THE SEARCH FOR THE SELF 

 NAVIGATING THE APOCALYPSE

"People are like tea bags, you only know how strong they are when you put them in hot water." Unknown

This is a large topic which includes a lot of other topics, many of which I have covered over the years in greater detail than I will in this series of blogs. I will highlight them briefly to remind and urge us to manage them especially during these crazy times. We need not to let what is happening on the planet get the better of us. There is always an opportunity in every crisis if we look for it.  Every challenge we face may not be a "problem" - or worse still a crisis - but rather grist for the mill to make us stronger.  The Buddhists look at adversity as tests of their spiritual fortitude. Especially during these troubled times we need to enhance our inner resources and find ways to maintain our equanimity and maintain our spiritual vibration is spite of the negatives around us. Committing  to a spiritual life can help allay our stresses and fears. 

There are only two feelings, love and fear and there are so many troubling variables "out there" pushing us towards fear.  Fear can result from the following; threat to life, limb, organ or function, religious or superstitious, fear of the occult and the unknown, social and threats to the ego or one's persona (shame being the most severe.)  Religious fanaticism in Jihad is threatening our existence and is bent on eventually getting rid of all infidels unless they buy into Sharia law. Authoritarianism is doing the same to control for different reasons. They are both  about barbarism, power and greed. These together with other planetary disturbances threaten us and cause stress and fear. What we need to strive for is eustress. Finding the light in the adversity - turning the crap into manure. A spiritual life can help us do so.

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.

We have to find the balance between the sacred and the profane, the light and the dark, the good and the evil, the positive and the negative,  There can be no growth without conflict. It is all part of some grand mystical and mysterious conundrum. We cannot have one without the other. There is no rose without a thorn. When the dark overwhelms we need to bring in more light.

THE SEARCH FOR THE SELF

The search for the Self, the real Self, the True Self, the Soul, or that perfection made in the image of the Creator should be at the core of all human motivation whether we know it or not or strive for it or not.

“Before the soul enters this world it is conducted through all worlds. Last of all it is shown the first light which when the world was created illuminated all things and which God removed when mankind grew corrupt. Why is the soul shown this light? 

So that from that hour on it may yearn to attain the light and approach it rung by rung.”

That light is the soul coming into full recognition of its-Self and that it is pure light. Unity consciousness - being one with the Infinite One. Those that have had Near Death Experiences seem to have encountered that same light - which is pure love. They are never the same afterwards and they yearn to attain the light and approach it rung by rung. We need to do the same.

The journey itself is the place of being, it is never finished; the being is always becoming. The road to this place is the road of surrender.

SELF REALIZATION, ENLIGHTENMENT OR THE PROCESS OF "BECOMING"

The process of becoming is a journey and not a destination.

 "Kabir says, friend, there are very few who find the way.”

The gates are wide but few will enter.

FREE WILL - THE COSMIC LAW

"Becoming" may take many life times because of free will. 
Free will is always neutral, motivated and catalyzed by 
one’s own desire.
You cannot say, the devil made me do it.

 

One needs to rise to a certain level of excellence to achieve "Enlightenment." Spiritual perfection is a state of impossibility. Hence the Ancestors prefer the word “Becoming” to that of Self-Realization or Enlightenment which may assume a fixed point. There is always another level of vibration to realize above the one that we have attained. Once a certain level of excellence is fulfilled, we are no longer required to continue on the journey of “samsara,” the cycle of death, reincarnation and rebirth with its mundane existence and suffering. Without the tension delivered in the multitude of polarities around us there would be no challenge and no possibility for Becoming. Our challenge is the gift of living in a sentient body. When we go to the other side, the spirit lives on but we drop the physical body and we are no longer confined to the senses. Being sentient is a gift. Managing it responsibly - so as not to pollute the soul which is pure - is the challenge.

  

… I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”   William Ernest Henley

 

With all your strength get knowledge.

Spiritual laws are operative whether or not we understand them or can explain them or whether or not we even know about them or believe in them.

IMPERMANENCE

"A net is spread out for the living. Everything is given on loan (impermanent) and all is preparation for a grand celebration.” Rev Akiva

Do not think to store in cisterns for they will crumble, and the water will be lost.

 

Everything is already in the process of being broken so we need to enjoy it without attachment. Savor all the moments, even the bad ones for the lessons they bring. Joy or happiness is an imperative for our karma. To actualize the moments karmically we need to savor them. We are here to take pleasure but to do so responsibly. This is why the Ancestors are in favor of a sensory driven spiritual practice.

