02 April, 2014

Transformation - Questions for the Spiritual Traveller

NB:-  If you have not already read Part 1 click on link 1



TRANSFORMATION
Part 3:-   Questions for the Spiritual Traveller

SPECIAL NOTE  ( prior to continuing)
These reflections, and especially responses to the questions, are personal and based on my experiences and journey. In this I have been greatly helped and assisted by others and particularly the following :

1. My wife Angela ( my Anam Cairde - Soul Friend) whose wisdom I greatly respect. It is she who led me to become a Member of the Satsang.  Her constant support, example and sharing  is  greatly appreciated.

2.  Sister Ishpriya , the Spiritual Guide of the International Satsang and who has guided and accompanied on many Retreats and Satsang gatherings, both at Die Quelle ( the Sadhana Ashram) and in many other venues. click here for ISA Website

3.  Fellow Members of the Satsang and many others whose generous support and sharing has helped enrich my journey and my understanding.

Continuing Reflections

Parts 1 and 2 looked at the importance of a firm foundation or formation before we could become transformed. It suggested that transformation was, for the majority, a 2nd half of life task or journey or better still a process. It looked at two major figures in the pantheon of Spiritual Teachers.

The Buddha

The first was the Buddha who taught a way of being that would assist us in navigating our way through life and becoming awake. The Buddha , after his enlightenment preached from his perspective of Awakeness. He stated ' I am awake'  and urged his followers and disciples to become 'Awake' !  

To assist them he taught about the Four Noble Truths that could lead to an end of suffering. The 4th Truth described the 'Way' and how each person could live in order to find their path to enlightenment  and true and pure Awakeness.


The Cosmic Christ

The second Teacher is Jesus the Christ, who for Christians is the Christ or perhaps more accurately  the Cosmic Christ., proclaimed and described by St Paul in Colossians.( 1 Colossians). This is  Jesus the Christ, the Logos proclaimed in John's Gospel who existed before time began i.e. before Creation and the Big Bang. Hence the depiction in the picture on the left.

 Jesus, like all great Teachers, was enlightened and He taught a way to freedom and Joy. He proclaimed a Way of Life and outlined this in His Eight Blessings or Beatitudes.  These are in essence the  ' manifesto'. of Jesus the Christ.

 He constantly advised His followers to ' Stay Awake'.  This 'staying awake' was meant to lead to a true realisation and awareness of our real self and enable us to become open to the ' Signs of the Times'



This 'reading the signs of the times'  require that we become 'prophets of our time' and prophets are not those who can foretell the future but those who remain awake and aware to the present and to their journey.

Jesus the Christ both advised and warned us not to try to foretell the future but to remain awake to the present and thus prepared both for the here and now and for whatever the future might hold. We are encouraged to  stay awake and become  aware of our choices. This  requires wisdom , guidance  and discernment. This is not new, it is perennial advise and it could be helpful to remember the words  us of the Jewish Prophet Jeremiah,who warning and advising people in his day,  said this :-


“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.


This is sound advice. Unless we are firmly rooted it is not only difficult to read the signs of the times but also to remain in the present. Jeremiah suggests that 'wisdom' is perennial and that the wisdom of the past can assist us in the present. This is true also if we look at the teachings and experiences of the Mystics throughout the ages.

Incidentally, mysticism is not something extraordinary. We all have the capacity to become Mystics and we all have mystical moments and experiences in our life. Mystics are merely people who are awake and aware and in touch with the Mystery ( we call God by so  many names). A series of previous Blog posts ONLY THE MYSTICS WILL SURVIVE, based on conference talks by Sister Ishpriya . Clicking on the  blue link  above will take you to the 4th Blog in this series on Mystics and Mysticism.


The Mystics and sages of all Traditions advise us to remain in the present and to stay awake  to both the internal and external world.  They suggest that we become more self-aware and this can be helped by facing challenging questions and being open to reflecting on our responses and having the patience to sit with the responses we receive and , as Ishpriya often says , to 'chew on these responses'.  As we do so, we often get further and deeper responses and over time we can find ourselves   'living  into the answers' .   Each question requires time and reflection and so the remainder of these reflections ( perhaps in further posts)  will focus on the following 4 questions;

Choices ?

Who am I and where have I come from?


Why I am here and what is my unique task or purpose in life?


How can I best foster my own Spiritual Practice and Journey?

How to develop my relationship with Ultimate Reality – the Mystery and Oneness at the Heart of Creation?.





Each question is crucially important and any further reflections can only begin to give some personal comments. Each unique being must experience their own responses. This is vital 2nd half of life spirituality. Whatever our foundation or original Faith Tradition, it is  highly probable that these have not grounded us in experiences or practices that can aid personal experience. It is more probable that they have merely handed on to us a set of rules, rites and beliefs which may , or may not, be true for us.  Sitting with these questions and the responses we experience could  be either  the beginning  or a consolidation of our  ongoing Journey into  2nd half of life spirituality.

Now to move on to the first of the 4 question areas. These responses and reflections are offered tentatively , with humility and with reference to the Special Note near the beginning of this post.


Who Am I and where have I come from?

Who Am  I ? is the first of two inter-linked and inter-dependent questions. In fact, as Ishpriya often reminds us, to know who you are it is first of all important to know where you came from and where you are going. Therefore the answer to the 1st question depends upon my response to the 2nd.

