There is one quality of the All that should give you hope. It wants to share."
If the divine mind wants to share itself with us and we are willing to accept, then the stage is set for unity. The main tenet of Vedanta is extremely simple-duality is too weak to stand forever. Take any sin or delusion, and in time it will come to an end. Take any pleasure, and in time it will start to pall. Take any depth of sleep, and in time you have to wake up. In Vedanta they say that the only real thing is eternal bliss consciousness (sat chit ananda). These words promise that the timeless waits for me when the temporary expires, bliss outlives pleasure, and being awake comes after sleep. In that simplicity the whole notion of duality collapses, revealing the unity behind all illusion.
What is my greatest temptation? ...
Beyond temptation.
You can"t be tempted when you have it all. It is even better when they can"t take it away from you. Vedanta is expressed in a famous saying, "I am That, You are That, and All this is That." When the ancient sages refer to "That," they are referring to an invisible but quite real power. It is the power of existence. You have it forever when you can say, "I am that power, you are that power, and everything around us is that power." Other words like grace, G.o.dhead, the light, alpha and omega work just as well-yet none of them equals the experience, which is very personal and totally universal at the same time.
The sage Vasishtha was one of the first human beings to realize that we experience only the world we filter through our minds. Whatever I can imagine is a product of my life experience so far, and that is the tiniest fragment of what I could know. As Vasishtha himself wrote: Infinite worlds come and go in the vast expanse of consciousness, like motes of dust dancing in a beam of light.
This is a reminder that if the material world is just a product of my awareness, so is heaven. I have every right, therefore, to try to know the mind of G.o.d. A journey that begins in mystery and silence ends with myself.
In the holy cave I visited above the Ganges, only at the last moment did I get a hint that someone else was sharing the place with us. Our group was lost in the vast silence that blossomed there. It had become evident without a doubt that G.o.d existed, not as a person but as an infinite intelligence moving at infinite speed through infinite dimensions, a creator modern physics could come to terms with as well. But at that moment none of us had any thoughts. We got up to go, and in the dimness we sensed that we weren"t alone. Peering into the gloom, we made out the faint shape of another person who had been there all the time-it was the old saint who couldn"t meet us with the key when we arrived. Sitting in lotus position, he hadn"t stirred when we entered and didn"t stir now.
We left quietly, and as we emerged into the blinding daylight, what we had shared started to fade. My mind began churning again. Words that first sounded like harsh cymbal clashes became normal within a few minutes. The usual distractions grabbed hold. But some flavor of that cave remained with me for weeks in the form of a quiet certainty that nothing was ever going to go wrong again. This is not nearly the same as being unborn, eternal, hard as stone, boundless, invulnerable, blissful, and all-knowing. Yet I am closer to it, nearer to the source. For once my mind jumped off the ledge of everyday life and landed in a good place, where struggle isn"t necessary, I opened the door on the side of eternity. Now I can fully appreciate Rumi"s words: When I die I shall soar with angels, And when I die to the angels, what I shall become, You cannot imagine.
G.o.d IS AS WE ARE.
WHO IS G.o.d?.
Stage One: Fight-or-Flight Response: G.o.d the Protector Vengeful Capricious Quick to anger Jealous Judgmental-meting out reward and punishment Unfathomable Sometimes merciful Stage Two: Reactive Response: G.o.d the Almighty Sovereign Omnipotent Just Answerer of prayers Impartial Rational Organized into rules Stage Three: Restful Awareness Response: G.o.d of Peace Detached Calm Offering consolation Undemanding Conciliatory Silent Meditative Stage Four: Intuitive Response: G.o.d the Redeemer Understanding Tolerant Forgiving Nonjudgmental Inclusive Accepting Stage Five: Creative Response: G.o.d the Creator Unlimited creative potential Control over s.p.a.ce and time Abundant Open Generous Willing to be known Inspired Stage Six: Visionary Response: G.o.d of Miracles Transformative Mystical Enlightened Beyond all causes Existing Healing Magical Alchemist Stage Seven: Sacred Response: G.o.d of Pure Being-"I Am"
Unborn Undying Unchanging Unmoving Unmanifest Immeasurable Invisible Intangible Infinite WHAT KIND OF WORLD DID G.o.d CREATE?.