If we think of ourselves paddling our sentient body in a canoe down the river of life eventually heading to the other side across the veil, we can consider the two banks representing Attachment and Non-Attachment.

If we touch up against the bank of pleasure, joy and happiness we should be in the moment, enjoy it fully and then push back into midstream. When we end up on the bank of pain, suffering and misery we should, by all the methods given to us by the sages, look for the learning opportunities and head back to midstream with equanimity. We never set up camp or become attached to either bank.

Harrison Owen's rules of non-attachment can help us.

“Whoever are present are the right people.

Whenever it begins is the right time.

Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened.

When it’s over – it’s over.”

 

KARMA and FREE WILL

The results of cause and effect are often not immediate because they would influence free will.

Karma is about spiritual merit, not material achievement. The law of cause and effect is about accountability and the spiritual consequences thereof. About how we do things? Out of love and for their own sake or out of fear and for an agenda. The yogis say that any motivation bound to an ego motive will buy us another life time.

When we eventually cross over the veil between worlds to the Astral realms (there are multiple vibrations and possibilities) we will have to account for our deeds to a Spiritual Tribunal. This is not judgment day  but as we sew so we reap. We are lovingly shown the errors of our ways which determine our next incarnation.

The laws of Karma which will be covered in the next blog arise out of Five Imperatives: 

Fulfilling our destiny. 

Correcting injustice and helping the planet.

Doing no harm to any of the Four Beings of nature. 

Subordinating ego to the Higher Self.

Love. 

Experiencing the joy of living, having gratitude and savoring the moments.

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…

 

Apologies, readers. Due to foreseen circumstances there will be no blog this week. See you next week.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Dave

 

MANIFESTATIONS AND EFFECTS OF AN ONGOING SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

God is a persistent lover wooing us with many pleasures,
lavishing endless grace, wanting our delight, hoping for our trust.

The process of Becoming is a journey not a destination.

 

One only needs to rise to a certain level of excellence to inherit the "Pure Land of the Buddha", because spiritual perfection is a state of impossibility. Hence the Ancestors prefer the word “Becoming” to that of Self-Realization or Enlightenment which may assume a fixed point. There is always another level of vibration to realize above the one that we have attained. Once a certain level of excellence is fulfilled, we are no longer required to continue on the journey of “samsara,” the cycle of death, reincarnation and rebirth as well as our mundane existence and it’s suffering.

Without the tension provided in the multitude of polarities around us there would be no challenge and no possibility for enlightenment. There can be no growth without conflict.

 

THE FIELD

 

“Whatever being comes to be, be it motionless or moving, derives its being from Field and Knower (the Creator) of the Field. Know this!”

Bhagavad Gita

 

“Out there beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing there is a Field. I will meet you there.” Rumi

 With time and dedication, transformation can slowly occur

 

Time, space and matter comprise our physical universe and the source of power lies beyond the material, beyond time, space and matter.
Walk the path with awareness of both the something and the nothing, of the realm of what is sensed and known and the realm of what is neither sensed nor known.
Each experience of this awareness is a moment between moments, a dancing in the mystery of the void….where one encounters the Source of spiritual power.

 

Spiritual practice should help us find our mission, purpose and destiny or our own unique core strength or archetype. This is at the heart of the hero/ine’s journey. If we lose our self, as in the little self or ego, we can find our Self as in the Big or True Self. Connecting with Self is not selfish – quite the contrary. It will lead us to better serving others with our core skills.

 

You must free yourself to be your Self.
Do not be captive to the demands of false duty.

Release yourself from what you are not accountable.

 

 Be attentive only to the responsibility of what compels.
Bestow blessings, refuse burdens.
What makes you beholden enslaves you.
What makes you grateful blesses you.
What you touch, touches you. 

What you let touch you, enhances or diminishes. 

Anything or anybody who does not make you more of who you are makes you less of who you are.

In summary these these qualities may be slowly evolving.

Subordinating Ego, Shadow, Monkey Mind

Non-attachment to the material

Forgiveness-Compassion-Empathy-Love

Surrender-Trust-Congruence with one's True Self

Gratitude-Joy-Meaning

Equanimity-Oneness

Being-Becoming-Awakening

Kundalini and Contact with the “Field”

Connection with Self/Soul-Destiny-Guides-Scripted Dreams 

As one’s practice deepens, we rise up the Tree of Life or the Chakra hierarchy and our vibration increases as follows. Initially we temper our fears and our lower survival, energy centers. We begin to experience increasing levels of humility as we subordinate ego and become non-attached to the material or the persona.

