Life and Freedom

Buddhist and Spiritual Teaching
Eternal Way of Liberation

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Nirvana and
The Highest Spiritual Path

Today, in mass popular culture, the term nirvana is typically associated with a personal feeling of extreme self-pleasure or self-satisfaction, such as when enjoying fine food, great sex, good drugs, or a wonderful vacation in an elegant location. That too reflects the deepest nature of the human being: a word that, by definition, indicates the antithesis of hedonism, is perverted to mean the very height of self-indulgence.

Nirvana is a term that is thousands of years old, with its roots in the ancient Sanskrit language. It literally means extinction, or the extinguishing or disappearance, of the individual to the Universal. It means the extinction of suffering and the source of suffering. Nirvana is considered to be the highest goal that can be realized by a human being. Other words exist that point to the same state of perfect Freedom, and Pure and Infinite Consciousness, Light, and Energy, but the term Nirvana and its meaning and implications, in the context of Buddhism and the true Spiritual Path and Spiritual Life, are the subject of this essay.

What does it mean, when we discuss the "extinction of the individual?" Does it mean that the physical body dies upon Realizing Nirvana? If not, does it mean that the Free Person of the Incarnation, the Buddha, the Christ, becomes a vacuous, mindless, and heartless creature, incapable of functioning and communicating in the world of form and in relationship to other people? The answer to both of those reasonable questions, is "No." Those misconceptions, albeit understandable, are exactly opposite to the truth of the matter.

First, physical death means exactly that: death. The death of the body brings no glory, and is no cause for celebration. There is nothing Spiritual about death. You are the body, you are currently fully identified with the body and as the body, therefore, when the body dies, you die. People inherently feel the truth of that fact, as reflected in their great fear of physical death, and in their preoccupation, especially as they get older, with staying healthy. The Spiritual Path, and the Spiritual Life, and the eventual Realization of Nirvana, require the physical body. You are, of course, free to believe any scheme of an after-life that you choose, but the real Spiritual Life, and Realizing Nirvana, require dealing with the known subtle and gross reality within and without, and not belief or conjecture. "Near-death" experiences are not death-experiences. The "extinction" inherent within Nirvana, has nothing to do with physical death, and the death of the body will not produce Nirvana, only the void of non-existence. Second, the Person, Mind, and Heart of the Incarnation, the Buddha, is quite alive, and is, in fact, far more functional, and far more communicative, and far more relational, than the average person. He or She is the very embodiment and actions of Life, Love, and Freedom. From another perspective: The Person of the Buddha, the Incarnation, has become Fully Human. I hope that this paragraph helps to answer, within the confines of this essay, the two above questions.

Therefore, another good question would be: Since the body continues to live after Nirvana, and if the Person of the Buddha or Incarnation becomes even more alive, functional, communicative, and relational after the Realization of Nirvana, Freedom, or God, then what exactly is extinguished along the Spiritual Path?

You are an individual. At the root, base, or core of your brain-mind, you feel and know yourself to be a separate entity, gazing out upon the world around you. You are "over here," and everything else is "over there." There is me, over here, and there is "that," over there. You are a separate consciousness. The fundamental quality of that state of separation, is suffering, not Freedom, not Happiness, not Nirvana. That is why people are always engaging in some form of stimulation, distraction, or filling-up; some form of pleasure. That is why they use alcohol and other drugs. That is why they want to have "fun." An individual is not inherently Happy, by nature, by the very nature of being a separate and isolated state of consciousness. That is the core-level you, as an individual; and everything else about you, including your psychology and your heart, is layered upon that small, separate state of being.

I use the term "ego" or "ego-self" when referring to the core-level you. The ego is a living mechanism, located at the root or base of the brain-mind, and it compels you to action. It compels you to seek your survival, pleasure, and vanity. Vanity is, briefly stated for this essay, the need to fit-in with others, the need to be liked and loved, so that your other two needs will be met. Your survival and pleasure needs are less likely to be fulfilled, if you are rejected by others. People are inherently social creatures, by Design, mainly because they need one another, mainly because they feed off of one another. Genuine and selfless love and kindness are indeed a part of some human relationships and interactions, but the need-to-feed is the primary reason for being around other people in the first place. Most people are not comfortable being alone for extended periods of time, even if they have food, clothing, shelter, and non-human forms and sources of entertainment.

I do not use the word "ego" or "ego-self" in the same manner as conventional psychology, in which the ego is considered to be a mental construct, and a source of identity, among other characteristics and functions. I use the same English word "ego", but, I ascribe to it, a very different meaning. I use the phrase "psychological-self" or "mental-self" to indicate the mental construct, referenced by standard psychology, as the "ego." Therefore, in the Teaching, I use the terms "ego-self" and "psychological-self" to indicate two very different aspects of the human being. In this essay, and in most of the Teaching, when I use the word ego, I am referencing the ego-self, your core-level state of separation, and which is also the mechanism that compels the seeking of survival, pleasure, and vanity. The psychological-self is located within the mind, in a "location" I call the "I-compartment," while the un-thinking ego-self is located at the base of the mind, prior to the mind.

The ego is pure fear and pure impulse, and does not think. The ego is not a mind, and in no way resembles the mind. It cannot perceive or experience, and contains no memory, no imagery, no thought, no ideation, and no intellect, and provides no specific direction to one's subtle and gross actions. The ego is pure fear and pure unbridled impulse. The ego is pure animal.

The ego provides the impulse to move, and to feed and protect yourself. The ego provides the fear and impulse to seek survival, pleasure, and vanity, which is how it feeds and protects itself, but it can offer no idea, plan, or scheme as to how exactly to go about feeding and protecting. The ego is completely stupid. The ego is pure impulse, pure fear, and pure stupidity. A dog or a cat, our little furry friends and companions who we love so much, are brilliant compared to the human ego.

