SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

Spiritual practice can be Conventional - usually based on Eastern or other exotic practices or Unconventional and eclectic. 

"S/he who sees life as a process of spiritual perfection

 does not fear external events." Tolstoy

Inner practice can allow us to;

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to us." Rashi

I create the light and make the darkness. 
I send good times and bad times. Isaiah

“No matter how you stir a pot of filth it is always a pot of filth. Better to let the pot be and string pearls for the sake of heaven.” Chassidic saying 

We have to find some form of inner practice to counter the darkness around us - be it conventional or unconventional. We should consider our state of balance as a test of the effectiveness of that practice. 

For some it might be time to be Unconventional and more "Western" in our thinking rather than Eastern. Calming an overactive mind with passive forms of meditation may be difficult. 

We have to find the one or ones meant for us !

“To insist upon a spiritual practice that served you in the past is to carry a raft on your back 

after you have crossed the river. ” 

The Buddha    

“Everyone has access to God but each person has a different access.” M. Buber

"Not Knowing when the dawn will come I open every door." 

E. Dickenson

“Serenity is not a passive condition but an undisturbed peace of mind, active and aware which can be quiet joy, sometimes ecstatic joy,  always deep within spirit and light of heart.” Father Toomy

"A deep sense of serenity and fulfillment (also meaning). A state that pervades all emotions and sorrows that come our way." 

Father Toomy

Having meaning in one's life is also key to equanimity.

“Once what you are living and what you are doing has for you meaning, it is irrelevant whether you are happy or unhappy. You are content, you are not alone in your spirit, you belong.”  
L. Van der Post

Spiritual practice is about attaining equanimity, serenity, balance, harmony, inner peace or well being. However. it should also be about spiritual transformation. Much of the time, with all the challenges we face today, the practice may purely be to subordinate our flight or fight, sympathetic response into a more parasympathetic, relaxation one. 

Balance is achieved by harmonizing polarities. 
Dualities come into harmony by negotiating a third or middle path, a path not of assimilation but a path of coexistence.

When we look at energy systems such as the Tree of Life or the Chakra system the goal is moving out of survival energy centers into those that promote spiritual growth - whether its the right or left side of the Tree of Life or the Sun or Moon energy channels spiraling up the spine in yoga. It is moving into love rather than fear, the sacred rather than the profane, the positive rather than the negative, expansion rather than contraction.

“The Kundalini in the form of latency is coiled like a serpent. One who impels this Shakti to move will attain liberation.”
Hatha Yoga Pradipika

When the sun and moon channels that spiral around the central channel of the spine are in balance one can awaken the dormant serpent, feminine, Shakti energy and cause it to move up the central channel leading to equanimity, balance and altered states of consciousness. 

Ultimately if the feminine, Kundalini, Shakti, serpent energy reaches Shiva, the male principle at the crown chakra the two can fuse resulting in Unity Consciousness or the Oneness Experience. 

Maslow described something similar as a peak experience which many of us have had if only for a few moments. 

This occurs when the Knower (say you) – the Known (say a rainbow) and the Process of Knowing (the dynamic of these two) fuse into one thing and you become the rainbow. 

Nature, which we will discuss as a form of practice commonly facilitates this experience. Nature can meditate us.

Kundalini energy is experienced differently in varying traditions but it is universal. It may be subtle and slow rather than dramatic as it can be when "Kundalini" flows as in yoga practices and indigenous African societies (of which I am more familiar.)

The most needful time for spiritual practice is when you feel you have no the time.

Time cannot be made it must be found.

You must be in the moment and not think of the past or the future.

 Take from the past what you need and leave the rest behind. 

Ancestors live in the moment.

Living in the past and attachments to wants rather than needs are counterproductive to spiritual transformation.

All must be 
done for its own sake, 
not for reason of an outcome. 
All is a journey not a destination and it is a continual arriving.

We never arrive. It is always a process of what the Ancestors call "Becoming" - other traditions - Enlightenment or Self-realization.

There are many forms of transformation just as there are many sacred prayers and holy paths. 

You are to find the one that is made for you.

God most delights when you are most you, when you are being most yourself.

In the eyes of God Himself personal insight is more valuable than Divine revelation for if we depend only upon scriptures and the teachings of masters but have no personal insights of our own, all is worthless.

 

God looks not only to your willingness to His/Her call but to your creativity in responding. This honors and delights Him.

 

Isaac Luria (The Arizal) stressed that each student should have their own unique way of going inward and finding the Divine.