Then we encompass more love, compassion, empathy, gratitude and have the ability to see the divine in others, as we open our hearts. We "Sweeten" our judgments and when we judge, we judge the action and not the person.

Wisdom without love will not get us to Keter or the Crown chakra.

If you declare your heart, whatever it is, and follow its course however inexplicable it may seem, all that you truly want will fall into the flow. This may not be necessarily be as you would arrange it or even like it to be but look for it to manifest, for it surely will.

 

Determine well the heart’s true desire for in releasing the power of your motivation its energies will actualize the holiness or unholiness of your intent.

Eventually we become more truly expressive of our real Selves and whichever gift or quality we possess to ideally get in touch with our destiny path.

Lastly striving for the Crown we develop more intuitive powers from the Third Eye or the sephirah of wisdom. We subordinate doubt, denial, resignation, detachment and hopelessness to hope, faith, belief, trust and surrender and even develop a personal connection to the Infinite One. Equanimity, happiness, joy and gratitude are key to the path.

""Joy is not incidental to your spiritual path it is vital." 

Rev Nachman

You have only to delight yourselves in the Creator and S/He will give you the desires of your heart - that is - the desire of His.

 

“Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.” 

Teilhard de Chardin

 

Any who bring joy to another, give God joy. Any who act with love for the other's good and pleasure do themselves partake in God’s rivers of pleasure and good.

 

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

 

The yogis describe the phenomenon of the Oneness Experience or Unity Consciousness where the Knower, the Known and the Process of Knowing fuse and become one thing. This is similar to Kabbalah's Union with the Divine. For most of us it occurs very briefly when we become the dance, the song or the rainbow we are viewing. These are signs we are heading in the right direction. They come through grace. Maslow called them Peak Experiences. These mystical sensations can occur with:

Meditation, Solitude 

Music, dance, drumming, art

Body work 

In Nature

 Shamanic rituals,

Entheogens

Orgasm

Childbirth

Scientific discovery 

et al ...

The following paranormal phenomena may occur in order of difficulty but they are not essential and can lead to arrogance, fortifying the ego.  They can mislead us into the path of using spiritual power for material gain. The yogis teach that they can be a trap rather than a blessing.

Synchronicity

Coherence

Superfluidity or being in the flow or the "zone"

Precognition

Telepathy

Clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience

Remote or distant "seeing" or "viewing" (diagnosis of illness)

Remote or distant healing or curing

Telekinesis

Receiving scripted dreams or downloads during awake time from guides

Trance-channeling

No person, no matter how adept will have all or even many of these. Each to his or her own. We need to find the one that will best connect us across the veil to our helpers who know who and what we are. It is a waist of time trying to develop skills that are not part and parcel of our core spiritual strengths. Some may have paranormal skills that differ from these above but are just as powerful spiritually. Its not about power but how we can best heal the planet.

"We are here to help others, what on earth others are here for I do not know." W. H. Auden

“Our thoughts, words and actions impact all creation and have the potential for raising holy sparks. These sparks are contained in husks and our task is to release them.” Isaac Luria

Ari the great Kabbalist taught that the Holy Sparks surrounding the soul need to be liberated from the husks of negativity containing them that are everywhere. These sparks are inherent in everything we do, eat drink, in the tools we use and the work we do. It's all about being consciously aware and practicing random acts of kindness in our daily lives.

The Ancestors endorse a sensory spiritual practice (sing, dance, drum, walk in nature etc) because...

 

The strength of the forces of holiness and the destruction of the shells or husks that imprison holy sparks depends upon joy.

Rev Nachman

Equanimity is believing that God is present in everything we do and in so believing, while it does not change what we do, it does change how we feel about it. We do it with greater reverence, gratitude and joy because we trust in and are aware of God's presence.

 

                                   

 

 

"CONVERSATIONS" WITH THE CREATOR

SOUL SPEAK

 

SOUL

We are all made in the image of the Divine, with a pure soul. We see this in the innocence of a child before they become acculturated. We are a microscopic chip of the Creator, a tiny holographic imprint of the Supreme Being. Each one of us is important and has meaning in the grand scope of the cosmos.

