However terrible the outer world may seem, whether globally or personally, there is one purpose to all external phonomena, in my view. This is to use the externally-prompted “data” whether emotions, desires, relationship issues, attachments, physical pain, suffering, or any worldly reaction or discomfort to awaken to your internal connectedeness with the Absolute substratum of life.
The Absolute substratum of life, God, Source or Divine Consciousness in other words, is present always and in all phenomena and non-phenomena.
The reasons why people may resist this truth are many, and one of them is simpy confusion and uncertainty about what is real and what is unreal. The confusion arises because we haven’t experienced the Absolute empirically ourselves, so naturally it remains an unattainable idea, or too lofty a goal, or perhaps fanciful imagnation that has nothing to do with the world as we see it.
If, like me, you have enquired into several religions, new age schools of thought or messages, or even decided to shun all paths entirely due to disappointment with each avenue you tried, then you may be weary. You may have arrived at the place where even the ego is tired of the attachments, hopes and grasping for a semblance of peace and confidence in understanding life without wavering. Fortunately, this tiredness is a vehicle through which the Absolute can reveal Itself, activate your own deep understanding of your life and awaken your higher consciousness.
It’s all about deep knowing and insights that come from within, they just need a trigger to be activated or awakened. The trigger could be surrendering your suffering or discomfort, or seeking to understand discomfort from a deeper perspective, which usually means being willing to stop self-justifications. It also involves slowing down.
But if you are busy with external objects and phenomena, which includes relationships and worldly or personal causes, then the Absolute will likely remain hidden, as being busy with ‘doing’ and external goals leaves little room for the internal space needed to allow the Absolute to reveal Itself to you. Still, the Absolute waits patiently for us to become conscious to It, and to continuously make It our focus. Why? Because the Absolute is the whole point of everything, without which “everything becomes lifeless and devoid of meaning.” (See the full Swami Krishnananda quote below.)
Another reason why we don’t consciously seek the Absolute is that we are unable to stop the mind’s addiction to focussing on something or other, whatever it may be. And if there is a hurt, trauma or some suffering either in the foreground or background that needs to be healed, the impetus to ‘do something’ can be much stronger because we want to escape the discomfort or pain. Even if there is no nagging or obvious emotional or mental challenge, humans have become very distraction-addicted. If you include boredom as a mental challenge then it’s surely verging on a mental health crisis level, with distraction becoming the go-to addiction to deal with the boredom. So to break this ever-persistent cycle of doing something at all times is not easy.
That’s where pain and suffering our our greatest allies in waking us up to the Absolute because, if we’re lucky, we’ll seek deeper understanding. This doesn’t just apply to major trauma or healing, but any smaller situation that occupies our minds and causes distress of some kind can be used as fodder to awaken to the Absolute, or to put it another way, to awaken Higher Consciousness within us through surrendering that which we really dont want to surrender.
This is also where a true spiritual teacher can be the catalyst we need. They can guide the mind towards contemplation that can lead to greater awareness of the Absolute.
A spiritual teacher I am spending time listening to at present is Swami Krishnananda, I feel very grateful for having come across him,. Here is a page of him speaking (audios), you can also find his videos online. I’ll leave you with something he said for your contemplation:
Every act of one’s life should become an expression of conscious contemplation on the Absolute. Unless all acts are based on this consciousness, there cannot be any ultimate value in these acts. The Absolute is the life-principle of all things, acts and thoughts, and so, without it, everything becomes lifeless and devoid of meaning. – Swami Krishnananda
Om Shanti,
Much love,
Reena
BA, H-hp Dip, Dip. Spiritual Counselling
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