“Meditation is inward work for restoration. It varies in accordance with the character and temperament of each disciple.” The Arizal

The menu is only the menu.
It offers, it describes, it suggests.
When the meal arrives do not put it aside.
Absorb the reality of your choice.
If you do not taste the nature of the Infinite One in your selection, you must choose another dish…
You need to choose the offering S/He has prepared especially and selectively for you.

or

“Do not believe a thing because it is said by an authority or because it is said to come from angels,… gods or from an inspired source. Believe it only if you have explored it in your own heart, mind, and body and found it to be true. Work out your own path through this world with diligence.” 

    

ANY spiritual practice occurs when we are doing whatever we are doing; for its own sake and for gaining inner peace - not to look good, perform or be goal oriented. It should give us pleasure, be frequent and preferably be done at least daily. 

… don’t think this transformation is about having the perfect life, job or mate, marriage or friendship. This is not about perfection, it is about wholeness. It is not about having things exactly as we want but about having them exactly as they are. When we allow things to be, a sense of harmony develops” Adyashanti

This wisdom is possible if one has a regular spiritual practice.

 

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

 SPIRITUAL PRACTICE - CONVENTIONAL 

OR UNCONVENTIONAL ?

In this blog we will discuss the more conventional Eastern, esoteric or exotic forms of practice which are the most popular but also other methods that are less conventional but practical.

It is challenging to maintain balance, harmony and equanimity in a changing world. We need to navigate our boat down the river of life keeping to the middle and not setting up camp on either side, be it sacred or profane, light or dark, good or evil, happiness or suffering. We must learn to coexist with the negative and not assimilate it but also not be attached to the positive because of its impermanence. 

“Fear itself is not a foe but acquiescing to it empowers it to be a powerful one.” Hillel

 

Spiritual practice invokes a parasympathetic relaxation response. Life is stressful and engenders a sympathetic flight of flight response. There are only two feelings – love and fear. Love connects us to Big or Spacious Mind, fear to Monkey, Narrow or survival Mind. Love empowers our inclination to do good, fear enhances the shadow or our evil inclination. Opening the heart helps us to subordinate ego to the higher Self and the shadow to our inclination to do good. 

Unskillful emotions are a property of monkey mind, ego and shadow which are fear based. Our higher consciousness connects us to the feelings of love, compassion and the empathy of spacious mind. 

We are entitled to our feelings but responsible for their expression.

 

Emotions run high – feelings run deep.
Emotions require discipline.
Feelings require nurturing.
The better one controls emotions the more one can express feelings.

 

…Through our choices and efforts we go beyond ego and Narrow Mind’s pursuits of immediate and momentary satisfactions to engage in Spacious Mind’s on-going joys in searching for spiritual fulfillment – joys found in the very quest itself. 

Narrow (Monkey) Mind concerns itself with the one percent world and so its yearnings can never be gratified in a lasting way unless spiritualized in Spacious (Big) Mind.  

 

Narrow Mind generated by Fear leads to harmful emotions such as; malice, hate, envy, anger, vengeance, and our unskillful habits, compulsions, desires and addictions.

Love and Spacious Mind connects us to our higher ideas, ideals, notions, concepts, beliefs, discriminations and discernments. Spiritual practice is about opening the heart to love. For many when it is embodied and sensory it is more powerful.

 

“May the hero/ine awaken from forgetfulness and transcend all anxiety and sorrow.”  The Upanishads

 

We can also find equanimity in the work we do at the culmination of the hero’s journey when we Incorporate. In giving service we may be in the “zone” or experience a sense of flow or  “superfluidity.”

“When you find your place, where you are, practice begins.”  Dogen

Inner practice is also key to the transcendent hero’s journey and becoming who we truly are. It is especially critical during the incorporation or integration phase of the journey, where without some method of going inward we often lose the way. 

To the yogi there are four options arising out of spiritual practice and meditation; Karma yoga - the way of service, Bhakti yoga - devotional yoga and love of God, Janna yoga - mastering the scriptures through the intellect and Raja yoga the path of the Buddha - control of the mind - the most challenging. 

 

Being in the present moment is healthful and helpful.

 

Our spirit guides live in the present moment. In order to connect with them and their “Field” of potential we require a dedicated practice to awaken the “Snake” or the Kundalini, raise our vibration and open our Third intuitive Eye. 

Some form of meditation is also how we can more efficiently navigate the ups and downs of life. Every adversity along the way can be considered a test of our karma as well as the effectiveness of our inner practice. 

When we are in a balanced, harmonious state we are more able to subordinate ego and do things for their own sake. Moreover, we can allow our "body or flesh to cleave to our soul or essence in unison." An embodied spiritual practice that is active can support this.

