Acceptance

Acceptance is the great healer of strife, conflict, and upset. It also corrects major imbalances of perception and precludes the dominance of negative feelings. Everything serves a purpose. Humility means that we will not understand all events or occurrences. Acceptance is not passivity but non-positionality. The development of a spiritual ego can be avoided by the realization that spiritual progress is the result of God’s grace and not the result of one’s personal endeavors.

From The Eye of the I, ch. 9, pg. 196

Every Spiritual Aspirant Serves the World

… one transcends the negative by merely choosing the opposite. With the internal discipline that stems from passionate commitment, the negative choices are no longer seen as options. We all then become conscientious objectors when we draw the line and set boundaries. This rather automatically occurs as a consequence of choosing spiritual goals that we value above the goals of the world.

Spiritual views are not very popular in society in general. It is not necessary to impose one’s views on others. Proselytizing is best done by example rather than by coercion and lapel grabbing. We influence others by what we are rather than by what we say or have. To express views that are contrary to public opinion may be sociologically praiseworthy, but to do so leads to conflict and enmeshment in the arguments and discord in the world. The pursuit of ’causes’ is the role of the social and political reformer, which is an activity different from that of the seeker of enlightenment. Praiseworthy endeavors can be seen as deserving of sympathetic support, but they are also perceptually defined positionalities with intrinsic limitations and agendas. Embroilment in the issues of society is a luxury which the seeker of spiritual enlightenment needs to forego.

Each person has their own karma or destiny to fulfill and it is best not to confuse these missions. The spiritually motivated saints of history did indeed uplift mankind, and such was the nature of their missions and the merit of spiritual courage which often included even the sacrifice of their physical lives. Collectively, these social saints inspire whole nations and cultures and thus, by their public lives, silently serve all mankind for generations.

The calling of the private-life spiritual aspirant is more socially humble but equally important and of service to the whole of mankind. The social saint uplifts by external action and example. The devotee uplifts by internal progression. Every increase in the level of consciousness affects the consciousness of all mankind…

… We change the world not by what we say or do but as a consequence of what we have become. Thus, every spiritual aspirant serves the world.

The “Non-action” of Action

Q: What about action?
A: Actions are the automatic consequence of the integration of context, field, and intention. All action is actually spontaneous and reflects karmic propensities and local conditions that may or may not favor expression. To depersonalize actions, it is only necessary to let go of the belief that there is a separate, independent causal agent called ‘I’ or ‘me’. This awareness allows for the development of the ‘non-action of action’, which is possible by relinquishment of trying to control results. The only thing one can actually ‘do’ is to ‘be’ one’s potential to the fullest.

We are an Intensely Loving Allness

Q: Can you please explain more about identity?

A: The ego fears dissolution and therefore resists giving up the illusion of a separate existence in an imaginary ‘here’ and an imaginary ‘now’. It fears it will dissolve into being nothing and, therefore, the conscious awareness will also cease. With examination, it will become clear that one’s reality is not a ‘who’ at all, but instead is an intensely loving Allness, which is realized and known to be much closer and more comforting and fulfilling than the prior sense of ‘I’.

In the evolution of consciousness, the sense of the small ‘I’ is replaced by a more profound, invulnerable and nontransitory sense of universal presence. The sense of ‘I’ is now infinite, more grand, more gentle, more powerful, more aware, and more gratifying than the sense of the little ‘I’ had been. The small ‘I’ is like a penny whistle compared to the full symphony of the Self.

From: “The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing is Hidden” (2002), Chapter 19: Commentaries and Examples, pp. 287–289

The Glory of God

There is only one Divine, Absolute, Supreme Reality that transcends all potentialities, dimensions, realms, and universes and is the source of life and existence. Enlightenment is merely the full, conscious recognition that innate truth is the core of one’s own existence, and the God as Self is the illumination whereby that realization is made possible. The Infinite Power of God is the manifestation of the power of Infinite Context. The Unmanifest is even beyond Infinite Context.
 
 The Glory of God shines forth as the Source of Existence and the Reality that is knowable by the subjective awareness of the Self as the Infinite ‘I’. 
from  I : Reality and Subjectivity p. 553-554