Realizing You are on the Path
Spirituality---the belief of a soul in each of us, a soul that we can communicate with to gain knowledge and wisdom and an understanding of our purpose. Whether you know it or not, we all are on a spiritual path, and we all learn from our lives, from challenges we have overcome and failed, to problems we have fixed or not, everything that happens serves as a lesson for us to learn from. Learning, in a sense of not just academics, but limits, morals, and solutions of how to overcome a problem should it ever arise again.
Learning increases drastically once one is consciously aware that he or she is on the path. We begin to improve our lives, and the lives of others, and we see that there is more meaning in life than what we had previously thought.
To become consciously aware that you are on the path, you must believe that whatever happens in life serves as a lesson for you to learn from--- a soul within and around you, guides you through life.
Once you believe, you enter the path to enlightenment. Fundamentals
Remember this, Spirituality is not a religion. Though it is a belief, it is no religion. Spirituality, is instead, more of a philosophy, a look on life and the universe that is coherent, and always (in the end) logical. It does not force you to believe in an omnipotent God. It does not make you pray and place all your faith in something in the hopes that it is real. But, neither does it ask you to give up your religion. You are free to place faith with the idea fed to you during your lifetime.
But what it does ask you is to take a new look on things. It's easy to say, "Well, God created everything, and that's that." It's simple, it doesn't require too much thought, and you can go on. But what happens when you really want to know why something happens. Why do bad things happen to good people? And good to bad? Why are we alive? Is Heaven (or Nirvana) a reality? Why are there so many religions? How can mine be right, and not his? Since there are so many, how can we be sure which one is correct? Is any religion correct? If we all believe in God, why can't we just say "Hey, we all believe in God. Let's leave it at that, and stop warring over who is correct." Sometimes, questions just need to be answered to make us feel more secure. Spirituality gives us that opportunity. It is a combination of scientific knowledge, mixed with pseudo-science (that which is not yet scientifically proven but has been experienced for thousands of years, such as astral projection).
To assist you on your path, lets start with one of the spiritual basics, the soul.
“What exactly is a soul?” You probably have seen them in movies as hollow replicas of our bodies. Though in certain meditations it can appear as such, it is not normally in that state. A soul is energy. Everything in this universe, is energy, vibrating at different frequencies. Heat is energy. It vibrates at a frequency that creates a sense of heat when these vibrations hit us. Matter is energy as well, extremely condensed energy. Humans are energy as well, our thoughts and emotions included. Indeed, energy is what binds everything together. It is our most basic connection to everything. It is like an ocean. A girl lowers a hand into the water, and thousands of miles away, a different girl puts her hand in the water as well. Though thousands of miles apart, both girls are now connected by the ocean.
So, a soul is energy. “But how can energy record information and guide me through life?” Because, since everything in the Universe is energy, wouldn't this just make sense? Our thoughts are energy. The memories we store are in the form of energy. A soul is just an extremely complicated source of energy the likes of which may never be entirely understood.
But one thing is clear. You are not your soul. Think about this. Do you know anything about you from before your birth? Not that you were conceived, and that your cells formed in such a way. No, I mean, do you have any understanding of what went on in the womb? That is a definite No. (If you do, then you are of tremendous scientific value, and would have probably been studied already, and heard by the masses.) For the rest of us, that is a No. Where am I going with this? Think about your life, think of your memories from as far back as you can remember. Think of your likes, and your dislikes, your hobbies, your favorite foods, your dreams, your goals, your view on the world. This is you. You are your intelligence, your memories and personality. Can you agree with that? For most of us, yes. For example, we have Joe. When asked who he is, Joe says "I'm an office worker. I grew up in Brooklyn. I like to hike. Someday, I want to be the C.E.O of my company." Most of us will answer this way, we'll say what our job is, what we like to do, where we grew up, and where we want to end up. That's you. And basically that means, you are your conscious.
What's the difference between a conscious and a soul? Your soul is an energy being (because everything is energy) that is far more grand than anything that can be imagined. It is your own, personal guardian, your Higher Self. Your conscious is merely a sliver of your Higher Self. That is why we have no intimate connection with our soul, because unless we concentrate on it, we will never realize it is there. It is like an ant trying to realize that it is in a baseball field.
