Keeping The Faith

Just yesterday I read this somewhat humorous article. In the article, Bishop Bacani says that atheists secretly believe in God in their hearts whenever they work for justice and do good deeds, it's just that they don't want to admit it. The writer, who is presumably atheist, retorted that people who sexually abuse children are secretly Catholic priests in their hearts.

Of course, the writer is mixing up religion with belief in God. Anti-religion is not the same as anti-spirituality or anti-God, though they often come hand in hand. After all, religion is what you call a set of approved practices that one is obligated to follow on a regular basis. But this is not the only way to search for the Divine, and that's why we have the mystics who become enlightened even if they don't necessarily achieve it within the context of a religion. But all this is really beside the point for me.

For someone on the spiritual path, encountering an atheist can be quite a challenging experience, especially if one is not yet firmly established in one's spiritual practice. They hold many arguments about why God does not exist, and at the same time there is no way for one to convincingly (by their standards) prove God's existence.  More often than not, atheists are so convinced about the non-existence of God that there is no argument that will convince them otherwise. I think it's rare for an atheist to actually follow an open-minded inquiry and search for God's existence. But this obstinacy is true not just for atheists but for anyone who strongly holds on to their views (fundamentalists and fanatics, for example).

One reason for the yawning disconnect between atheists and spiritual practitioners is that the experience of the Divine is precisely that: an experience. Teachers or gurus open the student's mind to the possibility of such an experience or state, and may even teach certain techniques or exercises that will help lead to such an experience, but it is only the student who can have the experience itself. This is the part that cannot be taught by the guru. Without that experience, the student only knows the theory, and the matter thus becomes vulnerable to debate.

Since such a spiritual experience cannot be induced in others except by their own willingness and effort, explaining the existence of God to an atheist would be like trying to explain the beauty of the Mona Lisa to someone born blind. There is simply no reference point that the blind man can use to understand the awe and respect of someone who can see and appreciate the Mona Lisa.

One may argue that atheists have all five senses and in fact there are atheists who are smart, articulate and very intelligent. Some of these guys can blow anyone out of the water with their skill in debate. How then can they insist that God does not exist?

One of Master Choa Kok Sui's Golden Lotus sutras is entitled Beyond the Mind and it deals with the subject of meditation. The very title itself already gives a clue. One has to look and go beyond the mind for the experience of the Divine.

From the point of view of the esoteric student, we are made up of several bodies. There is the physical body, etheric body, emotional body and mental body. There are even higher subtle bodies, but essentially at the core of all these bodies is the soul, the spark of God that is expressed individually. Now, imagine a ladder against a wall in pitch black darkness. The ladder only reaches up to a certain point but if you just stood on the topmost rung and stretched upward, you'll be able to feel a ledge at the tip of your fingers. You just need to jump a little bit to grab the edge more firmly.

When questions about God and spirituality rest solely with the mind, then it's like saying there's nothing else beyond the ladder. One needs a "leap of faith" to let it all go and experience oneself as the soul. This is why in meditation it's important to clear oneself of thought, to achieve an inner state of total stillness.

To allow for the possibility of something makes it more likely for that something to happen. It's the Law of Attraction at work, but it also has to do with one's mental attitude. As an example, let's say you were absolutely convinced that you couldn't get into a Fortune 500 company because you felt you don't have the skills that would matter. Aside from not actively trying to apply for any Fortune 500 company, you may even ignore opportunities that might bring you into closer contact with a Fortune 500 company (for example, a trade show or an invitation from a friend who worked in one such company). So your mental attitude would affect the way you treat your opportunities, and you've already failed before you even tried because you were already convinced of the result.

In spirituality, "allowing for the possibility of something" is called faith. This is why a belief in God is important, because this provides a way for you to have that experience. Experiencing soul realization is not just you reaching out, it's also God pulling you up. As I've said before, such a spiritual journey can last several lifetimes so it's certainly possible that for most people, spiritual practice would still mostly be a matter of faith. And yet it's that same faith that prevents us from faltering despite the lack of apparent results.

By developing this sort of openness, this faith, one's intuition gets more developed. Since intuition is direct inner knowing, then one's experience of God and the supernal realms becomes more natural, more deep. In that case, the existence of God becomes more than just a matter of faith, and it becomes more than just knowledge; it becomes a matter of wisdom and understanding. And that's something no one can argue away from you.

