1-416-561-5780Our spiritual evolution is an ongoing process in itself; it happens inexorably; it is not the result of a decision we make to undergo such evolution. What changes as a result of our search for self-knowledge is not the process, per se, but the fact that we become more aware, more conscious of this process.
Our evolutionary development goes on all the time. It’s like the growth of a plant. Our ego can decide whether or not to become aware and conscious of the unfolding of our overall evolution. If the ego chooses to ignore and not follow this process on a conscious basis, we will experience long, drawn-out states of disharmony, anxiety, crisis, depression, upheaval. These are not punishments, but a natural consequence of universal laws; they function as warnings, calling our attention to issues that we need to address.
It is realistically quite impossible to always follow the inner movement exactly one hundred percent. If we were that aware, we would not be in the human state. The human state is in itself the result of disconnection and thus we need to struggle to find the connection again with the inner reality. No human being, no path-follower can boast of never going through periods of darkness and crisis. They are inevitable, and it is good that way, because these very states are reminders, messages and signposts to spur us on to make a redoubled effort to find again the harmony with the inner meaning of our individual process.
We may be willing to be conscious and follow the inner movement into divine reality in some areas of our life, but withhold in some others. Where we are not willing to trust life and follow the inner process of development, we develop feelings of distrust in the higher self, while trusting the ego-defenses and protective blocking, no matter how destructive they may happen to be. We may later regret this destructiveness, but since we trust it more than God, we continue with it. We tend not to see the cause and effect between this pseudo-protective attitude and the hardships we face in our outward life, which are not a punishment, but a natural consequence of universal laws.
Those who do not consciously follow their inner process of evolution trust stagnation. They trust in closing their sensibilities to the messages of their evolutionary process. This means to choose to trust wishful thinking and follow the motto that “what I do not know does not exist and will not hurt me”.
We are making decisions every day and every hour of our life. These are decisions about what to think, about how to view events in our life and our reactions to them, about whether to direct our attention to the outer projections of our inner realities or to the inner realities themselves.
Our outer life is a reflection of our inner state. If we want to improve the outer occurrences, we must identify and transform the inner splits and conflicts. That’s where we have to focus our attention. There is no event in our life, big or small, that is not an intrinsic message or a meaningful manifestation of the whole process. Our task and path consist of deciphering these messages, of understanding the meaning behind the events or moods we are in. To the degree we make deliberate efforts to do so, we will succeed, though not immediately and not always in a straight line. To the degree we do not make this effort, our life will be sterile and anxiety-ridden.
When we begin to perceive the meaning, wisdom and purpose of every event in our day-to-day life and its deep connection with the totality of our life, with our evolutionary process, then fear and confusion must vanish, because everything we experience has meaning and purpose.
Everything we experience has to be exactly the way it is. This is not because some deity predestines it for us in a spirit of punishment or reward. Our experiences are the product of where we are on our journey within our own process. This is why we cannot be at any other place or experience anything different than what is actually happening.
It doesn’t make sense to become angry because things are not going very well in our lives or for not being more developed already, in order to enjoy more satisfying events. This would be like a child being impatient, guilty and self-rejecting because it is not yet an adult. It doesn’t make sense.
Spiritual growth is an on-going process at all times. The personality may impose obstacles to this growth (by inadequate desires, thoughts or deeds) but this will not deter the spiritual growth process. It may, however, cause distortions to that growth.
Imagine that you squeeze a growing physical organism into a tight container. This would thwart the growth and cripple the organism. It is the same with mental and psychic processes.
Misunderstanding the dynamics, meaning and necessity of growth – with its process of purification, consciousness-expansion and deepening of perception – and thus feeling impatient about your present state – only leads to self-hate, denial, repression, self-justification and projecting onto others. This in turn leads to more negativity, real guilt, and confusion – in short, to crippling the growing organism.
Offhand, it may appear as if this attitude of impatience indicated an eagerness to grow and goodwill toward a more perfected state and consciousness. But the way this manifests is in distortion and is far from furthering the growth process.
We are part of the divine plan to bring light into the void. Wherever our manifest consciousness has “forgotten” its connection and lost touch with its divine nature, there lies our task, which is destined to reestablish the connection.
There are specific laws that apply to the specific states of consciousness in the process of reconnecting with the divine. And there are broader, universal laws that apply to all states of consciousness:
♦ Law of responsibility: The greater one’s spiritual potentiality (readiness), the greater the repercussion of not realizing that potential.
The greater the discrepancy between your spiritual potentiality and the actual direction you take in life, the more severe your experiences are. These may often lead to a chronic state of depression, anxiety and, indeed, disconnectedness. The resulting and inevitable blindness, be it only momentary, must present experiences that are puzzling, painful, disquieting, confusing, or that simply rob you of momentary peace.
♦ Law of connections: it is one’s task to identify and become aware of existing connections between inner moods, reactions, faults, shortcomings, impurities, conflicts, difficulties, outer experiences and one’s evolutionary process.
Examine, for example:
♦ What connection could there be between a difficulty in establishing fulfilling relationships and a blockage in your career?
♦ What connection could exist between a greedy and pushy attitude and, say, sexual dissatisfaction?
♦ What connection could exist between submissiveness, lack of self-assertion, on the one hand, and covert hostility on the other?
Consider also how these interconnected issues relate to your evolutionary process. To establish the connections you can and should use your mental abilities to whatever degree you can in a spirit of exercising your mind. But the insights must primarily come from deeper within. You must allow the intuitive faculties to provide you with the connections.