by Larry Krantz
When a person awakens spiritually, it may begin with the simple questioning of beliefs—religious, political, and others. Such views are often passed from generation to generation. Most families become upset if a child dares to think differently, or questions why they behave a certain way. Actually, almost all of humanity thinks and behaves in lockstep. While one faction may seem at odds with another faction, they are all variations of a theme, and large segments of the populace go along with one system or another, each sure theirs is the chosen path. It is groupthink.
If someone feels a stirring of integrity, he or she soon discovers it takes great persistence and courage to break free from deeply-set world views that have roots plunged into the human mass consciousness. It is said that when lemmings are rushing toward a cliff, if one stops and wants to go in a different direction, the other lemmings think he has lost his mind. Actually, I doubt lemmings really behave that way, but humans certainly do, living in self-destructive ways, rushing toward their demise.
As we may have found out, when we try to explain our new understanding to those still locked in groupthink, they simply cannot hear us. It is as if we started speaking Martian, no matter how we try to explain ourselves. They may even think we’ve lost our minds! This is difficult to experience, and some people, fearing loss of family and friends, put their burgeoning insights on hold, perhaps never coming back to that point again. A precious few cannot be stopped, even if it means leaving one’s father’s house and all that is comfortable and familiar, to strike out in a new and unknown direction. Blessed are the spiritual seekers with enough courage, they cannot be stopped.
These days more than ever, for those awakening, there are many guideposts. The Internet and Cable TV help anyone find kindred spirits. They may, for example, hear about living in the present moment—mindfulness and The Power of Now (Eckhart Tolle). This may ring true and when a person starts to focus more on what is at hand, he finds that everything works out more easily; there is less of an energy drain. Spiritual awakening moves up in an ascending spiral. We re-visit areas of understanding and experience at newer, higher levels, and then still higher levels, if we keep moving. In that regard, we may revisit the notion of the present moment with greater perspective vision and see it is both practical and natural. The only place spirit is alive is now; it is the only place you can do anything. If we delve into the past, revisit mistakes and poor choices, beyond having learned something, it is best to let it go. It can’t be undone anyway. No sense beating ourselves up or wandering through creepy imaginations. Similar events will come up anyway, when the time is right, and with greater insight, we may handle them more wisely; this is how the past is overwritten. Likewise, worrying about events yet to occur, only disturbs the waters and causes anxiety. Life only puts us in situations we can handle and provides what we need to complete the task, so why not trust the creative process and move in the flow of the emerging radiance of heaven? Living in the present moment allows us to ride the crest of the wave, where there is vision and momentum, rather than crashing in the trough.
The awakening process does not happen all at once. Our human facilities would be overwhelmed otherwise. New bursts of spiritual understanding, little quantum leaps of insights, are often called realizations. It is always exciting to see something with new eyes. It is how, in consciousness, we move up the ascending cycle of spiritual understanding. It is essential on our spiritual journey that we avoid blockages. For example, if a person is driving along at a good clip and comes to a traffic jam, bumper-to-bumper, it can be frustrating. Some people become quite agitated in that kind of situation and do crazy things. But, if we can simply accept the situation and be at peace with it—regardless of how others around us are reacting, then we have mastered patience. The vicissitudes of the physical world no longer determine our internal experience. That is freedom, for the shape of things—even uncomfortable ones—cannot pull us down; they no long control us.
Long ago, I was in a large meditation class, where we sat for hours in the Lotus Position each morning and afternoon, silently repeating mantras designed to still the mind—which sounds admirable. Some of the participants had been at it for years! I did not last long. Later, I came to understand that the mind was not built to be dammed up, just as a river was made to flow. That is not what is meant by stillness. The real question is what controls our thinking. If the mind bounces from one reaction in the outer world to another, like a ball in a pin-ball game, then true thinking cannot be known. Stillness comes when externals no longer control, not when the mind no longer thinks, which would make it useless. This is another level of freedom. When outer circumstances no longer cause reactive thought, but thinking is stimulated from inner understanding, true creative thought occurs, from a state of mental tranquility. I enjoy times of quiet contemplation, nothing forced—just letting thoughts float into awareness and see where they lead. We need active minds to translate the Truth of heaven, along with hearts free to feel the joy and glory of God, the passion of being alive. We can trust the radiance emerging from the inner realms, and that is true faith. What emerges from within is dependable and pure, the vibrational source of all things. We cannot afford blockages at any level of human function, for spirit needs to flow freely and not be subverted or distorted by reactions to the outer world.