Musings About the Astral Plane

A few days ago I was able to observe a lively discussion about the astral plane that was going on in an esoteric forum I am part of. The debate stemmed from a few statements from the writings of the Master DK through Alice Bailey, particularly in the book The Externalization of the Hierarchy.

Just to give a background, Alice Bailey was once a member of the Theosophical Society. From 1919 until her death in 1949, she started channeling the teachings of a certain Tibetan initiate named Djwhal Khul. He was termed either The Tibetan or the Master DK. These channeled teachings resulted in 24 published books on a wide range of esoteric topics that are still the subject of intense study among various esoteric practitioners and groups across the world. Alice Bailey has her detractors and her supporters, but there is no doubt that the writings she channelled from the Master DK are a rich source of esoteric lore.

The problem with Alice Bailey's books is that they are very heavy reading, not for the casual reader at all. Deciphering the meaning and intent of the books has proven to be a challenge for many an esoteric student and explains why there can be debates about the interpretation of certain statements and passages.

And so we go back to the lively debate I mentioned earlier. The statement in question was about the assertion that the astral plane was literally an illusion. One student clarified that what Alice Bailey was saying was that the astral plane did not exist for the ascended masters, but for the rest of humanity, the astral plane was very much real. It did not mean that the astral plane was literally non-existent. I'll have to review what I've read, but I seem to remember reading in Glamour: A World Problem (the Alice Bailey book, not the magazine) that the astral plane was literally an illusion and did not exist.

In any case, you can see how the debate might arise, because it's very difficult to validate the above statements. And for those who can do astral travel, they're in the astral plane so how can it be non-existent? Also, assuming that the astral plane exists for most of humanity, how can it not exist for the adepts and ascended masters?

Answering the above is not so simple. One needs to have some background about the different planes of existence and how they interact with each other. But in the name of making things interesting, I'll venture an explanation while trying not to make the both of us dizzy.

There are multiple planes of existence. That much is clear from all the esoteric literature out there. The most familiar to us is the physical plane we live in. Then there's the etheric plane, then the astral, the mental plane and so on. Higher up there is there is even the atmic plane, where the Higher Soul resides, and the monadic plane where the Divine Spark is located. There are even higher planes but we don't need to concern ourselves with those right now.

To say that the astral plane is an illusion would be to also say that the physical plane is also an illusion, because the physical plane is located "lower" than the astral plane. In one sense, this is true because of the impermanence that is a hallmark of the physical and astral. We can easily understand physical impermanence, but how can astral substance be impermanent? The astral body is also called the desire body, so you can infer that the astral plane is the realm of desire and emotions. You don't hold any particular emotion in the forefront all the time, i.e. you're not angry all the time, happy all the time, afraid all the time. These emotions may lurk below your conscious level but in terms of your attention (when you're feeling them), your emotions are always shifting from one moment to the next, hence it's impermanent in that sense.

A little more tricky is explaining why the astral plane does not exist for the masters and adepts. For me, I compare the astral plane to those aids we use when trying to learn something, like those side wheels when learning how to bike, or the multiplication table when learning basic math. They're not meant to be permanent and once you master the required skills, those training aids essentially "don't exist" for you anymore. In some Theosophical texts, there are statements to the effect that one must be completely desireless in order to elevate to the higher realms. Since the masters and adepts do operate on those higher realms, it may be said that the complete non-existence of desire in them means that they have no astral substance, hence they are absent from the astral.

The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception takes a similar tack in saying that the vibration of the higher realms is so high that beings there cannot occupy forms from the lower planes because the higher vibrations would destroy the lower form in short order, if not instantly. Imagine plugging a toaster directly into a high voltage transformer. The toaster is not built to withstand the higher voltage electricity coming from the transformer.

Below is an image taken from the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception. It will be difficult to decipher for most, but it does illustrate the different levels of existence and how far "down" a spirit takes form depending on the level of development.


In the above image, you can see that the Lord Jesus was of so high a vibration that he couldn't directly incarnate into the physical plane. According to Rosicrucian lore, there had to be an intermediary, in this case an initiate who developed his subtle bodies to a level that could withstand higher divine energies, at least for a time, which allowed the Christ spirit to make enough of a leap across the lower planes and do a walk in. Try to read the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception if you can, but I must say that like the Alice Bailey books, it's very heavy reading.

