To Those Beginning A Spiritual Quest For Greater Awareness

by Robert Wilkinson

It seems this period of time is blowing open the doors of perception and understanding for many people. The veils are parting, offering everyone a greater awareness of who they are and what they’re here to do.

I wrote parts of this 5 years ago to someone who consciously decided to begin a spiritual quest. I’ve significantly rewritten it for you today. When we realize we need to begin any quest for greater knowledge and understanding, whether of self or the world, it’s good to prepare, since a quest is truly a journey.

Our Brother wrote that he didn’t know where he was going or what he would find. I told him that’s a good thing, since an empty glass can be filled. Many times “not knowing” is exactly where our mind needs to be since then we can cultivate receptivity.

All quests for greater awareness are journeys out of mindlessness into mindfulness. Any quest to understand “the real” involves exploring new ways of experiencing Life and what our 5 senses and mind perceive, even as we are mindful of the process and not automatically identifying with the outer directed world and its confusions and illusions.

I wrote him, “You're really entering into radical self-awareness, and whether you are aware of it or not, have already begun your inner preparations for the quest. It's an inevitability of your intention. Everything in our lives conspires to bring us out of ignorance and unconscious patterns into awareness of what moves us and why, and what presents itself and what we should do or not do related to that object of perception.”

Whether we know it or not, with every breath we take we are preparing to move into a deeper understanding of our Mystery, the purpose of our worldly existence. I have found that there is a curious type of detachment the longer we journey into our Mystery. That’s because the deeper we go, we stop looking to outer things to tell us what to do, or confirm our worth. Instead, we learn to view the outer world as the manifestation of signs and signals showing us the way into even deeper woods than we’ve already explored.

We are Eternals having human experiences. And part of being human is to learn what we have to learn, whether through pleasure or pain. While life can occasionally be painful, we do not have to suffer. Breaking the link between pain and suffering is the key to transmuting unhelpful feelings into positive intention.

Because we were not raised by saints and Sages, most of us in this life are unlearning unhelpful habits in action, thought, and feeling, and consciously choosing a way of Self-realization that doesn't generate habits that lead to suffering in self or others. Once we unlearn bad habits by replacing them with positive habits, down the road we begin to see real results.

Over time we realize the Way is eternal, and our choices lead us to greater happiness and a sense of “doing our Being,” or we find ourselves in uncomfortable situations with people who are more of a frustration than a joy. As we become aware of what moves us into pleasurable or painful situations, we learn to say no to many things and people while saying yes to unknown possibilities.

When we become mindful of the qualities of our Quest and understand what is required for us to grow, we no longer fear the unknown future; we actively embrace the possibility of generating Bodhichitta, or “the will to good.” We take command of what types of karma we generate, even as we transmute difficult Karma into forms of spiritual service to others we meet who also share those wounds.

Of course that takes us away from the known and familiar, but the Quest opens doors to an ever-growing higher awareness. As we say goodbye to the clenched fist of things we clutch at, and witness ourselves opening to a greater Life than we ever imagined before then, all that is lesser must slip down the timestream. The pleasures of a mature adult are not those of our childhood.

We have the choice to come out of attachments, aversions, illusions, and the tendency of our minds to be pessimistic, suffering over its own suffering. As we quest for mastery of our mind, we find we must pay attention to when we must practice detachment, dispassion that yields radical compassion, divine discernment about what is real and what is unreal (and why), and our power to generate positivity regardless of outer circumstances.

We may not have as much power as we’d like over what presents itself as a result of little k karmas or Big K Karmas set into motion in the past, but we certainly have the power to choose our response in the moment. I explore ways to claim our power to lift the chains of mental slavery off our necks and become our Higher Self in my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. In it you will understand your power to turn negative “little k” karmas into positive actions and realizations, and come out of the “pleasure/pain duality,” claiming your Divine Self as the director of the movie of your life.

Regardless of where we are on our Path to Self-realization, there will always be another river to cross, another mountain to climb, another skill to master, and more love to give and receive. In entering into our Mystery, we lose our separateness and enter into the heart of the Divine process that is present in every true quest in every truth seeker. In that sense, we climb the mountain with many others, but each finds their own revelation when they make it to the top.

Just a few ideas to ponder as we sail some very mysterious seas….

© Copyright 2019 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Nicolette Beerel]

Thank you.Beautifully summed up into a bite size nugget to take on the journey for continues reminders, use, and unpacking. So hard to remember to apply, hard to do,
and takes full dedication

[Debra Y Mathis]

Makes me wonder. A poem has not visited me in so long... and while life is not without its blessings, much of my Constitution, and consciousness seems to feel resigned ... so I was very surprised at finding, or should I say hearing, this thought in my mind today: can I think new thoughts? Are there actually any new thoughts? After some reflection on this, with some surprise at these questions, it seemed to me that of course, there was the possibility of new thoughts, but the possibility was more rare than common. I'm trying to believe that I can raise my awareness.