To begin with, when I received my initial Spiritual experience several years ago that launched my exploration of this subject matter, I was at a place in my life where I had reached a sort of dead end. I felt burned out and exhausted by the thought of continuing to go through trial after trial in life as an endless series of test and �purifications.� I think that pain and hardship purify the self in a particular way, but that this purification implies something that is untrue, that we are Spiritually �dirty.� The message from Spirit is very much in the opposite direction.
Being exhausted as I was by a long arduous Spiritual journey, I was ready for a more open and all-embracing message of love and hope. Spirit certainly created a welcome and sane alternative to the world I had come from, where I was always the clay being hardened in the kiln. Now I could see that there was a level of being that was free from guilt and self-hatred and where forgiveness was a given, not given out based on merit.
However, Spirit was a passive and uninvolved force that while loving and kind did not involve itself in my affairs. I could ask for help but there was no guarantee of receiving any. I began, after a time, to realize that Spirit consciousness was simply who I was growing into. It was not a force acting on me from outside myself.
When I reconnected to the idea of God, I had a lot of baggage and resistance. I saw how Spirit and God fit together one single interlocking idea. God was simply a representation of certain attributes of Spirit that I hadn�t opened up to yet. So, it was a process of higher integration rather than some sort of conversion from one set of ideas to another. And this experience of God led me to the concept of Salvation.
Salvation is the idea of the reconciliation of a world in time and a world outside of time. Spirit is a world that contains the idea of time but is not framed in time itself. It is a world of consciousness, and when time is needed it is created. Our world operates in linear time and we consider ourselves to be subject to time rather than ruling over it. Salvation comes from the ultimate need of the Spiritually questing person to reconcile these two worlds, these two ideas.
Salvation is the idea that once you understand the basic ideas behind Spirit and believe them, you have created a world outside of time within your own mind. That is to say that at first you visit Spirit as an idea, learn about it and become accustomed to it. But, ultimately you find that you actually understand and believe it in a permanent sort of way. You experience a sort of �belief doorway� that connects the timeless and time-ruled worlds into one continuum. I am reminded of an hourglass shape that comes to a point in the middle.
The illumination of your ideas about the physical world through this doorway also illuminates your physical passage through life. You see the illusory nature of it and you understand that once the doorway of understanding has been established, it is essentially forever in your mind. This is because we achieve understanding through first conceiving of an idea, then exploring it, then identifying with it sometimes, then identifying with it often and finally having the epiphany that lets us know that we have arrived at the state of embodying that idea. The understanding is now part of who we are and no longer separate from us.
What is the impact of this permanent doorway? We no longer have to �try� through some effort to achieve our Spiritual goals. We can put away the exercises, reading, meditation and mantras. We can stop praying, chanting, performing rituals and magic or doing what we have been doing all along. We can do this because we understand that the nature of the mind will cause us to achieve our goals much faster than any self-conscious effort. In fact, at this point in our journey, we see that continuing such efforts at this time will only slow us down considerably.
From Spirit�s perspective, to make an effort to Spiritually change yourself is like saying, �take this 1,000 gallon drum of water and pour it through a straw.� The straw is the progress that our own personal efforts allow. The lessons don�t stop, but they fundamentally change in nature to encompass everything. The mind behind the lesson is our own but also in a sense everyone�s. It is a mind beyond any limits or boundaries.
This higher mind is very real. In fact, compared to our own physical identity it is the fundamental reality while we are the dream. We are used to conceptualizing higher consciousness as an abstraction. Later in our practice we accept the idea of it as something we can tap into but which is only real when we tap into it. Finally, we have to accept that it is THE fundamental reality and that our current identities are fractured portions of this whole identity. Furthermore, our higher consciousness is the source of our own consciousness and the cause of it. It is real, existing now and fully alive. This is a difficult leap but a necessary one.
What does this mean for us personally? We can simply pursue our desires in life, as long as they are not do not cause harm to others. Spirit communicates between ourselves and God within our own mind to answer all questions and fulfill all desires. How quickly does this happen? Because we are still encased in an illusory world, we will suffer and want certain things we can�t have immediately. But, we can know that our essential desires and needs will be ultimately met by God. We will have experiences we don�t want because we are not conscious of what we want on certain higher levels. Nothing can happen to us that doesn�t come from our own desires on some level of our consciousness.
This kind of assurance seems sort of flippant. I would be lying if I said right now that I am in a great position financially and in my career. I am not sitting on a pile of money saying this. But, I can also see how many of my needs are being met and my life is changing in a positive direction from where it was recently. The ways in which my life is not what I would wish for can be used to fuel change and growth. They are part of the desire fulfillment process ultimately.
