# Can a person be spiritual AND career minded?



## WarriorDreamer (Dec 14, 2011)

It is kind of a dichotomy I have been thinking about; people who are close to the spirit world or who understand their own emotions and others around them on a very deep strong level are not always concerned with owning a business. As far as money isn't an important thing as it is to be alive, healthy and in touch with ones own emotions. Maybe this is a very introverted feeling thing but I don't want to determine this by MBTI types. But for people whom this is a top priority to, can they also be career minded and care about money and care about 'getting ahead in business,' etc to the point where that is also their other thing that is the top priority? It seems that the two somewhat clash. Spiritual people get squashed in an instant in the business world and business people who try to be spiritual end up just wasting time and end up lookingstupid and just get laughed at by others. 

So the question is, is it even possible to always stay true to a strong spiritual energy and be a successful business person or is it a false misguided unrealistic notion? And if not, how do you think one could go about doing this in their life? Thanks!


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## Wartime Consigliere (Feb 8, 2011)

I wish this was a poll that I could just click "Yes" in.

Human potential is incredible, of course someone can achieve balance of spirituality and worldly ambition.


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## jbking (Jun 4, 2010)

No, I do know of some people that are rather successful business people and yet quite spiritual too. The key that I'd say I've seen in these people is to look at why are they doing what they do. Is it natural for them to build organizations and put processes in place for people to succeed? How do they see what is happening to them in the world? Perspective is part of the puzzle but so is knowing one's strengths and playing into them. For both of the people that this reminds me, they are quite bright social guys that tend to be quite humble and curious about the world most of the time.

The key is to know which gifts do you have. Is it putting things together? Is it about knowing how to get in touch with some divine guidance to move things forward?


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## Death Persuades (Feb 17, 2012)

I don't see it as a dichotomy. It is achievable, but very difficult. Spiritual people tend to neglect their physical lives, such work and relationships, and career people tend to neglect their spiritual lives. People always like going to one extreme or the other, when they can, in fact, walk right down the center path.


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## Devalight (May 27, 2012)

For me, the career takes a great deal of energy, just to make enough money to live independently. I would rather have more time for spiritual practice. So, there is a division. 

It may be possible to reconcile - a lot depends upon what the person thinks is a "spiritual life".


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## NuthatchXi (Jul 18, 2012)

Absolutely. Part of the apparent dichotomy comes, I think, from the conception that there is "life" over here and then there is the "spiritual" over there. There is no necessary disconnect between daily life and the spiritual; at the most profound level, they are inseparable.

That having been said, I agree with @*josue0098 *about people tending to go to extremes.


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## Kormoran (Mar 15, 2012)

What do you mean "spiritual energy"?
I hear this all the time; "I'm a very spiritual person". As opposed to what? A physical one?

If by "spiritual" you mean knowing and accepting your own identity and personality, then yes, having a career is fine. Why else would this be a problem? Besides, surely a career is more than owning a business. A career is any profession. If you don't want to be a businessperson, fine. Don't.


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## bellisaurius (Jan 18, 2012)

@_NuthatchXi_ hits it on the head.

There also seems to be some confusion between "career" and its subacategories of "making money" and "doing work". Doing work is very good for the soul. It's what grounds you and prevents navel gazing spirituality. It's one of the things that keeps you in touch with your fellow humans (as we must all work against hunger and thirst to keep our existence). Finally, the act of working can be trancelike, and allow for exertion to lead to proper reflection.


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## countrygirl90 (Oct 11, 2012)

Of course a spiritual person can be career minded ,its not like that spiritual persons are nuts .Instead I feel that they know how to deal with people positively and make them feel special ,which is why they are so liked by many people and I know such a person personally .He is very punctual towards his spiritual health ,this enables him to be popular with people around him.He makes friends very easily and its hard to bully him .He is a hard working employee of his company and he recently got promoted.He is very career oriented as he prefers learning new aspects and technology related to his work and career than gossiping around with his colleagues on useless topics or wasting time. Though sometimes he burdens me with his spiritual knowledge, but I try to keep up with what he is saying LOL.


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## AnEmotionalArtist (Nov 9, 2012)

_People can be non-spiritual and non-career minded. 

People can be non-career minded and spiritual.

People can be spiritual and career minded. 

...................................................

The coin flips so many ways that anything can be possible. It all depends on the individual 

Toodles_


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## cookie_thief (Sep 12, 2012)

A business needs a greater purpose than profit to succeed. I believe the most well rounded and balanced (career focused/spiritually focused) people become the most successful.


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## Azn Hippie (Dec 31, 2012)

There is a misconception that 'spiritual' people should renounce all possessions and live in a cave on a mountain or something like that.... I think this comes from the 'belief' that money is 'evil', therefore if you are doing something 'good' you shouldn't be getting something 'evil' (e.g. money) for it. Which I believe is false.

I believe that when you get into this 'space' of Inner connection, everything you do Externally becomes Empowered. Everything in your external world will start to Flow naturally. 

This is what a favourite Youtuber of mine has to say about this-


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## DiamondDays (Sep 4, 2012)

If spiritual = dirty hippy then no .Otherwise yes.


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## Swordsman of Mana (Jan 7, 2011)

I'm a darkworker, ie, I embrace and cherish the divinity within myself, so my spiritual path encourages me to pursue a profitable career and acquire more for myself


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## Razare (Apr 21, 2009)

WarriorDreamer said:


> So the question is, is it even possible to always stay true to a strong spiritual energy and be a successful business person or is it a false misguided unrealistic notion?


