(the soul journey) Progress - Linear , or Cyclic?

Are you concerned with the progress you are making in your development of consciousness, or in your spiritual journey. When you see yourself not ‘making progress’ do you think there is something wrong or that you are failing? And when you are ‘making progress’ do you usually have a pride of achievement? – perhaps a sign that you have not attained the assumed state of consciousness or enlightenment. In fact, pride of achievement is antithetical to the soul journey.
Much of what we perceive as progress is really a superficial measurement of our experiences. When viewing anything with the measuring stick of progress what we are trying to do is to quantify and compare between now and before. Most of this perception is distorted because we do not have an accurate assessment of ourselves in the present. What might be a more accurate statement of perceptions of progress might be something like: “I didn’t like where I was before. I like (or like more) where I am now.” This has nothing to do with objectivity, but might be an honest subjective statement of the way you feel about yourself. If that is so, then it should be expressed as a feeling rather than as a fact.

Very often the idea of progress is linked to achieving goals. People set goals that they believe or assume are progressive in some way. Then when the goals are achieved one could say that they made progress. However, it would be more accurate to say, “I achieved this goal which I set for myself.” The goal could just as easily make one’s life worse in the long run, so whether it is progress or not can probably not be known for some time, if ever.

There are many books that describe well the process of setting goals and reaching them. Goal setting is useful for personality training, activity and outward achievement. But goal setting does not apply to the soul journey.

Progress is a myth, a personality time-dimension myth. This does not mean it doesn’t exist. It really is a way of speaking about change that we like better than the previous state. A myth is a metaphor or symbol, and not a factual way of speaking. Therefore, progress is not an objective reality – not even in the linear, time dimension.

Spirituality encompasses dimensions beyond time, and therefore the myth of progress does not apply – not even symbolically or metaphorically. When spiritual progress is spoken of it is a fantasy myth that gives us a way of speaking which indicates that something is happening psychically.

Progress somewhat more accurately refers to linear reality, but even there it does not have relevant objectivity because life is cyclical, not linear.

All peoples prior to modern times have viewed life as cyclical rather than linear. For example, Plato and his disciples said that a Great Year was approximately 36,000 years, and then things would start over or at least another cycle would begin. The Mayans claimed an ‘age’ was 26,000 years. In Hinduism, Brahma is said to dream the world in billion-year cycles divided into four ages or yugas. The present one is called Kali Yuga, or the age of Kali, the destroyer.

Consciousness evolves or develops in a cyclical pattern as well. All cycles are understood to have three phases:

a.) a beginning – something new starting.
b.) a development that involves learning through trial and error, mistakes, etc.
c.) a destructive or terminating phase – completion and preparation for a new cycle.

The second phase is usually the longest – so long in fact that often we are not aware of the other two phases. This is because we don’t learn very readily from our experiences. In fact, many people do not realize that most of our experiences are meant to teach us something. Therefore they don’t ask questions about what they could learn from their experiences.

Historically the idea of progress did not exist for humanity until about 1300 AD. Up to that time everything was seen as cyclical. Even today most primitive cultures, or peoples who are not technologically developed and who live at a subsistence level close to the ground and nature, do not expect anything to change. For them the future is but an extension or repetition of the present. Therefore there is nothing to be concerned about other than working with what is at hand at the moment.

Between about 1300 and 1600 A.D. there was a discernible development of the rational mind. Formal education in the West started to become more widespread. Academic education develops the mind. With the development of the rational mind, the linear view of reality became more common. Also, with the development of the mind, the will develops, and people begin to realize that they have choices. To choose is to exercise the will.

Mind development requires the ability to analyze. Analysis separates things, and we then quantify, compare and choose what we want. We also begin to realize that we now can work to acquire what we have chosen, based on what we want. The mind then becomes an instrument to fulfill our desires.

This means that the future can be different from the present. The idea of progress enters in. But what we call progress then is often little more than getting and having what we want but didn’t have before. If we get what we want, we call that progress. But from a higher perspective it may not be progress at all – just more experience.

