Spiritual Guidance Blog

“We see the manifestation of the existence of God all around us. So why would we ever question God’s existence in our lives?“

For those familiar with Karen Armstrong’s book by the same title, this article is not about that book. I want to share with you my own, recent experience that gave me proof that God exists. But first, allow me to define what God is, for me. God is the great mystery; God is the glue that binds all of existence together. God cannot be seen with the human eye, although the manifestation(s) of God can. This gives us a window on God’s existence.

For students of A Course in Miracles, the Course speaks of ‘miracles,’ which for me are the same as expressions or manifestations of God. Students of the Course will do well to learn and know what miracles are in their daily lives. In the very first Section of the first Chapter of the Course, one of the principles of miracles states “Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them.” (ACIM T-1.I.3.1-2) In their book “The Answer Is A Miracle,” Course scholars Allen Watson and Robert Perry define a miracle like this… “A miracle is the activity of the Holy Spirit which shifts our perception from false to true and thereby grants us unconditional, instantaneous and free deliverance from the imprisoning (yet illusory) problems of this world. We accept miracles (into our own minds), extend them (to others) and so recognize that we have received them.” (p. 18)

My own, recent experience of God was not as intellectual as the Course or Mr. Watson or Mr. Perry’s description. It was far more gentle and obvious.

I recently cycled and trekked to a local lake called Pink Lake, in the majestic Gatineau Hills. This marvel of nature’s beauty is now a designated nature preserve. The crystal clear waters of Pine Lake resemble high-altitude mountainous lakes with their aqua-colored, pristine waters.

After reaching the lake, I hiked to a bluff high above the surface of the water and perched myself on a rock outcropping to have a panoramic view of the magnificent lake. The sun was high in the sky, the wind was warm, the waters were the personification of purity…the entire scene was magical.

Just one aspect of this magical scene that mesmerized me was that even though there was a beautiful breeze blowing (from high atop the rock outcropping I had perched myself on), the waters were as still as glass. The topography of the surrounding area had the lake sunken well below the tree line. So the trees acted as a buffer for the wind and resulted in the water staying still as glass.

Every so often, however, a breeze would obviously descend on the surface of the lake resulting in the formation of a gentle ripple effect on the surface of the water. I say “obviously descend” because I could not see the breeze with my physical eyes, but its manifestation I could see (i.e., the ripple effect on the surface of the water). The ripple effect would spread over a concentrated area and morph in shape and size as it moved across the surface of the water. The shapes and size of this concentrated area of ripples transformed as it danced across the water. And the sun bounded off the ripples to create a magic show of glistening diamonds as the light bounced off the cresting ripples, like a transcendent light show from the heavens.

As I watched the spectacle unfold in front of me, I realized I was witnessing a ‘miracle.’ I was seeing God. The miracle, God, was not the beautiful, transforming ripples on the water, or the magical light show of glistening diamonds dancing across the cresting ripples. The miracle, God, was the breeze that created the ripples on the surface of the water. I could not see the wind, but I could see the manifestation of its existence.

We may not be able to see God with our physical eyes. But we surely do see God’s manifestation all around us. But let us not be fooled. As the Course says “Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them.” God occurs naturally as expressions of love. God, however, is not the expression of love. God is the energy that inspires them. That ripple on the water is not God. The wind, the element that created the ripple, is God. We see the manifestation of the existence of God all around us. So why would we ever question God’s existence in our lives?

Shanti, Namaste, Agapé,

“And each time I divest myself of these material possessions, the more free I feel.“

The more I live a contemplative and neo-monastic life, and the more I devote myself to my spiritual growth and development, the less the world offers me anything. I can foresee the point where the world, as we know it, will offer me nothing.

These opening words may be alarming to some. For in a certain context they may speak to one’s will to live in this world. I understand should anyone judge me and these words, expressed as they are. For some, these words may speak to a despair and disenchantment. And such despair and disenchantment can be interpreted as speaking to one’s desire to no longer live in this world.