It is this soul that chooses our time and place of birth, and what type of life form we will be.
But, how can something like this possibly exist? Author, how do you know this? For those who have connected with their soul, they absolutely know that their soul exists. There is no longer doubt. Buddhists often have this experience, for that is one of the aims of their religion. For the majority of us who have not experienced this "supposed grand energy being responsible for our creation" (I empathize with you on this. It is not something you pick up and instantly fall for. I didn't always believe in it either. But the connection certainly changed that)...for those of us who have not experienced it, we are left baffled by it and unsure. That is the nature of humanity. New things need to be examined, studied, and approved. We need to be sure it exists. Lucid Dreaming (realizing you are dreaming and then taking control of it) was for a long time, in the scientific community, regarded as a hoax. But now it has been concretely proven. The same is true for almost everything. When science first began, everything was new and unproven. Now, new things are being proven every day.
Basically, to realize your soul exists, you have to connect with it. I won't cover connection, for then this post will turn into a novel. But what I will say is, meditation is a great way for connection. Look into it if you want. And I will also say this (I'm just full of things to say today), Spirituality does not ask you to place faith in the existence of souls. If your reasoning suggests that souls aren't real, that is your reasoning and that is what you know at the time. That is fine. You are not obliged to believe. But you are always free to try and experience it. And that is a difference between religion and spirituality. In religion, you are required to possess utmost faith in something. In spirituality, believe in what you want according to your reasoning.
But enough about that. Your soul created you, and now you're on Earth. Shizam! Now what? What was the purpose? Basically, the soul created you to use you as a vehicle for experiencing new things. The soul is like a library. The more books (experiences) a library (the soul) contains, the better the library. As a human, your place here on Earth is to learn and to progress. You do this through the four planes of existence.
“What exactly is a soul?” You probably have seen them in movies as hollow replicas of our bodies. Though in certain meditations it can appear as such, it is not normally in that state. A soul is energy. Everything in this universe, is energy, vibrating at different frequencies. Heat is energy. It vibrates at a frequency that creates a sense of heat when these vibrations hit us. Matter is energy as well, extremely condensed energy. Humans are energy as well, our thoughts and emotions included. Indeed, energy is what binds everything together. It is our most basic connection to everything. It is like an ocean. A girl lowers a hand into the water, and thousands of miles away, a different girl puts her hand in the water as well. Though thousands of miles apart, both girls are now connected by the ocean.
 |
| Electromagnetic Energy from: www.my-blackberry.net |
But one thing is clear. You are not your soul. Think about this. Do you know anything about you from before your birth? Not that you were conceived, and that your cells formed in such a way. No, I mean, do you have any understanding of what went on in the womb? That is a definite No. (If you do, then you are of tremendous scientific value, and would have probably been studied already, and heard by the masses.) For the rest of us, that is a No. Where am I going with this? Think about your life, think of your memories from as far back as you can remember. Think of your likes, and your dislikes, your hobbies, your favorite foods, your dreams, your goals, your view on the world. This is you. You are your intelligence, your memories and personality. Can you agree with that? For most of us, yes. For example, we have Joe. When asked who he is, Joe says "I'm an office worker. I grew up in Brooklyn. I like to hike. Someday, I want to be the C.E.O of my company." Most of us will answer this way, we'll say what our job is, what we like to do, where we grew up, and where we want to end up. That's you. And basically that means, you are your conscious.
What's the difference between a conscious and a soul? Your soul is an energy being (because everything is energy) that is far more grand than anything that can be imagined. It is your own, personal guardian, your Higher Self. Your conscious is merely a sliver of your Higher Self. That is why we have no intimate connection with our soul, because unless we concentrate on it, we will never realize it is there. It is like an ant trying to realize that it is in a baseball field.
It is this soul that chooses our time and place of birth, and what type of life form we will be.