 

“Before the soul enters this world it is conducted through all worlds. Last of all it is shown the first light which when the world was created illuminated all things and which God removed when humankind grew corrupt. Why is the soul shown this light? So that from that hour on it may yearn to attain the light and approach it rung by rung.” Talmud

 

The Talmud is referring to the rungs on the “ladder” of the Tree of Life. Our purpose is to get to the Crown or Keter and find our true place with the Creator; “I am that I am” i.e. coming into direct recognition that we are made in the image of the Divine - a form of Union with the Infinite One or the Unity Consciousness - the Oneness Experience or non duality in Yoga. Words cannot explain. My sense is that everyones' experience will be different.

“All the talents of God are within you.
 How could this be otherwise when your soul is derived from His genes!” Hafiz

 

The light of the Creator brought forth in the instant of creation shines into time and timelessness and space and spacelessness. This light is beheld by the soul and compels full knowledge of itself but is usually hidden behind the glitter of what attracts ego.

 

“In every person there is something precious which is in no-one else. And so we should honor each for what is hidden within them for what only they have.” Talmud

 

“… Each soul makes Two agreements upon entering the world. The first binds the individual to a distinct destiny that becomes the soul’s great project in life. 

The second entangles each person in the limitations of fate and responsibilities for family and community. While all second agreements can be renegotiated, the first is non-negotiable.” Michael Meade

 

Negotiating the rungs should also ideally be tied to that unique destiny given to us by the Creator so that we can help to perfect His/Her creation. This is about giving of ourselves. By doing this we increase our divine given capacity.

We think that in the natural way of things, what we give lessens our supply. The soul does not work this way - with the soul, giving increases.

 

“The souls of people on their way to earth-life pass through a room full of lights. Each takes a taper, often only a spark to guide it in the dim country of this world. But some souls by rare fortune are detained longer and have time to grasp a handful of tapers which they weave into a torch. 

These are the torchbearers of humanity – its poets, seers and saints who lead and lift the race out of darkness towards the light. They are the law givers and saviors, the light bringers, way showers and truth tellers and without them humanity would lose its way in the dark.” Plato

 

Many of these light bearers are the ones who help us navigate our spiritual transformations.

We are all made in the image of the Supreme Being and each one of us has a special task to do in order to heal the world (Tikun Olam in Kabbalah.) This is the basis of Karma (service oriented) yoga - what we can each do for any or all of the Four Beings of Natures - Still, Growing, Wild (includes domestic beings that were once wild) and the Talking Beings. 

“The worship most pleasing to God is service to others.” L. Boff

"We are on earth to help others; what on earth others are here for, I do not know." W.H. Auden

In connecting with the breath we can connect with the Creator. The soul and the breath are pure. The energies that surround the soul such as; ego, monkey mind and shadow may not be pure. These can repel the soul or divorce it from the sentient body, if our intention, choices, and actions are impure. 

 

“The soul is pure …” Rev Nachman

“…What is God? The breath inside the breath.” Kabir

 

Source of my power the breath you have given me, the breath you have given me is pure.

 

Flame of the Infinite One is the Soul Breath of the human.

 

A river arose out of Eden forming Four Rivers and Four Winds which animate all of creation. The Zohar

 

The breath that is in all beings emanates from the sacred well-spring  forming a singular spirit which animates all creation.

The Infinite One wants a personal relationship with us all. It is said that God is playing hide and seek but no-one wants to play because the rules, though simple, are difficult. 

"Search for me and you will find me, 

seek me with all your heart and I will let you find me." Jeremiah

It will be given to you according to; 

the measure of your humility, 

the measure of your love 

and the measure of your faith. 

You will be filled according to your emptiness.
The doorway to presence is openness.

You are much more than you know but only what you have learned with your heart does God manifest in you.
You are a wave of God's ocean, a ray of His/Her sunlight, alive with His breath.
It is not enough for you to know your source and substance.
You must be the source and substance.
This is your soul's wisdom that surpasses all understanding.

God's "voice" is heard in stillness - in a receptive, silent, inner, meditative state. It is not heard as a trumpeting sound but like a whisper on the wind. We are all capable of hearing it depending on the level of our vibration. 

If we are doing God's work we are connected to Him - known or unknown, present or felt to be absent - we are not alone.

The life breath of the human is the Flame of the Infinite One searching through the chambers of our core.