In the depths of The Ocean of Life
I find you waiting – ever patient
Softly whispering to my soul
Your nurturing nature comforts me
It blows gently on my face
Like a warm breeze on a sunny day
My heart melts
Knowing we are One
And like a lover – gently leading a beloved
Hand in hand
Like the tide
We ebb and flow together
Through Lifetimes – transitions and more lifetimes
Leaving soft footprints in our wake
At each transition
I melt into your loving arms
Until…
The next journey beckons
My best friend, ever, forever
In the world of silence – my constant companion
In the world of no companionship – we are One
In the world without Oneness, without concept – We are simply Being
In the world without Being – I Am
In the world of no worlds – I Am That I Am
Look within? What does that even mean? It’s no wonder that people who are on the first few rungs of the spiritual ladder get frustrated and disheartened when they receive this statement as an answer from a “seasoned pro” after asking a question. Yes, it may be true that all the answers we will ever need can be found within us, but just to advise someone to “look within” can sound a bit throwaway. It’s a statement that gets used quite a lot, and it’s very valid, but without further explanation it’s a statement that doesn’t carry much meaning. Lets face it, it’s not as if you can turn your eyes around and view your body from the inside. With this in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to write an article on what it means to me.
First of all, before we do anything else, it will really help if we explode the myth that consciousness, the spirit, the soul etc. resides within the body. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that the body resides within consciousness. Yes, consciousness may be in the body, but only because the body is comprised of consciousness in the gross form that we call matter. In fact, consciousness permeates EVERYTHING, because everything is consciousness existing at varying rates of vibration.
I have my own method of looking within, which involves various breathing exercises, but to keep things as simple as possible, the following should set you on the pathway of being able to look within yourself (if you have just started exploring spirituality and you happen to be reading this). Firstly, get yourself into a position that is comfortable for you. This could be sitting in a comfortable chair or even laying down on your bed; you don’t have to sit cross-legged on the floor, just get comfortable. Then close your eyes, and without trying to perform any tasks (clearing your mind etc.) just breath. That’s all you have to do. If you are agitated about something and your breathing seems fast, don’t worry, just continue to breath. After a while (it doesn’t matter how long it takes) your breathing should start to slow down and you should also start to feel more relaxed.
Now, at some point, and again, it does not matter how long this takes, you should become aware of an expansion of consciousness. You will probably still be aware of your physical form, but you will find that these feelings you have of the existence of your body, are actually contained within this expansion of consciousness. When we are rushing around and agitated it’s impossible to have this sensation. The more you sink down into relaxation, the more you will feel the expanse of your true nature, which is consciousness. This is about as complicated as it needs to be, especially at this stage of your journey. But, if we take a moment to examine what has actually happened, you will see that all you have done is to allow yourself to “Be” and in doing so you have allowed your true nature to just drift to the surface and expand outwards. After a short time of practicing this method it should become second nature. You will be able to just close your eyes for a few seconds and feel the expansion, no matter where you are; at the bus stop, sitting in the doctors surgery etc.
This has opened the door for you now. We are all different and searching for different things. But, you have given your true nature access to the physical you and I’m sure that it has its own agenda as to how it will guide you going forward. Hope you found this useful.
As a species, this is exactly what we are; a work in progress, and, if we are the microcosm to the macrocosm that generally gets referred to as “God,” then God too is a work in progress. God is Life itself, which is constantly in a state of evolution. So, this is why that old adage that there are only two certainties in life; death and taxes, is wrong. There is a third certainty; change, or as I’ve already stated, evolution.
The way things are going in our world, you would think that there won’t be much scope for evolution soon if the human race carries on the way it is. We seem to be creating the same old problems for ourselves, which usually involves our fellow human beings having to experience untold suffering, and then trying to solve these problems with the same methods that have already failed time and time and time again for centuries.
It seems that the institutions in place that are meant to be helping and guiding our evolution in a positive way, namely our political institutions and religions have failed miserably. I’m reluctant to turn this blog into a platform for expressing political opinions, so I’ll stick with the spiritual stuff. Is it any wonder that our religion here in the West has failed. The first thing that Western religion teaches is that there is a God who is separate from all “His” children and that this God can get pretty shirty if you don’t conform to his needs and love “Him” in the way he demands. Some branches of this religion also teach us to feel guilt and shame because we are unworthy of the God. This is ridiculous!
There is only One soul, no other, although that One soul has appeared to split itself up into billions of separate souls. These apparent individual souls are God expressing and experiencing itself in billions of different ways simultaneously. Eternal life (God) evolves by way of this beautiful and wondrous process. Religion would have us believe that God itself, does not evolve but simply stays up there in the clouds, loving some and condemning others. The very nature of Life is evolution and God is Life itself, therefore it’s ludicrous to believe that God has simply stayed the same since time immemorial.