Stage 1: Fight-or-Flight Response: World of bare survival Stage 2: Reactive Response: World of compet.i.tion and ambition Stage 3: Restful Awareness Response: World of inner solitude, self-sufficiency Stage 4: Intuitive Response: World of insight, personal growth Stage 5: Creative Response: World of art, invention, discovery Stage 6: Visionary Response: World of prophets, sages, and seers Stage 7: Sacred Response: Transcendent world WHO AM I?.
Stage 1: Fight-or-Flight Response: A survivor Stage 2: Reactive Response: Ego, personality Stage 3: Restful Awareness Response: Silent witness Stage 4: Intuitive Response: Knower within Stage 5: Creative Response: Co-creator Stage 6: Visionary Response: Enlightened awareness Stage 7: Sacred Response: The source HOW DO I FIT IN?.
Stage 1: Fight-or-Flight Response: I cope.
Stage 2: Reactive Response: I win.
Stage 3: Restful Awareness Response: I stay centered.
Stage 4: Intuitive Response: I understand.
Stage 5: Creative Response: I intend.
Stage 6: Visionary Response: I love.
Stage 7: Sacred Response: I am.
HOW DO I FIND G.o.d?.
Stage 1: Fight-or-Flight Response: Fear, loving devotion Stage 2: Reactive Response: Awe, obedience Stage 3: Restful Awareness Response: Meditation, silent contemplation Stage 4: Intuitive Response: Self-acceptance Stage 5: Creative Response: Inspiration Stage 6: Visionary Response: Grace Stage 7: Sacred Response: By transcending WHAT IS THE NATURE OF GOOD AND EVIL?.
Stage 1: Fight-or-Flight Response Good is safety, comfort, food, shelter and family.
Evil is physical threat and abandonment.
Stage 2: Reactive Response Good is getting what you want.
Evil is any obstacle to getting what you want.
Stage 3: Restful Awareness Response Good is clarity, inner calm, and contact with the self.
Evil is inner turmoil and chaos.
Stage 4: Intuitive Response Good is clarity, seeing the truth.
Evil is blindness, denying the truth.
Stage 5: Creative Response Good is higher consciousness.
Evil is lower consciousness.
Stage 6: Visionary Response Good is a cosmic force.
Evil is another aspect of the same force.
Stage 7: Sacred Response Good is the union of all opposites.
Evil no longer exists.
WHAT IS MY LIFE CHALLENGE?.
Stage 1: Fight-or-Flight Response: To survive, protect, and maintain Stage 2: Reactive Response: Maximum achievement Stage 3: Restful Awareness Response: To be engaged and detached Stage 4: Intuitive Response: To go beyond duality Stage 5: Creative Response: To align with the Creator Stage 6: Visionary Response: To attain liberation Stage 7: Sacred Response: To be myself WHAT IS MY GREATEST STRENGTH?.
Stage 1: Fight-or-Flight Response: Courage Stage 2: Reactive Response: Accomplishment Stage 3: Restful Awareness Response: Autonomy Stage 4: Intuitive Response: Insight Stage 5: Creative Response: Imagination Stage 6: Visionary Response: Holiness Stage 7: Sacred Response: Unity WHAT IS MY BIGGEST HURDLE?.
Stage 1: Fight-or-Flight Response: Fear of loss, abandonment Stage 2: Reactive Response: Guilt, victimization Stage 3: Restful Awareness Response: Fatalism Stage 4: Intuitive Response: Delusion Stage 5: Creative Response: Self-importance Stage 6: Visionary Response: False idealism Stage 7: Sacred Response: Duality WHAT IS MY GREATEST TEMPTATION?.
Stage 1: Fight-or-Flight Response: Tyranny Stage 2: Reactive Response: Addiction Stage 3: Restful Awareness Response: Introversion Stage 4: Intuitive Response: Deception Stage 5: Creative Response: Solipsism Stage 6: Visionary Response: Martyrdom Stage 7: Sacred Response: Beyond temptation GETTING WHAT YOU WANT.
The Seven Levels of Fulfillment G.o.d is another name for infinite intelligence. To achieve anything in life, a piece of this intelligence must be contacted and used. In other words, G.o.d is always there for you. The seven responses of the human brain are avenues to attain some aspect of G.o.d. Each level of fulfillment proves G.o.d"s reality at that level.
Level 1 (Fight-or-Flight Response) You fulfill your life through family, community, a sense of belonging, and material comforts.
