Spiritual Awakening And Ethical Responsibility
For many of us Seekers, our Conscious Evolution occurs outside the strict guidelines of monastic vows and rules. How do we combine our modern life with spiritual values and esoteric traditions?
For centuries, the traditional path for a life dedicated toward inner spiritual growth included specific vows of celibacy, poverty, physical labor, and abstinence from worldly pleasures. In the Western industrialized world, the idea of becoming a hermit living in a remote mountain cave is not suitable anymore for our minds and hearts.
Having been a student of the Fourth Way, an esoteric discipline rediscovered by George Gurdjieff and publicized by Peter Ouspensky, I was taught and understood that my life and circumstances are suitable environments for my inner work. No dramatic changes are necessary; my life provides all the challenges and opportunities for my conscious evolution. The work is not about changing circumstances but accepting and transforming them into Higher States.
Beyond certain esoteric expectations, we need to become genuinely individual by following our insights and intuitions, opening ourselves up for divine visions that lead us further on the path. Any institutionalization of spiritual work denies the reformative power in the light of our understanding.
But within this concept, there exists great danger. When we understand that we are legion, that our ego is strong and sly, and that lies and deceptions are plastering our path, we must closely examine who we are to ensure we do not fall into traps.
Need for Spiritual Anonymity
A leitmotif for any Seeker needs to be the yearning for the concealment of our spiritual genius. To be most effective in the world, we must disappear and be unrecognized. Our mantra is not to harm anybody but not to make a show of benevolence and charity.
When you require your name to be mentioned with your donation, you destroy the act with a blind show of vanity. When you do good deeds, do not fuss about it; enjoy the giving as your gift. As Walt Whitman pointed out, “the gift comes back to the giver.”
Refrain from wriggling for wealth, but do not refuse it when it comes your way. Although your actions differ from those of the ‘sleeping,’ do not show your uniqueness. All the titles and riches within your grasp are not enough to excite you. What excites you is the stillness in your heart and a cloud traveling along the sky.
“Even when I have done things for the sake of others,
No sense of amazement or conceit arises.
It is just like having fed myself,
I hope for nothing in return.”
Shantideva
The deep humanism in your Soul that you develop on your path is the most compelling element of your Being. You are not only focusing on eradicating your suffering, but you attain Enlightenment for the sake of everybody. These aspirations can only reflect a ‘Buddha in the Making,’ but you must integrate this compassion into any meaningful spiritual practice. The Western Seeker is weak in this regard, but Enlightenment cannot exist without it. Otherwise, the announced AAwakening is stale and shallow and might serve only the means of the ego to show its superiority.
Be Truthful and Kind
There are two aspects of Spiritual Awakening. First, the thought that inspires to awaken and then the process of awakening itself. It is like wanting to go somewhere and actually going there. The wish for Enlightenment is the gift of the Absolute; the work itself is the strength gathered in lifetimes to reach Higher Consciousness.
We are blind and yet found a jewel in a heap of rubbish by chance. The depth of your longing will reveal the stage of your possible liberation.
The commitment to understanding more about Awakening leads to reflecting on the nature of ethical responsibility.
I conquer my thoughts of resentment and jealousy with the wish to bless the people who might have more than I do. Imagine that the person driving a fancy convertible sports car along the road is heading for a wall to end his life. We are all suffering, and when you recognize that even the wealthy, successful, and important people are suffering, you take away the dagger that pierces your heart.
To be mindful is to be a watchman at the gateway of your Consciousness. Be on guard against thieves searching for an opportunity to rob you of virtue. Your ethical awareness is the moment-to-moment attention of your inner self-discipline. I aim to replace any negativity against somebody with my command of dropping this thought. It takes practice and commitment to continue this exercise beyond a fleeting moment of revelation.
Lust and Hatred
When impulses of lust and hatred are piercing your Soul, accept them for what they are. Be aware of these temptations and see them as the waste products of your ego. They are transient and powerless if you do not identify with them. Be the lion among jackals, unmoved by the insistent howling of one’s afflicted nature. Grow and mature in understanding that we all have these negative thoughts. All Conscious Beings had to separate from their torture by realizing that these thoughts are paper tigers in the face of God.
We all have inside us the ‘mad boar’ that destroys our Higher Self with its unruly habits and devilish intentions.
Our spiritual love is founded on the depth of seeing your fellow men as an extension of your existence. Without them, you are lost in the desert of misery. Soothe the pain of others, like reaching out your hand to caress your foot. You are not disconnected from this Universe; when you come into Being, you understand that disconnection is a fiction of the ego, the lie you have been told all your life.
“Out of love to quell the pain of others,
The person who is used to this,
Plunges into the deepest hell
As a swan into a lotus-pool.”
Shantideva
Be concerned with wisdom rather than knowledge. The ultimate truth is concealed behind the world, waiting to be discovered by your efforts. Do not negate the world, but embrace it with your understanding that most people do not have your gift. Be kind to them and hope for their liberation. Suffering in this world is transient. Refrain from troubling yourself with things that do not endure. For thought will come and go, but the truth remains. A supernatural state appears in the quiet prayer of your existence, bringing you closer to your eternal reality.
SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS NOW: BE HERE NOW - FOCUS ON AWAKENING - TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE - SEARCH ENLIGHTENMENT
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDY2F525
“Spiritual Consciousness Now” is my life story with all its glories and adversities, realizing in the end that everything was planned and arranged to bring me into Being.
From the Book’s Preface
“When I truly realized that this Present Moment is all I ever have, I started to walk my path of Enlightenment. This realization was not simply knowledge but a deep feeling about my truth in life. Understanding this and deciding to make conscious efforts the primary focus within my life began the first step in my walk. Everything else was just preliminary preparations.”