the question for today
as my mind stumbled upon this thought last evening, i resolved to allocate my free time today to thinking about it. perhaps some of you would have wisdom to share to accelerate this thought process, and so - again - i put myself 'out there':
often, life sends us lessons - challenges that we overcome (often for lack of choice more than anything else) and learn from. there is much to be learned when we are crushed, when we are forced to embrace our humility and realize who we are within. the question is - when realization does dawn, and we understand the places we lack and the (many) things we must change in ourselves - how do we ensure that the process of growth never stops? how do we keep ourselves moving forward on the path of self-realization? in the shorter run, it is easier to translate this thought into action. when we are humbled, and made cognizant of the faults that lie within us, we strive to make a change. but to not have to repeat this learning process, to not allow a retreat into our ignorance of self, we must also strive to make this change permanent. is there a mantra for this? what's your mantra?
i will think about this on my drive to and from napa :).
often, life sends us lessons - challenges that we overcome (often for lack of choice more than anything else) and learn from. there is much to be learned when we are crushed, when we are forced to embrace our humility and realize who we are within. the question is - when realization does dawn, and we understand the places we lack and the (many) things we must change in ourselves - how do we ensure that the process of growth never stops? how do we keep ourselves moving forward on the path of self-realization? in the shorter run, it is easier to translate this thought into action. when we are humbled, and made cognizant of the faults that lie within us, we strive to make a change. but to not have to repeat this learning process, to not allow a retreat into our ignorance of self, we must also strive to make this change permanent. is there a mantra for this? what's your mantra?
i will think about this on my drive to and from napa :).
1 comment:
This is a tough one - and if you really think about it, if there were a simple, easy answer to it, we'd all already be doing it by now. The challenge is in the fact that this IS one of the toughest things to do - to be steadfast.
As Baha'u'llah says, "...none knoweth what his own end shall be. How often hath a sinner attained, at the hour of death, to the essence of faith, and, quaffing the immortal draught, hath taken his flight unto the Concourse on high! And how often hath a devout believer, at the hour of his soul’s ascension, been so changed as to fall into the nethermost fire." (The imagery should of course not be taken literally)
What the above illustrates is that we need to make an effort to keep continuously moving along the spiritual path. And at no point can we afford to become complacent about our spiritual state.
We all have a lower and a higher nature. Abdu'l Baha writes, "In man there are two natures; his spiritual or higher nature and his material or lower nature. In one he approaches God, in the other he lives for the world alone. Signs of both these natures are to be found in men. In his material aspect he expresses untruth, cruelty and injustice; all these are the outcome of his lower nature. The attributes of his Divine nature are shown forth in love, mercy, kindness, truth and justice, one and all being expressions of his higher nature. Every good habit, every noble quality belongs to man’s spiritual nature, whereas all his imperfections and sinful actions are born of his material nature."
Our lower nature is like the force of gravity, that's constantly pulling us down. And so the easiest thing in the world is just allow it to take over, slip into negativity, vice etc. We need to make a conscious effort to attain our higher self, the noble self that is virtuous, loving, just and humble - that which we are destined to be, and have the potential to become.
This process becomes easier in moments of crisis, when our lower self clearly fails us - and so we turn to our higher, more natural self, and find the solace that we need in it. But, as you said, how can we ensure we don't slip out of that state once the crisis passes? How can we ensure our lower self doesn't pull us down again?
As you say in a subsequent post, there is no set formula, but several things we CAN do to maximize our chances of that not happening. Most of these come down to three things - connecting, gaining more knowledge, and acting.
We can maintain our internal connection with God through prayer. Abdul Baha says, "The wisdom of prayer is this: That it causeth a connection between the servant and the True One, because in that state (i.e., prayer) man with all heart and soul turneth his face towards His Highness the Almighty, seeking His association and desiring His love and compassion. The greatest happiness for a lover is to converse with his beloved..." And so just as we want to talk to our loved ones, we pray not because God needs us to pray, but because "the impulse to pray is a natural one, springing from man’s love to God." Through prayer we can maintain this connection, and enable our love for God to grow.
Gaining more knowledge happens through both being consciously aware of one's experiences and learning from them, and from reading all the spiritual writings available to us. Reading these regularly, and trying to understand and internalize them will also prevent us from deviating from the path in the future.
Finally, we need to not just be devoted and study to increase our knowledge, but practice whatever we have learnt diligently, by using these capacities in the service of humanity. Putting our beliefs into practice will serve two purposes - first, it helps us internalize those beliefs better, and second, it generates greater insight and understanding into those beliefs, setting in motion a spiraling effect where insight generates action, and action generates greater insight.
The above three, in the Gita would be called the paths of Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Karma Yoga. A balance of all three is necessary to keep us progressing along the spiritual path.
Last, but not least, it is important to explore all the above not just in one's own privacy, but with like-minded people. In my own life, a huge role has been played by people like P, M, V, H etc in the development of my faith and understanding. By learning from role models, as well as consulting, discussing and talking with others on the same journey, we gain greater faith in our beliefs, confidence in our actions and trust in our perseverance.
http://spiritualgleanings.blogspot.com/2008/02/who-should-i-be.html
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