Month: March 2022

Self realisation is not the end of the journey. You discover yourself, and your deep inner nature, you find the joy of connection with all things, you feel a sense of constant peace – then what? Is that as far as it goes? Do you just sit and meditate for the rest of your life? Or do you take what you have learnt and bring it back into the world. I believe that the deeper and more important reponse is the latter. As we find our sense of connection with all, as we identify not just with our personal small sense of self, but with the greater universal self, then service becomes natural, the desire to help others is part of the desire to help oneself. It would be inaccurate to call it \’selfless\’ service because there is so much that the person gains through that service, so much that is gained by giving – it is \’Self-full\’ service – giving with the whole being because it is good for myself, and for the other who is also in some way part of my greater sense of self.

Do you see how the realisation leads to the desire for action? And this drive to serve leads to the next big challenge in one\’s life – the challenge of making a difference – and of finding your particular role in service to the all. People are not always satisfied by simply serving in any particular way, this is also about themselves after all – it is about service to all – including oneself, and so the joy of expressing yourself in an authentic, beautiful, skillful way is also an important part of the mix, and so people begin to search for their own unique role in the world, their passions, and their mission. They go on vision quests, or they make vision boards, they take on projects and look for meaning in all of these actions. If they have done the previous work well – if they have truly realised themselves then they will be positive, joyful, and unstoppable – even when things go badly they will stand back up and quickly recover to try again. They will not necessarily know the best things to do, or have the greatest skills in the area, but skills and knowledge can be learnt, and that basic foundation of connection and inner peace makes all of this action so much easier or at least gives so much energy that the difficulties are much easier to manage.

Oneness is not just an inner experience, it is a fundamental shift of perception that leads people to become truly good – to combine the wisdom that they have learnt from the inner work with the passion that comes from the care and connection with all. I do not think it is enough to seek self-realisation. The world and all those around us need us to become self-actualised to step into our power in truly loving way. It is this profound expression of spiritual truths in action that can unite and bind our society, and transform the challenges we are facing into true growth and upliftment. Can we imagine a society of people living their truth – self realised and self actualised? What would they do to the world around them? What problems would they not solve?

Throughout the world in all the spiritual traditions, and even in modern psychology the same understanding about the layers of the mind pops up again and again. It is described in different ways, and in different contexts, but the essence of it is always the same. In yoga they are called the layers of the mind or Koshas. In Christianity St Teresa d\’Ávila described them symbolically as the mansions of the heart – different houses that we can live in inside our heart. The Theosophists describe the 7 rays, Zen and chinese buddhism have an artistic representation based on the story of a Bull that runs away and must be found and brought home. In western psychology they are described as stages of psychological development, but no matter what system you want to use, we all go through the same stages in our personal growth. The same recognisable experiences – presumeably because we are opening up the same levels of our consciousness. Of course exactly how many stages and how you describe them varies slightly, but there is a fairly close consistency across the traditions and around the world. Here is my best understanding of those layers of the mind

1. Instinct

Those who live by their instincts respond quickly and effectively to emergency and survival situations, but may have trouble controlling themselves in situations where the challenges are less direct. Modern city life for example does not lend itself well to a purely instinctive existence. Instinct is necessary, and it creates the fastest responses, but not always the wisest, or most loving.

2. Conscience

Our conscience leads to honourable and righteous behaviour, it restricts and controls the instincts so that they can be adapted to suit more closely our social existence. It is the conscience that allows us to live well in society, to become an upstanding, professional member of society. You will see the conscience well developed in most religious people, and it is a large part of what conventional, conservative religion teaches. It is also the foundation upon which all more elevated spiritual experiences begin.

3. Intellect

The scientific and technological revolution that has led to the wonders of modern society was the upswelling of this layer of the mind. It is responsible for deep thought, and analysis. This is a wonderful thing, only limited by the fact that analysis by its nature is divisive – it understands by separating things into small pieces and comprehending each little piece. In order to understand the systems and connections between things – the patterns that underly everything – one needs to access further layers, but enormous knowledge and ability can be developed at this stage.

