There is nothing you can change about your circumstances or surroundings that will make a lasting improvement in your life. Peace and happiness can only be found within yourself, so if you lack them, it is yourself you must change.

Dealing With Negative Energies

It doesn't matter if the whole world seems charged with negative energy. Chances are this is only an illusion caused by some unresolved conflict within you. Let go of that problem and it will cease to give out the negative vibrations that are clouding your vision. If the negativity is external, it may still be localized so you can easily move away from it. Or you may choose to remain and overpower negativity by casting your own penetrating illumination into the darkness. With practice, you can create a zone of clean, positive energy around you at all times, so that you always exist in that environment and serve as a beacon to others. However you choose to deal with negative energies, remember that reality is the Self, the Self is God, and God is Love.

No Limitations

Limitations don't mean anything until you reach them.  Why tell yourself that you can't do this or will never attain that goal, if you haven't given all you can give to the effort?  We are all capable of far more than the small self wants us to believe. That negative voice has its own agenda, and it is not love, peace, and contentment. 

The small self is run by ego, and paradoxically in most of us ego would rather complain about failure than attempt success. Failure is something we can have right now, while achievement requires focus, effort, and in many cases, sacrifice of immediate gratification of base appetites. The more we live in the ego, the more we give ourselves over to indulgence, resentment, and self-pity. We create limitations out of our own imaginations to justify staying stuck in the comfortable wallow ego creates for us.

The illusion of limitation is nowhere more evident than in the realm of spiritual growth. We have embedded ourselves in a web of images that collectively constitute the physical world as we see it. We have invented science to convince ourselves that nothing exists that cannot be detected and measured by physical instruments. Others of us have spent thousands of years developing religious (or anti-religious!) orthodoxies to imprison the human spirit by circumscribing the range of permissible spiritual experience.

In truth, there are no limitations on Spirit or on what the individual can experience when the higher Self is expressed through personal intention and behavior. I have recently blogged on the Foundations of Spiritual Growth. From the dawn of human existence the practices mentioned there have enabled many to transcend the limitations that we and others have imposed on ourselves. It is a path that is open to everyone. Following those practices requires only a measure of intention, and the willingness to step out of the busy-ness of the world to a peaceful space in which the higher Self  can act as a channel through which Universal Love can fill and possess our being. But those who choose to do so are rewarded for their efforts a million times over.

I myself denied the validity of spiritual experience for many years.The passage of time brought a sense of frustration and futility as I pursued one mundane satisfaction after another, only to find the anticipated pleasures crumbling in my hands at the first touch. Eventually something activated the kernel of Love at the center of my being and I became open to instruction from the earthly spiritual masters of our time. I became mindful of the opportunities for growth latent in my consciousness, and of the bliss that such growth can confer. I formed the intention to grow. Love fed ravenously on the teachings of contemporary masters and  of their masters throughout history. It was not long before I began to receive insights directly from Spirit through the higher Self. I am still a novice, but my devotion to Spirit is constantly on the upward path, and I continue to derive true satisfaction from surrounding myself with a matrix of Love, peace, and Universal light. 

I am a personal witness to the truth that the only limitations on our spiritual growth, and therefore on our happiness, are those that we impose ourselves. True happiness is not only attainable, it is present at this and every moment regardless of worldly circumstances, because it is drawn directly from the fundamental loving energies of the Universe. All that is needed is the intention to allow it into our lives.

 

Responding to Negativity

When someone is exhibiting anger, dislike, or other negative emotions toward you, you may feel that you want to respond in kind.  Most likely, however, that person's negative feelings are actually directed at himself and merely displaced upon you.  Compassion, not anger, is the appropriate response. You may feel he or she is trying to goad you into a negative response. However, it is actually your own ego that is goading you. No one else can goad you if you are mindful and your higher self is in control of your emotions and, especially, your ego.

Foundations of Spiritual Growth

Study, meditation, mindfulness and intention all foster spiritual growth. 