But, how can something like this possibly exist? Author, how do you know this? For those who have connected with their soul, they absolutely know that their soul exists. There is no longer doubt. Buddhists often have this experience, for that is one of the aims of their religion. For the majority of us who have not experienced this "supposed grand energy being responsible for our creation" (I empathize with you on this. It is not something you pick up and instantly fall for. I didn't always believe in it either. But the connection certainly changed that)...for those of us who have not experienced it, we are left baffled by it and unsure. That is the nature of humanity. New things need to be examined, studied, and approved. We need to be sure it exists. Lucid Dreaming (realizing you are dreaming and then taking control of it) was for a long time, in the scientific community, regarded as a hoax. But now it has been concretely proven. The same is true for almost everything. When science first began, everything was new and unproven. Now, new things are being proven every day.
Basically, to realize your soul exists, you have to connect with it. I won't cover connection, for then this post will turn into a novel. But what I will say is, meditation is a great way for connection. Look into it if you want. And I will also say this (I'm just full of things to say today), Spirituality does not ask you to place faith in the existence of souls. If your reasoning suggests that souls aren't real, that is your reasoning and that is what you know at the time. That is fine. You are not obliged to believe. But you are always free to try and experience it. And that is a difference between religion and spirituality. In religion, you are required to possess utmost faith in something. In spirituality, believe in what you want according to your reasoning.
But enough about that. Your soul created you, and now you're on Earth. Shizam! Now what? What was the purpose? Basically, the soul created you to use you as a vehicle for experiencing new things. The soul is like a library. The more books (experiences) a library (the soul) contains, the better the library. As a human, your place here on Earth is to learn and to progress. You do this through the four planes of existence.
Physical
Emotional
Mental
Spiritual
Mental
Spiritual
These 4 concepts define our humanity, what we actually are.
Physical is of course, the body, the matter. All the muscles, tissues, bones, organs, and brain matter. The physical level is the only level we can see with our eyes (physical sees physical). The physical plane is like the sliver of visible light on the electromagnetic scale. It composes a very small portion of a human being.
The Emotional plane is, naturally, the emotions that humans experience throughout the lifetime. They include joy, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, anticipation, and acceptance. They are important in our interaction with others. The more positive we are with emotions, the more we attract people, and the more negative, the more we distance ourselves away. Emotions aren’t visible because we only see the effects of the emotions on our physical bodies. (Happiness leads to smiling, sadness leads to crying). Smiling results from an impulse, a smile is not in itself an emotion.
Mental is the mind and how we use logic and reasoning to solve problems. The more powerful the mental level is, the more one is able to intellectualize life’s challenges and use sense and creativity to accomplish them. The Mental level also involves our creative side, and how we can express ourselves through art, music, dance, writing, theater, etc, and how we solve problems this way.
The Spiritual level is the soul, and how we progress through life, knowing our soul is guiding us. The higher you spiritual sense is, the more you begin to see that life is a school and that we are here to learn. Our bodies are our soul's vehicle on Earth. We experience new things, and the soul records them.
Now, the 4 levels always work together, either at the same time or in steps, and it is different for everybody. (Let’s say your car is stolen. First, your Emotional level kicks in and you panic. Your Physical level reacts when your heart beats faster. Your Mental level reacts when you ask yourself who could have taken it, and what you are going to do. The Spiritual level is active the entire time and it records everything that you are experiencing. Later, in meditation, it will bring up the event and allow you to learn from it.)
As the 4 levels work together to progress the learning, it is important to understand that if you face a difficulty and do not consciously learn from it, then the difficulty will repeat itself until you do learn. For example, if someone is always insulting you, calling you names and angering you, and if you imply try ignoring the problem, the insulting will persist. When it does persist, that means it is a lesson and that it’s time you learned from it. It could be that the person insulting you needs help, probably with a life crisis, and that he or she is in immense turmoil and is being subconsciously directed to put out emotions through insults. If you decide to help that person, then soon you will realize he or she is a great person that just needed some guidance.)
So, there was the four planes in brief. Confused? Not enough cleared up yet? Don't worry. Just stay tuned and they'll be explained later on. Remember this for now. Our soul created us and uses us to learn new things through the four planes of existence. Simple.