Level 2 (Reactive Response) You fulfill your life through success, power, influence, status, and other ego satisfactions.
Level 3 (Restful Awareness Response) You fulfill your life through peace, centeredness, selfacceptance, and inner silence.
Level 4 (Intuitive Response) You fulfill your life through insight, empathy, tolerance, and forgiveness.
Level 5 (Creative Response) You fulfill your life through inspiration, expanded creativity in art or science, and unlimited discovery.
Level 6 (Visionary Response) You fulfill your life through reverence, compa.s.sion, devoted service, and universal love.
Level 7 (Sacred Response) You fulfill your life through wholeness and unity with the divine.
The Seven Levels of Miracles A miracle is a display of power from beyond the five senses. Although all miracles take place in the transition zone, they differ from level to level. In general, miracles become more "supernatural" after the fourth or fifth brain response, but any miracle involves direct contact with spirit.
Level 1 (Fight-or-Flight Response) Miracles involve surviving great danger, impossible rescues, a sense of divine protection.
Example: A mother who runs into a burning house to rescue her child, or lifts a car with a child trapped underneath Level 2 (Reactive Response) Miracles involve incredible achievements and success, control over the body or mind.
Example: Extreme feats of martial arts, child prodigies with inexplicable gifts in music or mathematics, the rise of a Napoleon from humble beginnings to immense power (men of destiny) Level 3 (Restful Awareness Response) Miracles involve synchronicity, yogic powers, premonitions, feeling the presence of G.o.d or angels.
Example: Yogis who can change body temperature or heart rate at will, being visited by someone from far away who has just died, visitation by a guardian angel Level 4 (Intuitive Response) Miracles involve telepathy, ESP, knowledge of past or future lifetimes, prophetic powers.
Example: Reading someone else"s thoughts or aura, psychic predictions, astral projection to other locations Level 5 (Creative Response) Miracles involve divine inspiration, artistic genius, spontaneous fulfillment of desires (wishes come true).
Example: The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, having a thought that suddenly manifests, Einstein"s insights into time and relativity Level 6 (Visionary Response) Miracles involve healing, physical transformations, holy apparitions, highest degree of supernatural feats.
Example: Walking on water, healing incurable diseases through touch, direct revelation from the Virgin Mary Level 7 (Sacred Response) Miracles involve inner evidence of enlightenment.
Example: Lives of the great prophets and teachers-Buddha, Jesus, Lao-Tze
Four.
A MANUAL FOR SAINTS.
We are like newborn children, Our power is the power to grow.
-RABINDRANATH TAGORE When you read about the seven stages, it becomes clear that religions vary wildly on how to know G.o.d. Each has marked out a separate path whose steps are fixed-often rigidly fixed-in dogma. I have steered clear of dogma, knowing full well that Christians do not automatically accept an Eastern belief such as karma, just as Hindus and Buddhists do not accept a Western belief like Judgment Day. If there is one G.o.d, there still cannot be one path. Yet no matter which path you walk, two things are necessary. The first is a vision of the goal; the second is trust that you have the inner resources to get there.
To prove that there is a reachable goal, every religious tradition has saints. Saints are spiritual achievers. They exhibit deep love and devotion, but saints are more than saintly. You and I might show forgiveness toward an enemy because we know that it is the right thing to do, or because it raises our sense of inner worth-at the very least we believe G.o.d approves of forgiveness. When a saint forgives, she can"t help herself, her love is an outflowing of her nature. And since saints begin life the same as the rest of us, developing a natural sense of love, forgiveness, and compa.s.sion represents a huge accomplishment. It isn"t simply a gift, which is why we are justified in saying that saints must be great achievers. They are the Einsteins of consciousness. Not only have they reached the spiritual goals set forth by their religion, but they prove to the rest of us that the resources exist for getting there ourselves.
This implies that the saint is laying out a map of the future. Mother Teresa and Saint Francis are me, but a me that hasn"t yet emerged. The saints of Buddhism, who are called bodhisattvas, are sometimes portrayed looking over their shoulders and beckoning with a smile, as if to say, "I am going over the threshold. Don"t you want to follow?"
It makes sense to accept their invitation, not just by showing love and compa.s.sion, but by heeding the principles that uphold the soul"s journey.
