Becoming spiritually independent/sovereign

[bluebird21]

Hi all,

I'm on a roll here with my posts recently I have a question about becoming spiritually sovereign and would love some replys from those of you who have been on the genuine path of awakening for a while.

For very few of us is there one sudden and massive awakening that comes out of nowhere and is permanent... (Think Byron Katie, Eckhart Tolle, Ramana Maharshi). For most of us, it is a gradual process of remembering, helped along by friends and teachers and teachings and experiences which touch our hearts.

Both my awakening experiences have been "triggered" you could say by another person, one a lover, and another a teacher. Yes I did all the work, it was totally my process, but some how these people who inspired great True Love in me helped me remember who I am as both connections were deep and profound, as if meeting very very old friends.

I'm sure many of us have this experience of an awakening being triggered by a spiritual teacher or another person or even a teaching or practice.

How have you let go of believing in was that person, or that practice, which woke you up, stopped giving your power away, and realized YOU are the only one who can wake you up? As the Buddha said, become like an Island unto yourself, have yourself be your only refuge.

I am now working on becoming sovereign and not giving my power away. Realizing WHO I AM is what always wakes me up and I am my greatest teacher and guide. How have you/do you do this? What has helped you learn to deeply trust yourself? And why is it so lonely at a certain point on the path when you are becoming more independent and realizing you can't take anybody or even your favorite teachings with you? I feel deep loneliness right now, the opposite of what you'd hope ha!

Thank you for all replies.

[Emm]

Originally Posted by bluebird21

Hi all,

I'm on a roll here with my posts recently I have a question about becoming spiritually sovereign and would love some replys from those of you who have been on the genuine path of awakening for a while.

For very few of us is there one sudden and massive awakening that comes out of nowhere and is permanent... (Think Byron Katie, Eckhart Tolle, Ramana Maharshi). For most of us, it is a gradual process of remembering, helped along by friends and teachers and teachings and experiences which touch our hearts.

Both my awakening experiences have been "triggered" you could say by another person, one a lover, and another a teacher. Yes I did all the work, it was totally my process, but some how these people who inspired great True Love in me helped me remember who I am as both connections were deep and profound, as if meeting very very old friends.

I'm sure many of us have this experience of an awakening being triggered by a spiritual teacher or another person or even a teaching or practice.

How have you let go of believing in was that person, or that practice, which woke you up, stopped giving your power away, and realized YOU are the only one who can wake you up? As the Buddha said, become like an Island unto yourself, have yourself be your only refuge.

I am now working on becoming sovereign and not giving my power away. Realizing WHO I AM is what always wakes me up and I am my greatest teacher and guide. How have you/do you do this? What has helped you learn to deeply trust yourself? And why is it so lonely at a certain point on the path when you are becoming more independent and realizing you can't take anybody or even your favorite teachings with you? I feel deep loneliness right now, the opposite of what you'd hope ha!

Thank you for all replies.

I think for me it was a gradual change in perspective. The change came from seeing all things as separate from me and everything that I encountered was unrelated to me, in other words things happened by accident and not design to now understanding that we draw to ourselves those people and events that closely resonate with our energy, I was attracting so creating my reality according to how I was deeply feeling and thinking.

You can't help but change when this dawns on you, and I mean for it to really sink in on a soul level. Now my only concern is to keep my attention on FEELING appreciation. Ive seen how quickly things change when I allow myself to become engaged in anything slightly negative. Even when wanting to reply to others on here that I'd like to help with a response affects my daily outcome so have now had to refrain from it until I'm able to keep myself in alignment.

I don't feel alone, not now. I did for so long even though I had family and friends. Loneliness is a mind game, the mind is responsible for how we feel for much of our time. Deliberately choose to look for things you really do appreciate, it can be as simple as your cosy warm bed that you wake up in to a great cup of tea (I'm british lol) but FEEL the appreciation of it and go around all day being mindful of anything that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. It will change you and how your day unfolds, believe me, it took awhile before I trusted in doing the same and it works.

Before long you realise that we are creators of our own reality and all that happened in the past is no longer relevant and the future is nothing to worry about. The present, your now, is where your power lies because its your creation point, and all you have to do is FEELyour way through to a better feeling place and let that take care of everything else.

Letting go, which is another way of saying "Allowing" (because when you allow you naturally open yourself up and release at the same time), makes sense now. Clinging onto your past is a form of resistance, you split your energy between what has happened and what you want to happen. What we feel when we look back comes into conflict at times when we also look for a different outcome for our future, it muddles our energy and causes an emotional tension...which is the point of our creation and the future will reflect that. So by releasing the past and trusting we can create through finding a better feeling place (starting with appreciation) is what letting go is about, its trusting in your self and the universe to provide you with a better tomorrow by attending to what you feel right now.

Honestly, loneliness will never be an issue cos you know you're in control...try it, you'll never look back. We feel alone only when we don't know our point of power...its a feeling of lack as opposed to abundance.

