The Path

[Starman]

We sometimes choose a path and sometimes a path chooses us, regardless, the path is not some external thing which we walk rather our path is how we have decided to unfold ourselves; our behavior and how we interact with our own thoughts and emotions; this is the path which we are on.

People say that their path is Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, or some other mention like yoga, etc. but truly your path is how you live your life; the old saying talk the talk but also walk the walk applies. We are the path which we walk.

It has been said that the final thing which we let go of on our return trip is our path; for often the way gets in the way of our progress. What we think is the way is not the way, what we believe to be the way is not the way, what we experience as the way is not the way; for the way is beyond thoughts, words, beliefs, or experiences.

The way requires me to be transparent and not holding on to anything; or as the Third Chinese Patriarch says “the way is for those who have no preferences.” The very act of pursuing a spiritual path is a preference…..or is it? There are many times when I feel like I have no choice but to be on a spiritual path; I feel like God, the universe, or whatever one might call that supreme state of being pursues me much more than I could ever purse it.

That God is the fisherman and I am the fish, the hook of inspiration has snagged me and I am being reeled in. Whether I prefer it or not it often seems I have no choice. Still it is easy to get caught up in a particular religion or spiritual process and believe that to be the ultimate way when it just may be that every way is the ultimate way.

Personally I try to blend Oriental ways of spirituality (yoga) with Occidental ways of spirituality (alchemy) as alchemy is the yoga of the west and yoga is the alchemy of the east. While it is easier to see the spiritual significance in love it is not so easy to see the spiritual significance in hate. Human life is as an initiation into a greater reality and we are all aspirants of that greater reality regardless whether we consciously follow a spiritual or religious path or not.

Regardless of our lifestyle spirit is growing us; it is just that some want to speed up the process by practicing a particular religion or spiritual path. Even an atheist is being transformed by something deeper and more sublime, which they may not refer to as spirit or God. Still what we call it is secondary to how we interact with it. Camping out in nature I had a profound epiphany that the same power which causes the wind to blow, the Earth to turn, the Sun to shine, the grass to grow, etc., is also unfolding me and you; it is just a matter of how much I may get in the way of that transformation.

It is when we unite subject and object that we begin to experience that greater reality; without unification we may progress but not necessarily to a more expansive reality. What we give our attention to the most on a daily basis is our meditation and what we frequently repeat, be it to ourselves or others, is our affirmation; our mantra if you will. Symbolism is the universal language of the race consciousness; words and numbers are symbols. They are as a code giving meaning to thought. The power of words and the power of mind are interwoven. What we tell ourselves can have a profound effect on us. Our path is determined by what we think, what we say, and what we do, or what we don‘t think, say, or do.

[Cmt12]

"What we think is the way is not the way, what we believe to be the way is not the way, what we experience as the way is not the way; for the way is beyond thoughts, words, beliefs, or experiences. "

That is it. The path is of the heart, of intuition. It's not of the head. The head tries to anticipate and fill in the gaps. Through the heart, we have to feel our way through the unknown and then understanding is revealed to us afterward.

Through the head, we attempt to lead ourselves and we get nowhere. Through the heart, we allow ourselves to be lead and we are rewarded for our faith and humility.

Using the analogy of the race between the tortoise and the hare, the head is the hare and the heart is the tortoise. If we are too quick to try to win, then we will lose. And if we steadfastly and patiently keep focused on our own race, trusting in precision with each step, we will win.

Life is chess despite everything and everyone around you, including the thoughts in your own head, telling you it's checkers.

[Starman]

It seems a lot of people are in a hurry to get there, wherever there might be; they look around them
and see angst and suffering and yell we need to wake up as though telling people to wake up will wake
them up. Patience, humility, and being nonjudgmental in my opinion are spiritual qualities. Each person
will know the truth by finding it for themselves and each person will travel at their own pace.

All anyone else, books, guru’s, teachers, etc., can do is point, but the path is a solo journey. We can walk
it with a lot of people around us but truly we can only travel it with ourselves. Regardless how much pain
and suffering there is in this world the path has to be slowly nurtured, and we are blessed in this time to
be able to do spiritually what people in many places were executed for doing centuries ago. I have had some
great epiphanies and even out-of-body experiences but it took years for me to appreciate them and in the
past sharing such would have been risky.

The theories and experiences may come to us but often the understanding lags or needs several revisions.
All we have is what we know for the moment. Grateful am I that God/the universe pursues me much more
than I could ever pursue it. Every time we reach a so-called goal that goal becomes part of the path which
brings us beyond that goal.