 

From the sound of my sighing (my state of equanimity) has my essence (soul) cleaved onto my flesh (my body.)  

The Ancestors are very much in favor of a sensory, embodied spiritual practice.

Sangomas say; “We pray by drumming, singing and dancing.”  There is a Chassidic teaching that “with song you can open the gates of heaven.”

 

From my flesh shall I behold God.
The route to God is through our senses

The soul’s conversation is not of the mind. It is best heard with the senses.

 

The soul’s fulfillment is through the experience of the senses. 

 

Spiritual pursuits are to be practiced with pleasure, welcomed with gratitude. We are to experience delight of the senses and be absorbed in joy – therein is God.

The Sacred Triad of the Soul

Joy

Love-Heart

The Senses

Mind gets in the way of this Triad. 

The rational mind often gets in the way of what the heart must embrace in order to coax the soul to open.

When our practice is embodied, sensory and joyful it can be more powerful.  It is enhanced by opening the heart.

Our soul is made for joy and the more we truly love the more we will experience it and become its very essence.

 “Joy is not incidental to your spiritual practice, it is vital.”  

Rev. Nachman 

The heart must honor the mind for its understanding and the mind must follow the heart in its wisdom

Use it to support the heart’s wisdom.

The soul’s language is learned by listening with the heart. It has many sounds including that of silence. Its eloquence is universal.

 

When the heart is muffled the soul shrinks.

 

“To awaken the heart is to awaken the dormant soul.” M. Gandhi

Any practice done for its own sake, not to perform or look good, that turns us inward and that is enjoyable, regular and sustainable can be a spiritual practice. It does not have to be Eastern in origin or exotic. Unconventional practices can include playing a musical instrument, painting, walking on the beach alone and in silence. The Western mind gets bored easily so some may require more than one way of going inward. A spirit guide practice will be described later since it is more unconventional.

Frequently when I do divinations, the “bones” say the participants’ practice is lacking. More often than not when I ask what they do that is missing it is usually a way of connecting with their guides or an active, bodily oriented active, sensory practice or the use of sensory driven active imagination, rather than only prayer, journaling or passive Eastern forms of meditation. 

The ancients (ancestors, guides) would ask of you to perform good deeds, speak good words and think good thoughts in their memory.
They would want you to be a repository of their instructions, teachings and their righteous and loving ways.

It may also be a sustainable ancestral or spirit guide practice where we ask to receive for the greater good through the container or medium of an altar. We will cover these, including nature and sound as meditation  when we describe more Unconventional forms of practice. 

 

The most profound sound of all is that of silence – not the silence that is the absence of noise, of quietness but that in which we hear the longings of our heart and ponder our response.

God’s breath is heard in quietness and felt in stillness. 
Beware the noises and clamor of ego which drown out the Divine whisper.

The Creator would like a personal relationship with each one of us. Jeremiah teaches; 

"Search for me and you will find me. Seek me with all your heart and I will let you find me."  

God is playing hide and seek but no one wants to play.  

 

The best way to get out of “Mind” notably Monkey/Narrow mind is with spiritual practice.

The lighter we tread with the mind, 

the higher the soul will soar.

Use the mind, do not let the mind use you! 

The mind must mind what the mind minds best.

 

The mind controls the heart. 

 

We choose whether its Monkey or Spacious mind which governs. We should be sure love, not fear is the controller.

The more we steep ourselves in the immediacy of the moment, the deeper we travel into the heart’s chambers.
The lighter we tread with the mind (Narrow Mind,) the higher the soul will soar.

 

Spiritual practice should open the heart chakra. We should be able to see the divinity in everyone. Even if we do not like them we can love that.

Opening the heart helps to subordinate harmful emotions to the love generated feelings of our higher consciousness.

How can we be sure our meditation is working for us? 

The most challenging chakra to open is the heart chakra or the sephirah of Tiferet in the center of the Tree of Life which is love. Our heart or a feeling of love will tell us if we are successful in our practice. Forgiveness – both of oneself and others – is key to opening the heart. Compassion, empathy and gratitude are the bi-products.

It is all about cosmic union. Go forward with forgiveness which is essential to substance and joy.  

How can you be sure? Does it serve love or acquisitiveness? Does it bring us closer to your Creator?

A deep sense of serenity and fulfillment. A state that pervades all emotions and sorrows that come our way. The mind decides.

