Meditation is not a way to enlightenment,
Nor is it a method of achieving anything at all.
It is peace itself.
It is the actualization of wisdom,
The ultimate truth of the oneness of all things.
Dogen
Editorial
,
I am getting this ezine out to you today in the midst of much
online turmoil...
First of all, an apology. Last time, I promised to be in contact
with you more often. Since that day, you have not heard from me
at all for well over a month!
It was the fault of the autoresponder (i.e. emailing) company I
had been using. One day, their website simply disappeared without
warning, along with my entire email list for this ezine! I
emailed them several times and there was no answer. Hence, I
assumed that they had gone bust. However, 3 weeks later, they
suddenly reappeared again, without so much as an apology!
Unacceptable.
Actually, they had been so incompetent before that
I had expected the possibility of their vanishing forever one
day, and had saved my lists just in case. Also, I had opened an
account with a new company, but this was only for new
subscribers, as the transfer of the old list is not
straightforward.
In the near future, I am setting up my own emailing system,
which will resolve many problems. For instance, nobody on
AOL receives this ezine! That's because said autoresponder
company is banned there, as is anyone who uses it. And so
on, and so on....
The outcome of this though is that I will be asking you soon to
re-subscribe to this ezine, i.e. to confirm that you still want to
be on it. The list doubtless has a bunch of dead email addresses,
and so on. So watch out in weeks to come for this invitation to
rejoin the list.
I have transferred the aksworld.com website to new hosting, along
with the discussion board. The result is that the discussion
board has been upgraded, and is much easier to use.
Do visit
there when you get a chance and contribute....
Much of what we think about habitually is negative and
unproductive. Not only are most of the thoughts we have the same
as the ones we had yesterday, the majority of them are also
unhelpful and do real harm to our bodies, minds and
spirits.
Fully 80% of illnesses are psychosomatic in nature, i.e. are
self- inflicted as a result of the quality of our thoughts. The
effect on our minds is equally devastating. We are anxious and
fretful, forever concerned about things that are none of our
business, projecting the worst on the future and calling it
worry. Generally, we use this miracle mind of ours against
itself.
The mind is at war with itself and with its surroundings.
Your ego consciousness seeks to protect its own existence. In
doing so, it introduces the illusion of massive separation
between you and the rest of the universe. Only by doing this can
it preserve its own existence and value to you. If you should
come to realize your oneness with all of creation, and recognize
the presence of your Higher Self, who stands ready to give you
full liberation from ignorance and illusion, what further use
would you have for the ego?
Through perceiving reality with the powers of everyday
consciousness alone, we have short-changed ourselves. We have
fallen short of all we are capable of and were designed for.
Instead of watching the actors on the stage, we are engrossed
with their distorted shadows on the backdrop curtain. Moreover,
ego consciousness cannot help you with your spiritual quest. The
most you can really do is prepare yourself for the unveiling of
truth that will definitely come when the Higher Self reveals
itself in your life. The reason the everyday consciousness is
powerless to assist is because the spiritual realm is alien to
it. It knows nothing of it. The ego was designed purely for life
here on earth, via the uses of our five conventional senses!
Some Obstacles To Inner Guidance
When it comes time to listen for inner guidance, it is important
that you have no in-built bias against the answer that you may
receive. Realize that you may not know what is in your own
best interest. However, the Higher Self always knows.
There is very little purpose in asking for inner guidance if
there are certain answers that you are unwilling to accept.
Otherwise you are merely seeking justification for what your
conscious mind has already decided upon, or else seeking a boost
to your ego. This has to be more than a mere intellectual
gesture. You have to strive for true openness with yourself.
Otherwise, you will be in danger of merely perpetuating the traps
of self-delusion that have held you thus far.
Often, our questions arise from a lack of control over our own
lives, or a desire to control external circumstances and people.
Most of our doubts and frustrations in life arise from this
direction. The Buddha taught that our greatest obstacle to
spiritual progress arises from a refusal to accept “what is”; the
things that we cannot change and must learn to accept with
grace. The Christian tradition would re-phrase that to “accept
God's will”. Our obsession with resenting situations or people
over whom we have no control whatsoever is the primary
source of our unhappiness!
You should seek to develop acceptance of some of the most
frustrating situations in life. They are actually our greatest
growth opportunities, if we deal with them in a calm patient
manner. You can use them for rapid growth, both emotionally and
spiritually. Such an approach may even cause those situations to
evaporate. Once the lesson they have been trying to impart has
been fully integrated into your life, there is no need for the
experience to continue.
Remember that your guidance could come in one of a million
different ways. Perhaps whilst reading a book, the solution is
there before you. Or perhaps it will come in a dream. Your
worst enemy may suddenly spit out the very guidance you need with
pure venom in his voice or it may come during a night out with
your best friends. And yes, it may even be a quiet voice or
intuition in your head. In whatever form it may appear, an
open-hearted willingness to hear without pre-judgment is
essential. Only then will you recognize the answer when it
presents itself.
Allow all thoughts in without initial pre-judgment. Let the
Higher Self do the judging and focus you in towards the correct
guidance. The answer may not come when you expect it,
and it is likely to be in a completely unexpected form. Hence,
patience and continual inner communion must be maintained.
Learn
to wait and to keep asking again and again until you are
satisfied.
The above article excerpted from "The 7 Golden Secrets To Knowing
Your Higher Self" by Asoka Selvarajah
Copyright Asoka Selvarajah 2004. All Rights Reserved.
Asoka Selvarajah is a writer on personal growth and
spirituality,
and the author of "The 7 Golden Secrets To Knowing Your
Higher
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