Post 9
My path was a very direct and intense one. I gave up everything and focussed solely on discovering if there was any Truth (capital T) in the religion of my youth. During that time I followed the monastic rule of poverty, obedience and chastity. I slept on the floor, took cold showers, and ate simple food. I also had no sex, solo or otherwise. I didn’t drink or smoke, I dressed plainly and out of style. I prayed all day or spent time reading spiritual books when not working. I went to mass almost daily. My prayer life reached the stage of infused contemplation within about 6 months. I would try to pray verbally and a power would descend to silence the mind and fill the heart. After 3 more months of silent prayer bathed in this power, I was touched with the grace of realizing a permanent access to it. It would take many more years to learn to more fully embody this access.
I realize this is an unusual and not entirely desirable path for most of us. And frankly this type of devotion is not necessary to be able to access our innate healing and spiritual potential. We are able to access this healing energy through paying simple, close attention to our daily lives and struggles while opening to the possibility that the universe is intelligent and on our side. Much can happen when we suspend our disbelief.
The energy of Source differentiates itself widely into the world around us, but it is not readily apparent that this is so from an objective perspective. From an inner perspective it is possible to begin to discern the difference between the direct experience of our Being and our thoughts, emotions and sensations as they relate to the objective world. When we catch the thread of Being and see the relief and satisfaction it brings we begin to want to infuse this into our lives.
There are many transcendent qualities in our unconscious. As we pay careful attention to any particular conflict or difficulty, making space for it and allowing it all in an embodied way, these qualities can be uncovered. In fact each particular difficulty will generally relate to the missing experience of one of our transcendent aspects. With practice, rather than having frustration or anxiety arise in a certain situation, you may find that courage or compassion or gratitude arise. Imagine moving from feeling like the victim of thoughts, emotions and sensations, to feeling like you are in touch with the infinite resources of the universe, precisely attuned to the very needs of the moment.
To access these states it is not necessary to sit with a guide who can embody them, openness alone can do it, but being with someone who can point the way can be a great help. And folks with deep trauma or difficulty accessing their body will definitely want a hand. In my own experience, people I’ve sat with for coaching and exploration tend to easily access them. Once the experience of Being is compared to the usual experience of everyday mind, you have entered an endless path of greater and greater love and ease.
There are a number of different paths that can be explored in this direction. I was trained in Psychosynthesis, and there are many books written in that tradition. We do the work of identifying sub-personalities and dis-identifying from them to find space and freedom underneath, and access transpersonal potential. I am also training in Hakomi therapy, which uses mindfulness to pay attention to our embodied experience as we explore an issue. This is a very direct way of accessing the river of Life beneath what we think about ourselves. Additionally I was a student of the Ridhwan School of A.H. Almaas. This author has written many detailed works about how our personalities compensate for the loss of access to being. Our compulsions and symptoms can be released and replaced with more access to choice and vitality. I was also introduced to the practice of Feeding Your Demons, developed by Lama Tsultrim Alione. Her practice is also a powerful, direct way to work with what we usually want to avoid so we can find the power within.