We cannot underestimate the value of a spiritual practice. Preparing the ground so the physiology can support higher stages of development is key. This benefits both this life and those that follow as development of Sattva and Atman are cumulative.
And yet, our practices themselves don’t bring the primary openings of a spiritual unfolding. Those come through Divine blessing.
You may not be comfortable with the idea of the hand of God playing a role in your life. Largely, this comes from false concepts of God we’re brought up with. Debates about belief or non-belief. However, that’s just mind.
When direct experience unfolds, the Divine becomes self-evident and then directly experienced. This can arise in form, undefined form, fundamental principle, and then pure Divinity itself.
Yet with the most important shifts, it’s not about you at all.
You will never awaken. We awaken from the ‘me’ into our cosmic nature. Some value of a person remains to function in the world and complete our life. But this is no longer the center.
The trick with blessings is in letting go, in allowing what is to unfold. This requires some trust so we’re not holding on too hard. Trust comes from experience.
Not that we can stand in the way of the Divine. If required by the whole, the Divine can blast through any impediment. Generally though, blessings flow when we get out of the way enough that they can move.
Even if we spend lifetimes in a less effective spiritual practice, the effort itself will be recognized. We can be drawn (receive the blessing) to a more effective path.
Some traditions emphasize tapas, or warming, to prepare the ground. Sometimes, this is taken to extremes, like standing on one foot or fasting for long periods.
Yet as I was discussing in a comment recently, the key is attention. The effectiveness of any ritual or yagya or prayer is based on the level at which we perform it. If we simply go through the motions, results will be minimal. But if we sync the heart, mind, and actions with focused presence, we’re enlivening all levels.
However, I’d recommend you keep it simple. The most profound results come from samadhi (transcendence) and shifting our habits of being to support healing and growth. And in doing these in a regular and sustained way. As Vasishtha told us, all arises from self-effort.
This doesn’t mean control, it means consistent application.
This results in blessings for quality of life, healing, and enlightenment.
In the end, it’s all the Divine.
Davidya
Observant readers may notice that, while I discount belief as mind, I also note that prayer can be supercharged by enabling all layers, especially focused awake attention. Faith that is heart-driven can be very powerful, much more than mind. The main caveat is care with what is being amplified.
Love is a blessing. Blind faith is not.
This inspires hope in me to keep plugging away at my practice without seeking specific results. I am just surprised how long it is taking for awakening or any major shifts – but then others probably used other lifetimes wisely and are more ready.
Hi K
Awakening takes only an instant but preparing the ground so an opening can be sustained takes much longer. Many have lifetimes of spiritual inclination prior to this one. But a very deep surrender goes far.
Yet, most of us also has many more lifetimes of resisted experiences calling for resolution. Enough of that has to be resolved for there to be sufficient clarity.
Until about 15 years ago, actually waking up in this life was quite rare. So it’s interesting people now have a greater expectation of it.
Yes – that is true – people’s expectations have changed. I started paying attention to spiritual matters about 9-10 years ago and did not think that true openings or progress would apply to me. It was for other more serious people who could practice intensely. As with everything, I was a dilettante on spiritual matters. I heard Adyashanthi’s talk one day and did not register most of it. But one thing stuck with me – he said “Liberation in this lifetime”. Also – I heard Trevor Noah (Comic) around that time talking about something – and he said “If not – why not?” Between the two, I became more consistent. So Trevor was as inspiring as Adya!
(laughs)
Yes, you never know where inspiration will come from, or what will be the catalyst for our shift. While retreats, talks, and writing are common, car honks and other daily experiences can do the job too. Kitchen sinks are not an unusual place for expansion.
I got involved in spiritual exploration in my late teens. There was a famous phrase of the time: 5-7 years to CC (Cosmic Consciousness or Self Realization). I’m not sure if this statement was inspirational, intentional, or underestimating the baggage but a lot of expectations faltered. That said, if we’d been told 50 years at that age, we may not have kept it up… (laughs)
In any case, a good path will take us a long ways in quality of life. Then when the dawn comes, the sky will be clear enough to see it. 🙂
“Kitchen sinks are not an unusual place for expansion.”
I’ve never heard this!
Lol reading this i just died!
Dear David, you have a wonderful sense of humor and yet it’s true what you’ve said…
Thanks Bojan. Humor, yes, but also true. Doing routine chores that don’t engage the mind can lead to transcending in activity and thus openings.
A favorite story is a friend of mine prepping strawberries over the kitchen sink. She became one of the strawberries (a Unity experience). Or even odder, when you first become the food you’re eating. 🙂
“Preparing the ground so the physiology can support higher stages of development is key.”
I’m guessing this has to include diet? I’ve noticed a profound difference in my personality based on what I’ve eaten. The effect of diet is probably not the same for everyone (you could enjoy a bag of peanuts which could be life threatening to someone else), but Ayurveda does put an emphasis on this. I also find it extremely difficult to not binge on occasion!
The question is which way round is this, does the lower self make you binge, or does binging indulge and feed the lower self? And does a healthy amount of discipline count as spiritual practice? Thanks David for your insights and replying to your comments, it’s what we need in this transitionary time!