This is all very interesting, but is there any practical benefit we can derive from this knowledge? It depends on one's level of development, but at the very least it shows us just how far we need to go in order to get to the level of the adepts. It also emphasizes one important aspect about esoteric knowledge that the erstwhile student should be cognizant of: not everything found in esoteric literature is always applicable for the student.

It's something that Master Choa Kok Sui also mentioned in his book Inner Teachings of Hinduism Revealed. The example Master Choa cited was certain teachings on karma where some writings indicate that all good karma must be given away. This is applicable for initiates who are about to be liberated from the wheel of rebirth (because karma, whether good or bad, binds us to rebirth), but this teaching is not applicable for a young soul who has a lot of future incarnations to look forward to and/or a lot of negative karma to pay off. In this case, one needs all the good karma one can get, so it won't make sense to give it all away.

Perhaps this short discussion about the astral plane has stretched the limits of your understanding, but just like in weight lifting perhaps this has helped expand your mental threshold just a little bit more. It's just one small step, considering the scale we need to achieve, but like the Chinese saying goes, the journey of 10,000 li begins with one step.

Happiness In Perspective

Happiness is a state of mind more than anything else. A humble street vendor can find joy where a billionaire would only see misery. Perhaps this is why Aristotle said that happiness depends on ourselves. Yet however we view happiness, it is a state that is coveted by all. We have devoted our lives practically to the pursuit of happiness. In fact, this is how a lot of advertisements work, by preying on our desire to be "happy and enjoy life."

Of course, we cannot discount chemical imbalances in the brain that can cause feelings of sadness and depression. For such cases, there are natural and herbal remedies such as the saffron herb that can help mitigate any physical or chemical imbalances.

In any case, I recently happened upon a nice article talking about the 15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy. They're all common-sense advice, so try to read that article if you have the time.

Given our apparent obsession with happiness, I started to think through the idea that perhaps happiness is not really the purpose of life. Sounds like heresy, I know, given what I just stated earlier. After all, who doesn't look forward to a Friday night with friends? Or dinner at one's favorite restaurant? Or a dream vacation somewhere? A dream house? A dream job?

Let me clarify by saying that I think happiness is a necessary part of life, like air, but not necessarily the purpose of life. Let's think this through. For those who have meditated long enough, you may have had episodes of indescribable bliss. Many religions and sages have been consistent in mentioning the eternal joy and happiness of heaven, as well as accounts of peace and happiness experienced by some who had near death experiences. Don't we even term any experience of great bliss and happiness as a "taste of heaven?" They are all consistent: in the spiritual realms lie our true state of happiness. If that's the case, then happiness can't be the reason we incarnated. Why give up eternal happiness in heaven for temporary happiness mixed with suffering in the physical world?

There is something about difficulty and struggle (a staple of incarnated life) that is necessary for us. I don't have the answer to what that may be. It's something akin to the age old question: "Why am I here?" But if I were to make a guess, I would say this. When we are happy, we are contented, and when we're contented, we don't want things to change. Inertia builds up. However, evolution requires change and the ancient writings have made it clear that we all need to spiritually evolve. You get the picture.

However we may view our lives, I think it's important that we do not lose ourselves so much in the pursuit of happiness that we forget about everything else that makes life worthwhile, especially in these times when a lot of what we think will make us happy costs money (sometimes a lot of it), leading most people to think that money equals happiness. Yet how many times have we gotten what we desired only to ask: now what?

Albert Pike once said, "What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal." Of course, Albert Pike was a Freemason, but whatever views you may have about the Freemasons, there is no denying the truth of Pike's words. Perhaps this is what will help us view happiness in perspective.

A Light Upon The Way

When the World Wide Web was introduced sometime in the mid-90s, we literally saw an explosion of information across the world. Part of the knowledge that spread included topics on esoteric spirituality and occult practices. Naturally, the spread of information has also given rise to a variety of "New Agers" (one of the generic terms used in the US to describe anyone who is into spirituality, occult or anything else esoteric).

