Discovering Spirituality - Episode 07 - Spirit Effect on Human Existence - Podcast Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Discovering Spirituality podcast. Episode 7: Spirit Effect on Human Existence. In this podcast I will be sharing my thoughts on the writing "Spirit Effect on Human Existence" taken from the channeled book "The light in Your Life is Spirit" by George A. Thompson.
If you are interested in reading the writing from the book "The Light in Your Life is Spirit", you can download it from this link.
D.B 26/11/2019
Do you know who you truly are? Do you understand what you are capable of ?
The journey of self discovery in one that is fraught with complexities which is why most people shy away from truly looking at who they are.
If you reach a point in life when you find limited meaning from the typical modern trappings then you must ask yourself the question why? Why is it that my imposed ideals, goals and drives give me little in the way of lasting satisfaction?
Perhaps the idea of accumulation seems so very unnatural or stressful. We may look back to a time when we where children to discover what inspired and lifted our spirits. It may appear to be something quite simple like the sound of lapping waves or the smell of freshly cut grass. Those moments of peace when you and the moment seems to become one.
Then came the disconnection, the discovery of fascinating distractions that heralded the abandonment of our child like wonder and ushered us towards the seriousness of adulthood. That ominous presence of the future and what would become of you in the future. That moment when you realize you have to take responsibility for yourself, you need to take your education seriously to get a job, be charming and desirable to get a mate. The responsibilities that force you to become someone.
And so you become someone, and this is a someone that you have the power to create, so you look for examples of what that someone could be. You begin to measure yourself, compare yourself as you slowly move away from who you truly are.
You may choose a path toward success or completely abandon it, either way your inadequacy in there to be avoided, hidden and masked to avoid your true vulnerabilities.
But what if you re-framed your life, what if you examined what it is you want to be and changed it into what you could discover. This shift in perception, this process of discovery could be very revealing or it could force you to keep Pandora's box well and truly closed.
But if you chose the path of discovery what would or could you learn about yourself? Instead of fear you develop curiosity, what if you chose understanding instead of ignorance. What if you chose honesty instead of avoidance? Where would this take you? Would it elevate you or would it diminish you?
The discovery of truth is something that can truly be uplifting even if it means understanding the darker side of human nature. Because even within darkness we can always discover light. We can learn the perils of darkness and how to avoid them.
This is how we can refine our decision making processes. By thought and understanding, by practice and taking responsibility for our being, our life. We discover that we can learn and find fulfillment in this learning not just to achieve some social norm, but instead to broaden our view of the life that is within us and surrounds us. When we choose movement instead of stagnation.
Why must we endure suffering to discover our better selves? One would think or like to think that in order to become a better person that having a positive environment would facilitate that growth, this appears as being logical. Unlike existing in an unhealthy environment one could assume that the negative would facilitate the negative.
Most religious texts determine that we exist in a state of suffering but to the curious, we have to ask the question what is suffering? Is it a state of lacking or when a need is unable to be met or satisfied?
What if our suffering is due the lack of understanding of who we are or even a lack of understanding in general?
If we look back at primitive man you will begin to realize that mans evolution was born out of a hostile environment. Maybe it's just something we are comfortable with because we recognize it at a very deep primitive level. So it has to be regarded as norm because that is what we have adapted from. So when we exist in a state of suffering we accept it.
To overcome suffering one has to seek out an alternative. An alternative state of being. This state that we seek is not to create chaos but instead to create order and it is well known that this alternative state is one of positivity, which seeks to create joy, love, oneness, tolerance and understanding. A state of being that chooses to challenge suffering and its origins.
With the general acceptance that there is a single God, man was able to become more aware of the many spiritual concepts which could be used as a means of support and direction to those wishing to develop an alternative state of being. But the trouble with religion is that man was called forth not to become but instead to worship, which diminished his sense of individuality and forced him into a state of servitude. For of one does not act according to scripture one could be punished and not by his fellow man but by God, or a vision of god that could also wield power and inflict untold suffering.
It is no wonder that so many in the west particularly, abandoned the idea of religious servitude for economic freedom. But that path in itself, due to want and avarice once again leads man into a state of suffering.
So we have religious suffering and financial suffering which leads to confusion and lacks any true depth and meaning. Again we find ourselves back at the question of meaning. Why are we looking for it? Why do we so desperately long for purpose?
If we manage to fulfill our basics needs then in essence we should be satisfied, but we are not. It's like there is something missing, or something we missed, a path that we failed to walk or a choice that we have come to regret.
