In the Asatoma prayer,[1]
we pray to be led from darkness to light, from untruth to truth, and from
mortality to immortality. One could just say, “Help me to go from darkness to
light, from unconsciousness to consciousness.”
But the prayer is old, six thousand years old, and all the Masters of the
East have used that prayer to help themselves open the door to the heart. The
heart is connected to that from which we came, which is Love, which is God,
which is the frequency of the One.
On a really simple level,
we can go through life in one of two ways, consciously or unconsciously. Which way is easier? It’s easier, much easier to be unconscious! Then there is no having to sort out Self and “other.”
When we are unconscious, we perceive reality as our small self and then everything
else outside of ourselves. That’s how we
see it with our two eyes. We can only
perceive Oneness when we close our two eyes and ignite the singular, third eye
and go within; then we start to realize oneness from within.
What is the trigger that
helps you to go from unconsciousness to consciousness? Quite simply, you don’t feel good; you’re
suffering somehow. Something inside is stimulating you to try to find a way to
do something differently from the way you’ve been doing it. Sometimes it’s
physical. “I feel sluggish so I’m going to start exercising.” Or, “I’ve been eating junk and I haven’t been
feeling good, so I’m going to start eating a healthy diet.”
All of that is part of
going from unconsciousness to consciousness. You notice something about
yourself that you need to do differently, so you start to exercise or change
your diet. On yet another level, you might face up to the fact that you’re an
alcoholic and go to AA for the first time. Or, you may feel desperate because
something in your life just isn’t working and has to change, so you make an
appointment to see a therapist.
In time, after all the
programs and self-help, you find that something still is not working. You are
still suffering on some level. Something within you longs for that from which
it came. It’s like trying to fill an endless hole and we try to fill the hole
with anything that we can think of. We try this, and then we try that, and then
we try this and then that – over and over again. We try to fill that hole so we can find the satisfaction
or contentment we long for. Because the hole is endless, we can never fill it
by feeding ourselves from the outside, even when we have all the external
things that should be making us happy.
So in essence, that which
we are, calls us home. It will not let us go until we return within again and
again in a deep, meaningful way that really sustains our heart and our
soul. Then we can find that flow, which
is Love, and then we can live in that flow and be guided.
The Search for God
The desire to merge with
that from which we came eventually leads us to spiritual awareness and we begin
our search for God. God takes many shapes and many forms. Because we humans
have a desire to crystallize, compartmentalize, and draw boundaries within
which we can live and feel comfortable, we create many religions and all their
various expressions. God can be Jesus Christ, God can be Buddha, God can be the
Divine Mother, God can be Krishna, and so on.
But it’s all One.
When I talk about God, I
am talking about a resonance. I am talking about a frequency of vibration that
is unified, that is One. It is Oneness.
But I often say ‘God’ or ‘Goddess’ because most of us can relate to
those somehow.
After you have been on a
spiritual path for a while, you begin to find that there are steps and
progressions on this path just as there are steps and progressions in exercise
and diet. After a few weeks or months, or even a few years on a “healthy” diet,
you might decide to change your diet to a new one that you think is even better
for you than the first one you chose.
Your spiritual path is no
different. “I’ve been meditating, doing yoga, doing this and that, and I’m
stuck. Is this all there is? After all
I’ve done, is this where I have arrived?”
Who has not felt that? After all those years of eating well, doing your
inner work, your emotional work, being physically fit, living in a good way,
and praying and meditating, why do you come back around to, “Is this all there
is?”
Because
whatever we’re doing is limited. I mean, it is not God. There has to be some
additional opening somewhere.
Yes, there has to be some
additional opening somewhere. Somehow,
we’ve fallen into the groove again. It’s called karma.
Or
ego?
Ego and karma could be
synonymous. As long as you are in charge and as long as you are driving the boat, you are going
to get stuck again in the karmic groove. That’s why, and that’s the answer to
the question. You progress on the spiritual path and say, “Ok, I’m going to
meditate, pray, and go on retreats to deepen my practice. I’m going to do all
that, but when push comes to shove, I’m not going to surrender to God because I
know best how things should be in my life.” And you end up back in the same
place.
But
sometimes you don’t even see that you’re doing that.
You do if you are really
watching, but when guidance comes around, you often do not want to hear it.
Why? Because you want things to be the way you
want them to be. That desire will always be there, just like the thoughts that
you have in your head when you are meditating. Thoughts are always going to
arise and drift through your awareness. Even when you are willing to practice
surrendering and listening to guidance, you will still feel resistance. It’s
natural; it’s just a part of our humanness. That resistance is the place that
keeps you in the loop of karma and doesn’t want to let you go.
Your level of pain is equal to your level of resistance. The degree to which you can release resistance
is the degree to which you can realize a simple, beautiful flow.
The Resonance Will Guide You
Look for the signs. There
are always signs and signals and stepping stones in front of you, showing you
where the next step is. You do not even have to know what the big picture is,
and we never see that anyway; all you have to do is take the next small
step.
Your fear is what creates
the feeling of being overwhelmed because you think you are alone, without any
help or support. You think you have to generate all the pieces and parts that
are needed to make a change or do something in a new way. You feel this way
until you find the flow, and then realize, “Oh, it’s all happening
already!”
The resonance will guide
you, and the resonance is so simple. Knowing God is not about having a vision
of God somewhere in a cave. Knowing God is just recognizing what feels open.
Does this feel open? There is God. Does this feel closed? God is not there. If
it’s clear and if it feels open, there’s light in it and it’s a YES. If it’s not all “yes” and if there’s some
contraction there, then it’s a yellow or red light, and you should not proceed.
If it’s a green light, take the step to the next stepping stone.
What is a conscious life? What does it mean to
live consciously? In a conscious life, you open the door of your heart to the
energy, resonance and light from which
it came. You will be guided and loved in a way that is far beyond your wildest
dreams, beyond what you could ever imagine or manipulate or make up for
yourself. That is where all the magic happens because it is not you, in your
small self, trying to make it all happen. It is you merging with the God Self
from which you came, feeling that, and then allowing yourself to be guided into
that flow.