My Spiritual Adventure, Part 3
“In the great silence within your being, creation ever sings its song of life for you.” — Bruce K. Avenell
As I write this third (and final) part to this 3-part blog posting, I realize this is nowhere near any type of end, as I’m sure I could write a book or two on this all encompassing subject. But this is not the time or place for that … yet. So, as I try to wrap this up to some type of point, I want to stress that what follows is just a general condensing of what my spiritual path has been these past 40 plus years. Of course, there will always be other blog postings that reflect what this has all been about. After all, that is the main point of this blog. Anyway …
I think the best way to go into this is to write about what I may have actually learned these past four decades, meditating under the system taught by The Eureka Society, which is called Audinometry. It is an advanced system of sound current meditation founded by Bruce K. Avenell, who had been a student of both Dr. Baghadt Singh Thind, a Sikh guru, and Kirpal Singh, of the Sant Mat tradition, both interesting characters in their own right. You can do research about both of them if you like, as there is plenty of material out there.
After surviving my first few years practicing the techniques as diligently as I could, I settled in for what I perceived as seriously exploring and attempting to master a path that possibly could ‘take me home.’ I know that sounds obscure, heady, unbelievable, and crazy, and maybe even more all at once, but that is what I am here to discuss. Yet, even as I start with this I am suddenly reminded of a famous passage from the Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken …
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The phrases ‘less traveled’ and ‘made all the difference’ stick out for me, for that is some of what I have felt over the years as I examine the spiritual path I have been traveling on, and the lessons I’ve been learning. But now, jumping back in …
Meditation. Energy. Velocity. Vertical. Altitude. These are terms I want you to think about as I attempt to give you other definitions for them, in relation to traveling a spiritual path. For they are key to understanding what this path is about. I take them individually, but it’s important to know how that they all fit together in the paradigm I am constructing for you. Because each one by itself isn’t really quite enough to give you leverage in comprehending this. Not by any means am I implying you are not smart enough to get it. I certainly don’t consider myself a genius, although I do think I have above average intelligence. Meaning, if you are here reading this, then you can probably get it. As long as I can drum up the required intellectual fortitude to pass it along to you.
Meditation. Generally speaking I’d say that we all know what that is nowadays, since the practice of meditation has pretty much gone mainstream. But meditation is a generic term, as there are many types out there. That’s like saying you drive a car to work in a small town. What kind of car? Where do you work? In what small town? We need some defining specificity here, right? I’d say you could classify meditation into five types; passive, devotional, active, passive sound current, and active sound current. Also, many times hybrds of these types are taught and practiced. I have listed them is ascending order of involvement, importance and advancement, the simplest and easiest being first and the most advanced being last. In the Audinometry system of active sound current meditation, one must learn and practice to be disciplined, persistent, objective, balanced, focused and analytical, and to relax enough to get above your emotions, your mind, and your physical body, in order that you are in a flying configuration to tune into, experience, comprehend, and function in the higher, more subtle frequencies (levels, dimensions) of creation. And in all that to also get more …
Energy. Wouldn’t you love more energy? Or maybe you might ask, why more energy? Wouldn’t you like more money in your bank account? Think of the acquisition of spiritual energy as more money in your spiritual bank account. Of course, there are other ways to get more energy, but I don’t know of a better one than meditating on the inner sound current. Do you? You can access it, tap into it, get more of it, fill yourself up with it, store it, and then drive (fly?) yourself to higher levels and explore the immense structure of creation. All the while this energy makes you feel so much better, and more awake and alive, and happier and all that good stuff that goes with it. It’s like being in love all over again every day. Only not with a person, just this expansive world you live in. Sound impossible? Well, you might need another ingredient …
Velocity. Bruce likes to tell us, over and over in fact, that, “Velocity is the very essence of life.” I have heard this so much over the years I think it is written on the inside of my forehead somewhere, but for good reason. There is a big gap between someone else telling you this and you experiencing it firsthand. But once you do, it is so sweet, and there is no going back. Imagine the difference between being conscious and unconscious, awake and asleep, alive and dead. If you’re going to travel very far in the spiritual levels of creation, you will need some serious velocity. Acquiring more energy through meditation just gets you started. Knowing how to convert that into velocity is necessary to catapult you up through higher and higher levels. Up being an important concept here, because the type of life orientation you’re shooting for is …
Vertical. Stand up and look at yourself. You stand on two feet upright. 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. Same with your nose, and your ears on the side of your head. 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). My 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 journey up within this immense structure of spiritual creation, we need to change our orientation from horizontal to vertical. A lot of the time that may just mean looking up instead of forward. But that may actually be harder than it seems. In the physical world we are programmed for horizontal life, as physical life is a horizontal progression. Having a vertical life, or a spiritual one, is not so obvious, is it? It requires a whole type of conceptual perspective and orientation, which may not come that naturally. But there is nothing like flying up the spiritual elevator and gaining …
Altitude. When you put all the previous four together right it should result in some great spiritual altitude. And what does altitude do for you? It gives you a much better view of your life, broadens your horizons, and offers more understanding of creation. Think of the view from a mountaintop, or an airplane, or even just a tall skyscraper. All that can allow you to be ahead of the curve in your life and your timeline, thus providing you with more spiritual tools for any challenges ahead.