Space, what we need is mental space and the freedom to cultivate the observant mind.
The Buddhists call mental clutter and misdirection the "mind thieves", which is quite appropriate since it does not take much for a single stray thought to rob us of our mental clarity. This single thought can propel us down a path both mental and emotional meandering that can have us distracted for hours at a time, time which is wasted that could offer us usable insights.
But the path can offer us a glimpse into the origins of these mental journey's if we begin to develop the technique of mental observation. We can even develop techniques to counter the chatter to bring stillness. This technique is a kind of mental trick that helps us to stop the need to grasp at the thoughts, which is easier said than done, and does require a lot of practice. Just ask a Zen monk!
If you take a step back and observe your motivation to develop mindfulness, what do you think the answer would be? Was it a conscious choice, did you read about a technique in a book? What lies at the heart of your decision?
For many it is an awareness that the pace of ones life or continued feelings of stress and negative emotion have little meaning and leave the person feeling lost. There is a pointlessness to it all and an absurdity. It is also a waste of valuable time.
When one chooses to challenge this mental clutter we are making a decision to change and to think about the person we have become.
Now we come back to the concept of mental space. As you minimize your mental clutter you find that you can actually think about things and start to develop your own understanding. You will inevitably become aware of your uniqueness and what direction you wish to go, or who you wish to become.
You may start to make decisions that help you develop as a unique human being, one who starts appreciating the quest for peace and the appreciation for living. And actually living and not the chaotic social pressures we use to define our identity.
When you create space you will begin to appreciate life from a very different perspective. It's like being awake for the first time, you feel free from the stresses and burdens that plague so many people. With space you are able to think when you need to think and your thought processes can be more revealing, more honest and enabling you to be more capable.
How do you let go of your need to control? One could say that the need to control is a more calculating throwback to one survival instinct. Only in modern life, control is masqueraded as love, ambition, friendship or success. We control our thoughts, our speech, our behaviour, our identity, all these things can be measured to validate and maintain the illusion of the self. Performing what needs to be performed, when it need to be performed.
One could argue that most people live and communicate in a state of controlled chaos, which seems paradoxical. But even within this state of mental and emotional chaos, there are rules and boundaries, established perceptions and abstractions.
Even as the individual maintains their illusion of control there is confusion and contradiction. This may not be acknowledged but it is there.
Man is afflicted by the desires of the immediate. Those dopamine hits that create excitement and anticipation. For most, these biochemical reactions become addictive. The interesting this is that they can be manifested both physically and mentally. With the power of thought lone we can induce a state of fear, when no fear is present.
We can do this too manifest a multitude of different emotional and physical states. Most of which are focused on desire and fear. The point being that it is very easy to lie to ourselves. We can create mental realities using our own imagination. But I wonder if there is another use for this function that goes beyond fear and desire?
When we use our imagination in this way we can project the illusions of reality into the past and into the future. For example you could convince yourself that you ate a red apple in the morning, then project a fantasy of the future when you come home and have an argument with your partner, when neither of these events happened.
Either way you are not living in the present moment. But one has to wonder about the motivations and the reason why we find ourselves mentally projecting into the past or the future. Is it that we feel we are lacking something or perhaps there is something that we do not understand? Does this suggest to us that something is missing? Or maybe we are just bored and so used to these mental gymnastics that our state of being has become normalized and accepted as just the way it is. No wonder so many people do drugs and drink, when the mind becomes a torturous battlefield of confusion and conflict.
What does it mean to be grateful for one life? When we feel gratitude for life we must first acknowledge that this is a positive emotion. It is also a recognition that you exist as a state of being. You are alive, something gives you life and you know that you are alive, not distracted but present.
When you realize you are alive you understand that this is a state of positivity and only positive action and thought can maintain it and so you nurture this, you choose to understand this. Life as it turns out has meaning, but is also has something more.
This something exists in all living things, this force, this power, this source. It is not solely yours, it is not unique to you. As you acknowledge the life within yourself, you also become aware of the life in others. You are all connected, and so in order to make that light brighter, you nurture the light within others.
There is a new found respect for this state and so you strive to recognize any darkness within that dims this light and you banish this darkness. Then there is love, love for your life, not for the vanity of your identity or the distractions of wealth, but the true love for the power within.
This is the power of freewill, to make decision that nurture this light. The power to understand this light and to observe its radiance throughout the whole world. This is the light of life, the power within and the source of all life within the universe.
Gratitude brings patience, resilience, peace and understanding. There is only openness and curiosity as you observe life in all its glory.
