Thursday 17 April 2008

What lies within.......

The title for this blog entry is confirmation to myself for why I am writing this blog. What is this energy that lies deep within the body and which shifts everything when it rises. I remain convinced that it is the emergence of this energy which heralds the beginning in earnest of a spiritual path. This rising in energy shifts the consciousness from things external to things internal. At least this is the way it was for me. Before this experience which happened in the most ordinary of circumstances - a Saturday morning at work, I was studying Mahayana Buddhism. I was reading, studying, meditating but did not have any idea why I was doing it. All I knew was that there was a strong pull from it to me and I went with it. I was no different to all the other thousands of people who study some form of philosophical doctrine. While I was studying I was also concerned with external material things like my job, getting on well with friends and family; all of that was the same as everyone.

Then in the office on that Saturday morning, everything changed. In response to something a colleague said to me I experienced the most amazing rush of energy that seemed to surge up from deep within me. From my years of Buddhism I knew that there is nothing in the inner life to be afraid of so I connected completely with this experience without any fear. I was totally absorbed in what was happening. This marked that point where the consciousness shifts from the external to the internal. From that day on I no longer have the same interest in external things material things. My consciousness has shifted to the inner spiritual. But this took an event. A real event in time and place to shift the consciousness.

Why did it come about. I could say that it came about because of the many years I spent studying Buddhism, trying to live a life according to the 5 Buddhist precepts. I could say that it came about through the brain being at a certain level of development and being ready to shift. The truth is that I don't know. All I know is that the spiritual path which results in shifts in consciousness is real and as present today as it was in the days of the great sages and yogis. But materialism has made the stirrings of this path in the heart more difficult. This is why I believe that there is scepticism about this path in the world.

But I have direct experience of this energy and of what emerges when the rising of this energy shifts consciousness. It is this rising energy which has given me such an easy understanding of the 3 stages of the spiritual path that I speak about. I am clear that without the experience of this energy I would not have this. Without this experience I would not have the ease of understanding I have with any spiritual literature. It doesn't matter what book I pick up and read I understand naturally and intuitively what is being said. But who I am to have had this experience that has resulted in a love or life a harmony and balance that I never dreamed possible.

This is the purpose of my blog to demonstrate through all the ways I get it wrong that the spiritual path is kind and gentle. I can beat myself up and do on a regular basis for those times when I don't act from an enlightened state and yet the universe is always its kind and benevolent self. I can't stress strongly enough how much the spiritual path is a path for everyone not those who consider themselves to be born spiritual. I didn't consider myself to be born spiritual. Nobody identified me when I was a child as spiritual or saw anything different in me. In fact the opposite was the case I was thought to be difficult and determined (maybe the latter was the spiritual quality which wasn't picked up!). In my experience all this path needs to become alive and vibrant in everyone's lives is faith that the path with its fruits exists and some form of practice. Some practice it doesn't matter how small is necessary. It doesn't need to be hours of meditation.

My practice began when I was a teenager in a boarding school. Each morning we had mass which we were expected to attend. I always remember one priest coming to say mass who was young and trendy. What he said formed the basis for my practice now and still does. He said 'you boarders I bet every morning when you wake up you say 'good God it's morning, why don't you say 'good morning God'. There was something about this that resonated with me at the deepest level and I took it on. It is something that I say every morning. I am aware at how childlike this may sound especially as I am a grown up woman but the consciousness for living life from an enlightened state is the consciousness of the innocent. First thing in the morning, there is nothing. To remember this higher power and make that the first thing to come from nothing is extremely powerful. I don't know for sure but I am sure that the shifts of consciousness which have followed have had as their foundation those few simple words.

I remember reading in some book that when the beloved turns its face towards you, you will turn your face to the beloved. For me this rising of energy represents for me my voluntary turning towards the beloved. I'm still in a dilemma as to whether this turning is a function of the brain or if there is something more. The lack of any kind of visions of spiritual deities or passed on sages or masters leads me to trust in some kind of brain development but I honestly don't know. All I know for certain is that if there is a deep willingness to develop spiritually and self-discipline which doesn't have to mean severe austerities. I never put myself through any kind of severe austerities, although one could argue that the difficulty with which I find it to meditate could be defined as a strict austerity. For me what seemed to be more important was the faith that the state which has been written about through the ages does exist and to treat the path as a game. This is by far the most important. Being significant about it only gets one stuck.

I treated the spiritual path as a game in that I didn't know that there was anything real in it but after the experience of this rising energy I became focussed in a way I never thought. My quest now is to understand what is this energy that lies deep within us and more importantly what is the access to it so that it rises safely and naturally. It is the rising of energy that will herald our entry into the next kingdom - the kingdom of the Soul. The rising of energy shifts the consciousness from things of matter to things of the Soul..........

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