The Spiritual Path

[running]

Originally Posted by bartholomew

Far too often in our searching we will seek a desired result directly, at the beginning of our quest, prematurely. What makes this a difficult method is that it constitutes using desire to achieve things which are contrary to desire. So often we end up going round in circles getting frustrated and wondering if any of this is real or even an interesting dream...

I'll try to make this short and to the point. What I will say is based on my own experiences and also from many, many years of listening to others. I ask those who may be offended by what I say to pardon me in advance.

Forget about chakras. Forget about kundalini. Don't fret over knowing your guide. The reason I say these things is not because there is nothing to be gained but because of what I claim in my first paragraph above. How much sense does it make to use emotional energies to discover the high realms? This sort of thing has been part of the human spiritual behavioural package for thousands of years. Yet who around us has gained anything? There's a better way.

If the goal is to know your guide. If you want to settle and adjust your chakras and if the final act of raising the dragon (kundalini) is what you strive for then go the the level of spirit wherein positive control is easily possible. This is the purpose and reason for the quiet meditation of the Buddha. It is an exercise in pure mind, not low desire based mind but the high mind of our souls. This is where our guides are.

True meditation allows the student to raise him/her self above the Earth plane and all that is in it. Consider this. Our chakras are ethereal constructs. Their business is to interconnect and provide energy channels to and from the various lower spiritual realms when they are below the solar plexus and to the higher when they are above. When any part of the body is active the corresponding chakra will be too. Others may be quiet and inactive. The idea of a chakra being blocked originates in the fact that as they, as a unit of 7 major and 42 minor each interact with a different point on the body. It is interesting here to note that this is the reason acupuncture works. The therapist directly interacts with the body's energy grid which is only the lower correspondence to the higher. It is the wheels of ethereal energy which provoke the body through electricity. Chakras are not commonly blocked although we may think otherwise. Most often this belief is based on a wrong diagnosis by the worker. What do I mean? Well let's go back to the first paragraph again and be reminded about how desire and it's brother expectations plays a part. It has been my experience that a chakra only is negatively affected when the body is in extreme distress. If this is the case do we manipulate the chakra or do we heal the person and rid her/him of the irritant?

The single best method for the student to advance is by first learning and practicing a true form of meditation; one which does not involve chakras or kundalini or any other such thing. Where do we live? Is there a buddhist monastery nearby? Go there. Sit quietly and find that the entire world no longer troubles you. What is here? Just peace. Nothing else. Finally we find the beginning of a path which will never mislead. The atmosphere of the temple is quiet, generous in it's safety, completely without danger but it is still. It seems to be not moving. Why is this? Because the world and it's worries is outside. Those energies cannot enter and this is no accident. It is a force created by the use of high mind by those who live and work in this holy place.

So often we hear. "I have a blocked chakra". It is possible to use our hands to grab a chakra of another and move it back to where is supposed to be thus removing the perceived blockage (which is really a mislocation) I have done this. But is there wisdom in this? What is learned? How does any of this result in even a small amount of spiritual growth for the person?

Back to high meditation. The single purpose of learning to meditate properly is nothing to do with any below the solar plexus energies but with the mind. The advanced student is so not because she/he spent years meditating on the lower body centers but because he/she went higher in the beginning. This is what a Buddhist monk and nun learn as disciples. Their success is the reason that we find such comfort and solace in a temple. Learn what they know and carry with you wherever you go the strength which answers all questions.

Our souls, our guides are fellow souls who are a bit more advanced than we are, reside on the high mental plane. These are the energies present in a Buddhist temple. We can spend decades fretting over chakras and kundalini and other things or we can learn the high meditation in the beginning. If the goal is to acquire wisdom. Remember that when we leave this Earth we return not to "spirit" but to the mental plane of our souls. Here there are no physical, ethereal or astral fires to pester us. Wouldn't it be smart to live now as though we were already there? We can leave these lower energies behind right now and live as though heaven really is on Earth.

At the beginning of this post I alluded to the student in distress over such things as blocked chakras. For a practitioner to make needed adjustments manually will never be effective for very long because the subject has not changed. There are many who suggest that a certain "process" can heal. They are beguiled. They mean well but they themselves are not advanced enough to understand what they really are doing. The student will find that after they learn the proper high mental techniques of meditation he/she will no longer suffer. Their bodies have become quiet and serene.

The above is meant in all sincerity. If we're going to be spiritual lets be smart and efficient about it. Most of common spiritual practice involves the astral plane. Since we all live on that plane in the first place why waste time going there in spiritual practice? Those who have learned the high art of meditation find that they develop strong connections to their own souls, the mental plane and above, and never are concerned about their guides because they, themselves, have created a permanent channel, a permanent communion, with them.

Last comment. Kundalini will never be raised by the person who desires it. The very act of wanting is counter to what is required. He or she who has achieved is never bothered by maladjusted chakras. When the petals of the crown are opened wide the body is silent. Now the kundalini raises in the natural way. Once this occurs the test is passed. The man/woman is no longer troubled. He/she has learned.

not one to get offended but also speak my mind. my experience much different

through desire the magic can happen. putting everything on the line for it. there are practices such as shaktipat, going into trance, releasing of emotions, pranayama, and yes meditation to. while having a goal in mind never was an issue for me. that has been my experience.

for me i simply used emotions to lift myself to the bliss and silece by releasing what was stuck. done through intuitive feeling. for me was more effective than the practices that people generaly know of. not even comparable. it was more about finding what was stuck and releasing it. in doing so was like going into a trance like state full of bliss and silence. which by design dissolves and removes what was once stuck.

