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…