The mind, which sits on top of the ego, is the mechanism that provides specific direction. The natural mind, operating under egoic-control, does the work of thinking on behalf of its lord and master, the ego. The mind decides and plans how exactly to go about feeding and protecting the ego, how exactly to provide its lord with survival, pleasure, and vanity. The mind then directs the body in specifically how to go about feeding and protecting the ego. The ego provides the what; the mind provides the how. The mind has no energy, fear, or impulse of its own. The mind is similar to computer hardware: completely passive until an outside force gives it energy and a command to act. The human mind is far, far more complex, and has far, far more capability than a mere computer, but I use the analogy to make the point.

However, fortunately, there exists another aspect of the human being that can provide energy and impulse to the mind: the heart. The heart resides in the chest, and is the seat of love and conscience. I am not referring to the physical organ that pumps blood and keeps the body above room temperature, but the heart as the center of love and conscience which exists in the same area.

The heart of conscience prevents some people from knowingly initiating force against the person, property, or wealth belonging to another. It can keep people from harming, trespassing, and stealing. It can keep a person from acting to intimidate, manipulate, or control others. It can keep people from crossing these simple moral boundaries. The heart of love and conscience can serve as guide for humanity, to tell people how to treat one another. But, the ego-animal is often louder than the heart.

The two factors that can prevent a person from behaving as the pure unbridled animal that he essentially is, or even a monster, are the fear and thought of consequences, or the conscience in the heart. Either fear or conscience keeps most people from harming one another. But, a minority percentage of human-looking creatures either have no heart, or the heart they have is asleep, as if in a coma: the psychopath or the narcissist, respectively. My definition of a human being includes, but is not limited to, having an active heart that also has a "voice" in the thoughts, decisions, and actions of the person, in addition to the ego. The feeling-voice of conscience arising from the heart, can "tell" people how to treat one another, how to relate to one another, how not to be like the animals. But, the ego often wins the battle, as evidenced by the state of human culture, human relationships, and human interaction. Observe how people treat one another, the evil they do to one another, either directly and personally, or through the proxy of institutional violence called government. Also look long, deeply, and honestly at yourself, and your own thoughts and actions, for that can be the beginning of Something far better. Without fear for personal consequences, or the intervention of the conscience in the heart, and with powerful desire or desperation becoming active, the ego can turn a person into a pure monster, not just an animal.

The mind is the agent of experience of the world within and without, and the heart of love and conscience is the agent of connection with that which exists beyond yourself. For the average person, life includes a struggle in the mind, the conflict between, on one hand, the egoically-provided impulse to aggress, steal, or manipulate against the person, property, or wealth of his fellow man, and, on the other hand, the feeling-voice of conscience arising from the heart. The cold computer of the mind can listen to either the ego, or the heart, or both. This is the eternal battle between good and evil, the battle between right and wrong. The arena for the war is the mind, and the two warriors, the ego and the heart, are locked in battle, and only occasionally rest to fight another day, or the next minute. The psychopath and the narcissist have no such struggle, since the heart is either dead or asleep respectively, and the ego, with its animal fear, desire, and amorality, is, therefore, completely in charge of the mind.

The ego is not only the core-level place of separation and isolation, and is not only the root-cause of the animal and monster in man, but it is also that which prevents the Realization of Nirvana. The ego is necessary for developing from an infant into an ordinarily-functional adult, but, after that, it is little more than torment and suffering. It is the source of primary suffering because it is the fundamental barrier that prevents the being from Realizing Nirvana, the Eternal Consciousness, or God, That which is Infinity, Eternity, Energy, Light, Bliss, and Supreme Intelligence. But, remember, you do not get, own, and use Nirvana. The separate consciousness, or ego, Dies or is Dissolved in That. You do not consume Nirvana or God; It consumes you. Freedom or God-Realization is not another form of self-feeding, but the very undoing of self-feeding and its source. You do not get God; you cannot cling to God and own and control It; the mind, heart, and entire being can only Realize It, within and infinitely beyond themselves, in the Infinite Oneness of Nirvana.

The ego cannot be dissolved by your own intelligence or self-effort. There is absolutely nothing you can do to yourself, or by yourself, that will uproot and destroy the ego. You also cannot force or manipulate the Transcendental Intelligence, or God, to do it for you. Therefore, what exactly can you do? Just live your life as usual, and hope for the best? No. If that were true, I would not Teach, Guide, and Help. The words on this page would not exist.

This universe, existence, is no accident, including seemingly-empty space itself, which is often overlooked as being part of creation. That which we call God or Nirvana is Supreme Power and Intelligence. Buddhist scripture mentions the terms "Transcendental Intelligence" and the "Sustaining Power of the Buddhas."

That Great Intelligence and Power Creates and Sustains the infinite universe, and all of its intricacies and interactions, from the macrocosm to the microcosm. Part of that Design includes the fact that the human being interacts with the universe, and in ways that are completely unknown to all but relatively very few people. The human being also has the potential to communicate and interact with This which we call God, or the Metaphysical, the Transcendental Intelligence. The human being can, in a metaphorical sense, be "Heard," and then profoundly Helped.

A serious student of the truly Spiritual Life, has passion for the Path and for Freedom, at least above all else. The suffering compels him, especially now that he knows there is a better Way. So, how does he communicate to the Divine, to the Transcendental Intelligence and Power? How does he interact with That? What does he actually do along the Spiritual Path, especially since self-effort does not "work?" A student soon learns that the real Spiritual Path is far deeper and richer than a list of things to do and not do, and does not include rigid schedules and routines. The Way is not superficial, but is based on direct, deep, and intuitive insight and feeling into that, within himself, which is preventing Growth and Freedom; not shallow, meaningless, or physical demeanor or actions.

