Onward & Upward

“History admires the wise, but it elevates the brave.” — Edmund Morris

When I first began my spiritual search more than 45 years ago, I did not really know what I was looking for. Although a part of me certainly tried to act like I did. So much of what I felt was going on with me didn’t really seem to have a basis in any kind of physical reality. I guess that’s a part of why I was so confused and lost as I stumbled along through my life path.

Over these many years I feel I’ve gained a perspective that puts much of that in its proper place. As I have added tools to my spiritual toolbox over that time, it is much easier to pause and look back at all the illusionary misperceptions that drove my direction in life. And the amazing thing about all that wasn’t just necessarily that the direction was off, but that my whole orientation to my path was completely off. Let me explain.

First, a little terminology education for all of you, so you all understand what I’m actually talking about. Not that you’re not intelligent to understand. Just extending the courtesy to you so you can learn the vocabulary of the word values I’m using. Hell, it took me years to really understand what this meant myself, so here goes.

Let’s think of life in two different ways. Horizontal life and vertical life. Stand up and look at yourself. You stand upright on two feet. You are a vertical being with a vertical spine, but your senses all seem to point out, into a horizontal direction. Your eyes are in the front of your head, and their tendency is to look forward in a horizontal direction. Interaction-wise, it is the same with your nose, and your ears on the side of your head. Also, your arms usually reach out in front of you and when you walk your legs take you in a horizontal direction (unless of course you’re doing a vertical climb up a cliff, which most of us don’t do too regularly). The point being, even though our body is built for vertical positioning, our orientation to the world seems built for horizontal interaction. However, for any meaningful spiritual journey, we need to change our orientation from horizontal to vertical. And sometimes that may just mean looking up instead of forward. Of course this is a simplistic analogy, but it does also apply to how we are physically vs. spiritually inclined.

Let’s define the difference between vertical and horizontal in a spiritual context. Vertical = progressions towards spiritual fulfillment. Horizontal = being primarily oriented to the physical world. There are horizontal horizons in the physical world and vertical horizons within your own being. They should both be explored, however…

Vertical vs. horizontal? Reality vs. Illusion? And what does that mean? Horizontal life is more obvious, and appears more adventurous with greater pleasure, but however long you explore the horizontal path it seems to bring you back to the point of origin. The wisdom of the horizontal is that it is an illusion, consuming your moments and your energy. The vertical path is much less obvious, as few in the physical recognize its value, but it is the path that can lead to your own divine nature, and towards learning how to manage and generate the power of your divine life. A vertical progression will quickly and drastically change your view of the physical world, as your understanding of physical life will take on a much different meaning.

The vertical progression gives you altitude, resulting in broadening your horizons. Physical (horizontal) altitude broadens your physical horizons; spiritual (vertical) altitude broadens your spiritual horizons. How many times has life shown you a situation where you needed to make a decision on which way to go, only to find it difficult to choose among the many possibilities? Sometimes it just seems safer to make no decision, rather than to embark on a future whose outcome you cannot predict. Or maybe none of the possibilities life is showing you look appealing. You just know you need a change, but you cannot figure out what the change should be.

Since for the most part we are so programmed to think horizontal, physical life is a horizontal progression. Which also means even if we travel vertically up in a meditative practice, the tendency will be to stop at some level to interact with this place in a horizontal fashion. That isn’t in itself a bad thing. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve on your journey. But if you want to continue to travel to higher energetic states, you will need to maintain that vertical focus, no matter what level of life you are on. It would be wise to always strive for altitude.

A good meditation system will pull you higher up in your being and will broaden your perspective on your life situation. Meditate and listen to what vertical life is telling you. Look for the opportunities and you’ll see more and better opportunities are coming your way. It can take you from a horizontal life such as what we all live in the physical world, and reorient us towards the vertical spiritual world that creation has provided for us to discover and explore.

For the most part we all live in an insecure and unstable world and it is easy to get caught up in the negative momentum of this place. So often when life gets hectic or rough, the tendency is to feel you have no time to meditate, that other things are more important. But usually these are the times when you most need to meditate. You need the vertical altitude to put things in proper perspective. In the ideal situation to the vertical aspirant, the horizontal world provides many valuable lessons and clues to aid in the climb to one’s vertical spirituality. Thus, it is the balancing of the vertical and horizontal life that seems to offer the real value of spiritual growth here.

One final point here. It seems the horizontal, physical world teaches us knowledge, which is fleeting, and the vertical, spiritual world teaches us wisdom, which is eternal. Which do you prefer?

My personal feeling is that I find more of myself in the vertical life. I have more freedom, own more of myself, and can participate in the higher levels of life. The horizontal life feels like a temporary role I am playing, which sometimes can get real old. The horizontal seems to have more illusion, and the vertical more reality. Who I feel I really am exists in the vertical life.

What about you? Who are you? Why are you here? Where did you come from? Where are you going? What are you doing about all that?  … Right now. (Yes, you’re right, it takes a certain amount of courage to take on the vertical life!)

TMC

Onward & Upward!  Onward = Horizontal, Upward = Vertical