Let me assure you that I have never felt such a will to live, I have never felt such a purpose in life, and I have never felt so at peace with my awareness of the world offering me little, if anything. Please, allow me to explain further through my teacher’s writings. In his lecture “Disenchantment: The Infinitely Blessed Path to Awakening or Provoking the Divine,” my teacher, Richard Harvey, speaks of this spiritual despair and disenchantment from an enlightened perspective…

But there is another kind of despair and disenchantment. It may be very difficult for us to spot the difference, to know why and how it is different. This despair is different in essence because it is spiritual in nature. It is also sane, supremely sane, and in the life of spiritual seekers, those who are in search of themselves, this despair, this disillusionment, and this disenchantment with life signifies a threshold, a spiritual transformation, a movement through the veils. It is a vital step in your liberation from the chains, from the bindings of the world and your attachments to it.

Spiritual disenchantment begins in a variety of ways. Objects, activities, and events that gave you pleasure, interested or fascinated you, seem dull. You feel less enthusiastic about pursuits that previously entertained or enthused you. It may only be in small increments. You may hardly notice. There’s a hint of danger about this incremental incursion, this slow motion surge of disinterest, of apathy or inertia. Occasionally, the experience of disenchantment is sudden, unexpected, in a deep realization that your heart has changed in some radical way that you cannot for the moment understand.

To tread the spiritual path you must become free of material attachments. This does not mean that you don’t own anything, that you give away your belongings and acquire a begging bowl and a loin cloth. It does mean that you live lightly, without clinging, depending, or putting your sense of achievement or wealth into material things. The reason for this is simply that material things will fade. They are merely temporary. They are not the truth. 

They are of the world of appearances and therefore merely temporary, adaptive reflections of Brahman, of God, of the Divine.

When you identify yourself with what you do and what you have and what you attain—the material things—you must of necessity be afraid, because what you have acquired you could lose, what you have saved up can be taken away from you. All this is very well for a materialistic mentality. It is a kind of gamble, learning to work the world, climb the ladder, increase your stock, make wise investments. But for the spiritual seeker it just will not do. The seeker must dedicate herself to the life of the sacred and the spiritual and the attitude she must adopt is the attitude of courage. She must intend to be beyond fear, to reside in fearlessness.

Some seekers, when aware of their despair and disenchantment with this world, do become fearful; and some will become lost in this fear and boomerang back to a material existence based out of their fear of letting go of a material existence. I have been one of the fortunate ones, I suppose. I realized early in my transformation that I wasn’t giving up anything by giving up what the material world had to offer. The more I clung to the offerings of the material world, the more I gave up my peace.

I have not raced to give up all my material and personal possessions. It feels like a more gradual divesting of these material possessions. And each time I divest myself of these material possessions, the more free I feel. What I am also divesting myself of are the archetypal paradigms, beliefs and systems that are associated with living in the material world—health care, finance, education, relationships, etc.

So what’s left when we let go of our attachments to the material world? What do you think?

Shanti, Namaste, Agapé,

“What I have learned is that there will ALWAYS be somewhere else you will want to be happy. And as we chase this illusive happiness somewhere else, we miss the opportunity to be happy right where we are.”

In last month’s newsletter I mentioned my partner and I are considering moving to a new home. We have begun to look at varies properties. Each time we see a new place my partner asks me “So, what do you think?” To which I respond, almost without exception, “I can see myself living here.” My partner asked me once why I seemed to be so ambivalent regarding where I lived. How was it I could see myself living almost anywhere?

I explained that I have been training myself to be happy where I am instead of trying to figure out how to be happy somewhere else. We can always find reasons to be happy somewhere else, with something else, or someone else. Why not be happy where I am? I have learned that my efforts, if any are required, are better spent on being happy where I am, rather than trying to figure out how to be happy somewhere else. What I have learned is that there will ALWAYS be somewhere else you will want to be happy. And as we chase this illusive happiness somewhere else, we miss the opportunity to be happy right where we are.

Awakin.com recently published (June 8, 2015) a short piece from Eckhart Tolle where he spoke about a similar state of being. Here is what he had to say…

J. Krishnamurti, the great Indian philosopher and spiritual teacher, spoke and traveled almost continuously all over the world for more than fifty years attempting to convey through words - which are content - that which is beyond words, beyond content. At one of his talks in the later part of his life, he surprised his audience by saying, "Do you want to know my secret?" Everyone became very alert. Many people in the audience had been coming to listen to him for twenty or thirty years and still failed to grasp the essence of his teaching. Finally, after all these years, the master would give them the key to understanding. "This is my secret," he said. "I don't mind what happens."