Study

It is true that each of us has direct access to truth through the higher Self.  However, before we can learn to channel that truth to our consciousness, most of us require the guidance and encouragement that we derive from studying the works of spiritual masters of the past and present.  The more diverse our sources of wisdom, the better, because no one teacher, no matter how great, has been able to translate spiritual truth into human language perfectly or completely.  By studying the ancient teachings of Jesus and the Buddha, Krishna and Lao Tsu, the recent teachings of such masters as Ramana Maharshi, Joel Goldsmith, and Paramahansa Yogananda, the teachings of contemporary masters such as Eckhart Tolle and the Dalai Lama, the interpretations of students and scholars past and present, and the everyday wisdom of the spiritual teachers we encounter daily, we can achieve a holistic understanding that relates the truth to our individual circumstances in a way that no one philosophy or system of thought imposed from outside the self could possibly give us.

Intention

Intention is the will to put aside the promptings of ego and the base urgings of the small self in pursuit of higher truth.  Study leads us to this intention as we learn to appreciate the values incorporated in the teachings of the masters.  Intention truly forms within the self, however, and is the first evidence of the universal spirit that inhabits the consciousness of each individual.  It is the first shoot of the sprouting seed that pushes through its earthly covering and spreads its leaves to the sun. Studying the masters is like providing warmth and water to  the sleeping grain of universal consciousness under the surface. That seed responds to truth and blossoms spontaneously into the personal consciousness:

Awareness, dormant in the Soul,
In meditation, or by a guru's touch,
Erupts in spontaneous beauty,
Like a flower.
 
Meditation

Spiritual consciousness, however, cannot be acquired through study. Study prepares us, provides us disciplines and intentions, that will help us to find the way and keep steadily to the path that will carry us on our journey.  But once this foundation has been laid - this roadmap has been opened - a general understanding of the benefits of spiritual truth and the means of accessing it - we must open ourselves to the gifts of awareness that are granted us in meditation.  Though meditation can mean many things, here I am referring to the silent practice of emptying the conscious mind and opening it as a vessel to receive the downpouring of Spirit from its universal Source. Here paradoxically we must renounce reliance on the teaching of human masters along with all other mundane practices and wisdom sources.  Through the practice of opening ourselves directly to Spirit, we are following in the footsteps of those mystics and masters, whose teachings invariably emphasize the importance of a personal relationship with the Divine.  A meditation practice begins with the abandonment of all preformulated beliefs and principles. Sitting in stillness, we are able to contemplate many purported truths that make their way into our consciousness. Many of these will come from our own minds and egos and will not stand up to the light the consciousness casts upon them.  Only those that are pure enough to possess their own internal illumination, and to flood the consciousness with the unmistakable brilliance of eternal truth, will we adopt as principles on which to build a new understanding. Over time, meditation will assist us to refine and reformulate these understandings in a dynamic process of polishing our consciousness into an ever more perfect mirror of divinity.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is an essential tool in our practice. Mindfulness can be applied to both thoughts and actions. In meditation, mindfulness enables us to be aware of distractions and to adhere to our intention by setting them aside; and to distinguish the gleam of truth from the glare of desire in the thoughts and images that pass constantly on the periphery of consciousness. In daily life, mindfulness allows us to make choices and take actions that are consistent with our intentions and with the values we have absorbed from the study of great masters and from communion with the Divine. Mindfulness allows us to avoid the unexamined life in which we act based on instinct or reflex (what I call "one dimensional consciousness"), or on habit, on values and behaviors derived from the sometimes polluted environment in which we live ("two dimensional consciousness"), or on the promptings of ego. It provides continual course corrections to keep us on our chosen path. Mindfulness consists of holding each thought, each action to which we are prompted, up to the light to determine whether it is consistent with our highest good and the intention we have formed for our spiritual development.  It enables us to choose loving thoughts and actions over selfish ones.

