Today’s reading provides the opportunity to contemplate, once again, the goal of the spiritual path.
Awakening is not becoming a better person. It isn’t attaining eternal life for the self that you think you are. Awakening is realizing that you are That which is beyond all sense of self, even beyond consciousness itself.
Let’s review the Four Principles of God:
First Principle of God – Pure, unmanifest, life-awareness; abstract, unlimited potentiality.
Second Principle of God – Consciousness; the unaffected, still witness. All things manifest are made of this principle; therefore, all things are consciousness.
Third Principle of God – The ongoing activity of creation, which occurs naturally through the interaction of the witnessing principle with that which is witnessed. It is how consciousness forms itself into the many temporary forms that make up the manifest universe.
Fourth Principle of God – Manifestation. Everything in this realm is temporary, and so it is often referred to as a dream. It is consciousness appearing as something other than consciousness, and so it is called illusion. One who believes manifestation is the realm of reality is referred to as unconscious, not awake, or ignorant. When this realm is seen through ignorance, it is fearful and full of suffering. When seen through clarity, this realm is miraculous.
The goal of the spiritual path is to realize we are the First Principle of God. To do that, we cannot be attached to anything in the Fourth Principle. Attachment to the Fourth Principle maintains our identity as a body-personality-mind in the Fourth Principle. It’s like being a balloon tethered to a fence. The only way to float up to the First Principle is to cut the string.
It’s important to realize that the person is part of the Fourth Principle. Whether you are a good person, a bad person, or an improved person, it is still the Fourth Principle. Everything in the Fourth Principle is temporary. You can never attain eternal life for a temporary manifestation, but you can realize that you are not a temporary manifestation.
After you read the story in today’s reading, ask yourself:
What about my life is so important to me, that if I were about to be absorbed into infinite awareness, I would hesitate and look back toward the world?
Hint: Watch the type of thinking that distracts you from awareness during meditation.