THE PLAY OF LIGHT AND DARK #5

“For evil to triumph it is only necessary that good men do nothing.” Edmund Burke

          COUNTER MEASURES AND REMEDIES                            FOR WITHIN AND WITHOUT                

 Everything is a test of our spiritual fortitude and how well we rise up to the dark challenges that confront us whether from within or without.

You are free always to change course at any time or place; if you were not, there would be no challenge, no discovery, no victory, no fulfillment.

Joseph Campbell confirms that the cave we fear to enter holds the treasure we seek, as do the Ancestors...

Your teaching is in the shadow of your experiences.

It is possible convert transgressions into merits.

Be careful of what you taste and in what you immerse. 

And as for your power what are you doing in the wrong circle!

The dark forces will use small annoyances to deter and have you quibble and complain – perhaps not overtly but within your spirit. Think of something that makes your heart sure and glad that can bring you back to equanimity. The dark forces are most helpless in the face of love and laughter.

 Anger, hatred, malice, envy and the desire for vengeance are Self-reflective (as in Higher Self) and mirror back to us.

God asks not that we struggle to overcome evil but that we seek, invite and nurture goodness. We are not here to revile and escape the world but rather to reveal and glory in its wonders. 

The best defense is no defense but rather be so strong in positive loving action and intent that there is no room for anything else.

We need to take the darkness and turn it into light. To take our suffering or that of others and make something useful out of it. This requires loving service.

If you would dispel the darkness, seek the sacred.

... What counts is to restrain the blaze in the hours of desire (or challenge) and let it flow into the hours of prayer and service...” The Talmud

 Patience in the presence of evil. Patience is not passive. On the contrary it exercises disciplined energy to act with undemanding trustfulness, steadfast intent and unrestrained willingness while awaiting hoped-for response and desired outcome. Have patience for the prospect of love.

It is good to have the patience with the darkness knowing the light will reappear. It is better to see the light behind the darkness – this is seen with the eyes of hope and imagination.

This too will pass. Hang in there.

Hold tight, hang lose, like boughs in the breeze, the wind or the gale. 

“No matter how long the night, the dawn is sure to come.”             African proverb

Find joy and gratitude in hidden recesses.

Love, laughter and song chase away the dark forces and all that is dreaded from your nights and days.

“Never yield to weariness of spirit. At times the world’s cares and distractions will intrude and the spirit will become weak. At times like this carry on and soon the spirit will become strong again. God’s spirit is always with you to replenish and renew... When you are overcome by temporary conditions which you cannot control keep quiet and wait for the power of spirit to flow back.” 24 hours a day

Music and the right sound repel dark forces. They cannot abide that a high vibration. The same is true for incense which acts as a spiritual "shower" and repels tricksters.

Sound is not just important but crucial in breaking down or chasing away resistances. Sound shatters and crumbles barriers to the mind and heart. Sound speaks to one's vibrations. 

One of the best ways to cleanse and clear oneself of the cloyingness of dark forces is to dispel or change the effects of their energy with sound. 

 

Sound shatters and crumbles resistance to the mind and heart. Sound speaks to one’s vibrations. 

Blowing the ram’s horn or a similar sound can shatter or break the attachments of the body to cravings, so the soul can come back and cleave to the flesh.

From the sound of my sighing has my essence (soul), returned to my flesh (body.)

Music with the right vibration is critical. Anything with a low vibration will attract the dark forces.

"If one should desire to know whether a kingdom is well governed, if its morals are good or bad, the quality of its music will furnish the answer.” Confucius

 

“So it came about that whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take his harp and play it with his hand and Saul would be refreshed and be well and the evil spirit would depart from him.” Samuel

 

”The incense offering is the most potent antidote against evil forces …and it is important to chant before making the incense offering for the power of song draws forth the soul of the plants and herbs be they still growing or cut and dried.”  The Zohar

One can combine all these factors while immersing in a sacred bath. Enhance the vibration of water using prayer, music or chants while burning incense and placing something sacred in the water such as a plant of spiritual power like sage or cedar. One can enhance the senses at the same time by imbibing some good wine or a piece of chocolate. You can even put a teaspoon of red wine in the water to symbolize the blood sacrifice you are making on behalf of the light.

Coherence - Numbers count.

Group meditations, healings and prayers for peace can be more powerful in a group setting. The sum of the parts becomes greater than the whole. Coherence occurs not only inside the practitioner but beyond him or her and even cosmically. 

Indigenous societies do healing rituals in community for good reason. It can help to be part of a spiritual community rather than going it alone depending on the integrity, intention and vibration of that community.

Seek help from your guides and the Creator – ask to receive.

