The Paradox of Awakening

"Awakening is beyond time and is more a state of realization that we can come to that is the nature of who we always were."

A recent "thought" occurred to me that paradox is very important on the spiritual path.  Our brain has two hemispheres, right and left.  The left hemisphere is where most logic and reasoning takes place and the right hemisphere is where most creative and holistic thinking takes place.  My theory that I would like to propose is that ego lives primarily in the left-brain and that a move "mind to heart" on the spiritual path is a movement from left-brained to right-brained thinking.  In this theory, I propose that paradox is a tool that we can use to help confuse the left-brain and encourage right-brain function.

Tying Up The Strong Man

In this podcast, I give my own meaning of a parable that Jesus told that I call "Tying Up the Strong Man" and interpret this in the light of other spiritual teachings. I also explore why we need to label thing, people and experiences in our life and what it would mean if we stopped doing so.

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Love and Lead Your Self

"Only through simultaneously loving and leading these ego "silos" will they be united with our Self into one integrated whole."

After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"
"Yes, Master, you know I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
He then asked a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?"
"Yes, Master, you know I love you."
Jesus said, "Shepherd my sheep."
Then he said it a third time: "Simon, son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, "Do you love me?" so he answered, "Master, you know everything there is to know. You've got to know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my sheep." (John 21:15-17)

I want to offer a commentary on the above Bible passage that is probably different than most. Since I do choose to see more of a symbolic meaning to most religious writings, I look for a deeper meaning. I see Jesus as a man that was so identified with God that that line of separation was erased. His main mission, in my eyes, was to teach others that they could achieve that same higher state of consciousness and that God dwells within all people. It is the in-dwelling of God that unites us all.

I freely interchange references to Jesus as references to God and also interchange these terms as references to Self. A deeper meaning or question in this passage is "Do you love your Self more than any other internal or external structure?" By loving the Self, we are simultaneously loving ourselves and all other people, as our link to God through the Self, is also shared by all other beings.

It appears too that Jesus used the repetition to illustrate a point about Peter's love: that it was conditional on Jesus acting in a certain way. Peter was reading into Jesus' repetition, that Jesus doubted Peter's love for him. The symbolism is that Peter was upset with himself because he doubted his own love for himself. By using repetition, Jesus was also stressing the importance of the message.

I find Jesus' response interesting and interpret "sheep" or "lambs" as the different states of ego. By asking Peter to feed or shepherd, Jesus was saying that he needed to do two different things in order to love his Self. He needed to love these parts of himself that were compartmentalized or perceived to be separate through caring for them. He also needed to unite these separated parts of himself through leading them with his Higher Self. Just like a shepherd looks at his flock with love and compassion, cares for them and leads them, so are we to do the same when our Self, as the observer, notices fractured parts of the ego within us. Only through simultaneously loving and leading these ego "silos" will they be united with our Self into one integrated whole.

Law of Surrender

"Once surrender takes place, this is the beginning point for Love to enter our heart and expand it."

After writing about the Law of Brokenness, I reflected a bit on why I perceived this to be a law as well as what other factors influenced it.  The more I thought about it (and a friend's comments made me introspect more on this), the more I came to the conclusion that there was a deeper law at work, which I will call the Law of Surrender.

Brokenness is a vehicle that brings us to surrender.  But surrender is really where the Power lies.  We can be broken and not surrender to a Higher Power, in which case we have cut ourselves off from this Power transforming us.  Also, we can be unbroken and surrender to a Higher Power and be transformed from the inside out.  The point is that ultimate goal is a shrinking of the ego through a surrendering of it to a Power greater than ourselves.

If someone already is not self-identified with the ego and surrenders the totality of themselves to this Power, then transformation occurs.  What exactly are we surrendering?  We are surrendering the control of our lives.

You see, as I have explored in a previous post called Illusion of Control, we really are not in control of our lives anyways.  If we deeply reflect on this point, we will see that the only practical conclusion is to give this control away.  To whom are we surrendering?  The easiest way to understand this is that we are surrendering to Reality.  We accept life on life's terms, the reality of our situation and how we can operate within the context of reality or the "flow of life."