For the most part, the spread of information has been very beneficial. E-book or scanned copies of previously hard to find ancient manuscripts are now a few clicks away. I'm certainly one of those beneficiaries and am thankful that all this has happened. Still, with the humongous amount of information available, it falls even more heavily upon the student to practice discernment when studying any new and unfamiliar topic.

One thing that has accompanied the popularization of the Internet are the so-called do-it-yourself teachings on the occult and esoteric practices. Inspirational articles about improving one's life and how to get the most out of praying are one thing, but I've seen some sites publishing different spells, advanced meditation practices and other stuff that the untrained shouldn't be touching with a 10-foot pole, let alone published freely on the Web. I mean, no one would read some blog about how to repair jet engines and then go out and try to tinker with an actual jet engine. So the same thing applies with advanced spiritual practices and techniques.

In ancient times, the exoteric practices of religion were for the masses while esoteric spiritual teachings and advanced practices were passed on strictly from guru to disciple. These disciples were taught based on their capability to handle the new teachings, because most advanced spiritual practices involve the downpour of tremendous amounts of energy. This statement would be hard to understand for someone who hasn't had experience with any energy system but let's just say that there are increasing levels of difficulty, and responsibility, as one climbs the spiritual ladder.

In today's fast food world, the relevance of a guru may be questioned by most but that doesn't decrease the guru's importance. Some Eastern sects of esoteric spirituality in fact put so much importance on the guru that they have a practice called guru yoga. As per the Wikipedia article:

The Guru or spiritual teacher is essential as a guide during tantric practice, as without their example, blessings and grace, genuine progress is held to be impossible for all but the most keen and gifted...The guru is considered even more compassionate and more potent than the Buddha because we can have a direct relationship with the guru.

The guru is a direct and living example of the Teachings, and this is why he is highly revered among the disciples. According to Master Choa Kok Sui, a guru has already made a path through the forest so that his disciples don't unnecessarily get hurt along the way. One may ask why we should bother trying to follow an established path. Aren't we supposed to learn for ourselves instead of being spoon-fed?

An example from the field of computer programming may help explain this. Programmers have this rule of thumb that when writing a program, if there are already a series of codes existing for a particular function (for example, a timer or form checker), they just incorporate or make use of the existing code in their program rather than write the whole code from scratch. It saves time and effort, and when project deadlines are involved, it could also save a lot of money. There is no need to reinvent the wheel every time.

The same thing applies to our spiritual practice. We could spend several lifetimes worth of trial and error in order to spiritually develop, or we could follow the teachings of a guru and proceed faster in our spiritual development. The choice is ours to make.

Of course, it's important to get a true guru so that one is not led astray, otherwise one may find oneself worse off than before one started. So how does one discern a true guru?

The word guru means "dispeller of darkness" so in my estimation, one indication of a true guru is that he should be a living example of his Teachings. A guru does not seek to control, but rather hopes to enlighten his disciples while training them to think for themselves and develop their intuition so that they have the free will to discern and decide how they want to pursue their spiritual development. It's an esoteric maxim that the guru can show the door, but it's up to the student to step through that door.

A guru's teachings should also be uplifting. In this sense, the spiritual teachings of a guru are the foundations that allow the disciples to stand on their own and become gurus themselves through the practice of the teachings.

The disciples of a guru are works in progress, therefore it brings us to one thing that one may encounter along spiritual path. One may notice that sometimes there are disciples of a guru who do exactly the opposite of the teachings. It's a fact of life, there will be those who are not the examples we expect them to be, and the practice of spiritual teachings is no different.

If ever you experience this, then this is when you will find out how much you have internalized the guru's teachings. For example, there are a lot of Catholic priests who are sex offenders, yet the existence of these deviants do not invalidate the Teachings of Jesus Christ. But if one has not internalized Christ's teachings, one may either convert to a different religion or become agnostic or atheist. My personal motto is to focus on the teacher and his Teachings, not on the personalities surrounding the Teachings.

This has now led us to another facet pertaining to spiritual practice: the practice itself. When a guru teaches, he does so not for the purpose of memorization but so that the student can follow in the path and experience the Teachings for themselves. Spiritual teachings are always an experiential matter. This is the only way to internalize them and have a stable foundation. Otherwise, if it's all head knowledge, then the slightest challenge such as an unfavorable situation or arguments by a skeptic and skilled debater will make you waver. Only experience can bring conviction.

