How the people around us help or hinder our spiritual journey and our responses.

[mariana90]

I believe that no one can hinder our own spiritual journeys, unless of course we give them permission to do so. However, it is our permission that hinders us and not the other person, so in the end, we are hindering ourselves.

To me, people come and go into our lives because there is something to learn with every single one of them. We are responsible for bringing those people in. And even when they lie to us, we learn and grow. So no, nobody can stop us from achieving spirituality. Only us.

Learning that our life experience is entirely our own responsibility is one of life's greatest lessons.

[CinWin]

I think that the people around you and the ideas that they contribute are all part of the learning and growing that you go through. If there weren't people around you, there would be little learning and growing that would happen as there wouldn't be conflict. Conflict helps you think, hopefully for yourself. So these ideas are a key part of growth and necessary.

I totally agree with you. I think that certain people are brought into our lives to teach us some important parts that we need to learn in life, in order to be who we end up being. They can be so-called 'good' people or so-called 'bad' people, but they are our teachers.

[safah26121990]

i think us humans are influenced by the people that surround us. I am able to see why he can't trust himself.

[cornelia_SD]

We could be influenced by the people we interact with. But then, what we should believe in is our decision. I think Richard's dad answered him correctly because that's what he believes in. We were born in our parent's religion, but it's up to us to what faith or religion we should live and die with.

[Dragonsend]

I truly pray that everyone has at least one good influential person in their life to help with the scrapes and bumps of life.

[Moddesser Elahi]

I know that when you lose confidence in yourself especially from believing someone's lies or not having someone you feel comfortable confiding in, no strong role models, then all parts of your life suffer.

This seems natural for anyone who has been betrayed in their lives. Things become difficult after that instance of life, especially in regards to trusting someone without any doubts in the mind.

[Moddesser Elahi]

I think we do get influenced by the behavior of the people around us. In the end however, it is up to us to decide how we let others affect our search for truth.

Exactly! We do get influenced by our surroundings but as we grow we need to be wise enough to decipher what is true and what is not.

[Moddesser Elahi]

I think his father’s response forced him to think more deeply about matters, and so in this instance, it was helpful to him. However, I think with these sorts of things people need to be careful of those who influence them. When someone lies in regards to spirituality it can have so many repercussions and it often changes the way a person interacts with the subject being lied about.

I think the concept of spirituality should be put forward in a simple manner without complicating it so that a layman like me can be benefited by such a life-enhancing thing.

[Moddesser Elahi]

I cannot speak to the character, but I strongly believe that who one spends time with does affect their spiritual journey. I know it's cliché, but birds of a feather really do stick together. I'm a strong Christian, but I do find that if I spend too much time with the wrong crowd, I find myself acting in ways that I wouldn't if I was with a more spiritual crowd.

I also believe that it becomes difficult to hold our beliefs strongly if we are always surrounded by crowds with totally different opinions.

[Moddesser Elahi]

I do think lying can hinder your spiritual development, especially lying to yourself. You really can't control if someone lies to you, but you can try to surround yourself with people that are usually honest and truthful and, most importantly, you can commit to find your truth and acknowledge it. The people we surround ourselves with, definitely have an influence on us and our worldview but it's not totally out of our control, otherwise, people coming from toxic environments would be utterly doomed.
However, I think the author's parents had a very open-minded approach. When the author was a kid and he approached them about religion they encouraged his questions and talking about it " like adults", as well as comparing Bible versions. I think that was good parenting, encouraging critical thinking and curiosity in kids is important, in my opinion.

I am in line with what you are saying. In the end, our decision should lie in our own hands and we need to take the reponsibility of our actions.

[Moddesser Elahi]

I don't think that lying specifically can undermine one's spiritual beliefs, those I think depend on how you were raised and where life takes you, but it certainly can make one question how people perceive them, make them question their worth.

I would just want to add a point here that external factors should be of least significance if we are sure of what we are believing.

[Moddesser Elahi]

I believe that lying to yourself will hinder the intellectual process of spiritual enlightenment. It is essential to accept things as they are. You can manage what you do and who you decide you genuinely want to surround yourself with. I also believe that a person needs to be wise and willingly choose to do something because they truly want to do it. People may intentionally or unintentionally form their opinion and wish that others see and accept them as they see it. But a person has to form their opinion.

I totally agree with you. We are responsible for what steps we take in our lives, and we should know which kind of society we want to be in, and what people or ideas we want to follow.

[Moddesser Elahi]

I believe that everyone around us can and will affect us one way or another. His parents played a vital role in his journey, and I could say that it indeed affected his stasis over his goals. About John, it was truly a devastating discovery, and I agree that it can hinder one's spiritual journey. It makes you think you're weak and unworthy, especially when a friend did it to you. Glad that the author had overcome that though.

I can understand what you want to say. It's quite natural to get affected by our surroundings but it works only to a certain extent. Once we become wiser in life by our experiences we can definitely disallow those influences to create any barriers in our lives.

[Moddesser Elahi]

I don't believe you can allow someone to lie to you, but you can choose to accept something you know isn't true to prevent fighting and preserve the peace. You can't control what other people do, just how you react. Lying yourself can hurt your spiritual journey when it's big lies, especially lying to yourself,

Obviously! If we lie to ourselves it will make us restless and this would definitely be a hindrance in the spiritual journey.

[Moddesser Elahi]

I think that the people around you and the ideas that they contribute are all part of the learning and growing that you go through. If there weren't people around you, there would be little learning and growing that would happen as there wouldn't be conflict. Conflict helps you think, hopefully for yourself. So these ideas are a key part of growth and necessary.

I also feel the same way. If there wouldn't have been conflicts then we wouldn't have thought about a lot of things. But once we get wiser we should at least try to minimize any similar kinds of conflicts happening in the society. This will help us to grow and also create a better society.