Sas
Hi Sas
Diet certainly has an influence on quality of life, mood, and long term, on health. So it’s good to be sensible about it. Good habits make a difference. I have links to resources on the Recommendations page. But rigid rules are not helpful as they get in the way of letting go and flow.
Binging is generally a less-ideal way we process emotions. Sometimes its used for grounding too. There’s no problem with it occasionally. It keeps us flexible too. The key isn’t one meal but rather our overall diet and activity level.
A key to awakening and refinement is sattva, but this is mainly in the more subtle levels as that’s where the seeing takes place. Our diet makes only a peripheral difference here – for most.
Further, if we’re in the flow, nature may call on us to eat oddly or sip a meal. It’s commonly part of surrendering personal control to work through some of that.
So as for the source of binging – it could be purification, emotional drama, a need for grounding, nature asserting itself, and more. This can also be personal or collective. After awakening, we gradually shift more and more to collective clearing although nature will use whatever vehicles that are up for the laundromat. It may just mean we’re an HSP.
Binging can certainly be an indulgence but the issue is if we fall into a pattern of it rather than just having the occasional off day. Having compassion for ourselves is a big one. Perfection is not the nature of a human life in the current age.
Discipline is useful in terms of getting habits established but the key is not using it to control, not straining. It’s a dance of learning that shifts at each stage. The deeper we go, the deeper the surrender. We’re not only surrendering personal control to live cosmicly, we’re then surrendering cosmic ego to embody Divinity.
Sometimes, trying to figure our whats driving the bus is just another form of control. Just allowing it all to be as it is is so much more potent than if we eat a bag of cookies. 🙂
Great. I am interested in what you say about Sattva, so I’ll search for this in your articles. Sometimes I feel present, but it’s difficult to align that presence with every aspect of your life, this might have something to do with Sattva. On another note, a bag of chips sounds pretty good now.
OK. Articles like this talk of the key role of both Atman and Sattva in the unfolding.
https://davidya.ca/2017/06/20/atman-and-sattva/
Presence is the degree of atman present. We’ll have areas of life where that is more and areas less. The lesser are due to past shadows that remain unresolved. Trying to align is often the ego wanting to control it or wanting it to be different than it is. Presence grows through healing and allowing.
Wow this is getting deep! I read that article, and never heard it phrased in that way. I hope you don’t mind me continuing to ask questions (!), but if not, here’s another one.
From that article: “And then with awakening or Self Realization that presence becomes who we are. We shift from being aware of it to being it.”
A lot of people who read Eckhart’s Power of Now and enjoyed it (including me) will have felt the presence but that book doesn’t go into this detail. IS there a qualitative difference between ‘being aware’ of it, and ‘being it’? Or is it just that the mind is not giving as much running commentary, like “Look at me, I’m so present right now!”. Instead you just ARE it, naturally embodied. Somewhere you realise that you can’t be a thought based character or any contraction/ emotion as they’re all just thoughts you’ve constructed anyway. And then the question “who am I” seems irrelevant as there’s no thought based answer.
To analogise, is it like the difference between a dam that has a few cracks in it with small streams of water getting through and a dam that’s been completely destroyed by the water crashing through it? (water=presence, and the former will inevitably lead to the latter,)
Or am I just overthinking this, if so feel free to tell me so! I’d love to talk about this stuff with you one day! Namaste.
Believe me, it can go much deeper. 🙂
Oh yes, there’s a very big difference between noticing presence and being it. In the first, the ego is still attached and mind is noting presence. When that lets go, we shift from being a me experiencing presence to being presence noticing a me. It’s a complete flip.
After the shift takes place, a lot of the mental commentary winds down as much of it was used to support the ego. But generally mind is still active as required and still has to process the days experiences. It’s just not as dominant.
Not sure I’d agree with the analogy. I see the point but…
Namaste!
I never close the tab with your blog on it. I hope you’re doing well. I just found an energy healer who is new to me, and thought about you, and wanted you to know. She is Jen Ward of Jenuine Healing. Love you
Thanks, Jewellene
Yes, some of the fog of side effects has lifted, revealing a new deeper integration and power. However, I’m in prep for the 2nd stage of treatment. That may bring some new fog. Yet I’m confident the process will bring an upgrade as the karma completes.
Thanks for the recommendation. At this point, the key, as the Divine said, is to experience the process. A bypass wouldn’t be as effective. But yes, a good energy healer can be very valuable for other things. I’ll be looking at that during recovery next year. Blessings!
Thank you David, thank you for your blog posts. I always look forward to reading them. Talking of kitchen sinks, when I was 21 I disappeared in to the kitchen sink, the cooker and the walls. I didn’t tell anyone as I had no idea what had happened to me. Now I’m 73 and now understand what happened and so glad It did, I now long for it to happen again. I am so grateful for your existence on this earth. I have been concerned for you, you said some time ago you were going through health issues. I wish you the very best recovery, back to full health. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Hi Yvonne
I can relate. There were some experiences back in the day I didn’t understand. Later, I found out what they were about and they helped inform me.
Not to worry. The illness had no symptoms and was caught before it became a much bigger problem. Treatment takes awhile though and is disruptive. So taking care of myself has been the priority this year. A full recovery from both the illness and side-effects is expected.
As the Divine said, this is just an experience to go through. Then it will be done. That karma cleared.
As it’s a big one, the clearing should open things up more.