4. Insight

Beyond the intellect is creativity, inspiration, dreams, and insight into oneself and others. All of these things are part of one way of looking at the world – a way that does not divide into pieces, but rather looks at how the different elements fit together. It is not precise, but rather inspired. It is this that allows us to develop emotional intelligence, to create inspired artwork, and to come up with creative solutions to the problems facing us. Many of the greatest scientists, although they worked primarily in the field of intellect – their great breakthroughs were when the inspired creative mind came through with an answer that changed the way we look at and understand the world. Many of our great artists access this part of the mind a lot, and it is responsible for the sensitivity that leads people to humanism – to championing justice, human rights, freedom, equality and such positive qualities.

5. Compassion

Even creativity for all its wonderful qualities can be stressful and overwhelming, and only when we can step beyond it can we find peace, and in that peace a deep compassion for others. This is the layer of mind that is responsible for detachment – the ability to step back and be at peace, not to grasp at what one desires, or thinks should be important; and also for the quality of discrimination which allows one to see what is important, and what is superficial, and to create wise priorities in life. And these qualities lead to wisdom. To a deep understanding of what is important and what is not, and to a sense of compassion that allows the holding space for others true self expression and growth.

6. Ecstacy

Peace and compassion are lovely, but in their quietness they do not engage our passions, and naturally as human beings we have a lot of passion. As we step beyond the layer of compassion we open up the layer of ecstacy where our passionate nature is engaged into our spiritual journey, and where we experience directly for ourselves the deepest aspects of the nature of the universe, and love itself. Devotion, and the divine love affair often find their expression here, and the gnostic experiences of direct perception of the nature of reality. Belief no longer is relevant because you can observe directly for yourself what is true. This is a powerful experience, an intense loving experience, but at times one that is too strong to be comfortable.

7. Connection

The loving ecstacy has a profound quality of love – I love you, and you love me, I love God, or I love everything. In whatever form it takes there is a lover and a beloved, but in the layer of connection all becomes one – I can no longer love you because I am you, and yet it is one of the most profoundly loving experience one can have. It is this experience of connection that people call oneness, and that leads to selfless service, and worldly effectiveness at the same time as deep inner peace and joy. The intense feelings that we experienced in the ecstatic phase have softened, so that the love is still there in some form, but it no longer feel difficult or intense, rather it feels peaceful and satisfying.

8. The Beyond

This is a book devoted to Oneness and Connection and yet to be complete I must point out that there is an experience beyond that – the experience of Emptiness, of Nothingness that is infinite peace, and completely detached from worldly existence. This experience allows people to step outside of our ordinary reality and experience profound bliss while they are totally unaware of their bodies. The greatest of joys, but in some way impractical – one cannot operate in the world at this level, and so after our little holiday in the beyond most people eventually choose to come back to reality (or at least this reality), and bring just a touch of infinite bliss with them.

Is Love the answer? The obvious joke would be that it depends on what the question is – but that is not really accurate. Love is so universal that in some form it is the answer to almost any question that one can ask, but whether or not you have a true answer depends on what you mean by love. The current popular vision of love as portrayed in hollywood movies clearly does not solve our life challenges, and even the more hippy concept of loving all, or unconditional love does not seem to create a true powerful transformation, only a counter culture that appears to be in conflict with the rest of society – and how can conflict be an expression of love? Interesting don\’t you think. And yet as I said Love in some form or other will be the answer to all of the questions, and especially the one I am particularly interested in – \’What is the answer to the challenges that face us today?\’ – the challenges of society, of environment, of modern life.