I have given up pursuing spiritual goals as for me, at this stage, my return journey is automatic, especially
if as you say we listen to our intuition. I feel deeply that I am going to make it regardless whether I want
to make it or not; actually there is no place to go, as the world seen and unseen is our very familiar home;
and we are just exploring ourselves. We are where we are suppose to be given the stage of our current
development.

God is growing me, beyond words, thoughts, or signposts that I should pay attention to. My human body is
70-years old, have been doing meditation for about 40-years, and I feel I could not go back to the way I was
years ago even if I wanted to; it would just be too painful for me to do such. The deeper you go the more it
is needed to adapt to changing ways of seeing, thinking and doing in this world. Divine grace has changed me,
and continues to change me; this is my path.

[Cmt12]

The path is not necessarily this and not that, but both and seemingly contradictory. Yes, patience, humility, and faith are part of it. But, at times, so are urgency, aspiration, and courage. The feminine, yes, but at times the masculine also.

[Starman]

A very wise perspective but I feel like urgency is a product of this world and what we call "modern society." I often pause and ask myself "if I were on my last breath what would be the most important thing to me," and I understand that if I were on my last breath the urgency which often confronts us of daily living in modern society would be irrelevant; because we would be checking out of said society.

Having worked in a hospice with people who were dying many would say that their life went by so quickly and I began to observe that most who said this were either fixated on the past and the way things were, or had some seemingly indispensable goal, or bucket list item, which they dearly wanted to complete in the near future. Many of them were not in the moment when their lives were happening and that is why it went by so quickly.

By grace alone I have manifested most of my dreams and have let go of regrets I may have had about things in my past. Living in the moment is just a matter of taking notice and paying attention to the here and now. I do believe that the universe is unfolding as it should and I do not have to carry the weight of this world on my shoulders. After all we are human beings not human doer's; we are a state of being.

[kingfisher]

Originally Posted by Starman

It seems a lot of people are in a hurry to get there, wherever there might be; they look around them
and see angst and suffering and yell we need to wake up as though telling people to wake up will wake
them up. Patience, humility, and being nonjudgmental in my opinion are spiritual qualities. Each person
will know the truth by finding it for themselves and each person will travel at their own pace.

All anyone else, books, guru’s, teachers, etc., can do is point, but the path is a solo journey. We can walk
it with a lot of people around us but truly we can only travel it with ourselves. Regardless how much pain
and suffering there is in this world the path has to be slowly nurtured, and we are blessed in this time to
be able to do spiritually what people in many places were executed for doing centuries ago. I have had some
great epiphanies and even out-of-body experiences but it took years for me to appreciate them and in the
past sharing such would have been risky.

The theories and experiences may come to us but often the understanding lags or needs several revisions.
All we have is what we know for the moment. Grateful am I that God/the universe pursues me much more
than I could ever pursue it. Every time we reach a so-called goal that goal becomes part of the path which
brings us beyond that goal.

I have given up pursuing spiritual goals as for me, at this stage, my return journey is automatic, especially
if as you say we listen to our intuition. I feel deeply that I am going to make it regardless whether I want
to make it or not; actually there is no place to go, as the world seen and unseen is our very familiar home;
and we are just exploring ourselves. We are where we are suppose to be given the stage of our current
development.

God is growing me, beyond words, thoughts, or signposts that I should pay attention to. My human body is
70-years old, have been doing meditation for about 40-years, and I feel I could not go back to the way I was
years ago even if I wanted to; it would just be too painful for me to do such. The deeper you go the more it
is needed to adapt to changing ways of seeing, thinking and doing in this world. Divine grace has changed me,
and continues to change me; this is my path.

Thank you.

[Jyotir]

Hi Starman,

Life itself is the most generalized path, as Nature is the great procession of evolving consciousness; or, as Sri Aurobindo said, “All Life is Yoga”.

The Universe is that symbol of the Totality and the Transcendent in which (Being) is causal, but conditionally latent and veiled within and beyond it, and emerging as awareness (becoming) in and through it.

Just as the individual being embodies that process as a microcosm of the Totality (made in God‘s Image), there is a point in that generalized evolution, whereby the individual wakes up - self-consciously - to that generalized purpose as being specifically available, accessible, and attainable by an intelligent will. This is what spirituality (yoga/union) is:::

::: the conscious awareness by the differentiated instrumental being of that purpose, possibility, and potential - which is seen as the unique individual path - which takes the possibility of that generic life-opportunity, and renders it inevitable by a deliberate practice of the very Essence which created that process in the first place, thereby accelerating the completion of the cycle in Realization of True Self.