But should one decide to embark on the spiritual path under the guidance of a guru, there is one very important thing that one should keep in mind. A guru does not exist by himself. By becoming enlightened, he joins the ranks of all other enlightened beings who work in accordance with the Divine Plan and Purpose.

"The teacher is the needle and the disciple is the thread," wrote Miyamoto Musashi, Japan's greatest swordsman, in his book The Book of Five Rings. By aligning oneself with the teachings, one also commits oneself to this Divine Plan and Purpose so that you also form part of this grand tapestry of creation. This should be the reason for one to seek faster advancement in one's spiritual development. As Master Choa said, one should become enlightened in order to become a better Divine Servant.

As we fully enter into this Holy Week, let us then reflect on the Teachings of the great guru Jesus Christ. The Christ's teachings have been passed on to us since we were children. If we were to truly follow Him, we should give serious thought to putting those teachings into practice.

Where Are We?

Upon reading the title for this article, the answer may seem patently obvious. We are on planet Earth. Additionally, you would be in front of your PC / laptop / smart phone reading this article. And you would be right. But that's just one level of truth.

Let's take the question a step further. Let's say you die and believe in life after death. Where are you now? Religions the world over have different terms for it. Purgatory. The bardo. The astral plane. Heaven. Hell. Call it what you will. But "where" is that, exactly?

Now for another level. Esoteric spiritual traditions state that it's not only the physical body that is mortal. Even our astral and mental bodies will eventually pass away, with the soul moving higher as it unites with its Divine Source. "Where" does that leave us?

In the examples above, as we change planes or levels of existence, what we PERCEIVE also changes but YOU yourself, or rather your consciousness, remains constant throughout it all. The different bodies pass away, but these bodies are merely ways for us to perceive a particular plane, which is why when we die we are gone from the Earth (no one perceives us with normal eyes and we don't perceive the physical world anymore) until we get another physical body through reincarnation. It would probably be better to think of the different bodies as antennas that we can use to tune in to different levels of existence, much the same way we change channels on the TV. Flip to a different channel and you see something different on your screen.

According to Master Choa Kok Sui, the soul is pure energy with consciousness. If the consciousness is constant and it's only what we perceive that changes, "when" and "where" become increasingly meaningless the "farther" we go from the physical realm. I suppose this is why esoteric traditions say that the soul exists beyond space and time, and is immortal.

Additionally, as one studies esoteric manuscripts and treatises, one will eventually come upon references to the self as the center of a wonderful universe. While science has contradicted the Bible and shown that we are not the center of the universe, I believe this assertion found in the Bible and other spiritual texts refers to something much deeper.

The ancient genius Archimedes once said: "Show me one point in the Universe and I shall lift the globe off its hinges!" In the past, mysticism and science were not considered separate, so we can infer a deeper meaning to this quote. Earlier, we had shown that the consciousness remains constant, with only the perception changing. In this way, the consciousness is like a "point" by which everything perceived revolves around it. If there was no consciousness, there would be no experience because there is no one to do the experiencing. So all events have to "center" around the consciousness. So we may say that the quote of Archimedes refers to the deeper truth that we control what is in our surroundings, the same way that the Law of Attraction works by pulling into our sphere those things that we desire, both conscious and unconscious.

According to Kabbalah, only we are responsible for what happens to us (good or bad) and that whatever we perceive outside of ourselves is merely a reflection of our inner state (our inner state represents not only our unexpressed thoughts and emotions but also our karma). If we take the view that this is because all of these outside events are centered within our sphere of consciousness, orchestrated in such a way as to present a scene for our consciousness to view and experience, then it seems Kabbalah is saying the same thing in a different way.

But how can we be at the center of everything, when obviously there are other souls, other beings out there? That is certainly a paradox, the mechanics of which are not easy to decipher at our level of consciousness. However, I believe certain clues may be found by taking a closer look at the qualities we attribute to God.

In the words of Edwin J. Dingle (founder of the Institute of Mentalphysics), in his book The Science of Mentalphysics, he states that the Creator is all the knowledge there is (OMNISCIENCE), all the presence there is (OMNIPRESENCE) and all the power there is (OMNIPOTENCE). Therefore, the universe, our surroundings, even our very selves are not separate from the Creator, because the Creator is simply all that there is.

