SPIRITUAL BALANCE:
IS ENLIGHTENMENT POSSIBLE
IN THE MATERIAL WORLD?
Living A Balanced Spirituality - Soul & Mind, Ego & Spirit, Intuition & Reason
To develop and sustain a spiritual focus in our lives, while living in our materialistic Western society, this is the challenge. To balance the extremes of functioning in society, rationally, while pursing enlightenment and spiritual practice in devotion to the creator, however we choose to define it. In the words of a modern day spiritual teacher from India, Sri Kaleshwar, we can have it all:
"All human activity is a search for a balance between survival and happiness. This is the same as saying that all human activity is a search for a balance between the logical mind and the soul. To live in balance, to both survive and be happy, you must have both logic and soul. The problems is that it seems you can have only one but not both. The world tells us to reject the soul. Spirituality tells us to reject the mind. We condemn the world for ignoring the soul, but conventional spirituality is equally guilty when it tells us to ignore the logical world. When you do this you are cut off from your world of daily life. The dirty secret of conventional spirituality is that if an ”enlightened” person wants to live in the ordinary world they must first undertake a completely new journey to merge with the logical mind they left behind in their search for the soul. They need to find some way for the logical mind to co-exist with the intuitive soul that now runs their lives. Until they achieve this integration they are paralyzed and isolated from the totality of what makes them human. Such a handicap is why the spiritual path has been confined to renunciants who do not have to integrate with the world. It is why the saints have not changed the world". His message is that once you go within and find God, bring it back into the world with you, infuse God like awareness into your daily life".
Spiritual Balance While Being Present NOW
Regarding guru's, saints and sages, being able to detach from life allows them to draw deep spiritual insights which are helpful and necessary for our spiritual growth. However, most of us don't have luxury of withdrawing from life to do so. And, as Rajneesh points out, it is healthier to stay connected to this world:
"To me, "this" plus "that" is God. That's why I say very contradictory things. I would like to give you two things: roots into this earth, into all that is earthly, and wings into that heaven, into all that is abstract for you now, into all that you cannot even comprehend, that cannot be conceptualized. Roots into the finite, wings into the infinite... And you need not renounce "this." If you renounce "this," you are renouncing your roots. That has happened; that is why your monks, your sadhus, look so dead. They have renounced "this;" they are uprooted beings. Uproot a tree and you are exposing the part that was hidden in the earth. Soon the flowers will die, the branches will die, the leaves will start falling".
Rajneesh,- as posted in Galactic Free Press Newsletter
Again, it's all about balancing the worlds, being "this and that", concurrently with a spiritual awareness.
Get REAL:
Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It's seeing through the facade of pretence. It's the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.
-Adyashanti
Here are some ideas for achieving a balanced, practical spirituality:
Daily meditation:
We must make a disciplined effort to quiet the mind. However, do not impose rules so strict that they impede your ability to meet a goal or guideline by causing consternation, or worse, guilt. Do what you can when you can. Don't judge yourself if you miss a day, just keep at some sort of daily routine of reflection, to enter the inner realm of the sacred self that lies within us all. Eventually, we find that place of inner peace, where we are aware of the presence of creator, we as the observed, realize that we are also the observer. This state of awareness, or cosmic consciousness can only be achieved however, once we let go of the ego mind, and fall back into spirit, into the ocean of divine love, the Godhead, the Source. The HeartSpace Portal is the transcendant gateway to reconnecting with a multidimensional, omniscient, omnipresent supernal awareness.
Prayers, mantra's and sacred sounds:
Prayer has been described as talking to God, while meditation is really the act of listening to God. However, most beginner students of meditation find it very difficult to quiet the racing thoughts of the conscious mind. This reminds me of the story of a student who asked his guru: 'why did you give me a mantra"? To which the guru replied: "to stop you from thinking"!.
