Let your material life be consistent with your spiritual life
Nobody asks you to imitate certain mystics and ascetics, who fled from the temptations and difficulties of the world, and to neglect your material life while dedicating yourself exclusively to prayer and meditation. On the other hand, more and more people today are totally absorbed by material concerns, and that is not the right solution, either. Everyone should be in a position to work, earn a living and have their own family, and at the same time, possess the inner light and the methods they need to work at their own evolution. You have to develop both the spiritual and the material aspects of your lives, to be in the world while, at the same time, living a heavenly life. This is the goal you should aim for. It is difficult, to be sure, because you are still at the stage where, when you engage in spiritual activities, you let your material affairs go to pieces and, when you take care of your material affairs, you neglect your spiritual life. But you must have both. Both are necessary and both are possible. How? Well, before undertaking anything, always say to yourself, ‘My goal is to obtain true light, love and power: shall I get them by doing thus and so?’ Examine the situation carefully and, if you see that such or such an activity or interest deflects you from your ideal, abandon it.
Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov,
Golden Rules for Everyday Life