I refer to the general disposition, and the type of subtle and gross "activities," of the serious student, as inviting and allowing. He invites and allows God to exist and operate in and through his being and life, whereupon the Grace-Given Work of Purification, Change, and, eventually, Ego-Death can occur. Realistically and rightly so, especially in the earlier stages of the Way, the Path is indeed all about him; he cannot see or feel much more beyond himself, at that point. He wants God in his being and life, and he increasingly invites and allows That to unfold. He is still naturally self-absorbed, and he correctly wants his suffering to end, so the mechanics of desire, and the smallness of his being and life, are all he has. Yet, that too is part of the Design, and is a necessary and appropriate part of the less-than-radical stages of the Way. He is doing nothing "wrong" through inviting and allowing God to exist and operate in and through his being and life, but, quite to the contrary, he is indeed, positively and rightly, opening the door for Something much greater to unfold in and through his being and life, rather than the miserable life of selfishness. He is still an ego, and selfishness is his only perspective, and he is indeed compelled by wanting his suffering to lessen and eventually end. I use the phrase "in and through" his being and life, and not merely "in" his being and life, to indicate that God cannot be contained within any finite form, including the human being, and the attempt to do so shuts-out the very Presence he is seeking to invite and allow. He invites and allows, and then continually battles to not cling to the very Thing that he is beginning to see, feel, and intuit.

What specifically does it mean to "invite and allow?" The ego generates a natural energy that infuses the mind and body, and also radiates a very short distance outside the body. This self-energy exists within the mind and body, and is much like a cocoon around the body. There is nothing Spiritual about self-energy, even though many spiritual-types want to believe otherwise. Self-energy merely keeps you alive and functional as an individual, among other roles, and is not the Presence of God. Your aura is not God or evidence of a soul.

The ego generates self-energy, and, in addition to keeping the body alive, the ego uses self-energy for its own self-feeding and self-protection, which come in the form of the individual seeking his own survival, pleasure, and vanity. The primary action of self-energy, as it relates to the Path, is clinging. The ego, using self-energy, desires and clings to all the external people, objects, and circumstances that provide the ego with its survival, pleasure, and vanity. However, the primary clinging-action of the ego, is the clinging to the internal world. The ego, first and most powerfully, clings to itself, and then to the mind, and then to the body. The ego first clings to itself, and then it clings to all the other stuff, within and without, that feeds it with its own survival, pleasure, and vanity. Self-energy originates and radiates from the ego, and is shaped and directed by the mind to do the bidding of the ego, both within and without. The mind, under egoic-control, first shapes and directs the subtle unseen actions and clinging of self-energy, and then the physical actions of the body may or may not follow the lead of the mind, but usually do.

The ego is primarily about survival. Meeting the pleasure need merely helps the ego and the mind cope with the inherent and perpetual suffering of egoity. And, meeting the vanity need, the need to fit-in and to be liked and loved by others, helps to meet the other two needs: survival and pleasure. But, the ego is mainly about maintaining its own survival or cohesion, and at any cost. The ego will forego pleasure and vanity for the sake of survival, if need be, and can compel the mind to do anything immoral just to survive, anything, if the feeling-voice of love and conscience cannot overpower the aggression and growling of the ego-monster in the mind. The ego is pure fear and pure animal impulse, and it cannot think or feel, and it feels and knows nothing of love and conscience.

The ego is fear. The ego is the very unmoving state of fear. You are essentially fear, at the core, and fear is cohesion, the impulse to stay together, in one piece, to not dissolve and disappear. The fear is perpetual, but is usually unconscious to you, until a moment when your life is in danger, and the fear requires action. The Design of the human being allows the perpetual fear that you are, to recede from the conscious mind, and to usually remain in the vast unconscious mind. If the sheer terror of your core-level fear were always conscious to you, then you could not function: you would always be frozen and unable to think or move coherently. You would suffer even more, and then die.

The ego is the state of fear, and does not move, but, to feed and protect itself, the ego compels the actions of fear, and the subtle and gross actions of fear are always essentially clinging. The ego itself does not move and does not cling. The ego generates self-energy, and self-energy does the moving, and does the acquiring and clinging to stuff within and without, on the ego's behalf. The ego is fed, protected, and strengthened by the clinging of self-energy. The ego is the static state of fear, and self-energy is the action of fear (which is clinging), and fear is cohesion.

How does this information about you the ego, and self-energy, relate to inviting and allowing? The truly Spiritual Life unfolds as the seeker increasingly lives contrary to his natural tendency for fear and clinging. The fear of the ego, and the desiring-, acquiring-, and clinging-actions of self-energy, are gradually lessened through increasingly living by Sacrifice, Faith, and Prayer, which are inviting and allowing. It is precisely you, and your stuff and ways of fear and clinging, that prevent Freedom and Nirvana; and the Spiritual Path is about the unravelling and dissolution of it all.

Sacrifice: You are full of yourself. You are full of fear, and full of the clinging-actions of self-energy. That is what you are, and that is what you do, all day, every day. You are full of self-attention and self-absorption. You are always seeking the next feed; and, the desiring and seeking for a feed are themselves a feed. You are full and cohesive. There is little room for the Divine, the Transcendental, the Presence of God, Nirvana. The lack of Sacrifice is essentially that of attending and clinging to yourself, and then attending and clinging to all the things and ways of nature within and without that feed and protect you. The lack of Sacrifice means remaining full of yourself, and full of your stuff and your ways. Nothing is "wrong" with the natural life of self-absorption and selfishness, for that too is part of the Design, but you cannot Grow now, and cannot eventually Realize Nirvana or God, while continuing to live naturally. You cannot be full of yourself, and your stuff and ways, and become full of the Divine and the Higher Way. Allow the cup of self to become empty, by profound Sacrifice and Faith, and do not cling to the result.

The choice is between the natural way and the Unnatural Way, even in the midst of living in the world, and being productive and responsible. The Way unfolds where you stand, or not all. There is no better place to begin than where you are, and no better time to start than now. Let-go of the limitation and suffering that you are and that you continually create, right here, and right now. That which prevents the Realization of Freedom or Nirvana is within you. Wherever you go, and whenever you arrive, there you are, the same as when you began your trip: limitation and suffering. Be in the world, but not of the world. The un-Sacrificial life is rooted in fear, and in clinging to yourself, and in Faithlessness.

