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Material vs Spiritual |
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Material vs Spiritual |
"A person experiences life as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. Our task must be to free ourselves from this self-imposed prison, and through compassion, to find the reality of Oneness". ~ Albert Einstein.
People see their everyday lives filled with blandness of routine, or the frustration of ineptitude, or the emotional pain of loneliness, or the coercion of seeming 'necessity' forcing them to do what they do not want to do, and most of all, filled with the seeming irrationality of all those people around them that seem barely able to think, who respond to life like organic robots�
And they fight the daily battle with gravity, as things fall and must be picked up, or get soiled, and have to be cleaned up, or break, and sometimes cannot be repaired, and they experience the hardness of corners which wound them, the loss of valuable items or money from pockets or other places which require them to search and sometimes not find, and a myriad of other little irritations of life�
And perceive with their minds a larger model of everyday reality which seems rife with violence, pain, poverty, and disaster, and they see very little good in that larger world�
�and they call this 'the material plane', and each piece of data which fits the unpleasantness or horror of this plane is added to that mental file, building a vision of it which grows steadily worse.
And in their imaginations they build a 'perfect world', idealized and vague, where people are all smart and reasonable, where people do what they most want to do and succeed at those efforts, and no longer do they lose things, but do not need them in the first place, and the world has no violence, pain, poverty, and disaster, and most of all, their confusion as to the purpose of Life is answered, however vaguely�
� and they call this 'the spiritual plane', and each piece of data which might lead to or manifest this idealized world is placed into that mental file, making it seem more and more attainable.
Much thought goes into that wonderful model of idealized life, and more and more, individuals try to see life moving towards that ideal, and when they hear of others who seem to have 'powers' or 'perceptions' which fit into the idealized world in their imaginations, these take amazing importance to them, as they mentally file the new information in their 'spiritual plane' or 'higher consciousness' file, accepting the stories as true because they fit into that file so readily.
If at any time the individual, through bereavement or bad incident, saturated with fear or horror, loses sight of the idealized file, they plunge into despair, and sometimes they slide into cynicism, which causes them to defend their life from that darkest of mental holes by taking on an emotional position of apathy and uncaring living in the present.
Sometimes, the individual, through bereavement or bad incident, saturated with fear or horror, starts rejecting all the data which does not fit the idealized file, and by closing down their perceptions of the bad events in the world and avoiding those who they find uncomfortable to be around, they start living in an upbeat fantasy world, the idealized file becoming their definition of life, and they think of themselves as 'spiritual beings' and often ardently promote that viewpoint, with others in that mi ndset agreeing and reinforcing their mental state. For them, the 'spiritual plane' concepts are a sanctuary.But there is more going on than the ego can comprehend...
There are certain phenomena in the behavior of people which seemingly support the idealized file, which people perceive but science has not yet be able to quantify or even collect data on. The most prevalent of these is the ability to sense how others feel without any verbal communication of that state� some can even perceive other's mental state more specifically, sensing intentions before actions.
Another is the ability to think outside usual conceptual/social paradigms, to find solutions which are not even perceived by others, often solutions which seem totally obvious after the fact to those who are constrained to the limited thinking of the conditioned state.
Another is to think on a different level than the ego, to perceive suddenly complex relationships and actions which astound the mindbound, an ability called 'intuition' and 'intuitive thought'. Since the integrative mind is far more than the ego, it does not tend to think in concepts but in pictures, and from it relationships far beyond the ego's ability to understand appear like magic in the mind, and while the intuition can be wrong, it is far less wrong than the incredibly limited ego.
Also, there are many who, when not in a state of stress, think and act generously and altruistically, and there is the occasional hero or heroine who gives their life knowingly to save others, often complete strangers, an act which defies the pain and horror of the 'material plane' file. And most of all, there are those who give their life, daily, to save others, to feed them and help them feed themselves, to help through the dark episodes of their lives, etc. These are Bodhisatvas, and they are far more common than most people realize.
There is also the occasional seemingly spontaneous change in people, when they suddenly act very different, usually very positive changes which prove realizations in their lives can and do change people's behaviors for the better. Unfortunately, the opposite occasionally occurs, when an individual's behavior changes for the worse, the more horrific of these often making the 'news', causing many people to resist the idea that there are realizations which are worthwhile to pursue in life.
So, true spirituality is non-conceptual and seamless with everyday life.
True spiritual realizations are always ego-diminishing. They have little to do with concepts, other than wiping out entrenched concept structures. They always cause an increase in perception and a more observant attitude. The ability to perceive better incoming data causes new conceptual structures to form, and these too are purified by further realizations, often caused by the perception of other's true states of mind and motivations for what they do. Increased understanding of others and the true state of the world counters the intense nasty flow of bad events and disasters constantly bombarding us from the 'news' subculture, which does not broadcast good events unless they are unique or strange.
So spirituality has little to do with either the 'material plane' or the 'spiritual plane' conceptual models. It has everything to do with Universe, which we are 100% part of. The models of 'spiritual planes' given in books have little to do with the reality of Universe, which is far more than any concept, or book, can begin to understand. When one reaches the point they perceive Universe cleanly, without concepts, they no longer refer to 'spiritual plane' or 'material plane', because the words become nonsense� a division that doesn't exist.
The ego, which we all have, which is a necessary part of our cognitive perceptual systems, tends to think of itself as existing apart from Universe, but since it consists only of concepts and a little hard wiring in the brain, a kind of 'virtual entity', it knows it is a temporary mechanism. Because it divides Universe up into definitions and words, the ego seeks 'spiritual plane' concepts which promotes the idea that it transcends the inescapable dissolution of the body, and it loves such concepts as 'heaven', 'reincarnation' and 'eternal life'. In it's fear, it seeks to survive.
In reality, there are no endings, because we are no more the systemic synergetic arrangement of cells than we are the ego. We are the energy which makes up all, the energy of existence, the energy that Universe consists of�Universe aware of itself.
For a Thousand Years... (parable) All One = One Spirit