Have amalgamated two new manuscripts in progress.

Now The Transcendental Guru is the title, with The Transcendentalists “Eternal One” as sub-title. (Look up: http://www.study.com re transcendentalism as a movement in America (1830-1850).

Here is a new excerpt:

The “lower levels’

I have proposed that the essence of Realization or Enlightenment is significantly activated at a level six on-wards. This is as far as the spiritual practice levels are concerned, and as far as my interpretation of those levels is concerned. It’s also theorized concept for the purpose of trying to identify stages of spiritual practice. If it’s not helpful, ignore it!

There is often a mingling of religion, meditation, and perhaps some advanced therapy input at level five. With corresponding movement away from the gross level of human suffering. At level four we are really wanting to sort out human suffering by means that could be described as mechanical. We intervene, in other words, to fix things using external prescriptions for health. Obviously we want to do something to alleviate our suffering whether they be mental or physical, so there is nothing wrong with this approach intrinsically.

Elements we bring in are the doctors, the counselors, the psychologists, or embarkation on and engage with a variety of spiritual or religious practices. We could be then attending church or going or a temple or going to Tarot readings. A Christian or Hindu/Buddhist may be offended by lumping traditional religious practices in with other remedial avenues such as within the New Age scenario. This may be because it seem that what is being religiously followed is in regarding to scriptural injunction, & can only be good, because we are following our faith for a better life here and now, or in the hereafter. Some possibly offense about being categorizedt as being at the spiritual level as someone doing Taro or other New Age practices, needs to be seen in its reverse. Where those Alternative seekers may also strongly dismiss or look down on organized religion.

The reality is that for so many now religion does not seem to provide the answers in the Westernized world. Thus the person engaging in Tarot readings maybe quite disparaging about other religious practices. Unfortunately what we have as our culture now also. Is that instead of the beliefs of our forefathers, we have stuff like Facebook or YouTube. Or antidepressants and tranquilizers, rather than the ancient practice of talking to a priest. This is doubly unfortunately unfortunate, because there is a richness of spiritual practice embedded in all the religions. It was from this direction originally that the sages and gurus of days gone by came forth to lead humankind into their version of salvation or Moksha or Nirvana.

Nevertheless we are where we are today, and if we are to attain a level where our struggles with the basics of life problems are prominent, then we need to deal and with and function regarding those issues. At these levels we have, for instance, huge increase globally of anxiety and depression. Herein lies some value in medication, especially as for many that’s all they are getting. If medication is needed when other options don’t work, there must be some result from such an intervention. Otherwise the psychiatrist would not get so much money! Research thought shows that for mild to moderate conditions regarding mental health, what we need is the therapeutic approach as per “talking therapies”. Here we have cognitive behavioral therapy, & acceptance commitment therapy, which has become more prominent. Also we are seeing a shift to mindfulness and meditation and healthy practices which previously would be called mumbo-jumbo by the so called health practitioners. These approached are now being backed up to some degree by science.

So called “Alternative” approaches have been around for millennia, & they work reasonably well. That’s why we’re doing them now. In the spiritual world or in the mental health field there are things we can do, partaking of, to bring us up a level or two there as far as our journey progress is concerned. The talking therapies through counseling therapy or psycho analytical methods are there & also more practical physical inputs such as using sensory modulation techniques to alleviate anxiety, Physical relaxation methods include practice of controlling the breath, listening to soothing music, or practicing some mindfulness type exercise. If we go further still we might do we can then turn, or turn back,  to the realm of prayer using liturgical hymns, or using mantras or to also assist on a more physical level.

Devotional worship is performed in temples and churches. Sometimes it seems that we’re almost trying to force God to come to the party. We certainly want to make our well-being happen. Why should anything “non-scientific” work, just because you have a body/mind with an underlying expectation that some form of healing or even salvation occurs this way? Generally teachers in the spiritual sphere will without doubt mention as some component of their teaching that the Divine is within us. My Guru said that the Guru is also within us. Otherwise we are continually dependent on an external force it seems, although religious belief would say that there’s no problem here, as we are simply exposing ourselves to the Divine Grace that can come down or flow-through us.

Practical exercises

Back to the practicalities though! There’s a lot of self-help books out there regarding getting well. Take the diet and supplement scene. In those books towards the end tend to put in a lot of recipes. I always avoid such books as they annoy me!