Once surrender takes place, this is the beginning point for Love to enter our heart and expand it.  This expansion of the heart continues with no end as long as we are on this path.  We find the truth in the concept that one must lose her life in order to find it.

Law of Brokenness

"The Law of Brokenness is that the Power of the Universe works through the broken, through the destitute, downtrodden, and outcasts."

There are many spiritual laws that govern our universe.  These laws are similar to the law of gravity in that they always are in effect.  A law that has recently become very apparent to me, I will call the "Law of Brokenness."  To effectively introduce this law as well as describe how and why it works, I will need to start from the beginning.

We are eternal beings in a human incarnation.  This world is our playground or school to learn lessons and evolve spiritually.  The greatest tool we have at our disposal is our will power.  With it, we can literally choose living a life in heaven or hell right here and now.  We can accept or deny God with it.  This law has been designed so that it takes a force of our will to accept God, which we formally define as a Power greater than ourselves.  If God came in flashing lights and physically appeared in human form to each of us, working all sorts of miracles, that lessens the faith required to believe in this power.  Of course, this occurs from time to time but cannot happen for every person.  If this were to occur, this, in essence, weakens our will and defeats the purpose of us having a will in the first place.

For the pundits who exclaim, "there is no God because I am calling on her to levitate this table 3 feet in the air", this will not occur because of the lessening of the will.  This Power is much more subtle than that.

The Law of Brokenness is that the Power of the Universe works through the broken, through the destitute, downtrodden, and outcasts.  The reason for this is that the embodiment of Love requires absolute surrender to our identification with any part of this world, call this the ego.  If there is but one strand of connection to this world, we block the totality of Love from entering us.  This really is an all or nothing proposition.  A broken person more readily admits and knows that clinging on to Form spells ultimate disaster and is more willing to surrender the totality of themselves to this Power.

This law also calls to light that true spirituality does not necessarily lurk in a monastery, church, convent, temple, or other gathering place but in groups of people that have acknowledged their brokenness.  This is also the paradox that keeps God out of the lime-light, presenting stumbling blocks for the prideful, arrogant and conceited.  To find the Answer, we must do the seeking not have it pre-processed and hand-delivered to us.

The next time you feel yourself putting up a wall of arrogance, remember that Power is with the broken.  Admit your brokenness to others and use it as a fuel to deepen your faith.


I posted a video version of this blog post here:

http://youtu.be/mJBPmz3qkHM

One Truth

There is but one truth in life. That we are all one. There is one reality, one consciousness and one breath that gives us all life. This force and power is the power of Love.

Many times I want to make spirituality complex and add theories and explanations of why such and such happens.  It really all comes down to one basic truth that I often lose sight of.  That is the truth that Love is all there is.

All of the world is made out of this Love-essence.  It is like we are fashioned out of clay and then spend our lives questioning "Does clay exist?"  There is but one truth in life. That we are all one. There is one reality, one consciousness and one breath that gives us all life. This force and power is the power of Love.

In addition to all being made out of the same building block, we also participate in a shared reality.  That is the reality that binds us all together.  And we have one consciousness yet think we are separate.  The same breath that gives me life, gives you life as well.

My ego thinks that if I admit I am but a wave on a vast sea of consciousness, that my ego will die.  The reality is that my ego will die after my physical incarnation anyways.  The bigger reality is that I am not my ego.  What I am is much bigger than my ego but a spirit, part of the Great Spirit.  This is why all religions speak of sacrifice; it is ego sacrifice that they always are referring to.  If I sacrifice my ego now, that is association with my physical incarnation, I have nothing to lose.

The beauty of living a life according to my spiritual nature is that true happiness emerges.  I am living my life by that one power, the power of Love.  I embody that power and allow it to work through me.  What enfolds are dreams greater than what I could have imagined with my ego-mind, as love manifests itself in my life in a concrete way.

The Miracle of Religion

"The miracle of religion is how the voice of the One can still come through vessels that constantly mix in ego and personality into the transmission."


