If you are a materialist, none of this matters. In a manner of speaking you are lucky then, for the damage you can do to yourself is also limited. But today there is a wave of spirituality, in which people reject outright materialism but also organized religion, and seek personal spiritual experiences. Unfortunately newbies on this path may be unaware that some things are higher than us but not better than us - quite the opposite.
In psychological terms - which the religious person will see as the shadow play on the cave wall cast by a higher reality - you venture into your subconscious through such practices as meditation. Your subconscious is probably not a nice place. This depends on your life up to now, and your upbringing, but there is also a common human element. It is certain that you have a shadow. This is the human condition. And depending on your mental disposition, venturing alone and weaponless into the subconscious is a dangerous undertaking.
I am a big fan of trust in God, but although God is spirit, not every spirit is God. There won't be just flowers and kittens if you embark on a spiritual path, at least if you go beyond the slightly stoned feeling of just letting go of your everyday thoughts. And sometimes that is enough. When I was young, I eagerly proselytized for meditation, but most of those friends who tried did not enjoy it. In fact, found it creepy. I realize now why. And I no longer recommend meditation without some framework of theory and preferably a community.
As you travel past this intermediate realm, however, goodness predominates, closer toward the Source, the Ground of Being, or just plain God. But will you find your way there? The only reliable way I know of is being pure at heart. But that has proved surprisingly difficult, even with a good upbringing.
9 comments:
Thank you for the comment, Rick. I don't want to promote spiritual paranoia - my experience is that God is amazingly tolerant with newbies - but I feel there is a rising problem with the attitude that anyone can harvest the spirit world for fun and profit. There is a reason why we have traditions, much like ordinary people don't travel unprepared and alone to a foreign country.
Well Magnus, your description of the intermediate realm is taken to heart.
I "meditate" but do not experience any spirits, good or bad.
I know on the One Cosmos blog the author speaks of a spirit named Petey, but when prodded this author will not say more.
What is your personal experience with spirits of the intermediate realm?
You're not likely to learn more about Petey and his friends from the Sons and Daughters of the Cosmic Raccoon. Non-disclosure is a prerequisite for getting your own "gno-me", it seems.
As I tried to say, it is not necessarily a loss if you can't mingle with the beings of the next dimension up. For most people it is surely a blessing.
I prefer to approach this in a way that preserves as much of consensus reality as possible. Let us start with inspiration. Do you experience inspiration from time to time? Do you suddenly feel a deep joy out of the blue, or out of proportion to the experience? Do you feel a surge of ecstasy when you learn a new truth?
Those who love knowledge for its own sake, with no thought of profit, are prone to these experiences. Not just during meditation, but sprinkled throughout daily life.
Yes, I experience ecstacy as you say, sprinklied throughout life. Mine is of a lower grade, a calm sort of feel-good, but it qualifies as ecstacy.
Yes, now that you mention it, that is my main experience of the spirit world.
Fledermaus,
one way of seeing it is that we attract the spiritual presences that correspond to our "attachments", to use the Buddhist concept. An "attachment" is something our thought returns to over and over, on its own accord, when we are not under pressure. If we default to seeking knowledge and insight if we have nothing else to do, then a spirit of revelation will draw near from time to time. If some creative venture is on our mind, like art or music or computer programming, then the corresponding "muse" will be drawn to us. If we are thinking of how to give to others and cause them happiness, then spirits of love and happiness will be drawn to us.
And of course, conversely, if we dwell on injustice against us, if we plan to bring others low, if we delight in objectifying others for our satisfaction, then the corresponding coarse "frequencies" will attract likeminded spirits.
This is why spirituality without religion, which is now so popular, is a risky thing. Religion properly understood should build a foundation of ethics. If you do not follow an established tradition, you need if anything to be MORE ethical - your righteousness must be greater than the pharisees and scribes, or you risk wandering into the bad part of town and suffer depression, delusions and Light knows what else.
So ethics comes prior in time to spirituality, even if the latter is "prior" in importance. This is no different from if you plan to travel to a foreign country. Even though that plan comes first, the preparations must go before the actual venture into the unfamiliar.
I believe you about ethics and the need for a framework.
However I think this is a step or a phase.
Penetrating through to the other side, we come under the guidance of the "psychic being." (No more succint defintion availabe in English).
It is not the soul, but the section accreting around it.
It is the part that knows what to do intrinsically. It does not use exogenous learning. It is ethical on a more absolute basis than is possible by using intellection.
Some say it is theoretical but I have direct experience of it. Perhaps you do to.
I visualize it as a violet sphere in the chest region, but of course it is supraphysical.
Therefore, I can say, without hubris, that I am unassailably virtuous.
However, I am disturbed by the usual array of biological cravings and sometimes these must be placated. But that is not "sin." I give these forces the absolute minimum needed to keep life bearable. That is the compromise we must make to inhabit the meat puppet on this world.
Yes, it is absolutely a step or a base, and it is also a danger. If we focus too much on the necessary ethical foundation, there is the risk that people mistake the foundation for the house, the preparation for the journey, and the flesh for the spirit. In other words, they think: "I am doing the right things. I am following the commandments and the precepts. God must be proud of me. Now I only have to keep this up until I die, and good things will happen to me on the other side."
That is an extreme example, of course, but I am sure it has happened to some.
Ethics are good for you, and for your neighbor. But this "human ethics" is not what religion is about. It is what we Christians call "The Law", which is transcended and included in the higher life.
Now, I am not actually a spiritual teacher. I am more like a tourist sending post cards from a new and exciting country. OK, hopefully more an immigrant than a tourist, but at the current stage there is not much difference.
Still, I think "meat puppet" is rather lacking in respect. I understand quite well what you mean, since the constant nagging of desires that stem from the body is a daily experience. Still, the body is a temple for the Life that lives in it, is it not? Surely it deserves some respect, albeit in a very different way from the body worship that so fills our society.
Yes, I agree "meat puppet" was disrespectful. I was being petulant. I agree with your assessment of the body.
What is your take on the purpose of life?
A guiding principle for action?
If I could clearly and simply explain the purpose of life, surely I would be (at least mentally) greater than the countless saints and sages who have lived through the ages, and who had to resort to demonstrating that purpose with their lives.
For me, the main principle in life is learning, but this could depend on my personality type, of which there are several. Still, not learning at any cost. There are incompatible paths through life, so if one just grasps the first available experience, others further ahead will be closed. So quality of learning matters, not just quantity. And depth of learning. There are things you can roll off your tongue, and there are things that change your soul if you carry them around in there.
I am still bound in time, so if I am around next year, I may say something else again. And this is not necessarily a bad thing. We live within the framework of time for a brief stretch, giving us the ability to change and take on a new form (in the widest sense) before we step out of time again.
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