Next is yin and yang.As the 4 levels work together to progress the learning, it is important to understand that if you face a difficulty and do not consciously learn from it, then the difficulty will repeat itself until you do learn. For example, if someone is always insulting you, calling you names and angering you, and if you imply try ignoring the problem, the insulting will persist. When it does persist, that means it is a lesson and that it’s time you learned from it. It could be that the person insulting you needs help, probably with a life crisis, and that he or she is in immense turmoil and is being subconsciously directed to put out emotions through insults. If you decide to help that person, then soon you will realize he or she is a great person that just needed some guidance.)
So, there was the four planes in brief. Confused? Not enough cleared up yet? Don't worry. Just stay tuned and they'll be explained later on. Remember this for now. Our soul created us and uses us to learn new things through the four planes of existence. Simple.
This is an idea that describes the state of our universe as both positive (white fish) and negative (black fish). Both positive and negative must be equal in order to achieve a state of balance, as the universe always tries to balance itself. Notice that in each fish, the eye is the color of the other fish, because all positive has negative and all negative has positive. One of Newton’s laws, “every action has an opposite but equal reaction” is the Western version of yin and yang. Anytime something you consider positive happens, something negative happens as well, and vice-versa. (Whenever a volcano erupts and destroys the surrounding land (negative), new life will arise (positive)). The universe will always balance itself. There is never all positive or all negative. The saying “You can never have too much of a good thing” agrees with this.
It is important to understand that negative does not mean bad or evil. Just that it is a necessary part of the universe. And positive does not necessarily mean good. Instead, think of the universe as two magnets. Each faces the other, with one end being positive and the other being negative. They attract and hold each other together with the forces in the center, acting as neutrality (the state that the universe is in). If one end were to vanish, the forces in the center would cease to operate and the other end would simply fall. Thus, no more universe.
Buddha strived to achieve neutrality while on his path, to see everything in positive and negative, and to act as both.
It is important to understand that negative does not mean bad or evil. Just that it is a necessary part of the universe. And positive does not necessarily mean good. Instead, think of the universe as two magnets. Each faces the other, with one end being positive and the other being negative. They attract and hold each other together with the forces in the center, acting as neutrality (the state that the universe is in). If one end were to vanish, the forces in the center would cease to operate and the other end would simply fall. Thus, no more universe.
Buddha strived to achieve neutrality while on his path, to see everything in positive and negative, and to act as both.
Now, let's return to energy. I mentioned that there is a universal energy, and that your soul is a part of that energy. There are other kinds of energies as well, such as chi and psi (more on that in another article) and there are vortexes of energy known as chakras, which run along through your center, from the base of the spine to the top of the head.
There are 7 physical chakras, and each is a different color of the rainbow, starting red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. (Notice they follow the spectrum of visible light) Each chakra has its own function on our being, and we can control each. These chakras are either opened, closed, under-active, or over-active. The ideal state of the chakras is to have them all open and balanced. (But more on that later.)
Another aspect of Spirituality is meditation. In later articles, I will describe various techniques. For now, the idea and goal will suffice.
Another aspect of Spirituality is meditation. In later articles, I will describe various techniques. For now, the idea and goal will suffice.
Meditation is the act of clearing one’s mind to be void of any thought or feeling. This state allows one to connect with the soul, if the soul chooses to appear. The healing properties of meditation include a riddance of stress, and pain (if the individual focuses on the area of pain and is able to use chi), and a calming effect that can lead to a state of pure happiness (Nirvana in Buddhist tradition). Meditation connects the 4 planes together in harmonious balance, and boosts the overall health of an individual. And because it clears the mind of excess thoughts, it makes room for new ideas, something called inspiration. (Great for people with writers block). Answers to a current challenge you are experiencing (because there are no problems, only lessons and challenges) can be provided in the course of meditation.
As a final topic, Spirituality involves the idea of reincarnation. That is, your soul creates you numerous times to add books to its library.
Remember, what you just read was a brief article describing the basics. Many more concepts will be viewed in later articles in detail. The idea here is to see whether you wish to learn more.
I wish you success on your path. Go and learn all you can, and embrace every difficulty and every convenience, and see if you can take a new look on things.
The light in me shines with the light in you.
Namaste
No comments:
Post a Comment