In History Channel's The Universe, I remember one episode about the Big Bang where one scientist said that he is related to the whole solar system chemically, and related to the whole universe atomically, and he thought that was really cool. Since the Big Bang theory states that everything started from one single point, that's a very profound statement right there.

Using the Law of Correspondence ("As above, so below; as below, so above."), we are the Creator expressed in human form, the same way a granite pebble is of the same essence as the mountain it came from. Again going back to Dingle's words, since the Creator is all that there is, and we are of the same essence as the Creator, then whatever the Creator is, I AM.

Now doesn't that sound familiar? I've always wondered about the two words I AM but considering the earlier part of this article it's now starting to make more sense.

In pranic healing, we are encouraged to say the following soul affirmation before meditation:

I am not the body,
I am not the emotions,
I am not the thoughts,
I am not the mind.
The mind is only a subtle instrument of the soul.
I am the soul.

I am a spiritual being of Divine Intelligence, Divine Love, Divine Power.
I am one with my Higher Soul.
I AM THAT I AM.

I am one with the Divine Spark within me.
I am a child of God,
I am connected with God,
I am one with God,
I am one with all.

I am the soul.

In the above affirmation are found beautiful and sublime truths written plain as day. But this is no mere mental exercise so a deeper realization of the truth, as with all spiritual truths, can only be achieved by experiencing it. The implications are certainly mind-boggling, and are worth more than just a passing thought.

In The World But Not Of It

According to the Buddha, the root of all suffering is attachment. This is actually the second of the Four Noble Truths. And it really does seem so. As an experiment, first imagine eating a barbecue and then throwing the barbecue stick into the garbage. No problem. Most of us wouldn't give a second thought about it.

Next, picture in your mind one of your more cherished possessions, be it a Rolex watch, your Android phone, or your parents' graduation gift to you, and imagine trying to throw it into a public garbage bin. If imagining it is too easy, then try to ACTUALLY throw it away. Assuming you do throw it, most of us would have required a supreme effort to do so. I wouldn't be surprised if you had an internal philosophical discussion about why it shouldn't be thrown away, how it would be such a waste and how much you can still make use of the item.

From the example above, we can see that the amount of pain we feel (physical, emotional or mental) is commensurate with the attachment we have to something, particularly when the prospect of losing that something is likely. However, don't start throwing away or giving away your wedding rings, your mother's jewelry or anything you deem as important. We have to take things into perspective.

We cannot avoid the fact that life is about attachment. We need it to a certain degree. If you felt no attachment to your studies, you wouldn't have had the motivation or desire to finish school. If you felt no attachment to your job, there would be no drive to excel and you probably couldn't care less if you were fired or became a bum for life. If you felt no attachment to your parents, you wouldn't care for them. For the spiritual aspirant, how then do we resolve the apparent contradiction in the Buddha's words?

I think it would help if we take a look at the works of Carlos Castaneda. For those who do not know about him, Carlos Castaneda was an American anthropologist of Peruvian descent. He achieved renown when he started writing a series of books describing his spiritual journeys in Mexico with the yaqui Indian Don Juan Matus. Don Juan called himself a sorcerer but is more accurately termed a nagual, an initiate and guardian of spiritual teachings that traces its lineage back to ancient Mexico.

In Castaneda's book A Separate Reality the following passages, as quoted from Don Juan, can be found:

A warrior (their term for an initiate) must know first that his acts are useless, and yet, he must proceed as if he didn't know it.That's a shaman's controlled folly.

Nothing being more important than anything else, a warrior chooses any act, and acts it out as if it mattered to him. His controlled folly makes him say that what he does matters and makes him act as if it did, and yet he knows that it doesn't; so when he fulfills his acts, he retreats in peace, and whether his acts were good or bad, or worked or didn't, is in no way part of his concern.

A warrior may choose to remain totally impassive and never act, and behave as if being impassive really mattered to him; he would be rightfully true at that, too, because that would also be his controlled folly.

To understand the above quotes, we need to understand that the shamans of Mexico viewed the world differently from the average person. To them, everything was an infinite expanse of energy and what we see with our everyday eyes merely reflects how we perceive or interpret that said energy. They refer to this gate of perception as the assemblage point, but it's a long topic so its discussion has to be reserved for another article.