Everything we ever do is motivated by love. Some actions are motivated by love of self, and so seem to be selfish actions, some actions are motivated by love of friends and family, and so seem more generous, and yet are still limited in scope, some are motivated by love of country, which can be more noble, but in its nationalism can be highly problematic, leading to wars and conflicts. Some actions are motivated by a seemingly selfless love for all others around us. The difference is not in the love – the difference is in the expansion of that love – where is the boundary beyond which our love does not reach? The greater the expansion of that boundary the more great and positive seems the love, but as long as there is such a boundary then every loving action will also be unloving towards someone or something else. If we truly want to resolve our challenges with love then we cannot be at the one time resolving problems in a loving way, and at the same time creating problems elsewhere in the place where we do not consider, and do not love. Even those who seemingly love all, often have trouble loving the system and the nature of society as it is. Who can love the capitalist system, the misguided leaders who are taking us down dangerous paths, and also the person in front of us challenging us in this moment? And who can love themselves as well at the same time. It is not possible to achieve this kind of love while seeing things as separate – we do not have space in our hearts for a billion different loves, but only for one love that encompasses all things. And it is this encompassing love that we experience when we discover the Oneness and connection with all. It is this love that allows us to harmonise with all things, and to bring light into the darkness, joy where there was suffering, celebration where there was struggle. It is this encompassing love of all as one that answers our challenges today. It is different to the romantic love, to the compassionate love, to the dedicated faithful love that we see in common life and fiction, though it has elements of all of these. It has a very particular quality – no longer \’I Love You\’ – a phrase that is said with such serious earnestness, now it has become \’We Are One\’ a sentence that can be expressed with exuberance and joy and celebration as well as with the deepest peace and contentment.

Why is life such a struggle? It seems like conflicts are a constant part of life – the inner conflict resolving the different parts of yourself, conflicts in your family and relationships, political conflict, war, and the conflict between how you wish the world was, and the way it actually is. But in the end all conflict arises from a misperception of the nature of things. Underneath there is rarely if ever a true conflict – only that we do not understand what we are arguing about. The Atheist and the Christian argue about whether or not God exists, but underneath both of them know that what is important is love, and how we can live in a truly loving way, and any conflict about God is largely about understanding what we mean by that concept – is it universal consciousness? An old man in the sky? There is not really a conflict. 2 children fight over a ball – \’It\’s mine\’, \’No it\’s mine\’ – but what they really want is to play with it, and a ball is perfect to play with together. Is there any conflict – not really. 2 countries fight over the territory, but what do they really want? Is it security, or wealth, or a sense of greatness? Whatever it is, underneath there is no real conflict. Conflict is only a lack of understanding. In a couple they fight, about the different movies they want to watch, or how to communicate with each other, but in the end all they both want is love and connection – they just don\’t know how to achieve it.

What is real is challenge. Constantly life throws us new challenges – new things for us to learn, new ways for us to grow, and if we imagine that the other is against us maybe we will interpret that as conflict, but if we realise that we are all in this together then we can find the ability to grow and overcome, to turn challenges into opportunities, and to celebrate life and the growth that it encourages in us. Do you want to live in a world where we are all divided one against the other, or where we all work together as one? I know which one I would choose.

There is only one negative emotion. There is only one reason for all the pain and suffering that you go through. Whether you experience anger and frustration, or sadness, fear, guilt, and even the heartache of love – whatever emotional experience you are going through it is caused by the same single issue that is found all over the world, in all people. And similarly there is really only one single positive emotion that fills us with joy and peace. Some would call these emotions Love and Fear, but I find this a confusing and misleading use of words. Better to say connection and disconnection. Either you are feeling the connection with all things, your heart is open and your are filled with joy and peace, or you are feeling disconnection, and the lack and joy and peace leads to all the suffering experiences of pain and anger and all negative emotions. Connection is natural. It is the natural way we exist and operate in this world (and beyond it), but sometimes resistance creeps in, and we close down to that infinite connection, and try defend our self from the world around us. Unfortunately for us that connection is an all or nothing thing – either you connect with everything, or you lose the joy, and begin to drop into the lower and less pleasant states of consciousness. Many times we attempt to resolve this with filling up on human love – finding someone to care for us and make us feel better, or through other experiences – drugs, entertainment, pleasure – and while in themselves these are not necessarily bad things (maybe drugs are arguable here – can they be considered bad? Maybe in some circumstances) – chasing these worldly experiences to try to resolve a greater existential crisis is not really effective. This infinite connection that gives us joy and peace, this connection with all things is what people call Oneness. It is not some unreachable grand experience that only few are gifted with – it is the natural state of human beings, and one which we do not function well without. We can experience the loneliness of disconnection from that infinite network of loving connection or we can choose to open to the \’All One\’ the joyous connection that uplifts us all.