~ J

[naturesflow]

Originally Posted by Starman

We sometimes choose a path and sometimes a path chooses us, regardless, the path is not some external thing which we walk rather our path is how we have decided to unfold ourselves; our behavior and how we interact with our own thoughts and emotions; this is the path which we are on.

People say that their path is Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, or some other mention like yoga, etc. but truly your path is how you live your life; the old saying talk the talk but also walk the walk applies. We are the path which we walk.

It has been said that the final thing which we let go of on our return trip is our path; for often the way gets in the way of our progress. What we think is the way is not the way, what we believe to be the way is not the way, what we experience as the way is not the way; for the way is beyond thoughts, words, beliefs, or experiences.

The way requires me to be transparent and not holding on to anything; or as the Third Chinese Patriarch says “the way is for those who have no preferences.” The very act of pursuing a spiritual path is a preference…..or is it? There are many times when I feel like I have no choice but to be on a spiritual path; I feel like God, the universe, or whatever one might call that supreme state of being pursues me much more than I could ever purse it.

That God is the fisherman and I am the fish, the hook of inspiration has snagged me and I am being reeled in. Whether I prefer it or not it often seems I have no choice. Still it is easy to get caught up in a particular religion or spiritual process and believe that to be the ultimate way when it just may be that every way is the ultimate way.

Personally I try to blend Oriental ways of spirituality (yoga) with Occidental ways of spirituality (alchemy) as alchemy is the yoga of the west and yoga is the alchemy of the east. While it is easier to see the spiritual significance in love it is not so easy to see the spiritual significance in hate. Human life is as an initiation into a greater reality and we are all aspirants of that greater reality regardless whether we consciously follow a spiritual or religious path or not.

Regardless of our lifestyle spirit is growing us; it is just that some want to speed up the process by practicing a particular religion or spiritual path. Even an atheist is being transformed by something deeper and more sublime, which they may not refer to as spirit or God. Still what we call it is secondary to how we interact with it. Camping out in nature I had a profound epiphany that the same power which causes the wind to blow, the Earth to turn, the Sun to shine, the grass to grow, etc., is also unfolding me and you; it is just a matter of how much I may get in the way of that transformation.

It is when we unite subject and object that we begin to experience that greater reality; without unification we may progress but not necessarily to a more expansive reality. What we give our attention to the most on a daily basis is our meditation and what we frequently repeat, be it to ourselves or others, is our affirmation; our mantra if you will. Symbolism is the universal language of the race consciousness; words and numbers are symbols. They are as a code giving meaning to thought. The power of words and the power of mind are interwoven. What we tell ourselves can have a profound effect on us. Our path is determined by what we think, what we say, and what we do, or what we don‘t think, say, or do.

Everything in life serves us to experience ourselves more aware, more open, more connected to ourselves and life, if we reflect on it and allow it to show us how we feel, see, relate, engage.

Whatever we have invested in it of ourselves, I suppose you could say..which often relates to how deeply invested we are to ourselves.

The known of life moves one with the unknown...that is life. That is us.

[Cmt12]

Originally Posted by Starman

A very wise perspective but I feel like urgency is a product of this world and what we call "modern society." I often pause and ask myself "if I were on my last breath what would be the most important thing to me," and I understand that if I were on my last breath the urgency which often confronts us of daily living in modern society would be irrelevant; because we would be checking out of said society.

Having worked in a hospice with people who were dying many would say that their life went by so quickly and I began to observe that most who said this were either fixated on the past and the way things were, or had some seemingly indispensable goal, or bucket list item, which they dearly wanted to complete in the near future. Many of them were not in the moment when their lives were happening and that is why it went by so quickly.

By grace alone I have manifested most of my dreams and have let go of regrets I may have had about things in my past. Living in the moment is just a matter of taking notice and paying attention to the here and now. I do believe that the universe is unfolding as it should and I do not have to carry the weight of this world on my shoulders. After all we are human beings not human doer's; we are a state of being.

For me, urgency exists when observing the unnecessary and excessive suffering of the world and within myself. Looking at my past, urgency would precede growth. It is part of the final surge to overcome the increased resistance because sometimes our intuition guides us toward a fire.

[acorn]

Hey Starman....I really enjoy the posts you make when you add your personal life experience in them...I get a really good vibe from you....I think I'd like to throw down a beer with you... lol

Love
acorn