The ego-animal is you, the essential core-level you that resides at the base of the mind, and clinging spins your small tight cocoon of self-energy. Sacrifice and Faith allow for the weakening of the ego itself; and, they also change the clinging self-serving habit-patterns of self-energy, to that of an effortless falling-away and making room for God, rather than spinning, withdrawing, and imploding tighter and tighter within yourself. Those actions which you stop engaging eventually lose their power and momentum, and that which you stop feeding and protecting eventually dies.

The primary and most powerful clinging, is the clinging to yourself, without which, no other clinging would be possible.

Faith: You depend on yourself. You are in control of your life, within and without. You are also full of your own ideas and schemes about how ordinary and Spiritual life should work. You cling to your own mind and all its contents. You are naturally a self-willed creature. That is normal and right in becoming a productive and responsible human being. You are well-practiced, and have great confidence, in your ability to do what is needed, hopefully within moral boundaries, to take care of yourself and others. There are those who are not so fortunate, for various reasons.

But, the serious seeker eventually sees and understands, for himself, that there is one achievement that he cannot accomplish on his own, by his own ideas, intelligence, and self-effort: Realizing Freedom. He also eventually sees that the more self-effort he employs to do so, only takes him even further from his goal. His Faithlessness causes him to spin down, into an even deeper and darker hole within himself. He fears giving-up control, because it has always worked with everything else, and because that is all he has ever known. But, he is desperate, he has wasted all those years, and he finally begins to give-up on himself. He begins to surrender to the Transcendental Intelligence and Power, or God, for It to do the Work of Purification and Change. He begins to live by Faith. He begins to come out into the Light. He begins to feel relieved, in spite of the suffering that still exists, and that will continue to exist until true Ego-Death. He may realize that Faith applies to the whole of his life, and that the same Force will also Help in providing all his ordinary needs, as he seeks the one Higher Life and Freedom. To understand and live by real Faith in That which Created you, to surrender to the Creator of you and this entire beautiful and infinite universe, based on evidence and reason and not mere belief, is to be relieved of the burden and problem of you and your life. Faithlessness is rooted in fear, and in clinging to yourself, and in the presumption of being alone and nothing Greater than you.

If you are confronted with a great difficulty, and you find yourself spinning-down into your small dark world inside, then see and understand that you are either completely, or mostly, depending on yourself to solve the issue currently before you. The Way of Freedom requires your participation in life, and not withdrawal from being ordinarily-functional and responsible, but there is a profound difference between being fearful while moving through life and problems, and Faithful participation in life. Faith is not that of becoming a silly, grinning, irresponsible child, but an adult, a strong and confident adult, one who recognizes that Something much greater than he Exists and Operates in the universe, and living accordingly.

You tend to depend completely on yourself, even for that which you absolutely and rationally know that you cannot possibly accomplish on your own: real Growth and real Freedom. The egoically-controlled mind is often not rational or realistic. You fear losing or relinquishing control over those matters that are most important to you, whether natural or Unnatural, even when you know that you cannot affect the change or improvement you want, on your own.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Jesus (Matthew 6:33)

Prayer: You communicate primarily with yourself. In your continual fear, clinging, self-attention, self-absorption, mentalizing, planning, scheming, anxiety, worry, and fragmented thinking, you spend most of the day communicating with yourself. You may at times feel yourself spinning-down into a very small dark world inside, where only you exist. You may occasionally wish you could "just turn it all off," and you try to find relief with amusements, distractions, and possibly alcohol and other drugs. It never works. You get up the next day and repeat the same cycle all over again, day after day. You feel alone, and, in practice, you are alone.

It is the very nature of being an ego, the separate consciousness, to live under the unconscious presumption that you are all but alone in this infinite universe, whereby you also feel that you are the most intelligent and most powerful agent who can act on your behalf. In your self-absorption, you naturally and unconsciously see or feel yourself to be far bigger and far more substantial than anyone or anything beyond yourself. One result of this presumption is the idea that, "Nobody cares about me like I do." Relationship and self-transcendence are not your natural state.

A few serious seekers may discover, by experience and reason, that they are not alone, that there is indeed Something Greater. Call It what you will: the Creator; the Transcendental Power and Intelligence; the Metaphysical; the Spirit; Brahman; or God. Words do not matter with understanding.

The Design of creation includes the fact that the human nervous system, the human mind and heart, has the possibility of "interacting" with the very Fabric of existence, the Transcendental, or God, which is also here and now, in all space and in all things of form, and not only in some remote part of the universe, or on "another" plane of existence. The creation is pervaded by the Creator, but creation is indeed other-than the Creator. Ordinary human consciousness is separate from the Transcendental, and it is certainly other-than the Transcendental, and ordinary human actions are indeed other-than the Godly Life, but God nevertheless Pervades all space and all things, including the human being. On the rare occasion when the Grace-Given interaction with the Presence of God does occur, it is in both directions. The Gift of Incarnation makes it real and powerful, and not the mere empty and mental belief of the religious or spiritual.

Prayer is an extension and manifestation of Sacrifice and Faith. Those who are beginning to have a conceptual understanding of the Transcendental Intelligence and Power, and who are beginning to live by real operative Faith, Faith that is allowed, by Sacrifice, to touch every aspect of the life within and without, Faith in That which Created the selfhood but is beyond the selfhood, cannot help but find themselves in Prayer, speaking passionately from the heart to the Transcendental Intelligence and Power, to the Sustaining Power of the Buddha, to God, petitioning for deeper understanding of how to more-deeply live the Higher Life of Sacrifice and Faith, and expressing profound gratitude for the opportunity. A life without Prayer is rooted in fear, and in clinging to yourself, and in the lack of Sacrifice and Faith. The serious seeker, by Grace, comes to intuitively understand how Sacrifice, Faith, and Prayer cannot be separated from one another, but are part of the same moment-to-moment Way of Freedom.