It's possible. Just keep in mind, to be spiritual, spirituality has to be first in your life conceptually... otherwise it's a non-spiritual spiritualism. If it's not first, you're essentially practicing upon the platform that materialism is more important than your soul. Which isn't much different than saying you're a non-believer or atheist... the only difference is you know what's correct and you're intentionally choosing the wrong life priority... so where as the satanist or atheist is probably not a hypocrite, such a person with spiritualism as a second priority is being hypocritical.

Even when you make it #1 priority, it's hard to follow through on... but at the very least, the intent should be there to make it first.



> And if not, how do you think one could go about doing this in their life? Thanks!


Now, if we have our priorities straight... how you go about doing this is simple. You don't aim to become rich, and you don't care about money, nor do you pray to the higher power for wealth.

This doesn't preclude you from becoming wealthy.

There is a perception that most people falsely hold that they're somehow in control of their life. For most people, I think this perception exists because they can act, and see the result of their own actions responded to by the environment... this fortifies the illusion of control.

Yet one can strive for wealth their whole life, and never achieve it... and conversely, one could never try to be wealthy and come by it anytime.

If you want to become wealthy in a spiritual way, I think the most appropriate way to do it is using the karma system. This means you start giving away wealth and whatever else you may. You either end up with material rewards or spiritual, so long as spirituality is first in your life. The former is acceptable and the later is preferred.

As for how much material wealth we have, that's just a function of what God gives us... but being a more giving person allows wealth to flow back to us more freely. Very often, wealthy people will actually be very giving with their money... and I'm not talking about giving it all away to charity... but like if they need something repaired, they call a repair man and they don't care what they end up paying, within reason. It's that sort of behavior which comes back to benefit the average wealthy person, as employing others honestly, is a minor form of giving.

Also, if you're spiritual, I recommend being an entrepreneur at something you're good at. God and the helpers he has appointed to watch over you, will then be able to work their spiritual blessings more easily and frequently. If you're getting a standard wage, it takes more doing on their part to give you more wealth benefits. They're still able to do it, however... Example:


I work as a bookkeeper at a gas station. I lost a money order in the mail for a car payment and I lost the stub for the money order as well. It really sucked because I live broke most of the time. It was one of those things where I couldn't make the payment, so if I was going to continue to make it, I needed help. Well, God gave me silver quarters. Someone changed in a bunch of quarters at our work, and didn't leave their name on the roll. Earlier that day, I had been thinking about silver (this was then telling me about it) and then at work I found silver quarters which were worth about equal what I had lost. It was also very important that they did not leave a name on the quarters, or I would have felt obligated to return them.


Another way to gain rewards, a person cand spend their positive karma... I don't much focus on that as it's not exactly spiritual, but once in a great while, I suppose there's not much harm in it... so long as one doesn't become focused in this manner. You do this by employing "The Secret". Granted, you need the positive karma to spend before you go trying to spend it... if you're a miser like I usually am, I can go wishing all I want for something, but it either wont happen, or if it does... it happens at a cost.

God has granted most of my wishes in the past... because he had plans for me. Each time something was granted by request, it came with a lesson. The lesson was generally a painful one. So "The Secret" is not to be taken or used lightly... it's really just "manifesting"... using our spiritual power to bring us into alignment with our desires. Yet, it's a desire, and these should be minimized by one on the spiritual path.

Finally, hard work is also rewarded by the spiritual system, as far as I can tell. It may not result in wealth immediately, but if you give your every endeavor 110%... even if it is the simplest of things, it's rewarded in the end.


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## Razare (Apr 21, 2009)

Swordsman of Mana said:


> I'm a darkworker, ie, I embrace and cherish the divinity within myself, so my spiritual path encourages me to pursue a profitable career and acquire more for myself


Yeah, I might be versed wrong on what a darkworker is, but what I read sounded somewhat limited... though, I will say, you have to cherish the divinity within yourself before it can be cherished in others.

So that's something, at least.


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## Swordsman of Mana (Jan 7, 2011)

Razare said:


> Yeah, I might be versed wrong on what a darkworker is, but what I read sounded somewhat limited... though, I will say, you have to cherish the divinity within yourself before it can be cherished in others.
> So that's something, at least.


I think cherishing the divinity in others is a natural outgrowth of cherishing the divinity within one's self. it's been that way for me at least. the more I focus on myself, the nicer and more generous a person I become.


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## Razare (Apr 21, 2009)

Swordsman of Mana said:


> I think cherishing the divinity in others is a natural outgrowth of cherishing the divinity within one's self. it's been that way for me at least. the more I focus on myself, the nicer and more generous a person I become.


Yep, that's how it works.


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## shefa (Aug 23, 2012)

A truly spiritual person is able to look deeper into their mundane responsibilities and see them as opportunities to bring more goodness into the world.


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## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

If your career is aligned with a spiritual purpose. I mean if you're serving some of your higher ethics or a higher purpose with a career, sure, it's all in your approach.

But if your idea is to make money for money's sake, and you don't have good business ethics, then no.

I know a guy who started out in advertising who now owns a yoga studio and is a therapist. He helps a TON of people...and the money he made in advertising helped him when he came to that turning point in his life. But he didn't start out that way. 

I have worked pretty extensively in the adult entertainment industry and it allowed me to travel, get therapy, take classes, be creative, etc. and I also approached it as I matured from a more healing and creative standpoint, and some of my clients even noted that I was different, that I had an amazing energy, I've even had one or two tell me straight up I helped them in some way.

You can do anything with a heart for creativity, healing, and/or service, but if your intention isn't right, then no, it's going to conflict with your spiritual purpose. And money can be used for a higher purpose.

Clearly there's a point where they clash, though, you know. Don't lie to yourself.


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