Where Have I Come From ?    This is probably the 1st  question. Each individual can benefit by asking this and there are two immediate answers. Either one believes that there is a source or power behind creation or one does not. This can be seen as a either a Theist or Atheist response. The response is personal and experiential. For me, I believe that there is a Source or Ultimate Reality that lies at the Heart of Creation and I respect the opposite response of the Atheist. Each position can be honourably held. In fact both the Theist and Atheist probably have more in common than they would initially expect. I find that honest atheists quite rightly reject the ' God' proclaimed by many fundamental Theists.

Very often the God proclaimed by those who say they 'believe' is so narrow, so limited and so prejudiced that any honest and aware person would rightly reject such a 'God'. So much of what is proclaimed by 'believers' or 'theists' is merely a set of narrow and exclusive prejudices that come from a very dualistic view of the world. They proclaim a 'God' made in the image of human beings, or as Ishpriya says - a Household God.

Dualism is not a new concept, it has been,and is, the prevalent attitude throughout the past 10,000 years ( i.e. since the Patriarchal system arose). Dualistic thinking sees everything in terms of either: or. This divides the world into right and wrong, saved and condemned, rich and poor, them and us and (a very patriarchal view) Male ( dominant) Female ( sub-servient).  Yet, the masters on sages have warned us about this false way of thinking. Below are two quotes from an Eastern and Western Tradition. The first from Hinduism , the second from Christianity.

Hinduism is recognised as the oldest formal Faith Tradition. It contains many quotations and references to the underlying unity and inter-dependency of all creation. Perhaps its most succinct and relevant quote comes from the Upanishads ( which roughly translates as ' Sitting at  Feet of the Master' )

Who sees the many and not the ONE, wanders on from death to death.
Even by the mind this truth is to be learned:
there are not many but only ONE.
Who sees variety and not the unity wanders on from death to death…
                                                                                                    Katha Upanishad


Here the sage is focusing on the Unity in Diversity and paradoxically the Diversity in the Unity.
Christianity, at its heart contains a similar message. Jesus the Christ was inclusive and met people as they were. One of the founding Masters , and arguably most influential for Christianity, is St Paul. Paul was a Mystic whose writings are challenging and full of paradox. He struggled to overcome the 'inclusive' and dualistic mindset of the prevailing culture of his time. One of his most inclusive teachings is contained in his letter to the Galatians .

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free,
nor is there male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 
                                                                                             Galatians 3:28


The sages of all the great Traditions  maintain that ' Truth' by whatever name or form it takes, is more often found in paradox. It is found within the Heart. The Hindu's talk of the Cave of the Heart and St Paul spoke about the wisdom that can be found in ' the eye of the heart' . Both Paul and the writer of the Upanishad were non-dualistic ( in Sanskrit the sacred language of India Advaita ) and full of paradox.

So, for myself ( and others) who believe that we have come from the Source or Ultimate Reality and are in relationship to that Source , then we can begin to sit and reflect on the next question Who am I ?

Who am I ?     Knowing where I have come from is a firm foundation from which to start the journey of reflection that is required in order to address another big question - WHO AM I ?  As one steeped in Celtic Spirituality and Christianity, I am struck by this question and its resonance in the life of Jesus the Christ. It is noticeable that Jesus was often asked ; ' Who are you?' . For him this question was more often  phrased as a negative and confrontational  challenge - a bit like ' Who do you think you are ! ? '  

Amazingly, He could answer and these consist of his famous ' I Am'  sayings that are scattered throughout St John's Gospel, a favourite of the early Celtic Christians.  This ability to respond came from His deep self-awareness, understanding and intimacy with the Mystery He referred to as Abba ( Daddy). This deep awareness came  from  a foundation in deep reflection, self-searching, discernment and wisdom . This example can be helpful to any disciple ( student) of the Master Jesus the Christ.




My journey has been a slow and gradual waking up to the realisation that the ' Me' I think I am is a false image. I need to recognise that this false image has been built up over time and most of it in my early childhood. The following image often helps me to realise this. I think of myself as a lovely marble statue that over time has become encrusted with moss and mildew. It now looks dull and pitted. My task is to slowly peel and wash away this encrustation and thus begin to reveal the original , beautiful and pristine marble statue. Now, for me, this process is not an easy one. It is journey into the heart and not the head. It is a journey of many twists and turns or, mindful of a childhood game, a game of 'snakes and ladders' . Very often its one step forward and two back and vice versa.

At a cognitive level I can both believe and understand that essentially I am OK. However, this needs to be deeply introjected into my heart and requires the patience and the ability to reflect on my responses to searching questions and live into the answers. The filters of upbringing, culture, faith tradition and experience play their part in distorting my vision of reality. These distortions also distort the truth and play their part in my resistance to opening myself up to the realisation that I am intimately related to the Source. This relationship is buried deep within. I am reminded of a quote from one of Sister Ishpriya's conference talks. Focusing on our relationship with the Source, she mentioned this saying from the Source ' I let you find Me so that you might seek Me' .

Knowing that I come from the Source and will return to that Source, challenges me to live into the truth of  this realisation. I am faced with the 'knowledge' that I am  intimately connected by the power of the Indewelling Spirit ( the Hindu Indweller or Atman) to the Mystery I call God.  This 'knowledge' is not head knowledge but rather a deep underlying current or a sense of an Indwelling Presence that has remained with me since early childhood.  This has always been a gentle call or whisper that keeps pulling me back and giving me the motivation, especially in times of doubt and darkness, to remain focused on both the Journey and the goal and purpose of life. This is not and easy journey but I am both reminded and consoled by these words from Jesus the Christ

'Knock and the door will be opened
Seek and you will find
Ask and it shall be given'

However, even more important is His wise advise  "And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” 

The next Blog in this series will return to the remaining questions


TO BE CONTINUED