I had a really powerful experience a few months ago on an acid trip on one mere blotter tab. I’ve had higher dose trips, but the point was not to get insanely psychedelic that night, but to examine a bit of what is lurking just beneath my mind’s surface as I enter this technically new stage of life which I am just settling into. I couldn’t trip too hard in order to keep things as smooth as possible with my wife, who wasn’t tripping that night and never had before actually. We were alone and comfortable in our room and the outcome was a great trip in the end. I felt such a uniquely euphoric energy flowing all throughout my body and I couldn’t help but smile uncontrollably and laugh in a state of truly perfect bliss, that bliss which arises from first-hand experience of the fact that all is actually one – I just knew it right then and there. Then, since I’m currently making a lot of goals for myself to write and to even film my experiences in order to document my life for both personal as well as creative purposes, I began to write what I was feeling, about the immense joy and comfort in knowing that everything is one, and that no matter what we may see as good or bad, whatever pain and pleasure we may face as individuals, as races, as nations, or as an entire human species or planet, everything is happening in order to serve an ultimate purpose, a divine purpose in which nothing is ever a mistake, because every mistake is corrected as the polar and essential energies of life complement each other in what mystics call the cosmic dance. Duality can’t be ignored or demonized if one is to achieve the goal of Oneness. Oneness is the inclusion of both opposites, it is the realization that neither the feminine or the masculine can be disposed of if life on the planet is to survive. That is merely the physical manifestation of the Hermetic Principle of Gender, which is a universal principle known to be present throughout all that exists. Nothing can exist without its opposite, and we all must endure our share of pain without extended sorrow or complaint. We believe we know what is good for ourselves and for our families and for our countries and for the whole world, yet we struggle and eventually fail when faced with difficult and crucial decisions which can and will radically alter the course of our lives. Of course, it cannot be altered. We are all free to choose our actions, but the effects of our actions – of the causes we create – are all then used as the blessed ingredients of what will be the formula for our own empowerment. We can extract a valuable lesson from every single hardship, and often times all it takes is that we stop looking at the situation through the eyes of a victim, through the eyes of someone who feels entitled to have everything go their way every moment of every single day. Such selfish sentiments are predominant in our society today because we are all so caught up in ourselves. We are so caught up in what people will think of us that we begin to feel inferior. Because of this we often spend entire lifetimes unconsciously trying to feel superior, both to ourselves and to others. Such an attitude corrupts the whole of society as every interaction we take part in becomes poisoned with a tinge of distrust. Too many people feel offended about way too many petty things, and what they see as harmless remarks are statements filled with cynicism and self-loathing reflected outwards. These little remarks here and there are sure to turn into a vicious habit of cynicism. I set a goal for myself about a year ago to read at least one book every week. This week I finished reading Rupert Spira’s “Being Aware of Being Aware”, and it’s honestly a wonderful description of the non-dual Advaita Vedanta system of mysticism, explained in practical terms. I’ve been studying Vedanta philosophy in depth for the past few months but this book really delivers the message in a very efficient manner. What it all comes down to is being in the moment, in the awareness which is common to all of us, in the consciousness in which all experience takes place. There is nothing extraordinary about this. In fact, this dimension is what makes everyday ordinary experience possible. Consciousness is compared to a screen at a movie theater. While we all go through life as actors playing certain roles on the screen of consciousness, we forget that we are, in fact, just acting. That our personalities cannot affect the screen behind life’s movie, and that whatever happens in life, the screen behind our lives can never be affected. We often get so caught up in this terrestrial life of ours, in its trials and tribulations, and we become stressed, we cannot find a way out. We forget that there is an immortal, timeless awareness behind our everyday lives, the spirit that makes life possible and from which all life emanates. This spirit cannot be broken by the most devastating problems that life can throw our way, and it is our refuge when life seems overwhelming. It is a part of God within us, and so it cannot be affected by the duality of life, it is above the duality. It is our intuition. This concept is not exclusive to Vedanta. Although Abrahamic religions see God up in heaven, or far away from us, far removed from us, there is also the concept that the Holy Spirit dwells in our heart, and that the golden rule is the most important doctrine to follow. Why should this be so? It has to be because we are all equally divine. Once we can learn to connect with this oneness, to be here now, to stop stressing about the future and start doing our best and giving our all in the Now, we are filled with peace. It is a heavenly peace that comes from the awareness that our nature, our true essence, is inseparable from God, and in fact is one with it.
“There was never a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor any of these kings. Nor is there any future in which we shall cease to be.” ~ Bhagavad Gita
“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: forthe morrow shall take thought for the things ofitself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” ~ Jesus, Matthew 6:34 (KJV)
“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.” ~ Mesiter Eckhart
To be continued tomorrow, on Day 7.
~ Rebel Spirit.
rebel eye 