy zen student but is always constantly trying to improve. He drinks green tea everyday as part of his practice.
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