Shine your light & stand tall

Knowledge is a two edged sword and by that I mean that knowledge alone is limited to the sphere of man's understanding and motivations; knowledge that is acquired by a spiritually awakened person is like the nectar drips off the honey comb.   Knowledge without connection to your higher power or God is limited and arid.  Life without God to light the flame of love within your heart leaves a person to rely on their own limited ego. 

Islam has scholars of math, medicine and astronomy but have not explored the realms of possibilities in the universe that is God's creation.  It is because we as Christians and other religions have a different concept of God.  Their concept of God is one who directly intervenes in their lives and holds the knowledge to the universe that is outside of their scope of relationship with the Creator.  I am by no means an expert on Islam but in essence these are basic differences.  Our God is creator and as His children have use all of His natural forces for our good.  In the Old Testament God can be viewed as a mighty force who punishes.  In the New Testament Jesus shows us that God wants us to know His Love for us and expects us to show this love to one another.  It is simple, pure and true.  Love conquers all.  In the West we have been given authority and power to pursue and understand God's might in the universe as we have explored space.  This power has to be used for the good.  There is great responsibility within the model of a God who allows us to connect with all that he has created from the tiny components of a cell to the infinite realms of space. 

Without a true surrender to your higher power whatever path you take, Jesus or Buddha for instance you have to totally love God with all your heart.  Spiritual teachers such as Gandhi have transcended our limited human nature that includes negative emotions such as hatred and jealousy and their soul has merged with God's in this life.  Thus they can be viewed as Divine beings.  Their lives become a life of service and helping seekers connect with God and start on the path toward their own spiritual liberation.  Christianity is a way to connect to God through Christ and in that there is freedom from sin and liberation from life where there the experience is either arid or downward spiraling and hopeless.  Because the message of Christ is pure Love and the teachings give the disciple a map to becoming a better person.  If the person is sincere Christ will direct their lives through His Grace to understand how to live a good life and it is not something that has to be earned it is given if that person remembers Jesus and listens. 

Spirituality gives the seeker an experience of God through a direct awakening under the guidance of an ascended Master who has either been born into this life as a fully spiritually liberated being or has reached that state through his/her own self effort and the Grace of his/her Master.  There is no God to obey in the sense of the Judo Christian God Yahweh who even gives Commandments that must be taken seriously and followed.  My current Spiritual Master teaches that the soul begins at conception and this is in alignment with the Church.  Many teachers do not approach absolute truths and these truth's will only become alive for the person when he/she reaches an inner state of purity.  Then the truth is known but I believe that it is essential that people follow laws set out for them both to protect themselves as well as others long before they gain the consciousness to recognize this absolute truth.

People have gained medical knowledge to heal as well as kill the most innocent among us - the unborn.  Knowledge without Love which can only be experienced through our relationship with a higher power is exhaustive and has the potential for the misuse of power.  The power of God's creation is available for us to know but so many times the people who explore have limited knowledge of God.  Without God all knowledge is for self gain and thus a potential to harm others.  Self gain is sought when there is ego.  When one is under the direction of a Spiritual Master as I have been, they will bring into being circumstances that make one face the small ego inside yourself and that is a painful process but worth the fruits of freedom from ego.   It is a dying of the self to God.  It is total surrender.  Once a person has transcended the limited self then knowledge will arise with good intentions and for the upliftment of mankind. Whatever one has learned at some point then is offered to others because like the great Masters themselves our lives become acts of Love.  Our love for God is expressed as love for others.

So many people on the spiritual path I have noticed are able to be present in the moment when chanting or participating in other spiritual practices with a total focus on God.  However, as soon as the spiritual activity is over it's back to the usual way of being.  Many people judge others which Mother Teresa has said leaves no room for the most important thing, Love.  I think that it is a difficult task to transcend the ego and unite with love in spiritual liberation and as my Teacher has explained, it takes up to four life times to attain absolute freedom thus never having to come back to clear karma.  I have wondered why the door to their hearts are closed to love.  During a visit to my Teacher I attended a talk where she described three doors to the heart and that some people had their doors closed.  After the talk I walked to the dormitory where I was staying and had to cross a lobby.  As I stepped into the lobby the door behind me suddenly slammed shut.  I wondered whether fire alarms where about to go off as there was no other reason for it to have slammed so hard and unexpectedly.  As I approached the door ahead of me it too slammed shut in the same dramatic way.  Shortly after I saw my Teacher as I stood by one of the doors in this same lobby.  As she stood by me she suddenly reached out to my heart area with a grabbing and twisting motion.  I believe that she was taking out the knots in my heart.  That is the beauty of having a living Master to guide you on the journey and I am eternally grateful for the Love that she has allowed me to experience in my own heart.

I believe that people who are homosexual and not accepted by various religions are like the rest of us as a group with some who are spiritual and wanting to know God.  I believe that they should be treated with respect but that it doesn't include partaking in the institution of marriage.  I believe that the sanctity of marriage is for the communion between a man and a woman as well as procreation of life, thus providing a guarantee for future generations.  One of the temptations that we have now is the control of conception through science and this procedure enables gay couples to have their own children through the various means necessary.  It is this reliance on our own control that is ultimately what leads us away from God.  Not just away from our conceptual understanding of His laws, but of our relationship with God in our hearts.  The path to enlightenment can be seen as a continuum thus some people will be further along than others.  For children I pray that they will have parents who love them and that the secular view of family is not one that is right for their well being because children need to bond with the parent of the opposite sex as part of their own sexual identity formation in their early childhood years. 

Spirituality is good and the path is one through which one becomes elevated through the teachings and direction of the Master to experience love and respect nature and mankind.  Because of the lack of a framework of religion there is a potential for misuse of the power of knowledge before one develops more fully.  The experience of God is felt inside the heart.  For instance when someone sees a beautiful landscape or sunset their is a recognition of God's majesty and love for His creation.  These kinds of experiences help us to connect with God and then relate to God's natural world as stewards as we see the sacred within all that he has created in much the same way that the Native American Indians.  Religion has a framework that teaches about absolute truths such as do not kill.  Islam actually commands people to kill, so all religions do not equivocate to the same relationship with God.  Spirituality lacks such frameworks and my first teacher did not comment on such matters.  A book written by her own teacher listed all kinds of social problems as things that the organization did not hold an opinion about.  I felt from the beginning that I have strong feelings about some things and abortion is number one on my list and that I wanted and needed for that issue to be addressed.  I believe that it is the responsibility of the teacher when students or disciples are not advanced enough to recognize the sanctity of life that it needs to be defended. 

I in no way have wanted to offend anyone of judge others behaviors by writing this article.  It is written from my own experience and I too have sinned.  My Teacher says that each time we attend an initiation that we are absolved of wrongdoing and sin.  When you know what actions you need to take to keep pure do them.  If you are Catholic, repent your sins and attend Church and partake in Holy Communion.  Know that all life is awakening and wants to live their lives out naturally.  Be tolerant but that doesn't mean that you stop speaking power to truth or truth to power.

Please feel free to contact me:  lawrencerita511@gmail.com