In any case, the point is that one must act as if a particular task matters, but keep in mind that in terms of the big picture it doesn't matter at all. Not even one nickel can be brought over to the other side after you die. So you can do everything you can to excel in your work, but not to the point that work becomes your life and you forget everything else. At the end of the day you should be able to leave it all behind and focus on other aspects of your life. So you should be able to live a full life without getting ensnared by temporal pursuits.

In one of my articles about How Thoughts Can Entangle, I explained how thinking about something creates energy cords from our energy body to the object of our thoughts. Things that don't receive our full attention can have their energetic cords easily severed, while those that we think more about and have desire for have thicker energy cords and are therefore harder to cut (please refer to the example at the start of this article).

The key is one's ability to detach oneself, and this is where all the different spiritual traditions and practices come in. In the course of one's development along the spiritual path, the goal is to acquire, if not master, the ability to attach and detach at will. This is controlled folly in the sense that you participate in the "folly" of temporal matters but can withdraw from them as necessary.

Notice how the spiritual traditions talk about the spiritual cords that connect us to our Higher Soul. When the Higher Soul withdraws these cords, the moment called physical death occurs. The more we are attached to temporal things and pursuits, the more energy cords we have. Since these are not physical specimens, the death of the physical body does not remove these cords. This makes it harder for the Higher Soul to pull the incarnated soul "up" and so a process of purification is needed to get rid of this "dead weight" and this is what we know of as Purgatory, meaning, to purge.

So looking again at the Buddha's words, we can say it in another way: the root of all suffering is the inability to detach. Now the meaning becomes clearer and more practical for everyday living. You may enjoy what life has to offer, and marvel at its wonders. We all should. But know it for what it is, a blink in the eye of eternity.

Be in the world, but not of it. Control your "folly."

Like A Bolt of Lightning

One of the most difficult aspects about the spiritual path is that it's sometimes hard to determine exactly how much progress one has made. Of course, there are the obvious indicators of spiritual progress such as the development of the virtues, being at peace with oneself and others, etc. But other matters, such as achieving illumination and enlightenment as well as development of the higher subtle bodies, don't present any easy markers of progress. It's not like weightlifting where you can track how much weight you're lifting now versus last week then adjust your workout accordingly.

Therefore, perseverance in the spiritual path is crucial in order to succeed. It's also important to keep an open mind and be aware, because sometimes the direction of one's path can make unexpected turns.

I suppose the best way to illustrate what I'm saying is through an example, and I think one of the better examples would be the story of Mikao Usui, the modern progenitor of Reiki. I say "modern progenitor" because the healing system known now as Reiki has been in existence for thousands of years and has been called by different names, just like pranic healing. Which brings me to one other thing: you may be asking why a pranic healer is talking about Reiki. And I say, why not? Can you imagine if the only type of food in the world was meatball spaghetti? What if I wanted pesto, or friend chicken? Diversity is the spice of life.

We may not understand all the workings of the Universe, but one thing we can be sure of is that everything has its place, and each piece that we find and explore only adds to the wonder that is Creation. Spreading Light to the world is not a competition and any sense of ownership we may have about certain achievements are merely an illusion of duality (you can digest this phrase at your leisure, but for now let's get back on topic).

Before we proceed further, we need to cover some relatively recent history in order to get a more accurate rendition of events. The reason for this will be explained later.

Reiki was introduced to the West by a Japanese-American immigrant by the name of Mrs. Hawayo Takata. She had gone to Japan in the early 1930s and discovered Reiki when she was looking for an alternative means to cure her illness. She then proceeded to learn Reiki under Chujiro Hayashi, a contemporary of Mikao Usui (Mr. Usui had died in 1926). In 1937, just a few years before the outbreak of World War 2, Mrs. Takata returned to Hawaii in order to teach Reiki.

