Taking the path of the spirit instead of the path of the ego is not so much difficult as it is unsettling. It fills us with fear to give up that with which we have become familiar even though the familiar gives us much pain.
Once embarked on, the path of the spirit calls to us and we have a longing to return home to that from which we have come. When we can get past the hurtles and obstacles presented by our own ego, we feel the bright, calm peace of heaven to which we belong.
First we catch a glimpse of this bright, calm peace within us, and then we find ways to become aware and more centered and it becomes more than a glimpse when it becomes a more regular part of our experience, and then we become aware that we can sustain this peaceful centeredness as we go about our bodily activities, and finally we long for it to be our customary consciousness.
Some would say this awareness takes practice and yet it is attained not by striving but by excluding and removing the barriers and obstacles to Love's presence which we laughingly come to realize was there all along. We were just so pre-ocuppied and distracted that we were not aware of what was there, from which we came, and to which we are going.
So, slow down, you move too fast, you've got to make the morning last, to steal a lyric from Paul Simon and Art Garunkel's great song, the 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin groovey)
The idea of the Perennial Philosophy of Aldous Huxley leads one to the idea that God is too big for any one religion. How is it that sometimes people outgrow their religion of childhood? James Fowler, among others, has mapped out a model of spiritual development. Osho says that a person cannot enter into a spiritual life until he/she rebels against childish religious beliefs. Notes On A Spiritual Life intends to explore deeper understandings of an authentic spiritual life.
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