The Way of Freedom is inviting and allowing, which is Sacrifice, Faith, and Prayer. The Way is not a list of superficial or routine behaviors, a list of "things to do and not do." The truly Spiritual Path is based on a core-level understanding, insight, or feeling, an understanding from the core of the mind and heart and the entire being, of the striking contrast between your small state and fearful ways of clinging and desiring, of self-feeding and self-protection, of selfishness and taking, of shutting-down and thus shutting-out the Infinite, and the Presence and Way of God, which is Other-Than small, and Other-Than fear, and Other-Than clinging. Only with such insight or feeling into your ever-present fear, clinging, selfishness, taking, withdrawal, and shutting-down, can you be aware of that which requires Sacrifice. There is no other way. That understanding is not an academic comprehension, such as reading and memorizing ideas in a textbook, and being able to pass a test on what you learned. You could, hypothetically, memorize much of what I have written, well over a million words, and never intuitively understand the Way, or "how" to truly live by Sacrifice, Faith, and Prayer. Most people who read my writing will never intuitively understand, from the core. Never. Most who spend any appreciable time in study, will, at best, merely become familiar with a few key terms and phrases from the Teaching, and will then go about "trying to do it," only to give-up when they see no personal "result," and when the greater desire for the natural life of self-feeding once again dominates the psyche.

Why? How can that be? The Teaching seems to be written fairly clearly, and is written at a readability-level such that most people without a higher education, can mentally comprehend it, and can remember the few key principles. So, why is it that so few can understand the Way, such that it becomes a living reality for them? The answer is quite simple, yet powerful. It has nothing to do with the notion that most people are somehow "inferior," or not quite "up to the task." That is simply not true. Living a better life based on and in a real relationship to the Divine, and eventually Realizing Freedom, have nothing to do with how well someone might score on an intelligence test, his I.Q, or how many degrees he may or may not hold from a reputable university, or how charitable he may be, or how many years he has spent on the modern spiritual circuit either as a spiritual teacher or as a seeker. Hypothetically, a person with an IQ of 220, and three earned PhD degrees, and who also graduated as an MD, becoming a revered surgeon, and who is also known for his deep personal kindness and his extensive charitable work, could spend years studying the written Teaching, and yet walk away completely clueless, and still no closer to the Higher Life than when he started. Similarly, the most "advanced" and respected spiritual teacher, or a spiritual seeker who has gone from teacher to teacher and path to path for decades, or even the most devout Buddhist or Christian, could likewise study the Teaching for years, or even meet many times, personally, with the Incarnation, and never understand. Again, such hypothetical people are not necessarily "inferior" or "bad" in any meaningful way as it relates to the inherent human possibility to Grow. But, the possibility to Grow, and the ability to Grow, are two very different matters. On the other hand, again, hypothetically, a person with very little education, and who has spent very little time being indoctrinated in the churches or spiritual groups, and who has done very little good or charitable work in his life, could not only deeply understand how to live the Way of Freedom, and Grow and have a far better life, a truly Spiritual Life, but he could also eventually Realize Freedom, he could find true God-Realization. I hope the above hyperbole lays an adequate foundation for discussing what is indeed required to understand and live the Way of Freedom. (Adequate concept-formation requires both examples and non-examples.)

So, what is different about someone who understands, sees, and feels his egoity in contrast to the Presence of God, from those who do not have such understanding and insight? The simple answer is: one has a passionate all-consuming commitment and desire for the Higher Life, and the other does not. For one, the Higher Life is most important; while, for the other, it is a passing interest or curiosity, or perhaps akin to a "hobby," a spiritual hobby. The next logical question is: What is the connection between passion, and having the understanding to live the truly Spiritual Life, and eventually Realize Freedom?

The Transcendental and Supreme Intelligence and Power, or Brahman or God, "Sees" such commitment and passion as a Prayer for understanding and for the Higher Life, and God Responds to such determination and passionate Prayer by Granting the intuitive understanding to truly begin the Way of Freedom, and by beginning the process of Purification and Change.

After many years of seeking and struggle, Buddha sat down one day in meditation, with the resolve to either find the Way to overcome suffering, or to die where he sat. He was eventually Granted true Enlightenment, Ego-Death, and Freedom. That is the utmost in commitment and passion, and that is the Response. Also, Jesus said: "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6) Further: "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." (Luke 11:9-10)

The Transcendental Intelligence and Power, the Creative Force, Brahman or God, is not as a parent, is not similar to a provider and protector of children. The visible Created universe operates according to known laws of physics. Karma works in similar ways, according to predictable yet complex laws, forces, and outcomes, but, unlike physics, the existence, laws and workings of karma are not well-known to humanity. Further, the Transcendental or God, also operates according to Its own Laws, or Metaphysics, but are very dissimilar to natural physics and karma, in power, complexity, and dominion. The creation is necessarily other-than and less-than the Creator, or there would be no creation; only God.

God does not impose Itself and Its Way into the lives of individuals, and God does not "punish" people for merely rejecting It and the Higher Life. You have freedom of choice. God's Laws and Workings are extremely detailed and complex, but God is not petty and "personal" against any man, as mainstream Christianity would have you believe. Why Create people to have freedom of choice, and then punish someone for making the "wrong" choice? God is no respecter of individuals, but is Law, which the student of life finds is extremely good for him.

The fact that God has no perceptible or consequential Presence or Influence, in the being and life of an individual and humanity in general, is not "punishment," but is that of merely allowing people to have that which they actually want: the natural life of self-feeding and self-protection, and amorality toward one another. The individual is merely left with the natural destiny, which includes accidental and karmic forces and events, unless suffering eventually motivates him to seek Something Better. As an analogy: If a person whom you know could benefit from your help, first rejects or ignores your offers, and then even makes it a point to stay as far away from you as possible, you would respect his wishes, and you would not impose yourself on him. You extended your hand, and freely offered to help, and that is all you could morally do. (When writing, I must occasionally anthropomorphize or "humanize" the Formless All-Pervading God, or confine the discussion such that God is portrayed as less-than That which It is, in order to convey and make the subject matter more understandable through words. Please forgive the limitations of language and writing.)