Religions are systems that have been applied to spirituality.  Usually, a teacher comes along that is in direct contact with God or merges with Divinity.  Such teachers rarely write down their own teachings as they are just so content with life.  In that space, they are just content with the state of being.  Later on, people come along and interpret, recollect and paraphrase the lives of these prophets.  They create elaborate systems that were never the intent of the original teacher.  These systems are primarily intellectual in nature.  They are a way for the mind to relate to the teachings and then how to make that make sense in the light of contemporary thought and culture.


From there, generations of followers of these religions create different flavors of it; they break off from the original religious branch and create their own.  Some religions may be combined with others to create hybrid religions. In the end, it is all the same.  Religion is an intellectual system of thought that systematizes a vast body of knowledge that came about as a result of an enlightened teacher.


Some of us mistake religion as God.  We misinterpret the enlightened teacher and think that our religion is the only way to God.  We think that if we focus on the words of our religious writings, that that is the voice of God.  We do not allow God to talk to us in any other way than the channels which our religion approves.  In this way, religions can be idols that take us away from God.


A religion may be useful for the vast majority of us to bring us to the One force in this world, the First Cause at it were.  Religions make things very palatable for our minds.  They predigest the concepts of God and spirituality for us.  A system has been created that we just have to follow to achieve union with God, or whatever the goal the religion espouses.  Religion is like spirituality with training wheels.  After some of us learn to ride the bike of spirituality, we are then ready to get rid of the training wheels.


We see that the world is our religion.  Life is our spiritual practice.  At that point, we look up and see that the world is full of religions, just like ours, that are also paths to the Divine.  Ours was but one path.  We may leave the religious path and enter a wider spiritual path.


At some point, we may choose to re-visit our religion of origin and are amazed at what we see with our new spiritual eyes.  The miracle of religion is how the voice of the One can still come through vessels that constantly mix in ego and personality into the transmission.  How is it that we were able to see past the stumbling blocks of ego and narrow viewpoints that flavored our religious writings and teachings?


That is the true miracle.  That we could see through to the truth about our Beloved, despite all of the additives that were put into the mixture.  This is testimony to the Light that is inside each of us, that we can learn to discern true teachings by the light of this flame.  In a way, the light of God is able to illuminate the truth of God; light attracts light.  May we forever appreciate that the Supreme cut through the entanglements of dogma to show us her true nature and guides us on our spiritual path.

Love Yourself

"I can always be kinder to, more gracious to and more loving of myself."

As I put spiritual truths into practice, I notice, within myself, certain tendencies that I have developed over my life. All of these tendencies had a purpose, at the time, which were simply coping mechanisms to get through life. My ego needed these tendencies to preserve itself. Now that I know that the ego itself is the illusion and my spirit is the reality, these tendencies are no longer needed.

These tendencies are critically thinking about my past or current actions, constantly analyzing past actions to try and learn from them, doubting myself and my current path, diagnosing myself as being one way or the other, and seeing myself as separate or "an abnormality" from popular society. These are just a few that come to mind. As I begin to become aware of these tendencies, I see them as an opportunity to practice spiritual truths. What would my inner life look like if I was truly loving myself?

If I was loving myself, I would only reflect on my successes. I would see ways in which I had done the right thing and try to learn how to replicate that. I would believe in myself and my current path. I would stop labeling myself and see myself as a part of the cohesive whole of humanity. This is not to say that I ignore the negative but that mistakes should be reviewed immediately after they occurred to examine how they could have been avoided. In addition, I think I should think about ways in which the mistake or negative event was a blessing. I also think that any "mind chatter" takes me out of the present moment so I should engage in the practice of a silent mind. My point is, if any reflection is necessary, it should, most of the time, be on ways in which I have succeeded and giving myself the benefit of the doubt every time. I can always be kinder to, more gracious to and more loving of myself.

Before you engage in inner commentary about things you have done or are doing, you can ask yourself these questions first. Is this self review occurring immediately after the action? Have I already reviewed my behavior previously? How can I love myself more through this thought? How has what happened been a blessing in my life?

