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.