The Original Vision - Manifesting the Destiny of the Soul
Some would like to leave behind a great legacy, for everybody to see, to be remembered for as long as possible, a life that leaves an imprint; others would like to leave as little trace as possible, a silent, subtle, gentle pilgrim, temporary visitor to the earth, etheric spirit, in cloistered divine devotion, not touching the flower of illusion.
To live is to unavoidably alter karma, personal, communal, global. The purity and maturity of our vision and motivation makes all the difference concerning the outcome of our short stay on this beautiful planet. May it be on the physical, mental or spiritual realm, we all leave something behind: children, buildings, products, service, art, kindness or anger, resentment or encouragement, some compost and, probably, quite a bit of rubbish.
Unfortunately, many of us are more concerned with the taking than with the giving. The only thing taking will do is to increase the amount too be paid at the checkout. But also the giving needs some thought: how are we called to express our creativity? what is our gift to the others and the world? It needs to manifest the destiny of the soul and, at the same time, make a livelihood in the world. It starts inside us in childhood, a pure inspiration, shaped and formed by interactions, experiences, meditations; we explore and discover our talents and opportunities. Then we start to communicate, create, share.
Put Your Desires into Your Practise - Rest Still in the Centre of it
Our desires and appetites are infinite in the sense that once we get what we want it just takes a while until we want more or something similar, still thirsty from this same old unquenchable place deep inside. Ultimately, nothings seems able to finally satisfy. After a couple of rounds, years or lifetimes of this some of us ask ourselves what might be the point to this frustrating and exhausting cycle.
The mystics say that the infinity of our longing and desire is a reflection of God’s infinite Love for us, an echo and remembrance in our soul of the “feeling” of unity the One. We can understand that nothing finite (and everything we can find in this lovely world seems to be finite) can ever fulfil an infinite desire. So what do we do?
The path of the mystic is to bear the longing, rest still in the centre of it, honour, surrender and let this longing for infinite union naturally deepen in meditation, contemplation and mindfulness, leave it – as much as possible – untouched by the things of the world, practise a degree of moderation and renunciation. What makes this “mystic” is the possibility that it transforms us beyond what “we” can do and experience to be, a healing and fulfilment beyond our finite means through Divine grace.
Put your desires into your practise and chanting and let it guide you to the place where everything is inexplicably sustained and taken care of by the forces of the soul and you can walk through life in the world with generosity, gratitude, courage and joy and act fully engaged but not attached.
Offered Always and Everywhere - Healing, Redemption, Liberation
The voices of the world, the ego, the energy of distraction and competition are always the loudest and the first and foremost to be noticed by the mind. That is why we often miss the voice of the soul, the heart-opening grace, the gentle, subtle, delicate evolution of our essence as borne in stillness, if we don’t panic, react and run in challenge of the forces of fate and karma, but stay still and be.
The unessential is always imposing itself, the essential is never imposing itself.
The mystery of our existence, the healing, redemption and liberation is offered always and everywhere but, most of the time, we cannot see, hear or feel it because we are entangled, distracted and reacting too fast. We need to practice to slow down by taking time out regularly for introspection, contemplation, meditation. We need to strengthen our neutral mind to notice and appreciate the presence and loving sustenance offered in every situation.
Especially when challenged, the probability for distraction, reactive entanglement and forgetting are higher, yet the potential for healing and transformation is more powerful, too. That is why during crisis we especially need our practise and the practise of our past pays off. Relax, observe, let it come, let it be, let it go, look for the joy…
The Game of Life - Identity Illusion
The illusion that we are “somebody” separate and independent, wilful and entitled, is very strong. If it were not so, if it were easy to get out of, the game of life would be over too quickly, the goal of life scored too easily. The gospels say, we are nothing but the Love of the Creator, Divine, everything that is stands on It, flows from It, is nothing but It, the One and Only.
Yoga means to resolve to question our momentary reality, to take on the challenge of life and its game of identity illusion, and to take steps to do something about it, investigate our motivations, our desires, our attachments, habits, behaviours, beliefs, become conscious, wake up to all of it.
“God desires the smallest degree of purity of conscience in you more than all the works you can perform. God desires the least degree of surrender more than all those services you think of rendering him.” – St John of the Cross, Sayings of Light and Love
The Difference between Yoga and Physical Exercise - The Shabad is Agent
The difference between yoga and physical exercise is the alignment of awareness into the calling, experience and faith of the spirit. It expands and sophisticates the perception of our selves, transcends conception into experiences, the safety of illusion into unspeakable truth, slowly and steadily. True and unlimited strength flows from the spirit.
The prana of conscious breathing holds together our history, presence and destiny from the incoherence of our blindness, pain and confusion. We are here to learn to love, love all creation, creatures, ourselves, light and shadow, past and future. Then, letting go becomes possible and we can just love – an infinitely deep, never-ending journey.
In this process, communication, the Shabad, is agent. Through the alignment and the coherence of sound, breath and rhythm, we find the resonance of the total self, speaking the spirit, communicating truth of heart without fear, expectation or need.
The Cloud of Unknowing - Learn to be at Home in this Darkness
“This is what you are to do: lift your heart up to the Lord, with a gentle stirring of love desiring him for his own sake and not for his gifts. Center all your attention and desire on him and let this be the sole concern of your mind and heart. Do all in your power to forget everything else, keeping your thoughts and desires free from involvement with any of God’s creatures or their affairs whether in general or particular. Perhaps this will seem like an irresponsible attitude, but I tell you, let them all be; pay no attention to them.
“What I am describing here is the contemplative work of the spirit. It is this which gives God the greatest delight. For when you fix your love on him, forgetting all else, the saints and angels rejoice and hasten to assist you in every way – though the devils will rage and ceaselessly conspire to thwart you. Your fellow men are marvellously enriched by this work of yours, even if you may not fully understand how; the souls in purgatory are touched, for their suffering is eased by the effects of this work; and, of course, your own spirit is purified and strengthened by this contemplative work more than by all others put together.
“Yet for all of this, when God’s grace arouses you to enthusiasm, it becomes the lightest sort of work there is and the one most willingly done. Without his grace, however, it is very difficult and almost, I should say, quite beyond you.
“And so diligently persevere until you feel the joy in it. For in the beginning it is usual to feel nothing but a kind of darkness about your mind, or as it were, a cloud of unknowing. You will seem to know nothing and to feel nothing except a naked intent toward God in the depths of your being. Try as you might, this darkness and this cloud will remain between you and your God. You will feel frustrated, for your mind will be unable to grasp him, and your heart will not relish the delight of his love.
“But learn to be at home in this darkness. Return to it as often as you can, letting your spirit cry out to him who you love. For if, in this life, you hope to feel and see God as he is in himself it must be within this darkness and this cloud. But if you strive to fix your love on him forgetting all else, which is the work of contemplation I have urged you to begin, I am confident that God in his goodness will bring you to a deep experience of himself.”
The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter 3, Anonymous, 14th Century England