I sincerely believe that it is much better to err on the side of love. Love yourself thoroughly and completely through every thought. It is the ego that jumps in and asks these questions. How is what I am thinking practical? How else am I going to learn from my mistakes? Aren't I just stuffing my emotions if I do not look at things practically? These questions are all designed to take you out of the present moment. Give yourself unlimited grace, love and acceptance. You can never over-do it, because there is no limit to how much we can love. At the very least, you can replace critical thoughts with the thought of "I love myself." This thought is still dwelling in a space of separation because the "I" implies separateness. You want to get to a place of Being-ness. The highest state we can attain is feeling the Love inside our heart consciously and deliberately as we observe our thoughts, whether positive or negative.

Listen to Yourself

"You can experience true freedom when you learn to listen to that still, small voice inside you and not what anyone else may say, regardless of popularity of circumstance."

On this path, you will encounter both external and internal resistance as I have written about previously.  Conquering the internal resistance helps you when you encounter resistance outside yourself.  For example, recognizing when the ego crops up internally and learning how to observe it, rather than act on it helps your outer life.  When we encounter other's personal egos or even collective egos, we can learn how to observe that too.  Both practices have a synergistic effect on one another, such that you learn how to become an observer in all things.

This is easier said than done unfortunately.  This is because we have all been socialized into an idea of external reality.  This is, of course, the domain of the ego.  The ego thinks that it only exists through the eyes and opinions of other people.  The worth system is reversed.  Rather than obtaining your worth through the sole fact that you are an eternal, supernatural Being, your worth is measured by what others think of you.

A common practice when others are giving you advice is to employ the idea of a "them" or "they."  They may harmlessly refer to a respected group that could either disapprove of you or even affect you in some way.  This is a way for them to reinforce their point, so you may be dealing with a bunch of egos, personal and collective, as a way to sway you.  When we get criticism from others, even constructive, it is like getting a banana peel thrown at you.  What do you do?  You duck, but, before you duck, open the peel and see if there  is a banana in there.  If there is, eat the banana and throw the peel away.  In other words, examine their opinion with your internal Voice and take anything away that is of substance.

We all have people in our lives that will offer unsolicited opinions.  A lot of this opinion does not come from a centered place.  You can quickly see that adopting this opinion as reality, even though it may be popular will bring you into an uncentered place as well.  We, of course, have a few people in our lives that are our spiritual mentors.  They may offer advice that resonates deep within you and not with your ego.

On an energetic level, any time you take on someone else's opinion as your own, you literally are plugging a cable from your energy center to them and energy is being drained from you.  Call back your spirit from that individual or even collective ego that you are plugged into.  Mentally imagine pulling the plug on that cable so that you are free.  You can experience true freedom when you learn to listen to that still, small voice inside you and not what anyone else may say, regardless of popularity of circumstance.

For me, personally, as I unplug from other's opinions, reality begins to shift as these "distortion fields" are removed.  Much of our anxiety comes from attempting to live up to this distorted reality, which, many times, is comprised of future projections.  This is a process that needs to be done continually so that we are not giving our power away to others.  How good it is to experience true freedom that comes with living an authentic life.

Choose Peace

"Our thoughts and words produce reality, so, by speaking of a war, we indeed are creating a war by this intention."
 
On this spiritual journey, we discover the "clues" that help us discern teachings that are of a higher quality.  When it comes down to it, pure teachings should resonate with you.  There are certain attributes that we can look for, such as do we feel more peaceful after hearing it?  Does the teaching promote love and acceptance of others?  Is the teaching inclusive rather than divisive?
 
Within organized religion there are a myriad of teachings that have been accepted as fact.  Like a house of cards, these teachings are stacked upon each other.  Usually, the card you are seeing is near the top, whereas the core truth that it was built off of is hidden far beneath.  In other words, there are certain truths that underly all teachings of organized religion and we need to look to these truths that undergird the others.
 
One teaching that I hear a lot, mostly by organized religion but also by some spiritual teachers, is that we are engaged in a war in this life.  The teaching goes that there is a war for our souls, good vs. evil, heaven vs. hell.  We need to act now to prevent these eternal consequences.  If we look at this, we see black and white thinking, divisiveness, a sense of urgency, and a need for immediate action.  These fruits look more like fruits of the ego, rather than fruits of the spirit.
 
