Chap 5 contd.

Tam

(Tam is the core “sound” mantra for Tara)

See life and try to feel the oneness with all, even though there are specifics of separation such as work, relationship and living situation.

There always seems to some degree, to be fear and anxiety about the specifics of life, regarding what will or won’t occur.

However this emotional and thought train is the minds reactivity that is a residue even when we are in deep meditation.

We cannot stop being ourselves no matter how enlightened we become. Even annoying little habits remain, or harmless ones.

We can however mentally receive all of this as just mind and body continuum. It’s all quite normal for human beings to be at times fearful or anxious for instance. Even at clinical or pathological levels of say depression or anxiety, it is still only a mental health disorder that can be managed reasonably successfully with the right application and the right resources. “Treatment works”. It’s statistical otherwise we would not have myriad of services often spending taxpayer’s money.

By being focused on one’s True Self it becomes entirely possible to limit both the presentation and effects of any psychological distress. The same could be true for physical illnesses with as pain. Disease can again be “re-seen or re-formatted”.

Just stably being in the “witness state”, changes significantly the impact of any disorder or disease.  This witness state has been described in Vedanta philosophy as the soul’s overview and oversight of all activities in the world of Maya. In Buddhism there is also the meditation process which has been popularized in western culture as a mindfulness way that has therapeutic benefit.

All can be changed, because when we recognize our Strengths as opposed to our weaknesses we go about life in a very different way. (See also literature on the Strengths Model in mental health care).

So, we are talking about modifying something, (say reactivity), which is only part one of the spiritual process. The other part is recreating or creating anew. Being significantly in touch with the Transcendental Soul we move out to another world of Being.

Otherwise we are like clothes stuck in a dryer going round and round, and yes getting pretty dry, but not out on the line in the sun. Swishing around in just recovery and hope.

Not a bad thing but nevertheless not the full ticket!

We need to investigate then how we can live beyond our fears and anxieties, by remaining in Divine awareness, even in the midst of daily activities.

By going beyond or transcending, we then move into a space of re-creating where we are no longer just recovering or just managing. Various mental health, addictive and psychological issues especially are put on one side, while we get on with our true purpose. (Realistic Realization or Practical Enlightenment). This includes the chronic tendency towards fear and reactivity which propels us to behaviors where we seek to self sooth, and possibly leads into activities where we descend into substance use, including food. Depression at a clinical level seems to go hand –in-hand at this point.

We have created what is before us per individual, and we suffer per individual as a result. Of course happiness and pleasure is there, but sometimes we are just wrapped up in either the getting of it, or the wanting, or the holding on. Then if there is an exclusion of a healthy overview, we don’t want to know, until perhaps we hit rock bottom. Therefore there is not much point in talking to those who are not interested in addressing their pain and remain content to seek pleasure only.

Pleasure though, in a spiritual perspective, is no different than pain, and should equally be addressed by the practitioner of a spiritual process or program. This is all filtered down through the self-identifying process leading to realizing the individual self, (the Atman), as being one with the cosmic consciousness, (Brahman).

Additionally most of us will need some religious or spiritual activities that are more specific and targeted to help with the gross elements of human existence. This is where we have our own set of prayer, chants, mantas, or liturgies.

The path of knowledge, (Gyana), may be too high a road and unrealistic aspiration for some who also need the devotion to a personal God, which is the yoga of devotion, (Bhakti Yoga). Invariably all of us need to engage in some selfless service to others. (Karma Yoga).

Then there is also the “kingly” pathway or Raja Yoga, where mental and physical specific exercises, including meditation and concentration, are engaged in. (To create a deeper state of spiritual awareness or the “trance” like Samadhi).

There is no reason that anyone cannot sit on the higher spiritual levels. The choice is there and available when agreed to. However it will take time for the benefits of any spiritual endeavor to filter down into our daily business and purify the gross elements of our activities. This includes our diet, use of substances or food to self soothe, and distractions such as media and Internet, used to avoid facing the truth of our existence, with its daily anxiety and fear levels.

There is always the potential for Divine Grace as we seek contact with our Deity or Higher Power. Then our guiding angels, guardian angels, or spirit guides act as aspects of Divinity and move to support us in our endeavors. We may actually see and hear them, or feel them. Or more commonly, realize their connections with us in other ways.

Some spiritual practitioners may be intimately connected with their Gods, spirit or forces, whereas others may just have hope that they are out there, or something is out there that will help them in some way.

The true transformation does occur eventually after persistence, and that may include treating the various more overt issues such as significant depression, addictions, and the obsessive bad habits. We may also be afflicted with quite severe personality defects such as narcissism, or a tendency to be aggressive and paranoid about everything around us. These “defects of character” all need attention, and that can be done spiritually by prayer etc., but may need more concrete work as well as through therapeutic support and counselling. Psychiatric support does help when it’s really indicated!

The transformation occurs when the small ego based self or personality aligns to the Truth which is other than our inherent nature. Not just a change or different person. We want to be a different Being which is our own Divinity, shining through and lighting up our daily business.

I am!

This comes after we ask: Who am I?