Together, study and meditation, practiced with divine intention and mindfulness, are the essential foundation of a life that is fulfilling far beyond the satisfaction of material desires, a life of loving oneness with the Divine.

Finding meaning in a random universe

We have a habit of saying, "everything happens for a reason." I don't think that this formulation of the way the universe operates, though superficially comforting, is very helpful. It leaves us looking for meaning in seemingly random events, including those that are on the surface quite terrible. It also causes us to look outside ourselves for explanations that are often unobtainable.

The fact is that many events in this physical universe of ours do not happen for any discernible reason. Even the minority of events that are directly attributable to human choices are as often as not due to random, ego-based impulse. It debases Spirit as well as ourselves to suggest Spirit is carrying out some cosmic agenda that is beyond our comprehension, and that every tragic event that we experience is designed to lead paradoxically to a greater good. We may even choose to abandon the spiritual path rather than accept the notion that Spirit callously imposes pain on us or other beings for reasons of its own. It may also lead us to passivity and fatalism to believe that current events have a cause that is in the past or "out there" somewhere. Better to recognize that events are mostly random and to seek elsewhere for meaning.

The whole notion of causation (and therefore "reasons") depends on the existence of time, of a past that has brought us to where we are and a future that will develop out of the present. Yet time is only a construct that human mind created to explain its limited comprehension. Spirit has no experience of causation because it knows no past nor future, only the eternal Now.

This does not imply that we who still live in a time-bound space should abandon the working hypothesis of causation. Before our spiritual awareness reaches a certain level, contemplating the lack of objective meaning in external circumstances may lead us only to despair and destructive behavior.  Though we inhabit the physical universe only conditionally, in order to survive the experience and remain sane we need to impose  order on it. It is important for us to realize, however, that such order is imposed by our minds and not by the workings of Spirit. Nor should we turn to fatalism, for we still have the power to create a loving, peaceful space around us and others through the manner in which we react to events.

Rather than affirm that everything happens for a reason, I would prefer to say that every experience presents us with a range of outcomes that are determined by how we choose to respond  to it.  What differentiates these responses from each other is their degree of consistency with Spirit. Some will have the effect of enhancing the loving relationships we have among ourselves and with Spirit; others will increase our separation. In the end this is what determines whether the event is perceived as having a positive or negative outcome. So, in a sense everything does happen for a reason, but the reason for everything is the same:  to provide us with the opportunity to develop an ever more harmonious relationship with Spirit by learning to react to every situation with love and compassion.

This interpretation places the responsibility for our relationships with Spirit and its various manifestations squarely where it belongs:  on each individual. It also refocuses our attention from the past to the present moment. All events carry the opportunity for us to react in ways that produce greater or lesser harmony between ourselves and Spirit.  We may see events as "good" or "bad", but those terms have meaning only in relation to their effects in the physical universe. Since all physical things are impermanent, and time is only a way of constraining our view of the universe, physical effects have no significance compared to the way we choose to align ourselves in relation to Spirit.

We are defining our role in Spirit in every instant. Each moment presents the opportunity for greater love and harmony. We are constantly at choice, and the choices we make define not only ourselves, but our experience of the universe. In order to take advantage of the opportunity for choice we must remain mindful that there is more than one way to react to every situation, and be aware of what those choices are. The closer we choose to align ourselves with Spirit, the greater peace we will experience. 

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It may also be that the Universe works according to laws that we do not understand, and therefore do not recognize. For thoughts on the working of karma, see this post: Karma the Teacher

We Are One

Open your heart to me; for I am your Source, the presence of your Being.

Open your mind to me, for no thought arises without my making it so.

Open your body to me; accept my animating Grace and power.

I am the beginning and the end; your Alpha and Omega.

You live and move and have your being in Me,

Your Creator in this moment and always.

We are One, you and I, inseparable

As the breath from the air

One Unity undivided

Coexistent

One.