The Search for God
The basic cause of all troubles, misunderstandings, confusion, suffering and problems in life is either a misunderstanding or ignorance of the truth of our own existence. To understand this, we must realize our own creative powers; because the creative powers in ourselves cannot be other than the creative powers of the universe. If we can have the true and direct experience of the creative Spirit in ourselves, we will then have the experience of the creative force behind all that exists in this universe. There cannot be two creative Spirits, one for us and one for the universe. So, it is useless to run in search of God somewhere far off in the universe. We should seek out God here on Earth in ourselves. God is not, nor has he ever been, missing; only misunderstood, or even so, not understood at all. The role of the human is to ultimately come into harmony and unity with nature, and this starts with our own human nature. To find God, we must find ourself, and in unfolding ourself through Transcendental Meditation, we then discover and learn how to experience God. In doing this, we discover it is all one and the same thing - I am one with God and the universe is one with God. I now see the unity in the multiplicity and the multiplicity in the unity. What we also discover is that God has always had greater plans for us than we have ever had for ourselves. The keynote of life is work. The universe is the work of God, so the work of the human must be in keeping with God's work. That is done by performing our work selflessly. And by doing this, we liberate ourselves. By working in a selfish manner, we create bondage for ourselves. Work is worship and without work we cannot experience the creator. If God did not work, no one could realize the Spirit. So, when work is performed without selfish motivation, then the real worker is experienced. The real and automatic worker in this universe is creative energy and this is personified as the mother of the universe - Mother Divine. By experiencing creative energy, the creative consciousness is experienced as the witnessing Spirit, and when we experience this witnessing Spirit we experience liberation. In the state of bondage, the "I" is experienced as the agent, while in the state of liberation, it is experienced as the witness. Constructive work is the human's contribution to society, and it is our preparation for liberation. So, the quality of the work is based on the motivation of the work. If the motivation is pure, then the quality of the work is good. Work that we do under pressure does not give any satisfaction to us or anyone else. Work is not meant to gain money alone, or just to make ourselves tired and to fill ourselves with tension. Real work is the basis for physical, mental and spiritual development. The human should always maintain law and order in the inner forces of the energy in himself; first and always. To learn this is the experience we gain in life. The human desires to know everything in a moment. However, you will know everything in its own good time and in your own good growth. If you desire peace and happiness for others, then work to maintain peace and happiness in yourself. Anyone who maintains peace, harmony and love in himself automatically radiates this to all those around him. What humanity has to learn is that in order to eliminate wars and strife in the world, we must first eliminate the war and strife in ourselves. What we have to ask ourselves is, am I working to remove my ignorance in order to obtain liberation? Do I have an intense desire for freedom from bondage? Do I understand the causes of my past and/or present suffering? Do I realize that I am the sole cause and not someone else? Do I realize that I punish myself and that God is not punishing me? If I can answer these questions in the positive, then I am a light in this world on the way to enlightenment. Wars may be different in nature and in time, but there is the continuity of the same cause behind all wars and that is selfishness and the lack of peace, happiness and calmness in the human mind. We have failed to realize the true nature of the mind. The glamor of matter is that it creates temporary happiness in the mind and we begin to believe that this is truth. And then all this is shattered and we are plunged into misery and suffering. Thus the mind is deluded. As long as we remain deluded, this goes on and on, time after time. Only when we awaken to the truth of our own true nature do we awaken from the maya of human life. Only then do we awaken from the waking dream. ~~ Lectures by Charlie Lutes http://www.maharishiphotos.com/lecture3.html