Thanks for bringing up this question, its helped me to define my journey too and where I'm at right now. And it feels good. Hope this all helps Bluebird

[Bohdiyana]

Originally Posted by bluebird21

How have you let go of believing in was that person, or that practice, which woke you up, stopped giving your power away, and realized YOU are the only one who can wake you up? As the Buddha said, become like an Island unto yourself, have yourself be your only refuge.

I am now working on becoming sovereign and not giving my power away. Realizing WHO I AM is what always wakes me up and I am my greatest teacher and guide. How have you/do you do this?

Well a lot of assertions hidden in this post. A flower blooms when it blooms. The how and why part not so necessary. A flower is perfect before it blooms and after. I would say it was a person, a teacher, that led down the road. But then you jumped to this idea of giving power away. If I wanna go watch a video by Tolle or Mooji or whoever (or just listen to a song I love on youtube and veg out,) how is this giving my power away? I am them and they are me. We are all a part of the same reality and source. The divine is in all and everything. It's all as empty or as full as we make it. There is no power to give away or to keep, those are all just ideas.

Now the remembering who I am....it comes and goes. Like I am not whatever or whoever would be telling me I gave power away or needed to be sovereign. I don't need to do or be anything at all except awake to what I am and what now is. Your post reminded me of who I am. You were a great teacher to me. I don't want to be someone with power or sovereign or anything at all except awake. Not listening to my mind makes me connect not separate. I think feeling alone means one is listening to their mind too much, too identified with whatever is in our heads at the moment, making it important or real.

[Bohdiyana]

Originally Posted by bluebird21

a certain point on the path when you are becoming more independent and realizing you can't take anybody or even your favorite teachings with you?

Oh but you can. Every single thing you have ever read and experienced and learned you can carry with you forever. You can love and carry all of the teachers you love with you. There are no limits. Limits come from thought and the mind. Do whatever makes you happy and free and light and full of love, conflict free within and without. That is the only guide. Does it make you full of love and peace and a good kind person? If it does, it's worth keeping!

I think sometimes we confuse what all these terms mean and refer to, like thought and knowledge and conditioning etc. It's not really about resistance or excluding or being in conflict with something or anything. It's about having no resistance to what is. To being here now at peace within and without whatever now is. Thought and knowledge can be heaven or hell, it's what we make of it. What our relationship is with these things.

I used to read Krishnamurti all the time. I wanted to reach the thing he talked about so bad. I was a mess. Stressed out, in conflict, resisting, seeking, not happy where I was. This went on a while but then I got some insights into myself and found a better way to be. It really was not Krishnamurti teachings that made me a mess, it was how I was using them, applying them, what I made out of them. Teachers and teachings can be a prison or a door out of prison. It's like a cake mix, we can make a cake out of it or a horrible mess. It's up to us and really discernment. We have to find out what peace is, experience it, what we are under all of this ego, then that is our light, that knowledge and experience, those insights. That guides it more than the teachers, the insights. But then teachers are great too. They can keep reminding us....but then they can trigger seeking too.... conflict..... so yea lol. It's up to us!

Implied in the questions is this idea of needing to do something. Like give up teachers. Give up my beliefs or whatever. Yea inner and outer freedom can not be achieved in any barter system. It can't be bought or achieved by doing something or giving up something. By any conflict. That's because this is all a game of thought and the mind. The only reason now is conflict is our mind is making it so and then the mind tells us how to be free of what it is creating in the first place. The guard is telling us how to be out of the prison when listening to the guard is what made the prison.

What do I need to do? Love myself and the universe enough to let now be what it is without resistance or assertions demanding it or me be anything other than what I and it is. Now and me is perfect as it is. There is nothing more needed or wanted or sought. Right now is full of grace if I can be here without any inner or outer conflict.

[Deepsoul]

I activated Kundalini in me and Yes it can be quite confronting knowing that you are source and taking responsibilty for it ,,all is found within and created by us, it seems that way anyway ,,but yet i am very unwell physically still with cfs ,, its very frustrating,since source is everywhere and in us we can still call on it in its entirity ,, im a great alchemist at times ,but this physical condition has me stumped ,and so im patient and loving and believing that all the suffering will unveil further strength and nurture within me and that i will be healed.Love your comments Bodhi yana ,,the mind indeed becomes less important as just being in the experience at peace and love ,I am perfect and whole in this moment ,thats all!

[firstandlast]

There is no dependence or independence; these are just different forms of the same thing--

The question really becomes, which form better expresses who you are or desire to be? Which dream grants you your excitement? And naturally you will gravitate towards your excitement if you allow it-- Dream your greater dream, but such will be your own tyranny; So make sure your prison is your freedom--

[Mysticat-IID]

Originally Posted by Emm

I think for me it was a gradual change in perspective. The change came from seeing all things as separate from me and everything that I encountered was unrelated to me, in other words things happened by accident and not design to now understanding that we draw to ourselves those people and events that closely resonate with our energy, I was attracting so creating my reality according to how I was deeply feeling and thinking.

That was part of my experience as well, however I recall starting from something like that I have my own truth while others have their own - I want to look into truths of others and see how they connect, but stay true to my own truth as well.
I felt that too much of creating my own truth would somehow lessen my ability to see the truths of others, but also too much relating to someone elses truth (and pondering which is actually true to them and what they lie about and what is my false assumption or correct observation of these) would throw me off-balance. That also meant me wanting to see the possibilities without feeling that I'm just creating.