There are still traditional cultures where formal education is either non-existent or minimal. These cultures do not have the idea of progress, nor do they expect the future to be any different than the present or past. They are often very yin in their energies and rather than trying to control nature (controlling is yang) they see their relationship to nature as more responsive than controlling. Nature is clearly cyclical.

When we go into an altered state of consciousness for inner work, the lower mind recedes and we experience self and other outside of a linear framework. The altered consciousness of the meditative state is yin, which is essential for the expansion of consciousness, for flowing with the cycles of unfolding experiences, and for the experience of quality rather than quantity. The self is not a quantitative, objective reality. Nor is the other. Both self and other are qualitative, non-linear, subjective experiences, living in a cyclical universe.

Exercises:
1. What have you learned lately from your experiences? What did it look like from a higher perspective?
2. How has your perspective of progress changed if at all?

(thesouljourney) Goodness

Goodness is pure, impersonal giving and receiving. The experience of goodness is an experience of being in alignment with what is. We are therefore able to experience it when we are aligned with reality or truth.

We can say that nobody is just good. Goodness is a choice that can be made through development of consciousness. But we can say that everyone is sacred. Sacredness is essential to our existence. It implies that we are all one, we are all a part of the oneness of being.
When we refer to ‘essential goodness’ we are really talking about our consciousness of the fact that we and others are sacred beings.

The essential goodness of life is recognized when there is an awareness that God, or Goodness, or Essential Divinity is omnipresent. This recognition of Spirit is at first perceived to be the cause of all that we perceive as good versus that which we perceive as bad or evil which we attribute to the devil or to the personality or to human nature. Eventually, we see that both positive and negative are indeed good since both are aspects of the One which, in its very nature causes both destruction and construction.

This Oneness or Unity is what is meant by sacredness. It implies the presence of the opposites in perfect harmony, each doing what is needed to contribute to the whole. It is our judgement of a situation that makes things positive or negative for us. Our inability to see the bigger picture beyond the surface appearance, to see the meaning and purpose in all events, contributes to our judgments of good and bad.

The destructive can be seen as instructive (providing the opportunity to learn) and the constructive is seen as serving. That which we might label as destructive is invariably a result of our ignorance. Therefore its presence indicates that we have to learn something. That which is constructive arises out of our knowing and loving, and therefore makes a supportive contribution which we call service.

The destructive arises from personality limitations while the constructive is invariably a soul expression that can occur because of some personality learning that has previously taken place.
Destructive means removing structure – i.e., a structure that no longer is needed. We can learn from something when we are ready to remove the ignorance involved by changing beliefs, ideas and attitudes.

Instructive means to put a structure inside, or create an inner structure. This works well when destruction occurs, for the soul becomes active within, giving another frame or structure of reference – reference to the Universal or Spirit.

Constructive means building, or structuring, together, as we do in service. Everyone thus benefits. The highest morality is always constructive.

When we do not recognize a universal sacredness, then there is no unity or equality that must be respected as a basis of morality. We are left with the inequality of duality where the opposites are seen to fight each other for dominance.

On the other hand, when there is a recognized sacredness, duality is seen as a necessary tension to enhance, complete and empower the whole of which the duality is a part. This we see, for example, in a healthy relationship between two people who respect each other as equals. Their differences enrich the relationship.

We learn to embrace pain which often accompanies destruction as a necessary condition of life, but begin to experience joy and fulfillment along side or within that pain. Previously we experienced only one of those opposites. In soul life we can experience the pain of the personality with its attachments and necessity of letting go along with the joy of the presence of Spirit within ourselves.

The goodness of life can be seen as existing within ourselves and within others when our mutual sacredness is accepted as the underlying reality.

When essential goodness is recognized, it is the soul within that recognizes itself in the other. It is the soul which reveals need, just as the personality reveals desire. We stand before the other, the situation, and allow the soul to reveal what is needed by the person or situation. It is essential goodness which is magnetic and draws to it the appropriate response from the soul of the other.