In the 1990s, some Reiki practitioners wanted to do more research on the history of Reiki and through this process discovered that Mrs. Takata took certain liberties in relating how Mikao Usui discovered Reiki. She also embellished certain details about Mikao Usui's life. This development motivated the researchers to gather more information and even visit Japan in order to get a clearer understanding of Reiki's history. The reason it took so long for the different pieces to be put together was influenced by two factors:

1. Mrs. Takata mentioned that all Reiki teachers in Japan had died as a result of World War 2, so she was the sole surviving source of Reiki in the world. Moreover, she forbade any more research into the history of Reiki. Out of respect for her wishes, early authors of Reiki books went with the "official" history as related by Mrs. Takata. It was only after Mrs. Takata's death in 1980 that the restrictions against further research slowly eased.

2. The Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (the organization founded by Usui after he discovered Reiki) went underground after World War 2 because the Americans banned all forms of alternative healing practices. Only Western medicine was to be used although later on some alternative healing modalities such as acupuncture went through a tedious accreditation process so that they could be publicly practiced again. The Gakkai did not choose this route and instead became a secret society, so secret in fact that hardly anyone in Japan knew about the existence of the organization. Therefore, it was difficult to get any corroborating information about Reiki in Japan.

Fortunately, the researchers mentioned earlier were eventually able to make contact with members of the Gakkai, resulting in more accurate information coming to light. All the details of the revised history as well as the background material can be found at the website of The International Center for Reiki Training. All the information was taken from the book Reiki The Healing Touch by William Lee Rand.

With the above clarification out of the way, let's take a look at certain details of Mikao Usui's life that pertain to the topic I am talking about. The records say that Misao Usui discovered Reiki when he went on a 21-day meditation retreat in Mt. Kurama, where he had started his studies in Buddhism as a child. Interestingly, Mr. Usui did not go to the retreat to learn a healing system. In 1922, Mr. Usui was experiencing a life crisis both in business and personal matters, so he went on the retreat in order to find a way to resolve his problems.

According to the revised history, during one of Usui's meditations, great energy poured down through his crown chakra, filling him with spiritual light along with an understanding of how to solve his personal problems. In his excitement, Usui started running down the mountain and in the process stubbed his toe on a rock. Just like any normal person with a stubbed toe, Usui reached down to cup the bleeding toe in his hand. On doing this, Usui felt energy course through his hand into the toe, stopping the bleeding immediately and making the pain disappear. This is when Usui realized that he had been given the gift of healing (in charismatic Christian parlance, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit). For the next four years, Mikao Usui devoted his life to spreading Reiki and healing as many people as he could before dying of a stroke in 1926 at the age of 62. But the seed he had planted continued to grow as Reiki is one of the most recognizable energy healing systems in the world today.

Based on the description of great energy coming down to the crown and being filled with spiritual light, we can infer that Masao Usui achieved spiritual illumination or at least a certain degree of it. Not only that, it was the beginning of his soul mission of spreading Reiki to the world. If you would notice, Mikao Usui received illumination at the late age of 58 years old, and while 4 years may not seem like much time to fulfill a spiritual mission (one he seemingly did not ask for, at that), when you are spiritually empowered you don't really need a lot of time.

What does this show us? For one, manifestation of spiritual progress can come like a bolt of lightning out of nowhere and lead us into something we were not even looking for. Second, even though we may not know it, we are being guided in life and led somewhere. If not for Usui's personal problems, he wouldn't have gone on that crucial retreat. If not for stubbing his toe, he wouldn't have immediately discovered the healing energy he was given. More often than not, problems in life are also signals from our Higher Selves to urge us towards a certain direction. Third, illumination is such a coveted spiritual achievement among those who haven't had it, but higher spiritual achievement is a responsibility and involves some type of world service. This is why it can take several lifetimes of preparation and why progress may not always be apparent right until before the moment arrives.

The key then is to always be faithful in our spiritual practice. Like what Jesus said, we know neither the day nor the time, and He will come like a thief in the night. For all we know, any one of us may be called to greater spiritual service tomorrow. This is why we need to be still and be aware of the urgings of our Higher Selves.

Of course, progress in the spiritual path is much facilitated when one is following a true spiritual tradition. In this case, the meditations and techniques are safer and proven, and one also has the wisdom of the guru and his spiritual lineage to rely upon.

Ironically, I learned one of the more subtle twists about persevering on the spiritual path through a boxing website. In that website, the author states that one's goal isn't success. Success is inevitable as long as one perseveres long enough. Rather, the goal is to stay motivated.

Stay true to the course, and someday in this lifetime we may just get that lightning bolt of illumination.