1-416-561-5780Progress in our spiritual development may not be very easily perceived. We may be misled by apparent progresses that are not really so, while interpreting real progress as drawbacks.
Recognizing our pitfalls may seem deceiving, when it actually is a significant step forward in our evolution. Our rational mind can make newly acquired intellectual knowledge appear as spiritual progress, when they do not mean much at all in this regard.
As the personality evolves, it creates various layers of consciousness to help it adjust and cope with its environment. Examples of such layers are the ego, the mask self and the observer self. The overall consciousness of an individual reflects the sum total of his or her psychic layers.
Real spiritual progress occurs when unification of these various layers occurs, causing them to melt into an oneness, which is then activated and moved by the divine kernel.
At different stages of development, the consciousness is focused on a different psychic layer and the individual identifies himself with that layer, while retaining consciousness of the lower layers as coexisting aspects of his personality. These different aspects may often be in contradiction with one another.
Self-realization means to bring forth, as a living reality, the kernel of your spiritual being — the kernel of self that is eternal. The self becomes at once intensely personal and universal. What appeared to be contradictions suddenly unify without a breach of logic. Fear vanishes, and life becomes unending pleasure just because its opposite is no longer feared.
At a certain point in the existence of humanity, human consciousness detached itself from its divine kernel. Erroneous ideas, destructive reactions and feelings, spiritual blindness, unhappiness, and suffering caused successive distancing of humans from their divine kernel, thus creating new layers of consciousness, each covering the previous one and thus thickening the wall around the kernel.
Rather than being nourished by the source, each newly separated layer of consciousness functioned by itself, nourished by the error that brought about the over layer in the first place. This led to selfish and aggressive behavior.
Later, humans learned that acting out their destructiveness brought them into conflict with their environment, producing more pain. Thus a social conscience developed from the instinct of self-preservation. But this was initially a denial of pain and of its induced violence, hate, and malice.
As we denied the negative feelings, the positive ones resulted also blocked. Since the spiritual self resides within the realm of feelings, this meant the blocking out of the spiritual self. The creative mass of feelings is the divine, even if it temporarily manifests in a destructive way. When reason and will erect a barricade around the realm of feelings to stay safe from its self perpetuating negative creativity, they also erect a barricade around the divine kernel, the self-perpetuating positive creative source. Nevertheless, each individual must go through this phase before its direction can be reversed.
The next step in evolution is to learn to use reason to see cause and effect relationships and to use will power and self-discipline to hold back spontaneous primitive impulses.
When awareness of the negativity of such impulses and feelings develops, the latter tend to be denied and repressed. This denial of feelings blocks even further the contact with the spiritual self. This leads to the development of a reason-centered conscience.
The more the destructive feelings are denied, the less they can transform themselves back into their original state. Thus a consciousness builds itself based on reason.
Humans must spend many lifetimes training reason and will. Only when these faculties have been sufficiently developed is it safe to allow primitive, destructive feelings to surface without being compelled into action by them. For a long time in the history of evolution, reason and will, which are the realm of the ego, have dominated the realm of feelings. This was not a wrong turn. It was necessary. But now another way must be taken.
Instead of holding back your feelings, you must learn to allow them to become conscious, let them be, and observe them without fright. Nevertheless, the feeling self still appears to be a great enemy and is accused of being unreliable and even dangerous.
Using your will and reason for honest and humble self-confrontation, you can safely allow yourself to feel what you feel, without having to act on the feeling. But one must be careful not to fall in the trap of excessive use of reason to theorize and logically explain what is happening in the psyche. This would prevent the true pain and underlying feeling to be experienced. The superstructure of logical explanations and theories must be dissolved to allow the true pain and feelings to be experienced.
One must strive to know, to experience and feel one’s genuine feelings, without blocking them for suspicion of irrationality or trying to manipulate and fit them into a logical case. Let your mind be passive and gently, gently let your feeling come up — whatever it may be. The calmer and the more relaxed you are, intently listening to your feeling, the more it will turn out to be the original feeling, not the covering one.
Learn to recognize the subtle yet enormous difference between genuine and dishonest manufactured emotions.