But, the religions are reluctant or unwilling to change; still preaching from the same outdated scriptures. What is needed is a shift in consciousness; you can’t solve old problems with the same old and tired mind-set. I genuinely believe that this shift is happening now, even as I type. It may not be overly apparent at this present time, but there are signs that the collective consciousness of the human race is indeed shifting to a higher level. It is impossible to stop evolution, that big old wheel keeps on turning and it always will, but our actions as a species can slow things down.
It is understandable that old and stale beliefs are very difficult to shake off, but shake them off we will…eventually. We are a work in progress, we have a long way to go, but we will get there.
This post is the result of some musings of mine that relate to my own journey, but I’m sharing them because I feel that other people will have had a similar experience and may have drawn the same conclusion. Looking back, I would describe my evolution in this life as follows: It seems as though I have gone through two stages and am now going through a third. The first stage is that I’m born into this world and immediately start to be conditioned by my surroundings. My conditioning ensures that as I grow, I lose sight of my true nature and become fully entrenched in “life” and remain completely oblivious to the bigger picture. I’m completely unaware of the grip that the ego has on me and my only understanding of reality is what I see around me and what I’m told by my parents, teachers, peers and the media.
I think that is fairly general and probably applies to pretty much all souls taking human birth. Although, I’m sure there are exceptions to the rule. The conclusion from the first stage is that “I am this body and my reality is the world around me and its inhabitants.”
The second stage starts thus: I feel uncomfortable; there is something missing but I don’t know what it is. I start to seek, but I don’t really know what I’m seeking or how to seek it. Personally, I never felt that I belonged anywhere and this period, which started during my teenage years and carried on until I reached my 50s, was a very difficult time for me. The first place I looked was towards religion. However, the Christian church didn’t do it for me and I just drifted aimlessly for many years, getting more and more confused and feeling more and more isolated. Eventually, I realised that spirituality was far more expansive than my conditioning had led me to believe. I became aware of other forms of spirituality that were more appealing. By the time the 1980s came along my experiences and contacts at that time led me towards Spiritualism. It was also a religion that didn’t do it for me and I walked away for several years.
For various reasons, I ventured back and remained involved for many years. During this time I never considered myself to be a Spiritualist, but through other contacts that I made became drawn towards Eastern religions; particularly Buddhism and Hinduism. In the early 2000s I also acquired a guru in the form of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. What I conclude from this stage is that although Spiritualism pointed out the truth of eternal life to me, it seemed firmly entrenched in the past. In addition and in hindsight, I realised that it encouraged me to become attached to “objects” such as spirit guides, wolves, angels and crystals etc. These things have their place along the way, but ultimately, all objectivity, being dualistic in nature, is an illusion. It was Buddhist principles in particular that brought me to the awareness of “Oneness.”
Other milestones from stage two are that I became aware also of my greatest influences, namely – Paramahansa Yogananda, Neil Donald Walsch, Ramana Maharshi and of course Sai Baba. I read quite a lot of their writings without properly understanding what I was reading.
As I embarked on stage three I was dealing with the realisation that Buddhism and Hinduism, although still very appealing, also did not complete the picture for me. It made me further realise that all religions have their limitations and are mere stepping stones along the way.
I had the knowledge of Oneness but not the knowing. There is a huge difference. We have a habit of gathering lots of knowledge, which generally speaking is the experience of others and not ourselves. Knowing is to know something through the experience of it. An example that is used very often is the fragrance of a rose. How can you know what the fragrance of a rose is like through someone else telling you? You can only truly know by smelling the beauty of its fragrance yourself. A huge help to me has been the “discovery” of Rupert Spira. His videos and writings have helped me greatly to understand in greater depth the works of Neil Donald Walsch and Ramana Maharshi. Also, it’s worth mentioning that the greatest thing that Sai Baba taught me was that at no time would I have a need to worship, or become attached to, his physical form; the physical form being akin to the objectivity mentioned above in stage two.
I can conclude this post by describing my soul’s journey as follows: From the complete knowing of Infinite Consciousness to complete ignorance on embarking on a physical experience. Then awakening to the understanding that I am not a body/mind but making the mistake of thinking that all the answers are in the esoteric and pretty much at one point believing that the world had no significance whatsoever. To the further understanding that the only reality is Consciousness, therefore the world and the esoteric are in fact One, both being projections of Consciousness, by Consciousness within Consciousness.