Therefore, the intuitive understanding necessary to begin the Way of Freedom, is by Grace, and Grace is in Response to your Prayer; and your Prayer is, essentially, a deep and passionate desire and commitment to Grow above all else, to have a Higher Life more than anything else in the world, or to even eventually Realize Perfect Freedom. Formed and articulated thoughts and words "directed" to the All-Pervading God, may reflect and accompany the prior from-the-core passionate desire and commitment, and can certainly be part of Prayer, but God also "Recognizes" and Responds to the silent, deep, and passionate desire and commitment, regardless of whether or not the desire and commitment are reflected in human language, and whether they are thought or spoken. A passionless, robotic prayer in words, is no more than a mantra, and is not "Heard," just as a shallow, weak, and inconsistent desire and "commitment" to finding God and His Way, receive no Response. A person cannot force himself to want the Higher Life and Freedom, just as he cannot mentally convince or force himself to love another person: he either does, or does not. God cannot be trivialized and used as a hobby or an experiment; or, as just another addition to, or compartment in, your wholly natural life of fear and clinging, self-feeding and self-protection, complete selfishness and little regard for conscience and morality toward others.

Direct intuitive understanding and insight into your state and subtle and gross actions of egoity, and the objectivity it provides, is the prerequisite and eternal requirement necessary for Growth, for, without it, you have no way to see or feel the stuff and ways of you that need to be let-go and Sacrificed, and "how" to do it. Understanding and insight cannot be memorized, and is fresh and new in every moment. It is not a one-time event, but is the internal foundation from which the serious student of life lives in every moment. It is Given and re-Given, or better, perpetually-Given, to one who has the serious and passionate desire and commitment. You cannot cling to it, or create it; if you try, you will shut-out or prevent the very thing you are seeking to "have." Understanding and insight is your Grace-Given guide, and is for the sole purpose of showing you "how" to invite and allow the Higher Life. You cannot own, control, manipulate, and cling to intuitive understanding, no more than you can own, control, manipulate, and cling to God Itself. In fact, the two - intuitive understanding and God - cannot be separated.

If you are deeply serious about Growth, and perhaps about Realizing Freedom, and once that understanding and insight begins to unfold, then be courageous enough to not "pick-and-choose" which aspects of the Path to allow, and which not to allow. Courage is based in Faith, and is the willingness to let-go of anything and everything within and without, that is preventing Freedom. Also be careful to not exclude certain self-feeding and self-protective subtle and gross behaviors, and people, objects, events, and circumstances, from the arena of Sacrifice and Faith. The egoically-controlled mind is a tricky devil. For example, there are those who have and will try to live by Faith, without also living by Sacrifice, and vice versa. Others will attempt to exclude certain addictions, obsessions, pleasures, vanities, self-efforts, or other objects or actions of clinging, from the altar of Sacrifice and Faith, and convince themselves that it will magically "go away" one day, or they simply put it into a dark mental box, close the lid on it, and pretend it does not exist or matter. However, the only thing that "goes away" is the opportunity to Grow and Realize Freedom, because the egoity indeed continues to exist, and it continues to matter in terms of the Higher Life. The mechanics of Growth cannot be altered, and the Law cannot be circumvented, and suppression and denial of the truth of oneself are great enemies to all serious students of life. The isolated and insular nature of the egoically-controlled mind, can cause it to not compare the subjective world with objective facts and experience, and, fueled by the powerful drive for survivial, pleasure, and vanity, makes it prone to great delusion and psychosis.

Two general problems result from "picking-and-choosing" which aspects of the Path are more comfortable (even though the Way is not about finding comfort), while excluding the less-comfortable aspects, go much further than merely limiting the "amount" of Growth you realize: it first means that you are profoundly limiting your Growth to that of a perpetual beginner, and, second, it means that you are giving-up the opportunity for Freedom. In terms of finding true God-Realization, it is indeed "all-or-nothing." Compromising along the Path means that you will forever remain a beginner, and you will also never Realize Freedom. That is the unpleasant reality. How can that be? The very act of compromise is a profound withdrawal, a profound shutting-down and closing-off from the All-Pervading Presence of God, a profound self-feeding and self-protection. Withdrawal, regardless of its causes, is a powerful, implosive, contractive, mechanical action of the self-energy of egoity, and is diametrically-opposed to opening-up and to the allowance of Growth and Freedom. Withdrawal allows you to shut-down, and to remain safe and full of yourself and your ways.

Your choices and actions of compromise keep the mechanics of egoity alive, thereby withdrawing from and shutting-out the All-Pervading God, and keeping your being and life full of yourself and your fearful and clinging ways. However, and this is as important as the mechanics, your choices are also prayer, and your non-verbal behaviors are telling God that, "I am not very interested. My natural life of self-feeding and self-protection are much more important to me. I do not deeply want You, or the Higher Life, or Freedom. That is my choice." And, the Intelligence and Force of God Responds by taking his "Hands" off you. That is part of the Law: God will not Impose Himself and His Way on you. You cannot have both the natural life and the Unnatural Life, since the two are exactly opposite to one another. Oil and water do not mix. The mechanics of Sacrifice and Faith, as well as the Lawful Workings of Purification and Change in Response to sincerity, honesty, passion, and commitment (as evidenced by not consciously compromising the life of Sacrifice and Faith), must be satisfied, for a student of life to have realistic expectations of Growth and Freedom. In other words, the degree of your Growth is proportional to how much you fulfill both the mechanics and the Metaphysical Law. As you sow, so shall you reap. Sow little, reap little. Sow much, reap much. Sow everything, reap Nothing.

