Anyone who has an experience of the Divine Presence, for however brief a moment it might be, longs to return to that experience. For in those sacred moments, we discover deep within that nothing else matters. Not politics, not the stock market, not the baseball standings. Not even illness or impending death. The world of duality, with its ups and downs, no longer exists. Only the imperishable sweetness of peace, bliss, and oneness of the divine.
But when the experience with the Divine Presence is over, what do we do? How do we go about making permanent what lasted for perhaps a few minutes? How do we break free from the world of duality?
It’s not easy. Our attachments are so firmly rooted. Only by knowledge of the false being false, or worthless, can we let it go. For instance, if you know that the money you are holding is counterfeit, it’s much easier to be detached from it. You might even throw it in the trash.
That is how the mystic is able to transcend the world. He sees the false value of it. And by doing so, he sees more and more clearly what is real.
Today, I caught myself getting happy over some political news I read. But why do I care if something transpires one way or another in politics?
Last year I learned what Krishnamurti’s secret was. He told a gathering in Ojai, California, a few years before he passed away, that his secret was that he didn’t care what happened. That resonated deep within me as truth. Why should anybody care? For no matter what happens, we always have the Divine Presence as our primary source of joy and fulfillment. Everything else is temporal and transitory.
What does the Divine Presence do for us? When we become conscious of it, it becomes our constant companion. The more we communicate with it, the closer we grow to its vibration. The veils that cloud our perception and our consciousness fall away. True values are seen as real and lasting, while the false are seen for the zero that they really are.
The Divine Presence opens the door for us to the inner world and the planes of consciousness. Without its help, we would continue to live in a world of illusion under the law of opposites. The inner freedom we all crave only begins to become manifest once we pass through that door. Once through that door, the longing for the Infinite intensifies. We become like moths longing to be consumed in a flame.
But what is the process? How do we make this leap in consciousness?
The process is effacement. It is an effacement of the false self. The false self lives in unconsciousness of the Real Self. The false self is controlled by the ego, which thrives in unconsciousness and separation. The Real Self is the Divine Presence within us. It progressively illuminates the inner path, and as the false self is gradually effaced by the Real Self, the darkness of the night dissolves into the morning sunlight.
A room can be in total darkness. But when the light is turned on, the darkness ceases to be. It is as if it never existed. Our inner self can also be in darkness, and with the light of Divine Presence, we can look into the mirror of the mind and see our true self. But there is one problem. The mirror doesn’t reflect anything because it has layers and layers of debris covering it.
What is this debris? The debris consists of mental impressions. Everything that happens to you in life creates a mental impression. Every thought, emotion, action leaves its imprint. Everything you see, hear, touch, or smell creates impressions on the mind. These impression create the false sense of identity that you have.
The image that came to me today while contemplating how to explain this is a mirror covered up with photos. A myriad of snapshots – photos of everything that has ever happened to you. For instance, there might be snapshots of you making lots of money, or being angry, or sad. There might be snapshots of you driving your new car, of crashing your new car, of being praised, of being condemned or shamed, of you celebrating your team’s victory in the World Series, or your candidate’s election to the Presidency. There might be snapshots that show you as a good person, and others that show you as a bad person.
The effect is that each time you look to the mirror of the mind to see who you are, you see these snapshots, which make you identify with what you see.
Instead of seeing the infinity of your Real Self, you see images that tell you delusional things like, “I am rich,” or “I am poor.” Whatever image or impression you see, you need to know that you are so much more than that. Instead of affirming any limiting attribute to yourself, you need to consciously know that you are beyond form, beyond attributes, beyond imagination, beyond duality.
But this is so hard to do. And the impressions you have create more impressions. And it can seem as if there is no way out from their limiting influence.
But there is a way. As we become more and more attuned to the Divine Presence, we are creating impressions of a much higher vibration. As we identify more and more with these impressions of higher vibrations, the denser impressions start to fade away. It’s as if our addiction for the illusory world and its experiences gets replaced by a longing for peace, love, and the true knowledge of who we really are. As the denser impressions fade, perception of higher levels of consciousness becomes possible. It’s as if a veil is being removed from our eyes.
But as long as this veil remains we continuously think and do what the impressions impel us to think and do. This is conditioned living. It’s the worst kind of bondage. There is no freedom. The impressions compel us to think falsely, which create false values, which create addictive demands, which impel us to actions that lead us nowhere. We become caught in a vicious circle.
That is why the removal of these impressions is so essential. It allows us to experience the higher realms of our being. It allows us to grow closer and closer to the Divine Presence. It allows us to express our soul’s longing instead of being a slave to the mind’s compulsion.
Only by turning our consciousness inward can we break free from the world of duality. And as the influence of the Divine Presence becomes more deeply felt, the easier it is to let go of that which is passing. It becomes a process of inner alignment.
2 Comments
David Hawkins would agree with this in regards to higher vs. lower vibrations. We always need to be watchful to what might bring us down.
Good post. Thanks.
Thanks, David.
I like what Hawkins has to say about vibrations in Power vs. Force. When we get experience the Divine, we need to do what we can to maintain its presence, influence, and power.