Here then is one of my recipes! This is for relaxation which can lead to mindfulness and can then also enhance meditation. When I meditate in a group, I find the presence of the group can also add to the potency of meditation and reduction of unnecessary thoughts. However I may still get a lot of junk going on in my brain that is unless I do some exercises to quieten all this noise

Relaxation used is as follows. Sit or stand with both feet on the ground and visualize the body tension dissipating down through the feet into the earth. Visualize at the same time any tension being replaced by the earths stabilizing forces filtering up through the body into the brain

Then for a short period keep the spine straight as possible to allow energy to flow. You can see this, in a scientific manner, as being the neuro=chemical activities throughout the nervous system, not forgetting the electrical currents of course. Or you can see as the kundalini energy business. Either way the bottleneck is at the neck, & this is where tension is experienced as neck or shoulder aches or stiffness. We often block free flow of our nervous system activities and then find ourselves with anxiety, focused in the stomach or chest area, manifesting as nausea or chest tightness. The lack of free-flow through the neck area can also be connected with other issues. Effective breathing techniques are next, & we need to do effective breathing which will ameliorate anxiety driven fast breathing considerably. All the exercise components can provide intervention when there are some panic type symptoms. Severe panic attacks though require usually a bit more professional external support, if available. There’s nothing that should stop you from trying to deal with it yourself, f that’s your only option

Feet on the ground and a straight spine, then push chin slightly upwards if necessary and push the shoulders back also slightly. Hold that position for up to 5 minutes or more if comfortable. If then the feeling is just one of general whole body restlessness, the relaxation can take place as you pace up and down a corridor, again lifting the shoulders up, & focusing on the breathing with the visualization of allowing again the energies to dissipate through the feet into the earth.

The breathing is three deep breaths in through the nose and breathing out with an aah sound. You are allowing the stomach to fill on in breath, & are pushing out the breath or squeeze in the stomach for the outgoing breath

I recommend the use of the Soham mantra, with the breathing in being So, & the outgoing being Hum. Soham is “I am That”, or I am the Cosmic Consciousness or energy. So is the Cosmos & Hum is “I am”. We are breathing in the universal or cosmic energy into ones whole being, then letting out the human ego based consciousness to be re-charged with a stronger force. It’s not surrendering the ego at this point. That is a different type of exercise or scenario. This even strengthening ego based energies!

One cab be visualizing oneness also with the cosmic energy or just the energy around outside. Or you can make it religious as a visualization of the Deity powers, whichever God/Goddess/Incarnation you are inclined to worship. It can be completely non-religious, or non-spiritual. You modify to suit.

At this point it is also useful to visualize some healing colors coming into your body with the in breath, surrounding you then is color of your choice. In Eastern religions there are is a concept of having a shield. In Sanskrit this is a Kavach: a shield that protects and enables one to go through life without fearfulness about what might happen. With the healing color though, it can be seen as a shield or more like a sponge or like an aura, that soaks up & dilutes or defuses ones emotions & thoughts. It’s just somewhere we can push out some of the tension or emotion that are negative especially or troublesome, &held them somewhat suspended temporarily. This exercise can then also enables a much faster and more focused meditation start up practice. As soon as one sits down, the ground work has been done, & we have actually begun the mindfulness which then allows us to experience mindlessness in our meditation.

In our mindfulness we are stopping, stepping back, & observing, so in the relaxation & defusion we are doing just what we need to further place out soul energy into connection at a higher spiritual level, & be ready to move on into the next step. The next step is ideally deeper meditation. However if that’s not doable or difficult for some reason, another option is to go back into that aura or protective shell and see what is activating any negative thoughts. Then we need to see what that is doing to us & what change we need to make to the negative self-talk. We do this then by replacing the negative with something more balanced. Add something positive about yourself to any negative thinking.

You can try to see in your aura space any obstacles to meditation. The plan is not to remove them, as that can take a bit more effort & application over time. Just keep them out of the thought train temporarily & allow your shield to protect you also from others negative energies .Longer term management of negative thinking & self-esteem requires a bit of work with a proficient counselor/therapist. Practice of meditation will also do the job, as will repetition of a suitable mantra. (You might need a guru rather than a counselor here).

In defusion you can inspect or observe your past or present or present emotions, thinking & others “interference”, by put them slightly outside ones being. In this mode you can visualize those tricky issues that distract and disturb, as being outside you in a temporary process. Put them in the clouds while you imagine you’re on the mountain. Put them in the waves while you imagine you’re sitting on the sand dunes, or drift past them as if you were on a boat going down a river. This is defusion somewhat similar to dilution, (of anxiety during the relaxation). That’s all we’re doing here. We’re not curing anything. If you want to cure, then you will need to go further with your therapeutic processes or spiritual journey.

Here in these this books I am talking about connection with our deity or a spiritual pathway, or a particular religious beliefs. (Not going any deeper then into the domains of counselors or therapist)s. True, we can do these exercises to help us to be now in the moment, &  be present mindfully. l then say, we can use our prayer mantra or meditation, or similar means to understand”

Who am I? What am I? What is life? What is Truth?

We then go into the whole dimension of being conscious of being part of Consciousness.

Our consciousness is part of, and the same material as, the Cosmic Consciousness.

This is why we say we are Divine.

You are Divine because we can place ourselves as inseparable from the Divine.

If God is Divine then all Creation must be so also!

(Where then will you place – evil)?