What is stunting your spiritual growth?

Time and time again, the enlightened ones tried to reveal the truth in their own way and everytime we clung to their words without digging deep for the message and in doing so distorted the truth. The reason for clinging to the ritualistic side is because it's physical, mindless and easy.

How do we manage to distort the true message everytime? It's because, we read, speak, listen and hear the message but evaluate it differently based on our limiting beliefs, values and social conditioning. 

What do you believe is stunting your spiritual growth? For me it's the worry of acceptance by the society. The inner self knows the truth and I feel that the only way I feel true happiness is when I have had a beautiful meditation experience. I know that when I continuously have great meditation sessions where I reach the void where there is no thought or worry and one receives inner guidance, the effect the people around me have is a certain magnetism. It's a very real change in the physical world. It's much easier to achieve anything just by mere thought. It's effortless.   The problem I face is that I start enjoying the state of void so much that I want to remain in it forever but then I have to go to work, need to communicate with my children and the world. The moment I enter that world, I worry about how people perceive me, hence the need to follow fashion, make and spend more money, create monetary wealth to gain respect in society. The inner world says to work for the good of the community and spend your money on it whereas the physical world suggests to become wealthy and look after your children and their monetary success. If one does a little good for others then the big ego comes to destroy that pleasure and tells us that I did it and it becomes a competition as well. Then you look around and note that every religious building, sect, person is trying to use their knowledge to create more wealth whether it's by selling books, cd or by creating retreats, schools, churches or temples. 

The pain of going to and fro between truth and falsehood, meditation and the physical world and the very different conditions of success in the two worlds, is too great and as a result it's just easy to do the religious ritualistic activity than sincerely do the real thing.