Course VIII - Teaching 16: Vocational Concept

All human beings are destined to a spiritual vocation manifested at certain moment, since the purpose of all men is God, in a positive or negative sense. Many believe that they have been called to a spiritual vocation, but just few are called in a direct and accurate way.
Many people believe in their spiritual vocation but are totally wrong. Certain souls take vocation for their dreams and ideals, and others call vocation to certain feelings derived from their contact with certain revelations and examples of life.
How many times certain people arouse after reading about men that attained perfection and sanctity with great sacrifice and later practically they find themselves unable to imitate those beings at all.
Spiritual vocation is neither idealism nor sentimentalism; these two are intermittent and transient emotions.
Spiritual vocation is a feeling –an intimate and deep feeling of certainty and responsibility in the soul.
Spiritual vocation is intimate self-certainty whose unique and exclusive support is vocation itself.
Spiritual vocation is an inner and unchangeable concept of truth, –of a truth that ceaselessly increases as one achieves it more and more, and that remains the same even throughout changes of things, persons and doctrines.
All those who talk a lot about their spiritual vocation have no true vocation. Vocation is only of those who achieve it in themselves, without support of any kind.
Spiritual vocation as such cannot in any way be truly recognized in a soul but after being tested. A soul shall not know if it is vocation or not, or if this soul is able or not until an overwhelming storm sweeps the soul.
A sincere man that wants to know if he is really called to tread on the path must have no confidence in himself but trust much in God. He must tread slowly on the Path and not to trust much in first enthusiasms or sudden emotions.
A sincere, simple and humble man that treads slowly and steadily on the Spiritual Path shall not be deceived and after a verification of his personality and vocation the Divine Goodness shall lead him until a time when, being sure of himself and his vocation can attain the goal.