Different Spiritual Progress by Different People

Everyone of us is different. We have our own karmic debts to pay, lessons to learn, and defilements to get rid off. Learning the dharma is one thing, but applying what you have learnt in your daily life is another. Accepting and understanding the Buddha's teachings well is a first good step as it leads to having the right view and accurate perception. Next is adhering to the precepts and living life according to the noble eightfold path.  If you do this diligently, you would have generated some good karma or merits for yourself as a form of benefit. But of course if you can also supplement the learning of the dharma by doing dana and practicing meditation would be a good bonus. This is assuming you are meditating well under the guidance of a good teacher. This is because it is only through meditation would you be able to "see" or realise dharma to develop the factors of enlightenment. Else, it would just be an academic understanding by just studying the dharma and leading a wholesome and upright life.  Being good is not good enough. You will have to purify your mind through meditation. 

How to Develop Wisdom

Unlike conventional wisdom which normally equates to intellectual knowledge, the wisdom that the Buddha advocates is intuitive wisdom. In the science of energy healing, the chakra responsible for intuitive wisdom is the forehead chakra. It is not determined by how intelligent you are, how smart you are in terms of IQ or EQ, or how high is your academic or professional qualifications.  Here, the purpose of wisdom is direct knowledge or full understanding  that leads a disciple to see, realise, and taste dhamma towards the goal of total liberation or nibbana, That is the eradication of all mental defilements and letting go of all attachments. Else the craving energy will lead to many rounds of rebirth and suffering. To help develop your wisdom, there are four things which you need to do, and they are 1) associate with the wise e.g noble friends or members of the sangha; 2) listening to good dhamma to gain the right understanding of the three universal truths and the eightfold path etc, ; 3) careful attention or mindfulness; and 4) behave in accordance with the dhamma e.g. adhering to the five or eight precepts.

Kalyana Mitta

It was said that Buddha once mentioned having a noble friend(s) is not half, but the whole of a person's spiritual life. Choose your friends wisely. They either help you or hinder you on your spiritual path.  Associate with friends who adhere to the five/eight precepts, impart wholesome values, cultivate virtues and have good character development. Their highly positive energies will help uplift you to pursue loftier goals and aspirations. On the other hand, associating with the wrong company can drag you down by influencing you with mental defilements, unkind speech and unwholesome deeds. Such negative energies can further be compounded by indulging with vices. Hence, one has to use one's wisdom and discernment whether to continue associating with the right group of company. However choosing and dropping friends might be easy, but you cannot easily do that for family members and relatives. When it comes to such situations, do not judge or criticise others as we are all evolving at different rate. Perhaps the best thing is to continue to socialise but reduce your frequency of engagement. And for those of you who know about energy work, just do some cleansing and energising should put you in good steed.