There is no recklessness or haste, only calm and understanding. There is knowledge beyond what you thought was possible. There is guidance and peace as you allow yourself to let go of all the distraction that pulls you towards chaos.
There is acknowledgement of who you are, who you truly are because you are more than just a shell. You seek the truth because the truth has meaning and the truth is endless. You understand your purpose is to be without purpose, to let nothing define you or hold you back from discovery.
You are without limit and you are infinite. There is more to you that you can possibly imagine if you can only allow yourself to let go of what you think you know.
Abandon the identity that you worked so hard to create and become. Be open to a new state of being, a true state of being, one that is not held back by triviality. Become the god within and connect with truth and love.
We exist within a state of existence, within nature and within being. This is a state of movement, ever flowing, the mechanics of the universe. It has direction and purpose which can be understood if you only stopped to pay attention to it. It can speak to you, with subtle communication if you are listen. If you free yourself from distraction.
Pay attention and you will feel its rhythm, its guidance and direction. When you pay attention you will begin to be aware of the love and the way you can be nurtured. When you begin to acknowledge life you realize that life has acknowledged you. You are connected.
When you open your eyes you will begin to notice the conflict within other as they desperately attempt to deny their true nature. They fight with life and diminish its beauty with pettiness and ignorance. Their avarice is the hunger that can never be satisfied and they lament and blame life for their lack of happiness and satisfaction.
This is the indulgence of selfishness, the failures of distraction, the regret that their will could never bend, the will of the universe. You cannot fight it, but you continue to fight anyway. You continue to lay the responsibility for your life at the feet of circumstance and blame other for your cowardice.
The life you have in an opportunity to discover and explore, to learn and to understand. Not to take the word of the confused who seem so certain of their limited arrogance. This is the way it is, we are told, limit your vision, we are told, live by my plan we are told, and so we abandon self discovery for self creation. The fabrication of the limited becomes our pursuit, our obsession.
Our closed mind only see's what it wants to see, we feel what we want to feel, terrified that if we choose an alternative direction the world, our world will abandon us. This is the curse we endure, to be and individual or become an individual. To exist as a part of the whole yet knowing we are unique, the conflict between the physical and the spiritual. For the spirit knows the physical existence is temporary and the truth of its immorality together at any given moment. We are tormented by knowing and not knowing.
We desperately prepare for our future without knowing its outcome, and so avoid the direction the universe provides. In our fear and arrogance we accept and reject without question. Success or failure we are in control, this is what we decide, this is our life.
The irony is that we where given life, this opportunity to become more than what we think we are. Despite having freewill we are never truly in control and so the cycle continues. Until we finally reach that pivotal point and acknowledge this is "my" life.
Listen! Are you paying attention? What is it that you are focused on? Is it happiness you seek, is it freedom? Is it to escape the relentless drudgery of your responsibility. How do you define success or failure? How do you define love?
These questions, if answered with honesty can tell you a lot about any individual. They can tell you where their thoughts linger, what brings them joy and what causes them fear.
One of the challenges of modern life is that we tend to cling to abstractions in an attempt to define our reality. We look for meaning and purpose without understanding the present. Why do we put so much truth in the naysayers and harbingers, the priests and gurus. The philosophers and intellectuals, the politicians and authorities? Why do we allow their opinions to guide our every waking moment?
It's not that we are incapable of making sense of the world, or we are stupid. Perhaps we just prefer having other decide our fate, our meaning and our purpose. Why is it the ideas and opinions of others can drive us towards and into insanity so easily?
Is it because our fears get the better of us? Is it that we lack the faith in our own capacity? Are we afraid of failure? Is our need to belong so strong that we would abandon our individuality just to avoid exile? Are we afraid to be alone? What is it that we are so good at avoiding?
The fact that we can think and choose makes us very susceptible to influence. As our primitive instincts are still strong we often seek the path of least resistance, hoping that it will lead us to peace.
I think most people long to be free. Just look at how people define success. Financial freedom, social freedom, academic freedom. It seems like there are so many options being sold to us that we fail to recognize that the freedom we are being offered is the freedom of fear. And like it or not we have yet to evolve beyond this most primitive of emotions.
Fear creates our prison, defines our reality. Our desires create a prison, although we seldom realize until it's too late. So what is the alternative, what is true freedom? If the prison is fear then love is freedom.
And those were my thoughts on the writing Spirit Effect on Human Existence.
If you are interested in reading the writing from the book "The Light in Your Life is Spirit", you can download it from this link.
D.B 26/11/2019
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