Spiritual truths are holistic, inclusive of all people, patient and require no action on your part.  Spirituality is a process of letting go, of giving up our pursuits, so that the Universe may fill the void.  Our thoughts and words produce reality, so, by speaking of a war, we indeed are creating a war by this intention.  By even declaring war on our ego, we are alienating a part of us rather than lovingly bringing our ego back into the fold of our consciousness.
 
If we live life in peace, then we will have peace.  There can be no war if you have forfeited the battle in your mind.  It has not even progressed from that space into reality.  The next time you hear divisive talk that segregates people into warring factions, know that the spiritual life is above this talk.
 
This does bring up the topic of Satan or demonic influences.  I cannot speak as to the existence of negative spirits but know that the Universe is a good, safe place.  If such spirits do roam, they are the exception rather than the rule.  The One who gave you form is inside you and is capable of dealing with such issues.  A more pertinent issue is the way in which we mistreat others through the blindness of our collective egos, rather than the debate about a kingpin of evil.  We do not need to launch a war yet need to bask in the peace of a God that is beyond our understanding.  This God calls for peace, love and compassion for others so that these flames of war may be extinguished.

When We Are Wronged

"We need to constantly be removing any blockages that stop the flow of the Divine into our hearts."

We all have an internal barometer inside that helps us determine if we have been wronged in some way. It's a primitive fight or flight response that we have in response to things that happen to us. This mechanism becomes clouded when the entanglements of our ego come into play. Another factor may be that we have not used that instinct sufficiently or properly in the past, so we are out of practice.

This fight or flight response surfaces when others try and take advantage of us. The real trick is being able to figure out when this self-protective mechanism has been triggered by another person or our ego. Sometimes, our ego blows things so out of proportion that we think our fight mechanism has been triggered. In actuality, our thinking was clouded by our selfishness.

If we notice that we have issues with knowing when we are legitimately threatened by another, then we can work on this issue in a couple ways. The first thing we can do is continually work on diminishing the ego. We can never make the ego entirely disappear but diminish it to a size where it is not a factor. We can also build up enough reference experiences where we properly used our survival mechanism, so that we have enough training to properly use it in the future.

This does beg the question of how do we properly use this survival mechanism? There is no hard and fast rule, but, if we try to look at the situation from an outside perspective, we will clearly see that a certain level of harm was inflicted on us. You may even want to ask an unbiased third party for their input.

We may not be able to always clearly determine when we should fight or flee. This gives rise to two spiritual practices that we can undertake. We need to constantly be removing any blockages that stop the flow of the Divine into our hearts. This means undertaking whatever spiritual practices we need to keep this channel open. This will help assure us that we are operating outside our ego. We also should practice being non-reactive. If we are non-reactive, even when our imaginary "rights" are squashed, we act as if nothing happened. Of course, we should practice healthy discrimation such that we will react when we are obviously being taken advantage of. The benefit to being non-reactive is that we are doing the right thing no matter what the case is. You can always go back later, if you wish, and have a talk with the offender in an attempt to vent your frustration. However, if we had reacted and blew things out of proportion, there is no going back and reversing your actions.

When We Encounter External Resistance

"We must offer no resistance to the challenges of others, because this is precisely what the collective ego desires."

Breaking out of old belief systems can take a bit of work, not just because you will experience internal resistance but because you may experience external resistance as well. This external resistance may come in the form of the collective unconscious of others. This can also be called the collective shadow.

This collective shadow is unseen by anyone who participates in it, even the givers and the receivers. This is the subtext that governs are interactions with others. What is happening is the other group "egos" we participate in: family, friends, and society at large do not like it when this group ego shrinks. As you begin to wake up, the shrinking of your ego is a threat to these other entities.

The collective egos respond through the collective shadow, using whatever tricks necessary to "get us back." Again, our family, friends and others do not even know they are doing this or why they are doing this.

If we have done our internal work of grappling with our own shadow, then we are prepared to handle the resistance of others. How are we to respond to challenges to our new way of Being? We are to respond with love, kindness, gentleness and compassion. We must offer no resistance to the challenges of others, because this is precisely what the collective ego desires. The ego grows through dissension, bickering and fighting. It shrinks through love and selflessness.