Will there be a stage four? I don’t know, but what I do know is that one day I will complete the cycle of changing perceptions by returning to the complete knowing of Infinite Consciousness.
Heaven and Hell are not places that you go to after death. Whether you’ve been “good” or “bad” there are no such places as Heaven and Hell; they are merely concepts that exist in the mind. We create our own Heaven and Hell here on earth.
The only reality, ultimately, is Consciousness, which exists as it is. For Heaven and Hell to exist, they would have to have some form of objective reality, which means that they would have to appear somewhere within the timelessness of Consciousness. If that was the case, they would have limitations (boundaries), which would render them both finite. This completely blows out of the water the mythological religious view that Heaven and Hell are eternal; eternal bliss and eternal damnation respectively. You cannot have two eternities, it is both spiritually and scientifically impossible. Eternity is timeless infinity, so if Heaven and Hell existed there would have to be a place (boundary) where one ceased and the other began. Therefore the only conclusion is that both Heaven and Hell are dualistic concepts that exist only in the mind.
The 40 watt lightbulb analogy, what is it? Well, it’s actually something I’ve written about before, but not for many years. What has prompted me to revive this concept is the state of the world and where we as a race appear to be heading (not that old chestnut again, yawn!) When I first read about this analogy, probably around 12 years ago, it made a lot of sense; but, it is probably even more relevant today. At the time, there was a lot of crazy things going on in the world and you just wouldn’t have thought that things could get any crazier; how wrong can you be? To quote Neal Donald Walsch, our species seems to be going to Hell in a handcart. There is untold suffering going on in our world, and it isn’t just our species that is suffering, it’s also the animal kingdom and our very planet, Mother Earth. The craziest thing is that most, if not all of the terror, is being inflicted by humans.
Right, let’s get back to the actual analogy.
Imagine you had a storeroom, lit only by a 40W bulb. For years you were happy with this rather dim light, doing its best, but struggling to light up the space. Then suddenly, one day, you decide to brighten the place up and you change the 40W bulb for a 100W bulb. You flick the switch for the first time, and to your horror, you now see that the storeroom is filthy; it’s covered in dust and cobwebs. The reality is, that the dust and cobwebs were always there, it’s just that within the light of a 40W bulb they could not be seen. The 100W bulb hasn’t by some miracle created a mess, it’s simply highlighted the mess that was already there. And so, it is the same with what is happening now.
All of this crazy stuff has always been going on. Humans have been inflicting pain and suffering on humans since the beginning of time. The reason it seems so much more prominent these days is because our species is evolving…fast, it would seem. The light of Consciousness is awakening within humankind. Of course, there has always been ignorance, and I’m sure there always will be. But, the level of consciousness within our species is being raised; even as I type. A big difference I have noticed since I was growing up is that back then, you were told “this is how it is and there is no other way” and people just accepted this. A good example is religion. Of course, I can only speak from my own experience, but at school, we were indoctrinated in a particular way. When you became old enough to think for yourself, you either carried on with what you were told or you rejected it. Back then, it wasn’t easy for younger people to “seek” and there didn’t seem to be any alternative. Nowadays, people in the main do not accept this, and we have given birth to “The Seeker.”
I am of the view that some religions have shot themselves in the foot. So many different factions and even different holy books within one religion, all the factions interpreting their scriptures differently and all claiming to be the only truth. People are just not having it anymore and are seeking out there own pathway.
Because the general level of awareness is gradually rising, in other words, we are getting closer and closer to experiencing our true nature, we are noticing more and more all the horrors that exist in the world. Because our true nature is that of Love, these horrors affect the way we feel in a negative way, because they are the polar opposite to who we really are. Things are not helped by the mass media that seems to delight in sensationalising negatives. I personally believe that our world is full of wonder and beauty, and there are lots of positive things happening all over. Unfortunately, this is not newsworthy.
The 100W bulb (light of Consciousness) has replaced the 40W bulb (ignorance) in so many people now, worldwide. Also, if you consider relativity and the fact that our planet is a living, breathing paradox, I think it is safe to say that we are going in the right direction.
In my experience, many religious people, specifically Christians, worry about whether their God will accept them into “his” heart once they give up their physical form. This is a most pointless pastime; why would a God not greet all of “his” children with open arms at the end of physical lifetime?
The sea refuses no river, and what is God, but a timeless, accepting, non-judgemental eternally flowing Sea of Love…
The sea refuses no river
Whether stinking or rank
Or red from the tank
Whether pure as a spring
There’s no damned thing stops the poem
The sea refuses no river
And this river is homeward bound
Extract from – The Sea Refuses No River – from the 1982 album, All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes by Pete Townshend
I saw on social media recently that someone posted the following passage from the Bhagavad Gita. I wanted to share it before continuing because it kind of ties in with what I wanted to write about.