Looking at it beyond duality however helped me realize that they don't cancel each other out!

Ultimately everyone lives to create something out of their lives, whatever our choices regarding to it are and if we are also willing to learn as we live. My progress of learning is, for now, to get rid of all subconscious fears so that they no longer manifest.

Originally Posted by firstandlast

There is no dependence or independence; these are just different forms of the same thing

True, as much as there's no light and dark etc beyond our own definitions of it. However having these definitions in our language helps us to communicate with each other with understanding. Not everytime we have to agree with another person, that's why it's important to stay true to ourselves.

Originally Posted by firstandlast

The question really becomes, which form better expresses who you are or desire to be? Which dream grants you your excitement? And naturally you will gravitate towards your excitement if you allow it-- Dream your greater dream, but such will be your own tyranny; So make sure your prison is your freedom--

Agreed. That is why a safety and peace loving person can also love competition and action just as much, because if only one existed at expense of another, life would be too boring or on the contrary, excitement could turn into stress, unless we learn a way out of that as well.

[lemex]

Originally Posted by bluebird21

And why is it so lonely at a certain point on the path when you are becoming more independent and realizing you can't take anybody or even your favorite teachings with you? I feel deep loneliness right now, the opposite of what you'd hope ha!.

Why oh why didn't I take the blue bill. Indeed. This is from my experience to the question. It may fit, it may not.

Metaphysic tells us we create our reality. As your thought changes you will realize more independence though nothing has changed around you. Everyone changes but each change is not equal. Each is at their own level. Path is often compared to a school some in different grades and comprehension. One can only understand based on level. I change before you or you before me. You may have a close friend who doesn't change, what do you do. Hold back waiting? You don't want to let them go. A lot about spirituality is about moving on. Change the thought and change reality, not their's but yours. Moving forward means letting go in many ways and that is not a sad thing though we may see it that at first. You also gain in time. Many great experiences will be missed otherwise imo. The loneness I have seen is about the "I" attaches. It makes me sad to lose people to. I still remember my mentor fondly but they could not wait for me. It would be selfish for me to want this but I am selfish. You cannot bring anyone along anyway.

From my experience it is attachments but you find it a beginning. We fear beginning being on our own. If spiritual growth were to require you to move away you merely don't like that. We want everything to be perfect and fit what we want and very often reject change because it requires change. But on your path and journey you will meet other fellow travelers, you may even wish them to stay. I happen to think there is a match for everyone. To remain where you are is to hold oneself back. It may work or it may not. If not this lifetime then another.

[iamthat]

Bluebird21 raises a very valid question. If we have a profound awakening which is apparently triggered by someone else then we naturally tend to credit that person with some responsibility for our awakening, even though our awakening is entirely our own realisation.

Spiritual literature is filled with examples of a teacher applying some kind of shaktipat which triggers an experience within the disciple. Obvious examples include Yogananda and his teacher Sri Yukteswar, or Poonjaji and Ramana Maharshi. In such cases the experience does seem to be very dependent on the power of the teacher. But for others, awakening experiences do seem to come out of nowhere.

Many years ago I followed a particular teacher, and after three years I was told to take time off work and do an eight day meditate. I did this, and had a very profound and permanent expansion of consciousness, which I naturally attributed to the power of the teacher. At that stage I firmly believed that the teacher was necessary for any such expansions of consciousness.

Eight years after I joined this group the teacher was found to have been misbehaving with certain young ladies in the group, and the group dissolved. I continued with the meditation practices, but I let go of the belief that the teacher was necessary, and a few months later during a period of intense meditation I had an even more profound awakening which has been present ever since.

I then had to learn to trust my own experiences and realisations, because no-one else could confirm what I had realised. Many of us look to some kind of spiritual authority to confirm our spiritual status, but in the absence of any such authority I had to trust myself. That itself was another learning process. But I simply had to gaze around me and see myself everywhere, limitless and unchanging, and I could not deny the reality of my realisations.

Is this a lonely place? Not really, even though there is only me, because there is no separation. Loneliness is separation. Awakening is coming home.

Peace.

We are independent. And individual. That's what waking up seems mainly to be about - thereafter finding our Sevles so we can get a better grasp of our relationship with the material world as much as the cosmos. We are no longer puppets.

Reading some of those authors is fine - there's probably a lot to take on board - but it's about how you assimilate what you choose from their outpourings into your life. They aren't messiahs though, just people making money by helping people feel better (about which there's nothing wrong. It's a service they give).

It's important to find your Self so you can BE yourself and learn to manipulate your way through the increasing complications of daily life to your advantage. In that respect you are sovereign, meting out your powers and freedoms as needs be on a temporary basis remembering to equalise them so you can take them back. Like, most people don't make their own clothes frinstance so you buy them. Handing over the freedom of making your clothes is cancelled by paying for them. etc.

Spirituality wasn't sudden - a gradual process but with bumps here and there when something suddenly happens and a light clicks on in the mind "so THAT'S what it's about!" Sort of eureka moments.

♥