Not just in the spiritual world, but generally, I’ve found myself talking about and mourning the loss of the idea of apprenticeship, of committing to spending a significant amount of time, energy and focus to learning and honing a skill or to following a calling. This can either involve being in service to a particular person who has already walked the chosen path for many years and so has extensive wisdom to pass on, or it can simply be a commitment to a way of life or a code of practice within a sphere of activity. For either, I’m referring to devoting a number of years rather than days or weeks.

While I uphold the knowing that humanity evolves, and that these times we’re in offer unparalleled opportunties for rapid expansion, there is also a part of me that understands and cherishes the value of a purposeful and ongoing engagement with something that requires your constant dedication and discipline. Someone who has spent years working with Reiki energy on themselves and others, for example, is surely going to have a deeper understanding and experience than someone who has just completed Reiki 1 to Master in a weekend. I’m not saying there aren’t very capable and advanced souls out there who can immediately be excellent healers after one attunement (or even before!), but there is something invaluable that comes with living as a Reiki practitioner day in and day out for many years. You have to learn to apply the principles and balance the life force energy through all circumstances, encompassing every shade of joy and grief that colours the ever-changing days of your life. You are challenged to find new applications for and to weave what you know into the very fabric of your existence, until you become one with your wisdom. Like a sword in a forge you are tempered and strengthened by the tests of time, and your blade of truth, understanding and clear-seeing is honed ever sharper through substantial use.

In this consumer society where we can be so focused on an end result achieved as quickly as possible, where it’s all about me and my rapid rise, we can forget the beauty of a two way transaction. Just as the student commits to the teacher or practice, the teacher or practice offers unwavering support and the means to progress to the person who has entered into their service. In a world where it’s all too easy to feel isolated, it can be tremendously empowering to feel that someone or something has your back. Here we can learn the lessons of loyalty and devotion, giving us the ability and resilience to work through something together rather than to run or drop out as soon as the going gets tough.

Loyalty and devotion are brilliant reminders to drop back into the heart when the monkey mind is driving us crazy with its constant chatter, and to hold a current challenge in the unconditional loving hands of the heart. From this space of grace, it’s much easier to seek and find a solution right where you are, rather than dropping everything because “it’s not working” and looking for someone or something new to replace it with. In some ways, I wonder if the connection between master and apprentice which used to be more common, was also an excellent training ground for all relationships. So mutual respect, honour, trust and acceptance was established early as essential ingredients in human relating, as was the understanding that it’s ok to make mistakes as they are simply learning experiences on the journey to mastery.

Read any good book or watch any good movie, and it never ends when the hero or heroine discovers their amazing abilities. No, this is usually only the beginning and coincides with them meeting a Gandalf, a Yoda, or a Morpheus to assist them, keep their hope and faith alive, and remind them of the bigger picture. The drama and fulfilment, and indeed the audience satisfaction, comes from seeing our hero/heroine work hard over a considerable while to perfect their newfound skills and use them to overcome great challenges and fierce opposition. Only then have they proved themselves a master of their craft, only then are they ready to take their true place in the world in service, usually, to a cause greater than just themselves and their own ambitions. There’s often also a cautionary side tale of the one who breaks off from their training too early, attracted to the lure of quicker ways to obtain success and power – think Darth Vader!

Recently I went to hear Derren Brown speak about his new book “Happy” at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. At the very end, he stated the psychological need for humans to have a sense of “something beyond themselves” to feel happy and fulfilled. As an atheist this doesn’t mean a religion or a spiritual belief for him, but rather anything that gives meaning to your life by nesting it within a greater context and purpose. So whether you’re a Reiki practitioner or a carpenter, the commitment to being the best you can be, the discipline to continually apply what you know to what you do in every moment, the humility to admit you still have more to learn, the dedication to improve and to honour your chosen path or craft can not only yield the evolution we all aim for, but also improve our ability to feel and know true happiness.

Of course as someone who is deeply rooted in spiritual awareness, I would add to Derren’s comment that dedication and devotion of this sort is one of the best ways to learn who Mother/Father God is, and how that divinity lives and expresses itself within and through us.