by Roy Posner
In addition
to the mental,
emotional, psychological, and physical parts of our being, there is also a
spiritual element. This part of our being is least familiar to us, and remains
distant or subconscious to our daily existence. Very few individuals live from
this poise, even though it has a vast power to enable the infinite
possibilities of existence to enter our lives.
It is at
this spiritual plane that we transcends the limitations of our emotions,
feelings, and thoughts, and instead gains a new unified perception of life. The spiritual plane can be
reflected in our lives at first as silence, light, and intuition. At more
advanced levels it is expressed as a unitary consciousness, where all
conflicting thoughts, ideas, events, and life circumstances are reconciled into
a greater harmony. Further still one has the experience of a greater spiritual
force that can be called and utilized at will to affect life.
Down through
history individuals who have had deep spiritual experiences and feeling have
noted some common qualities to their spiritual experiences, such as a deep peace
insider, or a sense of oneness with others and the surroundings, or a profound
universal love, or a power or force, or a light of illumination and knowledge.
In the final analysis these experiences and realizations come down to us in two
fundamental ways, as consciousness
and as force.
Spirit as Consciousness
By
consciousness we mean our level of perception about ourselves and the world
around us. The higher the perception, the greater the
consciousness. Those who have had the spiritual experience have noted
that their state of awareness, i.e. their consciousness, has been elevated
beyond the norm, enabling that person to experience existence from a whole new
perspective.
Oneness
One
of the most common experiences of this spiritual consciousness is feeling of
"oneness." Oneness is often experienced as a feeling that everything
is part of a whole, or that we all from one common source and share a common
spirit. Let's then consider some ways that the spiritual beholder might
experiences oneness.
To our ordinary
perceptions, the world is a mass of individual life forms each seeking its own
destiny. Behind this appearance is the essential nature of existence, the One
Divine consciousness. This consciousness expresses itself in the universe in
many forms, each with its own will to be. But in fact each form is an
expression of the One seeking its infinite joy of existence. All true spiritual
realization begins with this new perception of the essential Oneness of all
beings and things.
The spiritual
experience of Oneness often expresses by the feeling or understanding that we
are of one essence or spirit. We experience that the same soul force that we
fell in ourselves is there in each person we encounter. This deep perception
has the effect of reducing the barriers we feel between ourselves and the
people around us. That in turn leads to the realization that other people's
interests and concerns are no different and no less important than our
own. If we carry this experience into our daily lives, then we cannot but have
a deep and abiding respect for every person we meet along the way. Living our
lives this way inevitably leads to increased energy, happiness, and good
fortune for ourselves and those around us.
By the way,
many of the common personal
values we share in our lives can be said to emanate from this inner
experience of oneness. Examples of these personal values are -- concern for
others, trust, tolerance, openness, respect for the individual, and teamwork.
Also we can
say that the greatest foundation for any collective, including our society as a
whole, is one rooted in this experience and realization that the spirit in me
resides in every other person in that community. This spiritual oneness may be
in fact the central attribute of an ultimate future society.
Techniques
-The next time you meet someone else remind yourself that the same spirit that
is in yourself is in them. In other words, they, in one sense, are you.
-Whenever
you speak with someone else focus completely on their
interest, needs, and opinions, and accept them as your own.
(For more on the topic of Grow by Giving, click here.)
Beyond
Good and Bad
A second way that the spiritual experience of oneness expresses is by the
perception that there is a level of consciousness that transcends our normal
experience of what is good and what is bad. A person normally accepts good
things that happen in life as "the good" and bad things that happen
as "the bad." Through the unitary spiritual experience of oneness we rise
to a higher level of knowledge and insight, and come to understand that the difference between the two are not what we normally
perceive. We understand that "the bad" in fact serves a very
important purpose; that it is there to help us and the world around us evolve.
In that sense it is just as good as "the good!" Conversely
through the experience of spiritual consciousness we begin to perceive that
many things we perceive as "good" may not be truly good, and may just
be expressions of our desires, attachments, and preferences.
How many of
us have looked back over the course of our lives and have seen that the
difficult experiences we have gone through (that at the time we perceived of as
bad) was often the doorway to a new beginning or opportunity. If we can carry
into our daily lives the consciousness of a plane beyond good and bad, we will
be able to operate from a more centered poise, enabling us to make better
decisions since we see the world from a greater depth and deeper truth. This in
effect can only lead to greater success and happiness in life.
(For more on the topic of the negatives and positives in life, click here.)
Overcoming
Limitations of the Mind
Having spiritual experiences such as oneness helps us recognize that the source
of our thinking process, our mind, is a very limited instrument. Before the
spiritual consciousness our minds seem puny and limited, filled with our own
prejudices and justifications; limited in its awareness, perspective, and
knowledge in life's situations and circumstances. On closer scrutiny we
discover that the mind and its thoughts tends to pick
out one truth out of a larger truth, one piece of the puzzle, discarding the
rest. Or it divides things into pieces or sections, not able to hold a wider
truth or know the big picture.
