by Robert Wilkinson
Every couple of years I rerun this article, since the Spiritual life is everything, and all else is passing and impermanent. We are told there are 3 Refuges: the Wisdom, the Way, and the Community. Today's article explores a timeless Wisdom-Path we all walk whether we know it or not.
So let’s get metaphysical! This is a tiny part of a body of material I'm creating for those who want to accelerate their Spiritual awareness, walking the Eternal Walk into the higher realms of consciousness. Today's article was inspired by one of those consciously walking into a higher state of awareness.
This Friend wrote me, "it’s strange, this quest... A year or so ago, I would have just been looking for something to fill the void. Now, the first question I ask myself is ‘will this serve a positive purpose?’ Or ‘do I need this?’ Ditto with things that I have already – are they serving me in a positive way or just taking up space? I find that I’m happier when I give things away rather than sell them..."
She also wondered if whatever a Being needs just comes to them of itself. Though the subject could fill a hundred books, here is my reply, elaborating on some points while editing for privacy:
The Path arises as we consciously walk it. Intention is everything. Striving hastens our attainment of awareness. The direction we go shows us the Way, via challenges and triumphs.
That which is not recognized cannot be embraced, but once we see clearly that there is in fact "a Way," then in walking it we are led home to our heart's inmost desire. So it does "come of itself," since it is not separate from who we are.
However, by our choices we accelerate or slow our progress as we deal with dualities of pleasure and pain. The process is eternal, but we have the ability to choose many of the forms we will confront by how we shape our awareness.
The dualities of pleasure and pain are built into the human condition. They are related to the root of life itself. As long as we strive for awareness about the worlds of form, feeling, and thought, we will experience dualities. And yet, the Way is beyond dualisms.
It is only when we set our sights upon that which is without form, that which does not recognize success or failure, that which promises us an ever-greater Spiritual freedom and effective expression of our Higher Self, that we come into a living Being-ness in the ever present Now. Now is Eternal. As we walk it we live it, though just who we believe is walking and living it always changes form.
The recognition that there is value in understanding "purpose" is a signpost of a higher awareness, since critical thinking skills are essential as we walk the Way. Magical thinking, belief in the phantasmagorical, will only lead to getting lost in the woods of illusions and self-deceptions.
If our sense of purpose serves the Way, then we quicken our understanding. If our sense of purpose does not serve the Way, we find ourselves at loggerheads with our Self. True "magic" comes forth as we become the embodiment of Spirit and renounce vain imaginings.
In examining "purpose" and "necessity" we discover qualities of Divine Discrimination. The understanding of "necessity" is crucial in developing the Divine quality of Economy of Energy. This in turn refines our sense of Magnetic Attraction and Synthesis. As we turn to understanding "necessity" and "purpose" we are shown clear signs of a developing Higher Awareness.
These realizations must be applied if we are to continue learning along any line of endeavor. Eventually skills come forth as perfect expressions in moments we walk the Way with others also on that Way. That recognition begins to kill the roots of separateness.
Learning what and when to let go of something allows us to develop the power to create space consciously, a critical magnetic skill. That in turn attracts what is true for our evolved state. Here coupling Will with Love, Wisdom, and Intelligence in Action is the key to moving consciousness into a Higher awareness of how to shape the process.
Sometimes when we let go of an old form, something resembling that form presents itself at a future point. Then we learn to cultivate Free Will to let it go as well, thus stilling the vibrational pattern that brought that manifestation to you. Rest easy that if it's truly something you need to own, it will return and return and return.
However, if in letting go of an old form a new image presents itself, then we learn to cultivate discrimination to know whether to say yes or no, based in understanding what has greater and lesser value to assist future growth. Some new images conceal old patterns, while other new images bring us creative life mutations.
The joy we find in knowing how and what to give away creates patterns of generosity and flow. In these we overcome selfishness and clutching. If we know how to distribute while accumulating, we are never satiated and can offer great gifts to our world. The Law of Compensation guarantees that as we give we shall be given, and as we serve a greater good we also will be blessed within that greater good.
Just a few thoughts on some things that many seem to be experiencing in this time of radical shift. Lots of aspirants around the world are definitely on the threshold of a dream, preparing to live an Eternal Higher Awareness! The door has already opened.....
Copyright © 2010, 2014 Robert Wilkinson
:-) Thank you.
Posted by: Tasha | March 07, 2014 at 04:38 PM
As usual, well written Robert!
"Divine discrimination" an excellent concept made practical in this life, something we all have to learn. I think this is demonstrated exceptionally well along the Virgo-Pisces axis.
Letting go of old forms is like a watery Neptune dissolving, to me at least anyway. Its only when the highest development of Mercury is combined with Neptune, that it becomes the stuff that Heaven is made from!
But what motivates each individual to do this? The Sun, Mars, Pluto, or all three combined? I think it depends on how "aware" one is, or wants to be...
Posted by: RodJM | March 07, 2014 at 07:02 PM
Hi all - I just re-read this, and it really does bear studying from time to time. In it there are tiny gems of great worth.
Yes, Rod, Divine Discernment is one of the 4 antidotes to the sources of suffering that arise from the untrained mind. Divine Discrimination (Viveka in Sanskrit) is how we learn to distinguish between the real, the conditionally real, and the unreal. It involves the ability to examine and evaluate all that presents itself with the eye of dispassion, unattached to desiring that a thing be this or that.
Discrimination is the antidote to the affliction of the mind generating illusions or falling into delusion. When you see clearly how, why, and from where any given phenomenon arises in the moment, and are unattached to it being or not-being, then you can occasionally catch glimpses of extraordinary clarity about the nature of what IS.
The four antidotes to the causes of suffering are never mastered in any one life, but as we master them in this life, we create a tendency to continue mastering them in our next lives. Generating and maintaining patterns of positive growth do not end with the death of the physical, astral, and mental vehicles.
That's why it's okay to be disillusioned from time to time, since it beats being illusioned. In coming out of disillusionment, we cultivate Divine Discrimination if we pay attention to how and why we fell into the illusion to begin with.
On a final note, since this came up via the section about "purpose" and "necessity," please reflect on these qualities of intention as teaching us how to be "goal fit," as it is termed by the Master in the Agni Yoga series. We learn effective expression of our "true function" (Dharma) as we master the energies of the Three Divine "Laws" in our life system, those being Economy of Energy, Magnetic Attraction, and Synthesis.
I told you there's a lot to reflect on regarding every single paragraph! Aum Tat Sat (Sure, Why Not?)
Posted by: Robert | March 09, 2014 at 08:55 AM