There is an urge within ourselves to share the goodness that exists within us, for it is in the nature of goodness to give itself. Goodness brings the will to focus on what must be done – will to good and will to action for common good. Goodness is what prompts us to give from the heart, to be kind and generous, even to the point of sacrifice.

We may previously have put a lot of energy into getting and taking. Awakening to inherent Goodness, we have the urge to give. We become instruments or channels for the universal Law of Abundance.

The energy of Spirit is always one of giving. That is what creation is about. In order to serve we must give of ourselves. Giving is our purposeful contribution to life. We give by using our talents and gifts, and by sharing our gifts of the Spirit which are our soul attributes and qualities.

Exercises:

1. How might you increase your experiences of Goodness?
2. List your talents and gifts that you could use in service? Become aware of the need around you and how you can use your talents and gifts to be of service.
3. What are your soul attributes and qualities that you want to express and share?

(thesouljourney) Beauty

Whenever you are true to yourself you are beautiful!

On the medicine wheel the second step is toward the south where we are tested and then gifted with the return of trust and innocence. We earn this by becoming pure in our heart. With a pure heart we can know the heart of another and then trust it to be itself. This is accepting the inherent intelligence and goodness of each being to be what it is – the personality to be what it is, soul to be what it is, the Plan to be what it is, an animal to be what it is, etc.

And when a being is what it is, it is authentic. And it reveals itself as Beauty which touches our heart and evokes a positive response. We always want to unite with what we experience as beautiful. Beauty is magnetic and draws our heart into loving contact and connection with it. Whenever we experience Beauty, our soul is activated and love is awakened.

Beauty is the manifestation of what something is, it is its essence revealed. The essence is always the heart, the soul of a person, a thing or a situation.

Is prejudice beautiful? No, because that is not our essence either as animal, human or divine. Is anger beautiful? No, for the same reason. Is love beautiful? Is courage beautiful? Yes, because they are both the essence of who we are.

Through Beauty we learn about the rhythms of life and the rhythms of the heart. These are soul rhythms. We learn to relate to the earth, to each other and to the soul of the planet as integral beautiful parts of life and being that we couldn’t live without.

Through Beauty we learn to stretch our identity by developing a sensitivity to our personal rhythms as well as to the rhythms of everything around us. When energies flow well we are in synch, and then synchronicity begins happening everywhere. We are able to see the beauty in life, in people, in situation and circumstances. This is the law of correspondences working within our consciousness. When we see beauty we see the presence of Spirit, and we call it soul. Beauty radiates, so when we open to Spirit, we radiate beauty. Beauty transforms, so when we radiate beauty we transform all with whom we come in contact. Beauty gives of itself, which is life energy. So when we radiate beauty, through identification with Spirit, we empower others and give them a glimpse of their own beauty, the Spirit within themselves, which is the source of their power. The key is that we must know that we are beautiful, and feel that beauty within ourselves, before we can empower others.

Brian Swimme says this about beauty: “The beginning and the end is a primordial encounter with the great abyss of beauty that we call the universe. Not to enter such moments of awe, not to wonder over such majesty, not to live each day – at least for a moment or two! – floating inside a colossal and intimate mystery, is to live a life that is deprived. Even more, it is to live a life that is vulnerable to fundamental distortions.” (Brian Swimme, The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos, p. 48)

Through the presence of life’s endless Beauty revealing itself to us, we fall in love and we become devoted to what we love. We love life in all its diverse expressions.

Exercises:

1. How might you increase your experiences of Beauty?
2. What is beautiful to you? What attracts your heart?

(thesouljourney)Relationship Messages

There are basically four levels of soul contact that we experience in our relationships – within ourselves, with each other, with the world, and with the Universe/God. These levels are psychologically all expressions of love.

Whenever there is lack of unity or disconnection it is because one of the following soul invitations are not being responded to.

