DESTINY AND THE HERO’S JOURNEY #3B

INCORPORATION (continued)

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

 

The Peter Principle states that we rise to the level of our own incompetence, in other words, “cream rises to the top and then it sours.”

Many of us, because of our ambition or because we are perceived as being highly competent at one thing may logically be graduated to something outside of our inherent archetype. We must have the resolve not to be tempted to leave that sense of flow and aliveness and become mediocre in spite of the compelling perks that may be offered.

 

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” Abe Lincoln

 

Beware the “fall” out of the grace after all you have received and all the hard work you have done. Many lose the way and slip back into old patterns, complacency and the allure of the material. Maintaining a regular spiritual practice is essential to holding to one’s truth, vision or myth. As Campbell says; follow your bliss.

If you are unclear which to choose it is best to focus on spiritual practice and obtaining knowledge for transformation. Knowledge, wisdom and inner practice are the wings that will help you fly to your true purpose.  

 

“When you find your place where you are, practice (or service) begins.“ Dogen

Or you may choose to pursue the spiritual life and the realization of Self through any one of the four yogas; Karma (service,) Bhakti (devotion,) Jnana (spiritual knowledge) and Raja yoga (control of the mind.) Karma yoga is very much in line with the conventional Hero's journey. In the others service to others with that particular core strength will also occur but in a spiritual sense.

 

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

 

We know much more than we think we know and are much more than we believe ourselves to be. We only need to remember. This mean tapping into the “soulular” memory of our Store Consciousness – the accumulation of our past lives and our subconscious memories. We may have a sense of de ja vu and that we have heard these spiritual concepts before or that they are now easily understood and remembered. But this requires us to ...

With all our strength get knowledge.

In this way we can transcend anxiety and the sorrow arising out of fear. At the end of the day and a series of hero’s journeys one comes to realize that the quest is a sacred one to connect with the Higher Self and its greater mission. However, its always about service to others.

“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water (your work.) After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water (your destiny through service.)“  Zen teaching

 

With time one may find that there are recognizable inner experiences that confirm you are opening up to the spirit world – such as; synchronicity, coherence, a sense of flow or “super-fluidity,” and other intuitive powers. These can occur both in the awake or the dream state. There can even be kundalini-like vibrations occurring during sleep or other awakening experiences during your meditations. 

Validate, savor and honor them rather than rationalize them away and keep them to one's Self, they are sacred. 

Oneness experiences when the Knower, the Known, and the Process of Knowing fuse into one (Maslow’s Peak Experience) or wilderness rapture tell you your energy body is in sync with the cosmos 

but may not tell you what to do about it.

Remember that the paranormal talent or talents that you have – no-one has all of these – will be the one or the ones that your guides and the Great Spirit know to be those most accessible to their messages. 

It is wasteful of your time and theirs to follow those that are not part of who you truly are. Just because some well-informed person tells you that this is the way to go or the spiritual practice to embrace, does not mean either are the ones for you. Be wary of others relating their own epic experiences if they belittle your own.

 

“I implore you to submit to your own myths. Any postponement in doing so is a lie.”William Carlos Patterson

You cannot control result only your actions. You cannot predict outcomes only your choices. 

Do not rely on the hope of results …

“Do not depend on the hope of results. When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and achieve no worth at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea you will start more and more to concentrate not on the results but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.” 

Thomas Merton

If all else fails do everything for its own sake without having an agenda or an ego-bound motivation including when it comes to helping others. This is good Karma yoga.