From this
discovery of the limitations of mind we can make the effort to break our
attachments to our own attitudes, opinions, and habits. This effort can help us
become more tolerant, energized, and open to the possibility of the full truth, not the limited truth that
our own minds present us. This can only lead to greater knowledge, awareness,
achievement, success, and happiness in life.
Inner/outer
correspondence
The spiritual experience often leads to an awareness
that the things that occur outside of ourselves and the things within us have a
direct correlation and relationship. The mind says they are divided, are of two
different worlds, and cannot possibly have a direct relationship. For example,
how could changing an attitude possibly relate to a
positive circumstance happening to you a few moments after be related in any
way. Our minds suggest that such a relationship lies beyond the normal bounds
of causality, space and time. Yet, that is precisely what occurs.
Our
conclusion is that everything that is happening around you is a reflection of
innermost thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes. If something is wrong on the
outside, you find the corresponding negative inner perception, change it, and
watch life respond positively in kind. This in turn leads us to the
understanding that we can and should take responsibility for everything that is
happening around us, and can make inner changes to effect the world around us.
Interestingly,
we have witnessed that if people take this approach, they can bring about an instant
outer response from life. For example an individual changes an attitude about
someone at work, and instantly
gets a call thereafter that a new project has been agreed upon that that person
is to lead; or a man cleans something he was reluctant to clean before and instantly finds out that he has run
into some expected money. This is called a Life
Response.
If your
attitudes and opinions are reflected by the circumstances around you, then we
can make an effort to change the world on the outside by making a change on the
inside; by changing our attitudes, opinions, and habits, or taking a specific
action. Under certain circumstances life on the outside can instantly respond
to your inner effort. If you
can look at every positive and negative circumstance and match it to a
corresponding attitude, value, or habit inside yourself, you will be well on
your way to understanding the character of life, and gain the ability to master
life. There is no faster way
to change the world around us than by acting from a positive inner poise.
Techniques
-Whenever you are bothered by something outside yourself in your life, try to
see the corresponding limited habit, opinion, or attitude. Then make an effort
to change it at that moment. Better yet develop an action plan to change it in
all aspects of your life!
(For more on the Power of Attitudes, click here.)
Openness to the Natural Unfolding
When we are connected to spirit we see that everything that unfolds in the
course of time has its own purpose and justification. Normally we want this
particular thing to happen and not that, or are expecting one thing to occur
over another. However, when we experience the spiritual consciousness, one
perceives that each moment has its purpose, that there is a natural unfolding
beyond our desires and limited perceptions. This realization enables us to
interact with life more joyously and much more successfully as we follow life's
thread of unfolding, rather than our ego sense. This can lead to increased
energy, reduced stress, an increasingly positive outlook, and increased
possibility for great accomplishment, success, and joy in life.
Harmony
All of these perceptions of oneness can lead one to understand that all of
existence is moving towards greater and greater degrees of reconciliation,
unity, and harmony. The spiritual aspirant often takes with him into the world
the inner perception that all life is moving toward higher levels of reconciliation;
between his inner existence and his outer circumstance, between his limited
thoughts and the real truth, between the "good" and the
"bad" that occurs, even between his own destiny and the destiny of
the world around him, including his spiritual destiny. Harmony is perhaps the
greatest spiritual value one can have, and if brought into our daily lives can
lead to unlimited reconciliation, unity, and truth, which can serve to open us
to the very highest possibilities for achievement and happiness in life.
In fact, all
problems of life are essentially problems of harmony. In essence we are all
one, but since we live in our limited divided consciousness, we do not see and
understand the underlying harmony between all things; between ourselves with
others, ourselves with the environment, ourselves with
the Divine spirit.
Harmony does
not mean to compromise. It means to use a higher understanding to find a true
reconciliation between the opposites we encounter, for all opposites are
portions of a Oneness that seeks expression through the
diverse play of their opposition. Constantly strive to find the widest and most
encompassing harmony in all that you do.
Spirit as Force
Another
phenomenon that has been felt by people who have had the spiritual experience
is one of having felt some sort of spiritual energy or force, perhaps even a
kind of pleasure or bliss. This force of the spiritual plane is experienced as
a current, or energy, or something radiating within that has a substance and a power. Some have learned to marshal
this power to effect the outcome of events and
circumstance. Here are a few ways that the force of spirit functions, and can
be utilized to change our lives.
Peace
Another way force acts is as Peace. Peace is a state of utter calm and
stillness from which all successful outcomes in life must begin.