The soul is neither born nor does it ever die. Having never existed will it ever cease to be? The soul is birthless, eternal, changeless, immortal.
Bhagavad Gita 2:20
I’ve come to realise even more recently just how difficult the spiritual pathway really is. Before I continue, did you notice what happened there? I made a very contradictory statement; “the spiritual pathway.” There is no pathway or journey because ultimately, the only reality is Consciousness, which exists exactly as it is, as seamless eternal bliss, love, infinite awareness; the list of names we could call it is endless. I’ve written about this before, and you can see that we haven’t even gotten into the post properly yet, but things have become complicated. This is just one reason why the “spiritual pathway” can be such an arduous “journey.” As if life wasn’t challenging enough, we are hampered on our way by language; or to be more precise, the limitations of language. The main crux of this post cannot be aptly explained with any words from any dictionary in any language. What we have to do in these situations is use the words that fit best with what we want to say, even if it isn’t going to be 100% accurate.
I have come to the conclusion that pretty much all forms of spiritual practice are a bit of a red herring and ultimately can never be anything more than stepping stones as we blunder and stumble our way through life. I’ve realised lately that no matter how spiritually evolved we believe ourselves to have become, life doesn’t get any easier, in fact, there’s a good argument to suggest that it just gets harder. Now, I am about to get to the point; honest, but just one more thing before I do.
In order to negotiate life’s hurdles, I have found that it really does help to understand that everything along the spiritual pathway (there I go again, making contradictory statements) has context, and my truth may not be your truth and vice versa.
There are many examples of spiritual practice, but the one I want to focus on for the purpose of this article is the practice of “Surrender.” The reason being, that it’s a great example of what I’m trying to put over. For the uninitiated, I shall try to explain using my very limited understanding of the Hindu religion. In Hinduism, there are three recognised pathways to enlightenment; Bhakti (devotion), Karma Yoga (selfless service to humanity) and Surrender (complete surrender to God). I’m happy to stand corrected on this and I’m sure that in India these three pathways are not restricted to Hindus.
I’ve been struggling quite a lot recently with my mind causing absolute havoc, and it was during one such struggle that I came to the conclusion that no matter what we think we are doing with regard to spiritual practice, there is something underlying in the driving seat, going largely unnoticed and quietly going about its business, and that something is Consciousness simply being itself. It was during this moment of struggle that I had the epiphany regarding spiritual practice, and Surrender specifically came to mind. It seemed to me that to practice Surrender, the aspirant must delve into the world of illusion in order to ultimately gain something that he/she already has.
To clarify, we must first objectify a deity that exists as a separate entity from ourselves, in order to then surrender to it. The outcome of which, we hope, would be that we become enlightened. Considering that our true nature is that of the aforementioned Consciousness, which exists simply as itself, we would have to give credence to the illusion of subject/object (seer and that which is seen); also known as duality, we would also be affirming this illusion with our “spiritual” practice, and for what? To gain something we already have. This is where context comes in.
I’m currently experiencing a turbulent time with regard to my mind and the thoughts it’s throwing up. However, I am big enough and ugly enough to know that this turbulence is of my own making, and this gives me the power to be the captain of my own skateboard (I just made that saying up). When I cast my mind back 20 odd years, I was in an awful psychological state, and the “Me” that existed then would not have had a clue what all this Surrender malarky is about. Instead, I eventually started a journey of spiritual practice that got me out of that predicament and set me on the road to becoming who I am today. The practices I undertook back then would be considered very inferior to the practice of Surrender, but in the context of where I was and what was going on with me, those practices were valid and exactly what I needed.
To conclude, within the context of the illusion of duality, which we are all experiencing at this moment, all spiritual practices have some form of relevance in relation to where we are as individuals. I see them as a kind of penance, but not in the harsh, religious sense. They are simply a way to go about opening the doors of evolution for the soul who is floundering and lost. This now brings me back to the beginning and that quote from the Bhagavad Gita. Ultimately, there is no individual soul, there is only Consciousness having the adventure of experience, driven by itself, within itself and of itself.
Consciousness is unable to have this experience without veiling itself in ignorance. Paradoxically, the “gift” of duality is the way back from this ignorance to enlightenment. Enlightenment being the realisation that we are already enlightened, and ultimately, that there is no such thing as enlightenment.
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As I stated in my last post, here are the high quality images of the two books I’m publishing as second editions. You may or may not notice that I’ve used a completely different image for the new version of … Continue reading
Author - Richard F Holmes 