Some people compromise by, for example, convincing themselves that "Faith is sufficient" for Growth and Freedom, thereby minimizing, in their mind, the need for Sacrifice. They first mistakenly convince themselves that they are living by Faith, which they are not, but then also delude themselves into believing that Sacrifice is just an "unnecessary annoyance or inconvenience." They have just talked themselves out of the opportunity for Growth and Freedom. Another example: Some seekers will erroneously assume that as long as they make some small Sacrifices, such as giving some left-over money or time to help others, then no more Sacrifice is needed, and they may also choose to believe that Faith is not really an issue for them, in light of their "other great Sacrifice." There is nothing self-satisfying or convenient about the Way of Freedom, and the God-denying mechanics of egoity, and the Metaphysical Laws, do not change or bend for any man.

However, regarding the above specific examples of compromise, it may be helpful to understand: You cannot live by Sacrifice, without also living by Faith. And, you cannot live by Faith, without also living by Sacrifice. Many will delude themselves into excluding one in favor of the other, but they will fail to Grow and Realize Freedom. People tend to find their level and areas of comfort along the Way, and exclude the rest, but they thereby forego the opportunity few in history ever have, and they live and die according to the natural life and destiny, and never realize the Higher Life or Freedom. They lie to themselves, and they believe their own lies: that is the power of the ego and the mind it is allowed to control. I will address specifically why Sacrifice is necessary for Faith, and why Faith is needed for Sacrifice.

Deep and meaningful Sacrifice, cannot be initiated and sustained without Faith. In other words, you need Faith to live by Sacrifice. Without Faith, you will not be able to put your ordinary personal needs or comfort at risk, which is inherent within Sacrifice, for without risk or momentary discomfort, there is no Sacrifice: the comfort and habits of self-feeding and self-protection, and Sacrifice, are not compatible. And, without Faith, you will not be able to surrender and Sacrifice your own ideas, preferences, scheming, and self-effort relative to Growth and God-Realization. Without Faith relative to your ordinary personal needs, and relative to Growth and God-Realization, there can be no deep and meaningful Sacrifice, and you will remain full of your self, your stuff, and your ways.

Conversely, deep and meaningful Faith, cannot be initiated and sustained without Sacrifice. In other words, you need Sacrifice to live by Faith. It is natural for you to not like risk, and to like comfort and pleasure: that is the natural life of self-feeding and self-protection. But, the natural way keeps you full of yourself, and your stuff of self-energy, and your fearful, clinging, and Faithless ways. The Way of Freedom is exactly opposite to how you are naturally tending to live in every moment, which is by fear and clinging, seen as self-feeding and self-protection (or survival, pleasure, and vanity).

Sacrifice makes room for a real, living, and tangible arena for Faith, and is a necessary catalyst for Faith. Unless your subtle and gross personal needs and comfort are put at risk by Sacrifice, and unless you thereby actually rely on the unseen Creative Intelligence and Power rather than your own abilities, you will never know real living Faith relative to your physical survival. Also, unless you realize that you can do nothing by your own ideas, intelligence, and self-effort to Grow and Realize Freedom, you will, first, not be able to Sacrifice the stuff and ways of your self-reliance and self-effort, and you will spin-down even further into yourself, and, second, you will never know real living Faith relative to Growth and God-Realization.

In either case, without Sacrifice, there can be no real living core-level and pervasive Faith, only thinking-Faith, much like those who populate the churches and spiritual groups. You will remain full of yourself, and full of your own ideas of "how things should look," and full of your own stuff and ways of self-effort, and full of your clinging to yourself, and full of the clinging to all the internal and external stuff that supports your life. Without Sacrifice, you will remain full of yourself, which is essentially fear, and full of the self-energy and its fear-induced habit-patterns which are the very stuff and ways of clinging. Without Sacrifice, you remain full of yourself, and your stuff, and your ways, and you leave no room for God. And, you also remain Faithless. Sacrifice and Faith are interdependent.

The ego is the state of fear, and self-energy and its clinging are the actions of fear. Fear is cohesion, and cohesion prevents Growth and Freedom. Fear and cohesion are the opposite of Sacrifice, Faith, and Prayer. The less the ego is fed and protected, the weaker it becomes. The less the habit of clinging to self and to all that is not-self is engaged through Sacrifice, Faith, and Prayer, the more self-energy can dissipate, and can be Purified by Grace. The more the inherent actions and habits of egoity are diminished and Purified, the more the stuff and ways of the natural life in the being and life, can be Replaced with God and His Way. The weaker the ego, and the less self-energy and its actions of clinging within and without, then the greater the advancement in the Higher Life, and the more opportunity for Ego-Death, Freedom, and God-Realization. True Ego-Death is necessarily a permanent Change, the Great Change. People do not go in and out of Egolessness, as some like to believe.

Most of your fear, Faithlessness, and clinging, and their tremendous power, are unconscious to you, until you are confronted with real subtle and gross allowances of Faith and Sacrifice. The serious and honest student finds that he is very fearful, and has very little understanding and trust in the Intelligence and Power of the Creator, and is not comfortable with the "not-knowing" and the "open-ended" nature of Faith. He also discovers that he is not the "very giving person" that he has believed and perhaps portrayed himself to be. If an individual says to you, "I'm a very giving person," then look more closely at him, and you will likely see superficiality, ignorance, and a vanity-feeding delusion, and someone who is, probably, expecting a great deal from you or others. Most relationships are about business and fair exchange, which is not immoral, except that fact is often hidden under the guise of "love" and "caring." Genuine and deep love, friendship, kindness, helpfulness, honesty, and trust, between two people, are rare.

Truly living by Faith is powerful and from-the-core, and is pervasive throughout your entire being and life. Living by Faith cannot be compartmentalized, and it either includes both your ordinary needs and your Spiritual Growth, the whole of your life, or nothing at all. Weak Faith in one area means weak Faith in all areas. The same principle is true for Sacrifice. Moreover, Sacrifice, Faith and Prayer are simultaneous, and a single, pervasive, Grace-Given Way of life, the Way of Freedom; not three separate activities, and not occurring at different moments in time. I provide some details of "how" to live the Way, which requires some distinction and categorization, but the actual Way of life is a single, whole, pervasive, beautiful, hopeful, and moment-to-moment inviting and allowing of Grace and the Higher Life, within and without.