One of the
first steps on the journey is to establish Peace in our physical nature. We
must quiet the body and the nerves to seek that which is beyond our surface
being. Spiritual peace comes by self-discipline and calling down the higher
vibration into the body, whose nature vacillates between dullness an action.
This is an essential first step in any spiritual path. Once physical Peace is
established we must learn to free ourselves from the influence of our mind
whose lower nature is one of analysis and division and establish the abiding
mental Peace to augment the physical Peace.
Calling
Peace
Here's one technique: Take any situation in which
there is turmoil, confusion, or other negative circumstance. Try to find a
point within yourself where there is calm and peace. If you are unable to find
that point call peace into the situation. When you feel you are at the point of
calm and peace resume your activities. Our research indicates that by calling
peace you can calm your thoughts, decrease pain, and attract positive
circumstances around you. You can even help stop a negative incident around,
such as a riot.
Calling
peace into yourself is also a way to reduce physical
pain. When a pain occurs, quiet your mind, and don't let it give sanction to
the pain (i.e. don't give in to such thoughts and feelings as "Oh no not
again" or "Now I have to go to the doctor"). Then call in Peace
into yourself for a few moments. Relax. Then watch the pain ease or even disappear.
This is also a great technique for reducing stress.
Techniques
-Whenever you are unbalanced, mentally or emotionally, do not try to solve a
problem. First become calm, and peaceful. One technique is to call Peace into
your being for a few moments.
-Whenever you
feel a physical pain, do not react to the sensation with any mental or
emotional feelings. Keep calm, and then begin to ignore the pain completely.
Don't mention it to someone else, especially a doctor.
(For more info related to this topic, click here.)
-Before
going to bed aspire for a restful, calm sleep. Also call Peace into your being
before you drift off into asleep. You are more likely to have a restful, calm,
refreshing sleep.
Notes:
Calling down Peace disperses a quarreling crowd, as well as calms down a nation
troubled by war.
Spiritual Joy
A final way you can experience spirit as force is as the joy and delight of
existence.
In our daily
life, we experience alternating periods of pleasure and pain. The world appears
to be full of suffering and pain. But if we look behind the surface actions, we
discover that all life is moved by the Divine's Joy of self-discovery. This
same process of self-discovery occurs in ourselves. As
we come out of our ignorance through our experience of the spirit, we come into
the light of knowledge, which helps us uncover the spiritual Joy and delight in
existence and in our own lives.
Through
prayer, meditation, contemplation, or feelings of devotion one can learn to
move beyond our surface awareness and ignorance, and perceive the inner Divine
plan, workings, and unfolding. when we understand this
in our own lives, there is released in us a deep feeling of spiritual Joy in
our delight of existence.
Deference
to Higher Source To Create Positive Circumstance
Spiritual consciousness has been felt from time immemorial as a force or
current that uplift our spirits. In addition, that
force can also be utilized to improve our daily lives.
Normally we
create positive outcomes in our lives by having the right skills and knowledge,
the proper level of organization, the right attitudes, and taking the necessary
effort, amongst other. If we optimize our capacities, we are sure to meet with
success and happiness in any activity or circumstance. Yet to move to a level
of perfection in any
situation or circumstance, we need one thing more; the cooperation of life.
In life we
don't normally have any real control over external circumstance surrounding the
event or circumstance we engage in, such as the occurrence of a sudden fire
drill in the middle of a meeting we are conducting, or a key person arriving
late to the meeting because of a traffic incident. We don't have the ability to
effect or prevent such things. Likewise, if we don't know the answer to a
problem that we are suddenly confronted with, we don't know where to turn. The
only thing we really seem to have control of is our own current capacities.
Then how can
we truly become the master of any action, project, circumstance, or situation
we partake in? How do we overcome any barrier that appears beyond our control?
Our research
indicates that you can gain this control by developing the simple discipline of
remembering or deferring to the spiritual consciousness before the activity or
event commences. By making this smallest of efforts you will experience that
somehow life responds in a positive way. For example, an engineer deferring to
the spirit before beginning his work can have breakthrough discoveries or
insights that he or she could never have been able to have based only on one's
own knowledge, skills, and efforts. An instructor who opens to the force
before his class commences watches as everything during the day seems to
dovetail perfectly into place, and anticipated problems just vanish.
Deferring to
the higher consciousness, the spirit, the Divine, if you will, opens us up to
unlimited, even infinite
possibilities, transcending the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and other
capacities we bring to the situation. Opening to this higher force before
commencing an act has the power to evoke positive responses from life. Actions
are completed much better than expected, people respond more positively, events
move more quickly, and life "cooperates." This power solves
problems, resolves conflicts, dissolves dead habits and unwanted traits, opens
up new opportunities, generates freshness and enjoyment in everything we do,
widens the personality, deepens our awareness, and reveals one's true inner
self. To experience this effect just once
in one's life is to set one onto a new course in life.
