As we focus our minds on different levels and types of information to help us figure out how to deal with various life situations; the answer is usually quite simple: LOVE! Our minds can complicate things beyond the reaches of our understanding; scrutinizing endless repertoires of permutations, creating arguments to previous arguments, using big words to make our positions seem more important, and spinning us around in circles; all the time taking us further and further from the simple truth. I believe the real answers to life’s questions come from spirit, not the mind; from a spiritual, not a material world source. The higher consciousness of spirit allows us to connect directly with universal consciousness, and through this link access the infinite wisdom of the universe. Such wisdom is based in the truth of love, joy, and peace. It is simple and clear. The mind tries to break things down; to analyze, organize, categorize, and control them; because this makes the mind more comfortable. Spirit simply exists to create the greatest good by focusing its belief-based attention on desired outcomes, powered by truth, love, joy, and peace; the highest of these being the truth of love, or true love. Through the shrinking of the mind comes the flowering of consciousness; the awareness of supernal spirit love.
Acceptance unlocks the elevator to higher consciousness. This key emerges out of non-resistance, non-judgement, and non-attachment. Acceptance will help us bypass the mind and its distractions, to more easily access matters of spirit. When in spirit we will see things, and in ways, we have never seen before. Our lives, the lives of others, and the world will look completely different to us.
Real Love Comes From Spirit
Real love, or open-hearted love, comes from the Fourth Chakra, is energetically spiritual, and is the basis for all higher things. Second Chakra “love” is purely physical, and relates to mind-based emotions and human procreation. The Fourth chakra is the first of the spiritual chakras, and the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh flow out of the Fourth. So higher communication, intuition, and understanding derive from higher love. Love is the answer.
Rising Up
So how do we get there, and how do we know when we have arrived? When I help people with this, the first thing we do is figure out where they are right now. Are they trapped within the limitations of Survival Mode (stress response)? Are they free from Survival Mode, and accessing the broader mind-based repertoires of Safe Mode (relaxation response)? Or are they accessing the limitless wisdom, the infinite pools of coexisting possibilities available within Spiritual Mode (love response)? The levels of awareness, or ranges of that which can be perceived, are broadly determined by these states of consciousness. If we are in Survival Mode, then we need to first overcome our stress and issue triggers so we can enter Safe Mode, and remain grounded in it. If we are in Safe Mode, then we need to move beyond our mind and external senses into Spiritual Mode, and learn how to stay there. Once in Spiritual Mode, we can focus on continuing to ascend the ladder of light to higher love.
When we experience stress or issue triggers our brain believes we are under threat. In fact, all negative emotions shift the brain into Survival Mode, creating the illusion that our life is in danger, and then our brain prompts us to fight or run away (fight or flight) until the threat is gone. A pair of Harvard researchers, Walter Cannon and Herbert Benson, dubbed these processes “stress response” (Survival Mode) and “relaxation response” (Safe Mode).
When in Survival Mode, our thoughts, words, and actions are limited to those associated with staying alive in the face of mortal danger. This is why states resulting from stress and issue triggers are so tricky. When we begin feeling them, our brain shifts into a process that reinforces and intensifies the emotion (on a physiological level, emotionally and instinctually, we believe our life is in crisis when it is not). Within this state of relative urgency, we become unable to access any thoughts, possibilities, or courses of action except those related to escaping danger. Since our brain believes we are under threat, such emotions and instincts as anger, aggression, fear, leaving, and avoidance are intensified (fight or flight); while everything else, like truth, happiness, hope, factual information, and a balanced perspective; is temporarily blocked, until the brain believes the threat has gone away.
So to move out of Survival Mode, we must show the brain that we are safe. Following the prescriptions outlined in Seven Colors of Happiness or The Chakratic Hierarchy of Needs will help us move from Survival to Safe Mode again. Specifically, those prescriptions related to the First Chakra will help us make this initial transition.
Once in Safe Mode, where we can access everything available to the human mind, including happiness and optimism, and are free from the effects of the stress and issue triggers present in Survival Mode; we can focus on moving beyond the human mind, our external senses, and our mind’s interpretation of these senses into Spiritual Mode. Those prescriptions related to the Second, Third, and Fourth Chakras will help with this. If we drop back down into survival Mode, where we are again trapped by the limitations of the stress response, then we must shift our focus to getting back into Safe Mode. This can be tricky, because our mind may try to fool us into believing that our perceptions are valid (those experienced in Survival Mode), and may try to convince us to take action, or even change our lives, based on the distortions of this temporary state. Keeping a journal, having an accountability partner, preserving our experiences in writing or imagery, or working with an alternative healer can help us better access the truth when our brain is working overtime to convince us that we need to fight or run away from a threat that does not exist (at least not in the present) (these things can help us counterbalance the distortions of the stress response). Once in Safe Mode, on a continuous basis, we can begin to focus on moving into a more purely spiritual place.
Many believe they have entered, and are living in Spiritual Mode but, in truth, they have simply learned the language, which is more than many, so it is easy for them to convince others (and themselves) that they are more spiritual than they actually are. Some are consciously aware that they are misrepresenting their level of spirituality, and others are not. They may be inhabiting Safe Mode, may have learned the spiritual language, and are pretending to be in Spiritual Mode (to have attained a level of spiritual awareness) when they are not. This can be particularly harmful when they are guiding others who are believing in their deceptions. Ways to tell when someone is mind-based rather than living in spirit include, but are not limited to the following: when they are hypersensitive to being wrong, when they have an investment in being right, when they seek to prove themselves and/or disprove others, when they teach one thing but live something very different, if they want to be the center of attention, when they make what they say or do seem more important than what others say or do, when they try to get us to accept their views while rejecting ours, if they try to control us or others in any way, if they make indulgence a higher priority than healing or growth, if they make things like age, appearance, race, or socio-economic status more important than someone’s spirit, if they are unable to control their human impulses, if they are overly indulgent in any area, or if they make themselves more important than others. If they have learned the language, and are dynamically engaging and/or reasonably successful; then it will be easy for others to believe in their credibility. Perform your due diligence, both pursuant to yourself and others. Our goal is to grow, not to fool ourselves into believing we have, when we have not.
When we discover Spiritual Mode, it is usually accidental and fleeting. We notice that something is very different, and usually want more of it. It may even feel more blissful than good sex (except when both parties are engaged in the open-hearted union of spirit). We have access to information we have never known before. We see ourselves, others, and the world very differently. Human things that seemed important before no longer do. We suddenly understand things we have never been able to. We feel compassion for people we might have previously loathed. Colors are brighter and have a different hue. Anything is possible. Everything is possible. We are aware of things when we are not physically present to access them through human senses. We become more aware of intuitive and energetic things. We see the interconnectedness and oneness of things. We realize that we are part of everything, and everything is part of us. This removes even the awareness of resistance, judgement, or attachment. We are free to be ourselves.
So once we have either stumbled into, or intentionally reached a spiritual place; our goal could be to be able to get there when we want to, and to be able to stay there for longer and longer periods of time until we can stay there without ever leaving this glorious place. When we are able to do this, we are always rooted, or grounded in spirit; and only bring as much of ourselves into the human world as we need to to fulfill our purpose; which is some variation on a theme of growing spiritually, and helping others heal and grow. Focusing on the prescriptions related to the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Chakras will help with this. Working with a spiritual teacher, or sharing life with a companion who is similarly inclined, may also help you walk within the conscious infinite light of the universe, co-creating your dreams and helping others learn how to do it too! Remember, real love occurs in spirit, all things spiritual begin with love, spirit is our true nature, and love is the answer to life’s questions.
Photo Credit: Boris SV
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