There is an implicit understanding in Spirituality that it runs countercurrent to what we think we need and want. There seems to be a pervasive idea that we will be pushed and pushed to change and grow, but at the end of the day, we will only be left with ourselves, pretty much the same as ever, and our life not really positively transformed. Where does that leave us?
We�re only being asked to give up any hope of every finding any safety or peace in the world, but we are expected to find it in ourselves. That is a pretty frustrating equation. How many times have we applied Spiritual ideas to our circumstances, only to succeed and have a new problem emerge, or to fail in creating any change!
If Spirituality can�t transform our lives in a positive way, it is useless. If we bring to the table the same problems unsolved over and over again, at what point do we just give up in despair? We feel like Spirituality is the �hope business,� where we are expected to take garbage and transform it into meaning. But at the end of the day we are just the suckers who were foolish enough to believe that life could be anything more than misery.
I think it is a false assumption to conclude that Spirituality is useless. But we do have to realistically face our sense of disappointment in it. The chasm of the �real� that seems to separate our everyday life from the Spiritual world can be a discouraging obstacle.
To add to our misery, we can use techniques to have brief glimpses into a better state of mind, but then it dissolves away so quickly that we are left standing, angry, hurt and defenseless once again, both against our own internal negativity as well as the negativity that attacks us when we return to �normal.�
I want to share a technique with you today that will allow you hold onto a positive state of consciousness for a period of four to six hours, roughly. You will know when you are coming out of that state when you experience the rumblings of fearful or angry thoughts (which are a response to fear) after having been in the heightened state.
Now we will finally be able to own our heightened states of consciousness and actually live in them in a reliable way. This information is fairly new to me, so I haven�t field-tested it very much, but from what I have done, I have been very satisfied with the results.
But first, we need to discuss some ideas and flesh out the heightened state of consciousness that we wish to attain.
Let's talk about the idea of praise. Praise is an idea that has two major components. Let�s use the model of the sun sitting on a throne. The throne is the idea of impartiality. That which sits above us sees things in a different light. Its perception is perfect, not lacking in anything. It appears to be impartial, loving, but distant in a way.
That distance is the distance between our own level of being and that higher level of being. This is what makes it a throne. That which is higher rules over that which is lower, and is more powerful, wise and savvy.
The sun sitting on the throne represents a mirror, the perfect mirror that reflects praise back onto ourselves. If we praise Truth/God, then we symbolically aim the mirror towards Truth/God, and we see the Truth/God reflected back at us. When we aim praise at other ideas, they also reflect back to us perfectly.
What we praise we make a God. Praise simultaneously flows out of us as an action, a feeling and on the level of pure ideas, and reflects back to us a light that holds the quality we aim our praise at. This light shines down on us from the mirror and reflects onto us the very qualities that we praise.
Praise is transformative, because it acts internally by �enlightening� (to shine a light on) the very quality we have praised as it exists within ourselves. Then, in turn, that light reflects out onto the world, which evokes praise from others for our embodying the very quality we have praised. Then, they are enlightened by their own praise, and so forth.
Praise offers a clear path for Truth/God to act on us, because we express an aspiration to embody the quality we praise. We would not praise what we do not want to be. Therefore, praise is like an arrow shot by cupid, causing us to love that which we praise, for it penetrates our deepest emotional layers and transforms how we feel, all at the same time.
The ideogram of the lover entwined is a good model of praise. Praise is at the heart of romantic love, because it embodies that which makes us feel the most raised up. The lovers embrace and their flesh and souls intertwine, but they attempt to become as one at a deeper level.
So, what do we now praise? We praise Truth/God because the Truth has authority over all illusions, and our state of being is an illusion. Nothing rules over the Truth. So, we can always praise Truth and know it will bring us closer to fulfillment, satisfy us, work for us and never fail us. It is the one thing worthy of our praise, certainly above any illusion.
What is the Devil? That is the idea of something that exists in opposition to Truth/God. However, because Truth/God IS the Truth, nothing exists that is in opposition to it. If we imagine, in fear, that Truth/God will deny us any desire, then we may withdraw in pain and try to look to various idols to worship that will. The big lie is that Truth/God even wants to deny us anything. The truth is the exact opposite, because personal fulfillment is at the core of what we are in Truth.
Historically, God was represented as being the Denier of Desire, and we were expected to sacrifice many things, including perhaps our own life, to support a higher �good.� However, the abuse of religion by those in power can really be said to be at the real heart of this idea. It is the perfect tool to manipulate people.