 

“Sometimes I go about pitying myself and all the time I am being carried on great winds across the sky.” Ojibway saying

 

If you walk with your ancestors and guides you will take an abundance of powerful forces with you. They will dispel and neutralize and shed and shade the negative ones that await. Also, additional positive forces will await you there. Your power will illuminate and you will be protected.

 

Actually, no defense is needed in the face of total surrender to the Divine despite the intensity of the attack, temptation or persuasiveness.
If commitment to the light is total then the dark forces cannot prevail.

 

 

 

 

THE PLAY OF LIGHT AND DARK #4

If we ignore or discount the very real and constant threat of negative forces, we do so at our peril. We must be vigilant, a difficult task in itself because of our nature which tends to be complacent and lazy when things are going well and critical and dissatisfied when not. 

We are easily lured from the path of wonder and gratitude, straying from the way of true joy.

Look carefully to what you aspire, cherish and guard so as not to squander your gifts nor lose your heritage.

A paradox - a template for spiritual perfection

 The sacred and profane, light and the dark, good and evil, positive and negative are all part of God’s creation. Finding the middle way between the light and the dark is where our work lies - to coexist and balance the polarities but not assimilate the negative. It’s not what challenges us that counts it is what we do with it.

The dark forces do not obey the law of free will. They may seem to have an advantage but love is more powerful than fear and will prevail, although it may take longer to manifest.

If the burden were taken away the lesson would not be there, coping with it, is what is important and is what will count.

We are continually being tested -not about how much we know or how well we perform but that our trust, our love and our faith are being always tested at unexpected times in often unrecognized guises.

The higher we ascend up our energetic and vibrational hierarchy, the more active and devious the tricksters get. This has been called a Costly Compliment. Metaphorically we have enlisted in the "Spiritual Special Forces." The dark will now test us even more tenaciously. Ancient wisdom teaches us to be respectful of the dark forces but not to align with them. Its best not to offer a challenge which will cause them to up their anti. 

You are free always to change course at any time or place; if you were not, there would be no challenge, no discovery, no victory, no fulfillment.

“There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems (challenges) because you need their gifts.” Richard Bach 

Sometimes the forces of light allow us to be challenged by the opposition to test our free will.

What is the difference between your experience of existence and that of a saint? The saint knows that the spiritual path is a sublime chess game with God and that the Beloved has just made a fantastic move…” Hafiz

Those still committed to and tempted by the lower energy centers – chakras or sephirot (Tree of Life) need fear little opposition from the dark since they are not on the path of transformation. Those committed to the dark will be supported by the dark. Those seeking the light will be challenged according to their progress and determination.

I was in the woods one day listening to some trees. One of them whispered to me that the higher the branches into heaven the deeper the roots into hell.

 The higher we ascend up the Tree of Life or the Chakra system the more we will be opposed. The interference will be maximal when we get close to the Crown. 

The dark forces use water to cool our desire to do good and fire to heat our desire to do evil. Our guides and ancestors use water to cool our desire to do evil and fire to heat our desire to do good.

These factors are a reproach to the dark forces and will challenge them to act out against any adversaries working in the light.

Factors that the Dark Forces cannot Tolerate

A high resolve for “Becoming” (enlightenment.)

Practitioners who have subordinated; shadow to the inclination to do good, ego to the higher Self, Narrow mind to Spacious mind and  tricksters to their guides.

A lofty purpose and commitment toward the higher Self and the light. Those who are helping others with spiritual transformation and healing and sometimes those that are receiving it.

Those with a strong spiritual practice who have secured a place in the higher vibrational realms after death.

Those who have thwarted their challenges or undone their dark arts may have to face even more taxing interference.

If you have many guides and are greatly beloved you will have many dissuaders and be greatly envied.

 

 Factors that enhance the power of the dark forces.

 

Denial of their existence so that they can work unopposed.

Fear. The only thing to fear, is fear itself. They win if we submit to fear.

Over or underestimation of their power.

Offering a challenge.

Our anger, doubt, confusion or pride.

Our abandoning hope, belief or trust when under attack.

 Impatience.

Doubt, complacency, laziness, resignation and a giving up.

The many helpers on the planet that are willing to do their work (and thus reap the benefits of their power at the expense of others.)

Never be disrespectful of the dark forces, neither underestimate their power nor over-estimate your own in dealing with them. Avoidance when possible is best.

Never offer a challenge.

Treating the dark forces respectfully is God’s own way of acknowledging them.

...Doubt, confusion and dismay are often the most telling signs that you are under attack.

Anything that deters spiritual growth that subverts belief or understanding that we have the power to reveal light you may be sure is the dark forces at work.