The bhakti side of spiritual development is often overlooked - gets dry, old, copied down and lost. Yes, the process of continual surrender to the transcendent, the higher states of consciousness, can be focused on ourselves and others through unconditional love, sacrifice, and devotion which knows no end. It may be as simple as remembering a kindness to another or to oneself. It burns through all of our failings and weaknesses and raises us up for another day. And then over time as you say so beautifully and innocently below, a two way relationship develops with Source, inside and out, so that life is lived more as a graceful timeless dance, a service. Thank you. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <upfronter@...> wrote :
I'm not going to be drawn into definitions of Self, as such, as everyone is right in the truth they have had revealed. I personally don't follow a tradition but I do have a way of enlivening my spiritual instinct, if you will. Pine scent, lovely! I think I know what you mean. It seems a little absurd to actually have an adoring love for Something you can’t see or touch. All I can say at present is that I know what human love is like and how overpowering it can be, which is why I can say that there is, in my experience, a progressive development of real permanent love for Something which to me is the Source of my existence but not only the Source but a sentient great big “Heart”. It’s the permanent part that adds to the whole deal. I know that this is not everybody’s experience so to most it would sound strange and fairy-tail like, and quite honestly I can’t believe that I’m surrendering this information to the Internet public and I’m not sure why I can’t stop myself from answering as it might seem lacking in humility or perhaps too personal to be told, and reading it through it seems to mean nothing very much. But in my opinion the Object of that love is "there and real" although extremely difficult if not impossible to envision. All I’ll say is that there is Eternity in front so it seems to me that the progressive development of sacrificial love is something which has no end. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <upfronter@...> wrote : …or the availability to adore the One Supreme Being through His Spiritual Christ, no other Way except in name and comprehension I'm not sure I adore anybody - Christ, Spiritual Christ, One Supreme Being or whatever else anyone wants to call him/it/her. I am not quite intimately connected enough to do so but if what Seraphita calls "The Self" is the same thing as these Christs and Buddha Mind then I am not sure what she means. Are we talking about something existing outside of who we are or something that is us? Even if we are talking about The Self within ourselves I am still coming to know that as well and am still working on the "adoring" part. When I am "adoring" enough am I enlightened? Do I have to focus on a "thing"? Can I not just generally recognize within my own heart and mind that there is a God of some sort but I would much rather, am able to, adore him/her/it through him/her/its Creation? Reading scripture, libraries full of books, following one-pointed and intentional devotional paths through meditation, abstinence or asceticism just can't hold a candle to a noseful of pine scent as you stumble over moss-covered rocks on a woodland trail or feeling a mist drench your face as you glimpse a shrouded sunrise in the early days of Autumn. But start reciting Scripture and I'm ready to bolt. Taking a first-century (named in his honour!) rabbi as a symbol of The One Self is fine - as long as you realise that he is only one symbol among many others. The problem that Christianity faces is its designation of Jesus as the one-and-only symbol. It's tricky! As there is only a unique One Self then after you've baptised it "Jesus" to later give it another name - "Buddha Mind", say - creates confusion. But if Otto von Bismarck can also be designated "The Iron Chancellor" why can't we call The Self by other names? "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . ." Well, why not? But understand that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <upfronter@...> wrote : I have come to see an overall picture a bit like this. There are ordained and necessary stepping stones across the dangerous swell to the bank on the other side, all made with slightly different patterns in order to bring the eager wayfarer and dedicated pilgrim to the safety of dry land. They are essential and all have their part to play and no stone should be dislodged. According to my understanding, I would say in the first instance, that in Christ Jesus is found simplicity and approachability by anyone with a will – something too simple for the mind of the religionist, it would appear, as shown by the attachments added to the life and death of Jesus which have culminated in various complicated doctrinal beliefs, many based upon a spiritual concept being literalised into an erroneous assumption (i.e. that a metaphysical belief brings so-named salvation) because it has not been approached with the innocence (not naivety) of a child. Not all can understand scriptures nor listen attentively to sages expounding their expression of the truth that they wish to make known. But all can see the beauty and gentleness and loving-kindness and courage and noble-cause and mercy of the tender Stranger who laid down a path that any one may see and recognise. In that faithful Example, that true Way (which includes meditation and prayer and retreating into the Silence of the desert or mountain), so is expressed all that can bring to the soul not only spiritual evolution but also relief from the burning and burning of remorse when this short life is over and the owner of the soul awakens in another condition of life to meet the results of their earth journey for good and for ill. In the manifestation of Jesus of Nazareth is found the "The image of the invisible God", "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His nature", " the fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily", "The begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He (Christ) unfolds Him (the Father)" and in His (Christ's) face is "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God". It seems clear to me that no human can truly fathom the Divine nature of the man Jesus even though a man He was, and yet so unlike the men and women who followed Him. Yet in Him, I believe, is the bridge between a man or woman or child and the "God whom no man has ever seen". In Jesus the Christ can be found the channel, the conduit, the Door that secures the Way over the dark abyss caused by the adverse effects of free-willed beings violating universal spiritual laws of Divine Love over the aeons through selfishness and ignorance. So in Jesus is found the most openly accessible Way or Emblem to the universal brotherhood and sisterhood in the Divine Being, who rather than being just an influence and far more than a Force, is sentient in a way that cannot as yet be grasped in these material conditions. An approachable availability is demonstrated for many upon this Earth, and, as I see it, such ease of access is also put into good and essential use in the Hereafter where necessary, in a far reaching way. So yes, the sages and wise men of all ages have shown mankind the Way forward as far as spiritual progression is concerned, and yet in the simplicity and humility of the expression of Divine Love found in Jesus Christ is cemented into the consciousness of humanity a figure or vision which, on the very instant it arises in the mind, can bring the embodiment of the wholeness and fullness of an ineffable and unthinkable Divine Nature to both little child and mature adult alike. Many wonderful gifts has the Absolute One showered upon humanity over the ages, and yet in the very thought of perfect humility and Love becoming manifest as yet another gift to humanity is, in itself, unthinkable in its fuller connotations. Simple and yet deeply profound - and a gift (of Himself) that a pure and burning Love could not fail to bestow upon those for whom the great Heart forever beats. After saying this, I would also say please do not take this too literally, spiritual consciousness is far more forgiving as far as concepts and beliefs are concerned than the limitations imposed by words either written or spoken. That is just my opinion.