These principles would be found in any manual for saints because they hold true from stage one to stage seven. Such a manual doesn"t exist, but if it did, the following realizations would be right at its core: Evolution cannot be stopped; spiritual growth is a.s.sured.
Action is always noticed by G.o.d; nothing goes unheeded.
There is no reliable guide to behavior outside your own heart and mind.
Reality changes at dfferent stages of growth.
At some level everyone knows the highest truth.
Everyone is doing the best they can from their own level of consciousness.
Suffering is temporary, enlightenment is forever.
Where do these realizations come from? How do we know they are true? They certainly don"t come from society or any outward experience. They come from paying attention to the countless clues left by spirit. No two people see G.o.d in the same way, because no two people are at the exact same stage of waking up. Yet in those moments when the five senses give way to deeper intuition, each of us gets a glimpse of reality, and as our minds process some remarkable event or insight, reality delivers a sc.r.a.p of truth.
"Just before college I went to the New York World"s Fair," an older friend of mine likes to remember. "And they had this ride I will never forget. It was a long tunnel that had a movie projected inside it. As you rode along, the images of the movie rushed by at high speed, surrounding you with all kinds of futuristic things, but when you got to the end, you realized that the conveyor belt had traveled only fifty feet in real distance. I thought this was fantastically significant, because my life has been like that. On a daily basis I can walk past thousands of people on the street, think myriads of thoughts, go anywhere in my imagination. But how much closer have I gotten to my soul? Maybe an inch, maybe less. The outer show is very different from the inner journey."
To judge by the outer show, everyone"s life moves rapidly, if chaotically, through scene after scene. Yet you might never suspect that there even was an inner journey. Saints prove that there is. Having arrived at the goal, they can look back and say that just beneath the surface, human life has a pattern, a rising arc. In stage one the possibility of knowing G.o.d is dim, unlikely, a mere shadow of a possibility. In stage two, as threats and fears subside, the possibilities become more interesting and plausible. In stage three they become intriguing, something you find it worthwhile to contemplate and perhaps even test out. In stage four tentative testing turns more decisive-you actually begin to risk making choices that defy the ego"s expectations (to use a wonderful phrase I ran across, you begin to live as if G.o.d really matters). In stage five you have done enough testing; now you want to play. You feel a.s.sured in your spiritual choices.
In stage six you acquire mastery over the spiritual domain, which lets you enjoy incredible freedom in the material domain, a freedom never dreamed of earlier. In stage seven there are no more choices to be made. The saint merges into the G.o.d he reveres, and the whole universe operates automatically according to the same principles that were once so irrelevant to the struggle of trying to survive.
If I read in the New Testament that it is right to love your enemy, how does that apply to the thief who tried to rob me in my house or the mugger attacking me in the street? I may pay lip service to forgiving the criminal, but at a deeper level I will react according to my true state of consciousness. I might hate and fear him, or I might want to do everything possible to prevent similar crimes from happening-these are typical reactions in stages one and two. I might pay more attention to my inner agitation and then realize that the crime was born out of the wrongdoer"s fear and pain-now we are at stages three and four. As consciousness rises I begin to see that my own inner drama projected the whole scenario in which I played the part of victim, leading to the realization that the criminal and I are two parts of the same karma-insights gained in stages five and six. At this point true forgiveness is available to me. I have linked the teaching of Jesus with my own soul. All that remains is stage seven, where the criminal is an aspect of myself that I can bless and release to G.o.d.
Every event in your life falls somewhere on this scale of reactions, and the overall pattern is a rising arc. The road to sainthood begins in ordinary circ.u.mstances with ordinary situations. There is no shorter path to G.o.d. Because we all have egos, we fantasize that we will simply leap to the top of the mountain where the halos are handed out, but this never happens. Inner life is too complex, too full of contradictions. An Arctic explorer can tell from his map when he has arrived at the pole, but in spiritual exploration the map shifts with every step you take. "You need to realize that there is no fixed "me" who is looking for enlightenment,"
a guru told his disciples. "You have no fixed ident.i.ty-that is just a fiction made up by your ego. In truth there is a different experiencer for every experience." Because each of us is a lover one moment and a child the next, a seeker stubbornly clinging to old habits, free and yet captive, curious and yet apathetic, secure and frightened at the same time, the spiritual journey is never a straight line. Goals have a way of changing; in fact, they must change, given that stage one melts into stage two just when you think you have arrived at G.o.d. In turn stage two will melt away when the time comes.