Our
experiences suggest this method of deference to a higher force before
commencing an activity is a scientific, provable fact, witnessed thousands of
times by our researchers, with unprecedented
positive results. If you try it and see
the results once, it could change your life forever.
Techniques
Before you commencing any important activity open yourself to a higher power
for a moment. Then take the action. See if the action ends in positive results,
atmosphere. (This is our most recommended strategy!)
(For more info on the topic The Great Secret: Opening to the Force,
click here.)
Calling
Many of us have resorted to prayer or meditation as a
way to solve serious problems in our lives. Fewer of us however have actually
adopted such a technique on a regular and ongoing basis, when things
were not going particularly poorly or when things are going well. Utilizing
such techniques can bring about great fortune and joy in our lives.
For example one
powerful technique is something closely related to prayer. We call it
"Calling." Our experience is that if one were to take any situation
and call the higher spiritual power into that situation life responds sooner or
later in a very positive way. For example, you can use calling on a
daily basis in your work:
The owner of
a chain of audio-video stores in
Techniques
-When there is a
problem in your life call to the spiritual source for solution. List the
specifics in your mind, and offer the problem to it. Don't have any
expectations of a specific result. Have faith in the outcome, whatever it is.
(For more info related to this topic, click here.)
-If there is
a great problem in your life, recount your problems as above, and then call for
a full day. This takes a great effort, but you may see a great change in your
situation in the days and weeks that follow.
One can also call
inwardly to another person or object across time and space. consider this example:
I sent the computer
to Micron for replacing the damaged keyboard and also for checking on defective
performance of my battery since it would stop functioning when it was only 25%
discharged. I sent it on a Saturday by overnight and called on Wednesday to
confirm they had received it and find out the status. The tech could confirm
from the computer that it had been received but their was
no update information on status. Even when I was speaking to the tech, I
thought I should have called the computer instead of the company. The following
morning, I again had the impulse to call Micron. This time I checked the
impulse and inwardly called the computer with a warm affectionate emotion for
it to return. Five minutes later, the doorbell rang and UPS delivered the
computer back!
On checking the computer, I found the keyboard had been fully repaired but the
problem with the battery persisted, so I called Micron again and they asked me
to send it back. They said under their new policy it would take 10-15 working
days. I wanted the computer back in time for a conference we were conducting
but it appeared very unlikely. But I had little choice except to send it, since
immediately after the conference I was leaving the country for a prolonged
period. So I sent it in and tried to be patient. After four or five days, I
thought of calling the company to check. Then I recalled my previous experience
and thought I should call the computer instead. In spite of my earlier success,
the impulse was to call the company in the normal way. I restrained it and
called the computer as before. One hour later UPS delivered it to the door!
Faith
The ultimate skill of the spirit is perhaps the acknowledgement that there is
something beyond any skills, beyond our knowledge, beyond even our spiritual
emotions that we can have ultimate trust in. That is faith. Faith is the mind's
intuition of higher spiritual truth. Faith is the knowledge of the soul within
us of truths we have not yet discovered.
We can have
faith on occasion, when circumstances are difficult, or on an ongoing basis.
Ongoing faith in the spirit, the divine is an
indication that spirit has become the foundation of our lives. From that poise
anything we come to believe that anything is possible for us. It opens us up to the infinite possibilities in life, and it brings us
into a closer relationship with the Divine spirit.
(For more information, click here.)
Aspiration
When we are first in touch with the spirit, we have a
desire to keep close to this force in our lives. However, that aspiration
usually wanes after our experience with the spirit recedes over time. To
rekindle our relationship to the spirit and its benefits of peace, joy, light,
truth, and infinite possibility, we need to make a continuous effort to bring
the spirit back into our lives. This effort must be constant, unending, and
should embrace all parts of our nature until a flame ignites and burns inside
ourselves as a constant Aspiration for union with the divine. By having
aspiration for the spirit, the divine in our lives, we make it the central part
of our being, the light of our existence.
Grace
Finally, beyond al our spiritual efforts to connect to
the spirit, there is the direct action of the Divine. Grace does not wait for
us to connect to spirit; it occurs on it's own. Grace,
a direct action of the Divine in our lives, organizes and conducts everything
for us and the world around us. Our awareness of its action releases in us a
deep universal Joy of existence.
Additional Strategies
-Practice a
discipline such as prayer, meditation, contemplation, or gaining of knowledge
to experience and feel the richness of the spiritual plane. For example, calling the higher power
into your life or your work on a regular basis can bring enormous success,
achievement, and joy in your life.
-Make connecting to spirit (via prayer, consecration, calling, etc.) a regular
part of your work life. Integrate it into your normal working routines. See if
greater possibilities and outcomes occur as a result.
For additional Growth Online thoughts on connecting to spirit in one's life, click
here.