But yet, actually all of these five things are tied together and work together, and in reality integrate with even more spiritual concepts I haven’t even mentioned. Yes, all the concepts, principles, experiences, and comprehensions involved with these five things are some of what I have been working on these past 40 years or so. Of course, like I just said there are others, but I think these form the core of it. And I’m still a babe in the woods as far as working them all right.
So now, how about a little bit about Bruce himself. He is a no-nonsense, very down-to-earth person, with a dry wit and well-developed sense of humor. He loves puns, fast motorcycles, bad jokes and good ice cream. One day he’ll tell you exactly what you need to know, and the next he’ll keep his mouth shut while he watches you crash and burn (at least you think so). He knows you need to learn that on your own, so the lesson sticks. But in reality, if he knows you really want to learn, he won’t let you burn. He’ll be there to help in any way he can, and in fact go way out of his way to do so. One day he’ll treat you like he’s your best friend, and the next like he hardly knows you. But don’t let that bother you. He has a lot going on, and if he’s preoccupied, it’s better to stay away until it’s safe to be on his radar screen again. He’s likes to wear cowboy hats, is a pretty good shot and is usually good for a yarn or two. He can be a tough guy, son-of-a-gun when he wants, but he’s got a heart as big as they come. He’s usually good for a wise word or two, and usually quite a few, but at times he won’t give you a clue.
Not your typical, everyday teacher, but he’s truly who he is, a real original. More like a tough love coach, getting you ready for the big game, with lots of training, but you’ve got to do the work. If you’re lucky enough to learn a few things from him, with an added bonus of being his friend, you’ve gotten something worthwhile. If you try to treat him like a guru by devoting yourself to him, bowing down to him or paying homage to him, he may punch you out (but I doubt it), as he’s not about to fall into that trap. He does know it’s about the student and not him, for even though he’s the teacher, he’s a student too. He knows a few things about spiritual growth and especially the sound current, but he’s also just an average Midwestern guy who’s cleaned out way too many pigpens. He’s not an American guru or master, but he’s the caretaker of probably the best-kept secret on the planet, his system of advanced, “graduate level” sound current meditation, called Audinometry. And I’ll bet you’ve never ever heard of it, have you? Of course not, but I’m here to tell you what I can. But of course, I only told you a little bit, about Audinometry and Bruce and not how to do any of this, because you only get more if you go farther with it.
I want to wrap this up by saying that I am by no means a proselytizer. In fact, those types irritate me. However, I do believe that Bruce knows a whole hell of a lot about spiritual growth, and very possibly more than anyone else on the planet about the inner sound current. I know that’s a tall claim and I could be very wrong, but at this point in time I really don’t think so. There are several other systems that will teach you how to meditate on the sound current, but I do think this one is the most advanced on the planet today. You could say I’m biased, but I’ve also done my homework in researching what they all say, teach, and do. If you are searching for such a system, buyer beware. Do your research diligently, and in the end do what is best for you, not them.
Why do I do all this? I hope to … gain WISDOM … experience FREEDOM … comprehend REALITY … create MYSELF … and be HAPPY! What are YOU doing?
And now I shall leave you with these final words …
“The path to life is only a path if you walk it,
only smooth if you run, beautiful if you fly,
only goes somewhere if you dream, only goes up
if you laugh, only has music if you … LISTEN.
— BKA
TMC