Spirit tells me to simply do the obvious things that need to be done, pursue my desires and to share all my desires with God consciously. This creates a flow of readiness that creates an opening for fulfillment. I feel an internal connection to a timeless place and it feels like the place that I am. Whereas I once had one foot in both world, my weight was balanced in this one. Now I feel my weight in the timeless world more than this one. This is the feeling of Salvation.
But, what if you get stuck or depressed while successfully living in Salvation? Shouldn�t that technically never happen? Never say never! Rather, Spirit says that one should simply do what needs to be done. If there are chores to be done, do them. If you need to rest, rest. If you need to do some writing, do it. If there is a fundamental want or lack, then sit down and write out what obvious, practical things you can do to lead up to the solution to this problem.
For example, if you are unemployed and your house is a mess, begin by cleaning up your house. Take care of all the unfinished chores and get the house clean and organized. If you want to change your diet, throw out the old food and get the new stuff. Clean up your relationships and your health. If you are single and want to connect, make some sort of basic effort in that direction. Or, figure out what needs to change before you feel safe to date.
By doing ALL the obvious and simple things that need to be done, you clear the path for change and progress. Along the way, keep your mind open to desires and share new ones with God, no matter how absurd they seem. Also, be clear about and articulate your needs to God. Use the cleaning process as a clarifying process as well. Keeping lists during this time is very helpful. By making a single list for each category you can prevent redundancy and make sure you are addressing every issue.
I want to be clear that your needs will be met regardless of whether or not you consciously share them with God or not. God takes care of everything, which begs the question of why we should do any of this. This process is just to help clear our heads, clarify our goals and internally prepare us for change. We are in a sense setting the table to allow guests to come and eat. We create hospitality to Change through our efforts.
Don�t get down on yourself if you can�t do even a few of these simple steps. God will work with you to overcome your own limitations and bring you to the point of this kind of appropriate activity. There are many situations that can stifle your ability to care for yourself. Don�t berate yourself, just be prepared in your mind for the day when you wake up and you are ready. It will come through God�s intelligence.
Life in the post-salvation world is a bit counter-intuitive. We are so used to being the agents of change it can bring on a vacuous feeling when we have to stop doing what we have compulsively done for ages. We live in a society that pushes us using guilt and shame. When we work we are surrounded by unhappiness, self-hatred, hatred of others and fear. These states all naturally flow out of a belief in guilt.
People who are not anchored in guilt do not function well in the modern environment unless they can work for themselves or a few select people. It is hard to motivate yourself to compulsively pursue material goals that we know will not bring us happiness, especially when shame-based thinking is no longer part of our vocabulary. The workplace environment seems cruel and aberrant to us. By contrast, the world of Spirit becomes more inviting and natural to us.
When God stops being our co-pilot and starts being our pilot we are faced with things left undone. We do them and then the pieces fall naturally into place. We have to face in this process the rather severe neglect that we have often allowed into our lives. The impact of neglect is fantastic. But, we can no longer live in a world of neglect because we are in Salvation, which is all about being properly cared for.
The expectation of miracles can be a huge burden. We expect so much and simultaneously so little. Which will come? I can�t answer that question from experience. Spirit say that what comes is the right thing at the right time. Beyond that we don�t need to worry about it. Perhaps Salvation is just about allowing God to be God and then taking care of ourselves by taking appropriate action. As we ask, receive, act and give we become the embodiment of a complete cycle of life. Although this life of illusions can be cruel and harsh, life in salvation offers a constant general movement out of suffering, bit by bit and sometimes in great leaps.
Remember that you share the world with a world of people who are each Spirit beings as well. As they are in truth, in Spirit, they are already (and always) in Salvation. It is only in our physical dream that we can be less than that. We don�t need to hurry death, because this physical experience will give us something we need to wash our hands of this kind of experience and move on. If you find yourself in worry or fear, remember Salvation is the state we were always in, not a prize to be earned. If you are not in your own mind in Salvation, then continue to make and effort and work on yourself until you have that experience. It is coming, just as surely as Spring follows Winter.
Exercise: Doing What Needs to be Done
Begin by making a list of needs that you have. Be sure to look at your own fears to give you a sense of what you are lacking. You might want to do it on your computer so that you can save it. Otherwise, do it in a journal. Write out all your needs that you can think of.
Then, make a separate list of desires. Write out as complete a list as you can. Then, go through the lists and ask God for each need and desire. Then, do a chore that you have been procrastinating on for a long time. It could be writing someone a letter or doing some cleaning or starting an exercise program. Start by doing something today.
Continue adding to these same lists over time. Continue to ask for needs and desires. Continue to support yourself by doing the obvious next things that need to be done. Don�t be afraid to share your gifts if opportunities arise. Or, create the opportunity yourself. This website didn�t design itself! See you next month.