If what we are in Truth is purely conscious, and has no materiality, then it doesn�t make any sense that we should be denied anything. Why should we be, when we have been given the ultimate power to imagine, and to experience through imagining. As powerful as imagining is to us here, it is vastly more powerful in the Truth.
The Truth is untouched and untouchable, because nothing exists to threaten it. If something did, then it wouldn�t be the whole Truth. So, it makes no sense that we would be denied any aspect of our ability to imagine.
To imagine physicality, we have to be able to imagine something that is separate from the Truth, as there is no physicality in Truth. So, we must be allowed to imagine that which is untrue, which would include evil. Obviously, we are not being prevented or censored from imagining anything.
The Truth is not threatened by a lie. If we explore a lie, the first guarantee is that it will not satisfy us, because only the Truth can satisfy. Secondly, it cannot last, as only the Truth is stable.
So, when we praise the Truth/God, we are allowing stability of a higher state, which we can enter into, to be enlightened within us. And as this ability to explore high states at a higher stability level is enlightened over and over again by praising the Truth/God, our ability to sustain higher states longer as well as our ability to explore greater heights will both simultaneously increase.
But what higher state should we enter into? The Path In Truth/God is the best to work with. This is not only a path TO Truth/God, but also a path WITHIN Truth/God. It is both defined by Truth/God and part of Truth/God, so it lacks nothing. As you go more deeply into this path, you will find that you can fulfill your own desires, be fulfilled, and most importantly, be happy in your own skin.
You will feel the Truth/God shining out from you at all times, so you will never be alone. As you realize that it is in fact this Truth/God that IS your own happiness, not just a path to it, you will understand the need to praise it even more, and enlighten it even more within yourself. How can that be wrong?
Exercise: Enter the Path In Truth/God for an Extended Period of Time
To enter the Path in Truth/God for four to six hour stretches, we must go through a few simple steps that will lead to a remarkable result. Remember that if you have little experience with meditation or heightened states of consciousness, that you will have to work up to greater degrees of results. Your own self acts as filter against the truth, and like a new student of Yoga, you must first learn flexibility. Be patient with the process for the first few weeks if you are inexperienced.
Step one is to be somewhere alone and quiet, ideally. But, this can be done discretely even in public. Start by saying �I praise God (or, I praise The Truth), a total of ten times. Focus on an actual feeling of praise as you do this. God/Truth is everything that you want. It deserves your praise. It only wants to bring you back to total happiness in Truth.
Now, ask the Truth/God to place you in the Path in Truth/God, to a degree of proximity to its center to be determined by Truth/God. Say that you also want the duration of this effect to be determined by Truth/God. Add that you are willing to be changed by the Truth/God now, in order to achieve this result.
Finally, be quiet and meditate on this happening to you for about ten seconds or so. Don�t think about it, just focus on what the Truth/God is doing to you, passively. Know that it is really happening and that you will grow in your ability to experience this over time.
The initial state can take a few minutes to kick in. Try to notice a feeling of well-being that is flowing out of you like golden light, radiating from the center of your torso.
Take notes on this experience and see where it takes you. Practice it for a few weeks and you will see improvement and noticeable gains. Your internal blockages must gradually be displaced to fully experience this, and that takes some time. But it is more than worth the time investment.
You do not need to be satisfied by where this state takes you. If twenty minutes or so into the heightened state you feel that you can go higher, then simply repeat the exercise. You will go higher if it is a feasible leap at your current state of mind.
One last note is another helpful technique to use, especially if you do dream work or dream journaling. Try to do this when you wake up early for work, or on a day off when you can sleep in.
When you wake up and find yourself still groggy and half-asleep, fresh from the middle of some dream, try to place yourself back in the dream and relax. Before you fully reenter the dream state, imagine the Truth/God as a golden light in the pit of your lower abdomen. It shines upwards, shooting a beam of white light through the top of your head.
You will then experience a peeling-away of your physical body and an entering into a lucid dream body. Praise the Truth/God while this happens. Then, ask to be with the Truth/God so you can ask it some questions. You will find yourself in its presence, and you can freely ask questions of it and receive answers. I get some of my best material this way! Keep a journal of what you are told, after you wake up.
Until next time, keep working and keep hoping. Your Spiritual work will bear fruit and multiply, and now is the time for that to begin happening if it hasn't yet!