To me, spirituality is all about knowing your self, from the human personal level including emotions, desires, fears, and hurts, to the energy body level, Chi, Kundalini and bliss, to emptiness and the Void, the the Self/God nexis. You have to know yourself experientially, not as an object of knowledge. That is, you learn to identify with everything that arises during the process of self-investigation and self-abidance, accept it, and love it, thereby bringing it into yourself.
The first step is to adapt a position of humility. Forget everything you have learned about who you are from reading spiritual teachers, from Ramana to Tolle, Nisargadatta to Almaas, and just look and feel inot who and what you are. Do not seek at first to understand, but just to be and look and feel into that beingness and accept all that arises as a result of turning within. Accept that you know nothing about who and what you are except what you know from others as taught by spiritual teachers, society, scientists, society. You are none of these things, for these are only words and concepts others have devised. Don't borrow your self-knowledge from them.
You certainly can share what you find with others or with a teacher to get their feedback, but don't rush to get an understanding handle or framework for your experience. Be accepting of a not-knowing state as long as it takes in order to create and open, simple-hearted, mind and heart, an innocent heart. This is much more than half of the spiritual journey: becoming open to yourself at all layers, and feeling open to share what you find with others for the sake of feedback.
This is the preparatory stage for the seeker. Before this, you are a pre-seeker, a soaker-upper of other people's knowledge and experience, and have nothing of your own.
Following a path of receptive not-knowing, you eventually will find your Self, both the Manifest Self of finding God/Self within, or the transcendent, non-Manifest, Noumenal Self. Finding both is the true beginning of your spiritual life. Once the Self is found, the light of intelligence burns brightly illuminating every step of your future path.
Realizing the Manifest Self--the Life Force permeating our humanity--and the Unmanifest source from which it arises.
Dear Edji,
ReplyDeleteI find myself right now feeling an I who wants to write to you, and also with thoughts in the background about registering my car and how much money is in the bank, etc. and I welcime it accepting and gratefully. Sometimes the noticing of experiencing pulls me so far back experientially it feels like even the subtle act of welcoming and accepting feels to be "outside".
Right now I can't remember what that I wanted from writing. I welcome this I now and I can feel some sort of larger body-ish feeling around and behind my back and head. What an adventure! Welcoming right now I watching Pretty Kitty and feeling again wanting to reach out to you.
Welcoming now I wishing you well grateful to you.
Yours,
Andrew