He did not elaborate, and so I suspect most of his audience were even more perplexed than before. The implications of this simple statement, however, are profound. 

When I don't mind what happens, what does that imply? It implies that internally I am in alignment with what happens. "What happens," of course, refers to the suchness of this moment, which always already is as it is. It refers to content, the form that this moment - the only moment there ever is - takes. To be in alignment with what is means to be in a relationship of inner nonresistance with what happens. It means not to label it mentally as good or bad, but to let it be. Does this mean you can no longer take action to bring about change in your life? On the contrary. When the basis for your actions is inner alignment with the present moment, your actions become empowered by the intelligence of Life itself.

To be happy where I am is the ‘alignment’ that Eckhart Tolle is referring to above. To be happy where I am is to ‘not mind what happens.’ As Tolle puts it… “to be in a relationship of inner nonresistance with what happens.” The physical structure I live, the house, condominium, or apartment, has little, if anything, to do with my internal state of happiness. Cultivate an alignment with inner nonresistance to life and you will know happiness, peace, and joy.

Shanti, Namaste, Agapé,

“Sometimes we forget we even put it there. Sometimes we don’t know where else to put it. And sometimes we don’t know what to do with it, but we simply don’t want to let go of it. Afterall, it would mean letting go of the very person we think we are.”

Almost four years ago (although it seems much longer than that), my partner and I moved into our current home. We were moving into a larger space and so we had more space to spread our material possessions around. Our new home had a basement; a new luxury for us. “Great!,” we thought. “We’ll have space to store our ‘stuff’!”

And ‘stuff’ we have, don’t we? And this stuff so often gets piled up in the basement. In some cases we don’t know where else to put it, so it goes in the basement. In other cases, we just don’t know what to do with it, but we cannot bring ourselves to get rid of it.

Almost four years later we are considering another move. This move will see us downsize significantly. So I have decided that over the coming months I will finally get rid of material possessions I simply am not using any longer. First place to start? The BASEMENT!!!

I venture downstairs and over to the corner of the basement where I have my ‘stuff’ piled. I start to rummage through the boxes of memorabilia and other ‘stuff’ that I have not touched since the day I moved into this home. Some of the ‘stuff’ brings back memories. Other ‘stuff’ I simply cannot believe I have kept it hanging around.

First, I decide to give away the ‘stuff’ that still has a lot of life left it in and someone else may enjoy using. This turned out to be quite easy, and quick. Next, I turned my attention to memorabilia that had been in my life for many years. What to do with it? It was memorabilia and no one else would relate to it as I do. Or do I?

When I looked at this memorabilia that had been sitting in the basement, collecting dust, for almost four years, I realized that’s where this ‘stuff’ had always been…in the basement of wherever I was living. If it wasn’t a physical basement, it was in a closet, or stored somewhere else. But it wasn’t being used or referred to, ever. It was just sitting there. So I decided…out it goes!

I was surprised at how easy it was to let it go. I was very aware of all the memories there were attached to the memorabilia, but it was surprisingly easy to let it go, once I actually decided to let it go.

As the last boxes were carried to the roadside for pick up by the city’s garbage collection services, I felt a great release from a patterned behavior that had been with me for most of my life—the idea of holding on to things that no longer served me.

The whole process of purging my material possessions felt remarkably freeing and was a metaphor for freeing myself from personality traits and character dynamics that no longer served me. If my inner work has taught me anything, it has taught me how desperately we cling to and hold on to our ‘stuff.’ We pile this ‘stuff’ up in the basement of our psyche. Sometimes we forget we even put it there. Sometimes we don’t know where else to put it. And sometimes we don’t know what to do with it, but we simply don’t want to let go of it. Afterall, it would mean letting go of the very person we think we are.

I still have some cleaning out to do (don’t we all!), both material possessions, and personal ‘stuff,’ but it’s far more enjoyable than I could have imagined.

What ‘stuff’ do you have floating around in your life? What are you storing in your basement that is no longer serving you? Do you want to free yourself of this ‘stuff?’ If you are having difficulty letting go of your ‘stuff,’ what is holding you back? What are you afraid of?

All love and blessings from a happy and contented purg-er…

Shanti, Namaste, Agapé,