If you are drawn to the idea of a mantra, find the one that most resonates with you. The repetition of sacred Sanskrit words for example, seems to be effective at bringing inner balance, mental and emotional contentment and a feeling of peace and well being. However, you do not need to follow any specific religion or belief system to experience the effectiveness of sacred chanting. The repetitive vocalization of ancient sacred words in any of the older languages such as Aramaic, Native American or Hawaiian seems to produce noticable results, as it helps to halt our self talk and incessant "mind chatter", while also reconnecting to the higher self, the AM of the I AM, (THAT which observes). The field consciousness effect of prayer is well known, while the transformative vibrational resonance effect of chanting a mantra on our entire state of being has also been shown to improve mental, emotional and physical well being. Also, if the idea of chanting a mantra does not appeal, another way to quiet the mind is to focus all thought and attention on the act of breathing. Listening to and observing your own breathing process has a hypnotic, calming effect on the mind and body and also leads to an awareness of the AM presence.
Change begins at the quantum level, intentional thought energy affects the outer reality, mind alters matter, with positive spiritual benefit as well.
Divine Intervention Mantra
Is divine intervention possible? Absolutely, as our collective soul energy and consciousness is co-creating this reality, with each of us being an integral part of the whole. If I had to recommend a mantra it would be the Om Prema mantra. Om Prema is divine love or Quantum Love. Here is the meaning (http://www.healingsound.org/Mantras.aspx?id=92):
Om Parama Prema Rupaya Namaha
Meaning: "Oh Manifestation of Divine Love, I honor you." This mantra requests the manifestation of Divine Love in a person's life, in a form the person can comprehend. While chanting this mantra, it is said that one can have an experience or vision (Dharshan) of the Divine.
Om - Supreme Vibration
Parama - Pure
Prema - Love
Rupaya - Manifestation
Namaha - I honor you
Work hard, pray hard, play hard:
Balance, balance, balance. Do not allow your spirituality to become a false opiate that you escape to. Live a wholesome, functional life. Work hard and be rational, focused and goal oriented. However, to keep from getting too immersed in the regular materialistic world, we also need to maintain a reflective, metaphysical mindset, realize that there are higher dimensions, and benevolent spiritual vibrations which we can call upon to help us in our daily lives. This will give you a peacefulness, an inner joy which allows you to balance material demands with spiritual needs. Once you feel that joy, share it with others, and go out and play in the Quantum field of life!
Love of Creator becomes love of self, love of others:
Love Creator with all the devotion in your heart. Whether you call it God, the source consciousness, the matrix of all matter, the Quantum field, or the universal intelligence. Realize this energy is the source of your being and consciousness. This awareness opens the door to complete love and acceptance of the self. Once we love ourselves, we then see the God that dwells in others. When this occurs, we as individuals and as a collective finally realize that we can have heaven on Earth, that we are the ones we have waited for. It's not about evolving, or progressing, its about remembering, Quantum Love brings us home to ourselves, in the Heartspace Portal, everything is One...
Don't do it, BE it!
"Everything changes when you start to emit your own frequency rather than absorbing the frequencies around you, when you start imprinting your intent on the universe rather than receiving an imprint from existence".
-Barbara Marciniak
Love and respect everyone and everything.
If you are looking for a simple idea to live out your spirituality here in the real world, this is it. Love everyone, respect everything, if we all do that, Utopia will arrive, per this video from Greg Prescott of IN5D.com:
Live for the afterlife by loving others in the here and now.
In the video below from Galactic Connection's YouTube Channel, Dannion Brinkley explains that the reason we are alive is that we need to learn to be Godlike in our ACTIONS toward others, as conscious co-creators of positive loving experiences.
Brinkley also states that we need to go within to fin our quiet center:
"We are programmed not to be sensitive, the powers that be don't want us to be calm enough to be able to sit quietly in meditation, and pay attention to our breathing, and find that initial action, that allows us to elevate our consciousness into a higher spiritual wellness".
Brinkley also states that we need to go within to fin our quiet center:
"We are programmed not to be sensitive, the powers that be don't want us to be calm enough to be able to sit quietly in meditation, and pay attention to our breathing, and find that initial action, that allows us to elevate our consciousness into a higher spiritual wellness".
Healing the world and living in spiritual balance is possible!
Check out David Spangler's idea of subtle activism: http://www.leisuregazette.com/news/top-11-care-package-ideas-for-52191.htm
Check out David Spangler's idea of subtle activism: http://www.leisuregazette.com/news/top-11-care-package-ideas-for-52191.htm