We then are able to do mindfulness, be meditative, and be self-aware. We can be in the moment because we are the moment!

Suffering occurs. Yes that’s what we get for being a changeable entity in a changeable world.

But the world and all its mind or body combinations has a substrate under this illusory Maya. This transitory circus show!

This is the unchangeable Soul beyond ego and personality.

When we are hurt enough from the surface business, we go down and dive deeper and deeper, dependent on to how desperate we are. We even become willing to self-surrender to a Higher Power or Deity and give “handing it over” a “whirl over”.

We want that energy. That consciousness.

As we go to God & God comes to us

As we claim our true selves we receive the Grace that hastens the process.

Life then is not a problem. It then is our teacher, our means of liberation, and a source that we can express gratitude for.

No need to justify either your life and its complexity, or your associated search, which sometimes seems to go on in another dimension. A seemingly circular fashion at times, which nevertheless, even if we don’t see it, is completely interconnected with our ever present Divine nature.

The Divine as me is the nice stance, but this doesn’t mean we are special!

It’s only if we can see and pay homage the Divine in the other person.

Is this realistic?

Is this realistic given we tend to be reactive in relationships?

Probably relationships are the number one minefield, as far as our emotions and serenity management is concerned.

However the position of seeing the Divine as already manifest is true, because it is what really already exists.

We may seem to be creating a new way of living with a spiritual vision and processes, whereas in fact we are going nowhere in a journey because we are not even on one. (From a higher philosophical perspective of course).

More likely we are choosing to accept the Truth but allow it to have overarching Dominion only to the degree that we let it be so.

And this is not surrender!

We may put out our individuated sense of divine consciousness to request that we get assistance in the work of overcoming the small ego base personality.

Of course we fear letting go, and it is this fear that actually prevents us from letting go.

It seems that the fear is based on this: “oh dear I will have nothing left and I will cease to exist”.

However it’s true that some personality will remain, even if you become the new Buddha or a big Guru. Also humans by nature have a flight or fight automatic response, which means that some degree of fear and reactivity also remain.

It’s all in our nature to be fearful, anxious, and reactive. And it’s in our nature to retain petty defects, such as picking one’s nose in public!

The spiritual pathway or journey is more than about being in recovery, even though that person seeks “healing” from the past.

Of course we all want perfect cures, with perfect released from what ails us.

Therefore the therapeutic or self-help managed interventions will have limitations, which is not to say they won’t work very well, especially in terms of recovery or remission.

The true spiritual path goes however into the transcendental, and sees recovery and remission as almost incidental. This is when we move into a new way of living in a new home for our soul, and enter into the Higher Rooms of existence.

This is when we bring the Divine Light into our darkness, or we walk into the light and therefore leave the darkness behind.

Then perhaps, probably, we hope, we leave behind our negative personalities, or rather all the unhelpful mechanisms in our lives, keeping what’s essential for physical well-being. This includes keeping those ingrained petty habits that run their own show. (As long as they do no harm).

We no longer label ourselves with dysfunctions we got from our psychiatrists, therapists and spouses. We are not called depressed, alcoholic, borderline, narcissistic or neurotic.

We also move past the need for PTSD, addiction and so forth, simply because we leave the past behind and enter the future of Divine Sanity

To do this requires a leap. Add on also a choice to make the leap, and to stay with the pathway chosen to Spiritual Nirvana. Even with this choice, healthy action can be difficult within the turmoil of everyday life, which does not want to let go. Even the monks and the nuns get this problem! That’s why we have a Deity, a Higher Powers, Incarnations or even God. (Preferably a Goddess)!

They are there to help us to be present, by them being present in our lives

We are then truly in the moment

Some have angels, some get transmissions, some get channeling

In the pathway enumerated in previous writings there is Kundalini Yoga. In this line of practice we attain the realization which in Sanskrit is called Sākshāt. We get a Samādhi which is Saguna. Sa meaning “with”, and Guna meaning the quality or form. Without form is Nirguna, where Nir means “without”. Those who seek the path of knowledge or Gyāna, will seek the Nirguna and those who need or want a personal God stay with the Saguna.

It matters not if the realization is of the Personal Divine or Cosmic Consciousness.

However the transcendent impersonal form realization is historically considered difficult for “ordinary” humans to attain. It seems to be a domain of rigorous reclusive introspection or renunciation, such as obtained by monks, nuns and saffron-robed yogis who meditate all day, based in monasteries and caves.

However now there is transformation for our age, and it is within.

Therefore it does not really need the external cave dwelling or robes. Boots, shoes, suits or T-shirts will do!

More importantly it’s not about changing the job, the marriage, and the relationships.

Especially the relationships!

Seeking comfort is a distraction from the real work of overcoming fear and reactivity, let alone desire. However we are in situations where we need to be. This is in any given time, if we can accept, it learn from it, and transcend it.

If we fight the dream, the illusion or impermanence, we support it in some ways. If we bring it into the light of Truth the darkness disappears along with the “crazy dream”.

We are free, not only from our need for salvation, but from the journey also. We are already where we want to g