Friday, December 4, 2015

The Conscious Self Surrenders Everything



In rare moments you drop your wants, needs and fears. Pettiness and the insistence on having things your own way dissolve. In the empty space of the dissolution, room is made for the true nature of love to fill you. You need nothing. You are relaxed and your self-consciousness disappears. You are in the Divine Current. It feels as natural as breathing in and out. You are open.

But then what happens? The wall of the self returns. Your agenda, which is a pre-determined, automatic response to how you meet life, rears its ugly head and demands that you not open, that you not change. You close down and shut the door.

You set up roadblocks to the flow of life by pushing, pulling, manipulating and being attached to outcomes. The moment you attempt to make something happen the way you want it to, you get in the way and the current is lost. The moment you act on our own behalf, you distance yourself from love. Any attempt that is made to manipulate, alter, force, reject or attain anything, splits the energy and divides us from union with Divine Love.

This division impacts every level of our being: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. In a state of division, the body is constantly unwell. We feel physically limited and imposed upon by the body. We have no vitality, no energy. Even if we are “well,” we do not feel well if consciousness is blocked. Emotionally, we are in a state of reaction against our experience: “Yes, I like it,” or “No, I don’t like it.” We position ourselves as to what we like or do not like, what we want or do not want. We resist what is. On the mental level, we question, doubt, and analyze. We are terrorized by a restless mind that is never satisfied. And spiritually, we feel separated, isolated, cut off, and empty.

In a state of union, on the other hand, the body is harmonious, filled with vitality and energy. Even if physical disease is present, a sustaining level of acceptance and flow exists if consciousness is not blocked. Emotionally, we accept what is given to us in life, and we feel grateful. We divest ourselves of preferences and become open and responsive to what is. On the mental level, the questioning stops. The mind is open to possibility, and we “wait on the will of heaven.” And on the spiritual level, we feel connected, unified, and complete.

With these checkpoints, it is easy to see whether you are open or closed. With the spiritual practice of self-reflection, you can learn to see the differences quickly and grasp what triggers consciousness or unconsciousness. Meditation and conscious breathing dissolve the individual self that is dissatisfied and full of cravings. The unconscious self is an obstacle.  The Conscious Self is the Way. If you choose fear and doubt, they are yours. If you choose simplicity and liberation, they are yours. The unconscious self has agendas, preferences, obsessions, and opinions. The result is frustration and outcomes that do not fulfill us. The Conscious Self surrenders everything and attempts nothing. The result is Simplicity and a life of realized blessings and unexpected joys.