Life is too short for cowardice and compromise. Allow Faith and Sacrifice relative to all things within and without. Regret is a terrible and heavy burden to carry at the end of one's life. If you are relatively young, you may not yet feel deeply the brevity of life, but you probably will, one day. Do not waste your brief existence with fear and triviality.

As you Grow, you may come to intuitively understand how the Way of Freedom involves a predisposition of passionate effortlessness, and you will see or feel how it is not a contradiction in terms. Scheming and self-effort not only do not "work," but also shut-down the being and life even further. Self-effort relative to Growth and Freedom, is rooted in clinging, and is the very actions of clinging. Once intuitively understood, Sacrifice, Faith, and Prayer are the antithesis of self-effort. They are the most powerful and passionate actions or allowances of letting-go, but must be re-allowed in every moment because of the natural tendency to "take it back," to re-cling. As long as the ego is alive, it will always be compelling the actions of clinging, at least to some degree. Remember: The primary and most powerful clinging, is the clinging to yourself, without which, no other clinging would be possible. Passion for the Higher Life comes from being tired of the suffering of the natural life, and from seeing and understanding the Better Way to live. Either you are completely tired of the natural life, and completely willing to live differently, or you are not. If not, your passion for Growth and Freedom will not be full, but proportional.

The Way of Freedom is by Grace, from beginning to End. Grace is Giving you this Teaching, to lead the mind and heart, and as a connection in this world of space and form. Grace Provides the intuitive understanding and insight into that which is preventing Growth and Freedom, and which leads the student in Faith, Sacrifice, and Prayer. Grace Weakens the ego itself, as he gradually ceases feeding and protecting himself. Grace Purifies self-energy as he, the ego, gradually ceases generating more through Faith, Sacrifice, and Prayer. Grace Changes the natural habit of clinging, constriction, and implosion of the self-energy that remains, as the student allows his cocoon to un-ravel and fall-away into Infinity. Grace Leads the mind into decreasing self-attention and self-absorption, and he gradually ceases looking-back to see how he is doing, while giving himself over into the All-Pervading Beingness of God, the Transcendental. Grace Converts the desirous heart into the All-Pervading Heart-Space of God. Then, at the right time, and after the being has been adequately prepared, Grace eventually Performs the Death of the ego, the "turning-about" in the deepest seat of consciousness, the extinction of the individuated and separate state of consciousness, the extinction of limitation, suffering, and darkness, leaving only God. The serious seeker of the Higher Life brings his all, and God Gives His All, which is Himself. Through Incarnation, God is already Giving His All. The equation can never be balanced, and that too is Grace.

People typically leave God out of their search for God, but God is the very foundation, initiator, and sustainer of the Way of Freedom, from beginning to End. Seekers cannot exclude God from their search for God, and realistically expect to Grow. God does not merely show-up at the end of the truly Spiritual Path, but is there from the very beginning. They fail to understand that Growth is mainly about God, not about them, and, more importantly, no real Growth is possible without God. You have no Higher-Self and no lower-self: there is you, and there is God; and both cannot exist fully in and through the same being and life. One has to go, and most who hear the Message of Freedom, reject God, at least in action. (For there to be a Higher-Self and a lower-self, there would have to be a third-self making the decision as to which of the other two selves to either join, or to remain as a neutral third-self. If you choose to adopt that fantasy, then the third-self could be called the middle-self or the uninvolved-self. And, if you take the logic to its conclusion, then you would need an infinite number of other-selves.)

Those who think they "resonate" with the Message of Freedom, do not deeply understand it or themselves. It is impossible for egoity to resonate, or harmonize, with God and His Way. God is exactly opposite to you the ego, and the Way of Freedom is exactly opposite to that which you are naturally tending to do, in every moment, which is clinging. Such statements of "resonance" are typically a vanity-feed, making oneself "Spiritual," or can simply be ignorance or superficiality. Some readers may appreciate the insight, relief, and Upliftment they are beginning to feel as they study, but that is not to be confused with them somehow resonating or harmonizing with God, which is impossible. The only way for you to resonate or harmonize with God, is to get out of His way, while the body yet lives. Freedom and Incarnation is a very rare Event in history, not because of some inherent physical impediment within the human structure, but because the masses have never been desirous or open to learning, and because the few who have heard the Message of Freedom, are not willing to pay the price, which is only to give-up limitation and suffering, the stuff and ways that prevent Freedom. The many spiritual teachers or seekers who claim to be "Enlightened," are either innocently ignorant or deluded, and justify their egoity and suffering to themselves and others, while the remaining few are intentional charlatans.

I once asked a group of beginning students and seekers to define Growth. Each one proceeded to mention some of his or her own personal feeling-states, characteristics, actions, relationships, and interactions that had changed for the better, since he had begun to live by Sacrifice and Faith, to live by Grace, in real relationship to God. Their answers revealed a rather shallow understanding, and their continued self-absorption and smallness. Their responses were solely about them; not once was God's name mentioned during the entire time. They had not yet deeply understood that Growth is not primarily about them, or about the positive changes in them, which do, nevertheless, occur along the Way, and which they were obviously enjoying. After everyone spoke, I offered an alternative definition of Growth: Growth is the increasing of God's Existence, Operations, and Influence, in and through a being and life. Real Growth is not defined by how much better you are doing, but how much better God is doing through what is, for now, your being and life. The Way of Freedom is about the gradual, and eventually complete, Incarnation of God, not merely the betterment of you.

God Leads and Carries you to this Other Shore, where only He remains.


Our Temple will be offering much more material about the truly Spiritual Life, here on our website, for those few who may be sincerely and deeply interested. Please feel free to study the many pages of Teaching materials that are already posted at the links above.

Thank you,
Staff

Be open to opportunities to do good for someone else today.


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