1. Pay attention to me. (I exist; I am here; see me; notice me) Whenever any being meets another there is a demand for attention. This can easily be seen in human interactions where we seek to communicate with each other. Communication requires attention. When others do not pay attention to us we feel cut off or separate. It is the essence or soul of things and beings which automatically and always sends out this message: Pay attention to me! The soul is the magnetic energy of unity. It attracts other souls.

Non-human realities do this as an emanation of what they are, and consistently send out the same message. Unlike humans, however, they are incapable of being upset when ignored. Human beings often camouflage this message with distortions of who they are, and with behaviour that alienates rather than attracts. We need to be perceptive enough to go beyond the distortions and masks to see and hear the essential invitation to connection, regardless of what the behaviour is.

This stage of contact is about valuing or validating one's uniqueness. It demands attention to individuality. Our response could be:

a.) from a human soul level we notice how someone is different and unique. We can also acknowledge their efforts, skills and talents.
b.) from a spiritual soul level we notice how someone is beautiful – i.e., their uniqueness shows us their beauty. We can also acknowledge soul qualities or attributes they have.

2. Love me. At a deeper level beyond 'pay attention to me,' soul emits the message: Love me! Once we get the other's attention, this is the next message we can hear. Love is the essence of soul – the essence of our essence. When we do not love ourselves, then our behaviour will reflect this invitation to connection – even though it may be inappropriate behaviour to achieve that end.

On a feeling level we are searching for validation of our acceptability, goodness, worthiness, valuableness. When we don't get the responses from others that we want we frequently go to the mental level and try to affirm or justify our 'rightness.' This is like saying, 'If I can't be acknowledged for my goodness, then at least I can be right.' We might also reject others through blame or other judgments when we do not get the love from them that we want.
These first two messages (pay attention to me and love me) come from personality, from the human soul, not aligned with the spiritual soul, but yearning toward that inner connection. Since it is not achieved inwardly, it seeks it outwardly through others – which is what personalities always do.

3. Be one with me. Beyond the invitation to 'love me,' when one is connected to the love within, to the spiritual soul, in a conscious way, there is a love that sees the other as oneself and therefore seeks to unite with that. It is an invitation to share, to cooperate, to give and take, to mutual commitment, to honour and respect.

The invitation to deeper connection is based on the need to share the love that one has acknowledged and activated within oneself, and the perception that this expression requires a unity with others. This unity often leads to service beyond the relationship itself.
4. We are one. We experience the 'We are one' when we enter the Beauty of the other in our heart. This is the deepest level of soul emanation and soul consciousness. This state of unity is a profound affirmation of the oneness of life as we identify with it.

Conclusion

These four messages come from the soul and can be heard only by the heart of another. The heart will hear them if it is not preoccupied with its own survival or individual well-being. When we are not getting the responses we want to either of the first two requests, there is disruption to meaningful or fulfilling relationships. When this is the case a person needs to do the following:

a) Identify these messages being put out to others
b) Examine how they are being communicated
c)Look at the needs behind these messages and
d) Make the necessary adjustments without expecting others to change.

This might require going to the third level of soul emanation and focusing on the love that one has to express.

The first two messages – Pay attention to me and Love me – are in the realm of personality functioning. When they are issues, conflicts arise and help is often sought to reduce the conflicts.
The third message – Be one with me – is in the realm of spiritual soul expression and arises in matters of shared values, service, meaning and purpose.

The fourth message – We are one – is in the realm of spiritual soul where there is no conflict and no question. All is well. This is the consciousness goal we all strive for. The soul journey moves us through these four levels of soul contact and expression.

Exercises:

1. Examine a particular problematic relationship you have in light of the four levels. (If there is a real 'problem' it is about level #1 and/or #2.)

2. Verbalize how the soul messages are being communicated to you or by you.

3. Identify the needs behind the messages.

4. Decide what responses you will make in order to improve the relationship.