Which brings us back to the same question, "Where do I go from here?" Let me take the first two principles of a saint and demonstrate how the rising arc applies to you. In each stage I will adopt the voice of someone who is trying to come to terms with the principle.
Evolution cannot be stopped; spiritual growth is a.s.sured.
Stage One (Fight-or-flight response): "This whole idea makes no sense.
There are lots of evil people who couldn"t care less about their souls. My own life is all ups and downs. I take two steps backward for every step forward. I have no idea why misfortunes and failure occur; I pray to G.o.d that they don"t and leave it to him."
Stage Two (Reactive response): "My life keeps getting better as long as I work hard and stay up to speed. This makes me optimistic, and I interpret evolution as progress. Since childhood I have increased in confidence and skill, so definitely I am progressing-but I"m not so sure that applies to the people who haven"t caught on to how to succeed. They need G.o.d more than I do. Inner growth is secondary to success."
Stage Three (Restful awareness response): "I"m not that pulled into outward events anymore, and I think they aren"t that real. They are more like symbols of what I hold inside. Since childhood my inner world has grown stabler, more comforting and secure. It seems that evolution takes place near my heart, and I try to obey my inner impulses, even when they don"t bring me more money, status, or power. Something deeper is moving forward."
Stage Four (Intuitive response): "I"ve stopped believing that my ego knows what"s good for me. It never made me fulfilled, no matter how often I made choices on behalf of "I, me, mine". You have to go deeper inside to make your choices, and I"ve found that at the intuitive level, I know what is right-or at least I"m getting there. Too many things have happened that can"t be explained in the old way. I am part of a mystery, flowing toward an unknown destination. That is what fascinates me now."
Stage Five (Creative response): "Somewhere along the line, I broke free. I am who I want to be, doing what I want to do. How did I get to this place?
It didn"t happen through struggle and strife. Somehow a deep current swept me along and brought me here. If that is evolution, then I believe in it, although as yet I can"t tell you precisely who G.o.d is or what my soul looks like. It is enough to trust the process."
Stage Six (Visionary response): "My soul is calling me every hour of every day. I now realize that this has always been true, but only now do I notice it so completely, so clearly. It"s unbearable to turn away from the light, which is the source of my ecstasy. Every time I pray, I am aware that G.o.d is with me, because if only I had been awake earlier, I would have seen that any other possibility is false."
Stage Seven (Sacred response): "Evolution is all. Every atom in the universe is guided by a perfection standing outside time and s.p.a.ce.
Nothing is amiss. Death itself is part of eternal progress, and so is evil. I know, because I am that life force, that endless river. I am its source and its destination, its flow and the obstacles that hinder the flow. I carry a few memories of my old life, most especially this one: I remember the day that G.o.d, the Cosmic Mother, embraced me and invited me to join her dance."
In abbreviated form, we"ve just accounted for many of the spiritual turning points that shake people out of their old beliefs. Truth has many faces, and when you see a new one, your level of consciousness rises. We have also ill.u.s.trated two more of the saints" principles: Everyone is doing the best they can from their own level of awareness, and reality keeps changing as your consciousness changes. The rising arc of spirit isn"t always so obvious. It gets obscured all the time. We don"t think about sainthood when corporate downsizing threatens our jobs or when the divorce papers are served. But at dramatic moments the soul drops clues into our laps, and then we have the choice to pay attention or not. Your soul will always be in communication with you, and over time you will heed what it says.
The spiritual journey is 99 percent repet.i.tion, because we are all conditioned to obey ego needs, to cling to old habits. We have our ways of doing things, most of them totally dependent on the past. Sheer inertia would defeat the soul were it not for its magnetic pull. That is why it is useful to cooperate in your own awakening-your enemy is not evil but lack of attention. The various practices known as prayer, meditation, contemplation, and yoga have been highly valued over the centuries because they sharpen attention and make it easier not to miss the clues to spiritual reality.
A spiritual person is a good listener for silent voices, a sharp observer of invisible objects. These traits are more important than trying to act in a way that G.o.d would reward with a gold star. The second principle of the saints can be dramatized like the first, through the inner voice that plays its beliefs over and over in your head until you move on to a new belief, bringing with it a new voice.
Action is always noticed by G.o.d; nothing goes unheeded.