The irony is the more that we offer no resistance, the more resistance may come at first. An attempt to listen to others opinions or even confrontations without reacting will come across as "holier than thou." At its core, the collective ego does not understand freedom that comes with detachment. It is not fair to the ego that we can live a life removed from guilt, shame and fear. The collective ego wants to absorb our ego back into itself.

All that we can do on this path is be prepared when this resistance comes. Even when you have made great progress internally, you may encounter resistance in your interactions with others. We can disable this resistance through not reacting to it and loving others. Others, through their collective egos, do not have power over you anymore. They are a part of the forms of this world. Connect with those who challenge you through the Formless, see them as Spirit, and your love will transmute any resistance into harmony with others.

Be Consciously Selfless

"If you practice putting others before yourself willingly, knowing what you are doing, you are aligning yourself with the Power of the Universe and have all of Heaven to help you."

We are often faced with a choice in life where we are asked to align ourselves with the world that we see and the world of the unseen, that is the spiritual world or higher ideals.  The moments when this occur are very subtle and, if we miss them, we miss out on a chance to deepen our spiritual life.  Such moments usually have the following elements in common.  Some event in your life occurs or someone acts in such a way that infringes on your ego.  You feel that pang in your stomach, the one you feel when someone takes advantage of you.

The fundamental wisdom of this world is, in such cases, to right the wrong.  The advice goes along the lines of standing up for your rights, defending yourself, and wanting equal justice.  All of this advice plays upon the ego. Just as you have an ego, there are collective consciousnesses, large and small, that have egos as well.  Your family, friends, co-workers, even "religious" people may endorse you defending your ego or even their collective egos.  Instead of asserting your or their rights, see a time such as this as an ample opportunity to practice aligning yourself with the unseen, that still, small voice inside you that comes from a Power greater than yourself.

You see, such circumstances were put into your life for exactly that purpose.  To not do so is to miss a chance to grow spiritually and see things from a higher dimension.  Such advice flies in the face of the conventional wisdom of this world and you will be ridiculed as being weak, not having a backbone or caving to pressure.

The higher truth in this is that there are two types of selflessness.  The first type is always giving into other's demands unknowingly because you are weak.  The second, highest, type is practicing putting others before yourself willingly, knowing what you are doing and the sacrifice you are making.  This is quiet strength.  In doing this, you are aligning yourself with the Power of the Universe and have all of Heaven to help you.  In such a case, if someone takes advantage of you, they are taking advantage of the Power inside you.  They are building up negative karma for themselves which may have an immediate or delayed impact upon their lives.

Pay attention to circumstances in your life when you feel the need to assert your rights.  Ask yourself the question: "If I was looking at the situation from the outside, what would be the best decision for all involved?" instead of immediately jumping in and making decisions on behalf of your ego.  If necessary, ask an impartial friend who is able to weigh the matter justly what a fair course of action is.

An even higher course of action is to turn the table on these circumstances and use them as a chance to befriend your adversary or share love with others.  In this manner, the arrows that come at you in life turn into flowers and fall harmlessly at your feet.  Others instantly know on some level when another is taking a higher ground in a matter and respect them.  How can someone want to hurt another who is smiling, with outstretched arms?  They will not, or, if they do, it will be apparent to others what is going on.  They will come to your aid in one way or another.

A simple truth is that any war that has ever occurred happened because someone refused to put down their weapon.  It is impossible for there to be a battle if the other party is disarmed.  No one can fight with you if you refuse to fight back.

Of course, there are times when you must, out of self-respect, stand up for yourself and, to not do so, will obviously inflict irreparable harm upon yourself or others.  In such cases, by all means, do what is necessary to make sure that such harm is not inflicted.  However, your first concern should be taking an altruistic view of the situation and associated action.  There is a benefit to invoking the Power of the Universe in such matters.  You can rest easy knowing that God is going before you, coordinating events, opening doors and bestowing such blessings upon you that you are not able to imagine.  When you invoke the Unseen, the seeming "power" that you gave away will come back to you in ten- or a hundred-fold as you reap these heavenly rewards.