in doing so along with intense exercise, meditation, and so on. over time. from the experince of of bliss and silence. the coming and going of it. to beyond the coming and going of it. beyond is when there is nothing you can do to not be swimming in its joy and silence. once in that. its power is beyond what is going on, thoughts of the mind, and emotions that arrise. everything dissolves into the power of joy and silence.

the wisdom it shares is non dual. it has no dog in the fight. its nature is joy and silence. its power is it makes everything into it. due to its nature. due to it being non dual. one can be oneself in it. therefore its a possibility is for all.

im not suggesting what i did works for everybody. or even most. or even for a few. as nobody could know. i am suggesting the possibilities from point a to b are many. not to take away from any such as the one brought up. but that the ways are many.

continued. it could be helpful to know that there is like a simple science to the process. in that spirit i will call it. has a journey in the process. it works its way through the mind and physical body. it creates an atmosphere of silence in the mind and joy in the body via the nervous system. this is its expression as i see it. the process can take from a couple years to a lifetime or lifetimes i suppose. perhaps shorter for somebody. depending upon the individual.

most first experince the silence. then at some point it works its way into the nervous system. then the joy comes.

Originally Posted by neil

bartholomew...are these thoughts & beliefs about the brain that are spoken of in this post, formed from earthly observations, or given over to you from spiritual beings.

Neil, Not always but very often when I, James, make a post I'm really channeling. I read the question and then begin to type and a connection is made, the channel opens. More often I real someone's post then feel a strong impulse to answer it. A sense of urgency it's like. I can feel it. In this post I was connected to the human soul Bartholomew. My words are then derived from thoughts that he sends me. This is conscious channeling, not trance. As such the channel has the responsibility to be as accurate as possible. This does not mean I can pass off responsibility for what is given. If it doesn't sound correct to me I reconsider.

Bartholomew is not some high spiritual being from far away. He is a human soul just like us only perhaps a bit older and more experienced. I will say that I know that he is close personal friends with the soul who was Pythagoras 14 or so centuries back. I have felt that other man through him and know, for instance, that Pythagoras had a sharp sense of humor. He loved playing jokes on others. History doesn't tell us this but I know it's factual.

I have been told that the part of the brain that is concerned with linking up with the high end of the spiritual plane is close to or inside of the pituitary. Somewhere in there is a very small bit of a pastel blue liquid in crystalline form or maybe it's within some physical mass. It is this area that is in resonance on a lower harmonic of the higher mental band (of energies)(in association with a certain petal of the crown chakra which serves as the "connector"). This is the window through which we manage to go so high and far away in thinking. I do not know this from personal experience. I believe it because it makes sense to me. I was told this by Bartholomew in the mid nineties sometime. It would be fun to see what a neurology researcher might have to say about it. You'd have to find one that was open minded though.

About myself I will say that I have a higher than average IQ and am the world's worst skeptic. I don't like ** and I test everything I hear, read or see with vigor. When I write something I read it and ask, "is this real or is it fantasy?" It has to make sense to me or I won't post it. The spiritual worlds are not matters of theory to me, or wishful thinking. I know about these from conscious personal experience (memories) going back as far as before I was born into this lifetime.

I'm coming up on 77 now and am a retired communications electrician/technician type.

Thanks for the question.

James

Originally Posted by janielee

If the lower mind is quiet(ER) but not quietened, does this allow the higher mind to now work?

Does the higher mind still employ thought to think and plan?

I'm feeling a little lost as you may know. Thanks for any guidance.

PS About Buddhist temples, yes there is much peace - is this something felt by many people?

A little more here to make is clearer. I have mentioned discipline. It is this quality that keeps the lower mind from being dominant so that the higher can function. Then, yes, the lower mind translates what comes through into tangible results.

Originally Posted by bartholomew

A little more here to make is clearer. I have mentioned discipline. It is this quality that keeps the lower mind from being dominant so that the higher can function. Then, yes, the lower mind translates what comes through into tangible results.

Thank you James/bartholomew

Originally Posted by janielee

Thank you James/bartholomew

Just a note of interest here. A human being, inspired by a high desire to serve, will often access some higher realm and bring back truths which then are expressed. These must pass through the lower mind before they can be written or spoken of. This can be a problem. Since none of us are perfect can we express truths perfectly? The answer for many people is to say that yes they can because they are inspired by some higher mind. But the very process of translating high to lower includes a possibility of distortion. This is especially true in the case of conscious reception. Those who trance are less likely to suffer this effect. This is the reason that it is good to never accept anything, any bit of wisdom, based on authoritative source. Accept what is given only when it passes the test of your own ability to reason.

I say then to never accept what Bartholomew says or anything that one might find in any holy scripture until one's own reasoning allows it to be accepted. While here on Earth we can never be free of the fact of our imperfection. We can only try and keep on trying.

Thank you

Namaste.

The forum is pretty quiet so re-reading old threads is best.

Originally Posted by janielee

The forum is pretty quiet so re-reading old threads is best.

I generally wait for someone to post unless I'm starting a new thread which really isn't very often.

I've been distracted by layers of snow the past few days at my house. Fun to look at. Not fun to drive in. Today it warmed up and rained heavily. Now the lawn is green again. Hope all is well with you.

Originally Posted by bartholomew

I generally wait for someone to post unless I'm starting a new thread which really isn't very often.

I've been distracted by layers of snow the past few days at my house. Fun to look at. Not fun to drive in. Today it warmed up and rained heavily. Now the lawn is green again. Hope all is well with you.

Yes, very well! Thank you - learning a lot (gosh, how past due - shakes head with a small smile). Happy to hear the lawn is green again and hope all is well too.

PS I like quality threads [in my subjective opinion] and ones not so focused on intellectual speculation, so I have found reading older ones piques my interest and appreciation more.

JL