Main Mystic
Three Spiritual Paths
“Your spiritual path isn’t always just something you find, you started it the moment you took your first breath, and ever since you’re been getting closer and closer to remembering who you truly are!” — Martin R. Lemieux
(The following is from a guest writer)
The Paths Of Ascension
In the School of Life there are three main categories of spiritual paths of ascension going up from life on a planet such as Earth, and each individual one may have supplemental variations of the basic path. The experience of life will teach us the laws of the path we are working on, if we but take the time to listen to what life is trying to teach us. Few listen, and thus many repeat life situations over and over, again and again. The first time a lesson is presented it comes as easily as a gentle breeze. But if it is not heeded, succeeding presentations will be harder and harder until the being understands both the lesson and that Creation is the ultimate judge of right and wrong action. Creation’s momentums moving through eternity will go on, seemingly with or without us, as we choose. Although it is Creation’s intent that you learn life’s lessons, you may choose how long it takes and how strongly they must be presented in order to register. It is interesting how we fight life’s lessons, even though the life Creation is intent upon giving us is far more wonderful and marvelous than our wildest dreams.
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When I'm 64
“When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I’d been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m sixty-four?”
‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ — The Beatles
I turned 64 last week. Is that old? I don’t think so; at least I don’t feel that way. I started this blog four years ago on my birthday thinking that maybe someone of my age would have something wise, relevant, and intriguing to communicate to … whoever, out there in the world. Not sure if I have proved that in any way whatsoever, but at least I have the opportunity to throw a bunch of stuff on the wall and see if anything actually sticks. I guess that would be up to you to decide all that, huh?
We all live our lives in relatively insulated bubbles of reality and illusion, sometimes wondering who we are, where we came from, what we’re doing here, and where we could be going. But mostly we carry on with our lives day to day, reflecting on how good or bad yesterday was, trying to deal with the challenges of the present, and hoping tomorrow’s sun will shine brighter. At times it seems life doesn’t give us the tools to understand what we should be doing in any given moment. Because oddly, the moment is all we ever really have, isn’t it? From moment to moment we traverse through this labyrinth of reality-illusion, with time continuously raging on in a totally relentless manner. Meaning there are no moments we can latch on to. For they are gone … in a moment. Moment by moment. So, what to do in each moment? …
Temporal Mind vs. Spirit Mind
“True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.” — William Penn
In the sound current meditation system that I practice we differentiate between the temporal mind and the spirit mind. The temporal mind being the one we are most familiar with in our day to day lives, thinking about, considering, and analyzing all types of things from moment to moment. At times it can seem like it doesn’t want to turn off, partially because it must take in so much stimulus from our exceedingly complex modern lives. And turning it off can be an ongoing chore. At least for those who want to.
Yes, I am still surprised when people ask me why I would ever want to turn it off and put it in neutral. It is not so obvious to all, I guess. Some of us seem run by our minds more than anything else in our lives. Of course, that does make sense, because it does appear to be at the center core of everything we are and do in the world, right? Partially, yes. But not completely.
For me, it took my many years of meditating to understand that it was not the center core of everything in me. I can see that it is easy to allow the mind to be your master. However, I have learned that it is much better for it to be a tool. A hugely important one, for sure, but a tool, nonetheless.
A Spiritual Tribute, Part 2
“It is the energy of consciousness that one has come here to collect. This energy that drives all the parts of our being. Study it, pursue it, learn how to store it and conscious life will be eternal, and you will come to remember who you are and why you are here…” — Bruce K. Avenell
Well, I thought one posting about my meditation teacher who passed into the spiritual world more than three months ago would wrap that all up. But apparently there may be more to be said here. Funny thing though, if he knew I was doing this he’d probably scoff at me and tell me to knock it off. A few years ago I mentioned to him that he would make for an intriguing documentary film subject. He laughed, rolled his eyes, and only said, “Please, do not do that.” I of course will honor that request. However, he said nothing about his writings and teachings. And since I do not intend to write about him specifically anyway, as I said in the last post, I will only quote more excerpts from some of his other writings. Enjoy!
“Your beliefs hold you a prisoner in this realm’s dreams of TIME, ILLUSION and PARADOX…
A Spiritual Tribute
“You, a traveler on the road to life, but no longer afraid of death, no longer afraid of life. Knowing who you are and what you are about, perhaps even understanding what you did that suckered you into incarnating here on this most insignificant planet in a very plain galaxy, far from home and the mainstream of life…” — Bruce K. Avenell
An amazing spiritual being who I was lucky enough to know for almost 45 years passed from the physical and into the spiritual just a little more than six weeks ago. He left behind his failing physical vehicle so he could once again fly among the stars, where he seemed to truly belong. This posting will not be specifically about him, for I could not do him much justice in all that. I will leave that business to others. No, it will be about what he has left behind. And by left behind, his many wise writings and teachings for us to read, ponder, and consider. I will only quote excerpts from some of them, and leave it up to you in searching out anything more that may interest you about him and his teachings.
“Understand, this place is not our home. The being you are did not grow to the human level in the very short time that the planet Earth has been hospitable to this physical human life form. We are all wanderers in the great school of life. Some wander aimlessly, not realizing at all they are in a school. Some are assigned here to learn this. All in school, all learning. All learning to be yourself.
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.
The God Complex
“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.” — Lao Tzu
Why do we need heroes? Why do we need to worship? Why does it seem we always need to have someone to look up to? What is all that?
I think human beings are too easily brainwashed. We seem too insecure in ourselves and we look to others for validation and approval. That opens the door for others to take advantage of us. We seem to need a Daddy and a Mommy, and a God or Gods, to tell us what to do, and/or let us know we are okay, and/or just be someone we need to admire. Because they are greater than us, since we are so unworthy?
I feel we live in a world of many illusions. And this strong need for someone or something outside ourselves to ease our inside insecurities is one of the grandest illusions of all. We need to be free of hero worship, guru traps, and prophet perversions. They are pieces of this monumental illusion that leads us away from our own spiritual freedom.
Look around. It is everywhere. Our celebrity society, with its movie stars, sports stars, political stars, business stars, religious stars, media stars, stars everywhere in all forms. We promote them in all types of mediums, and joist them high on their pedestals. For they know better than us. And we know nothing. Right?
Vehicles & Tools
“I have come to believe that there are infinite passageways out of the shadows, infinite vehicles to transport us into the light” — Martha Beck
“The expectations of life depend upon diligence. The mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.” — Confucious
Two things. Vehicles. Tools. Two … very … important things. They define, perfect and transport us. You may ask, rightly so, what am I talking about?
Okay, think about it. First, vehicles. How would we get anywhere if we didn’t have some type of vehicle; bicycle, motorcycle, automobile, bus, train, airplane, or even our own two feet? We need vehicles to get anywhere, so we can do the things we need when we get there. Right?
Second, tools. We need tools to do things, to accomplish things, to complete things. Something as simple as silverware to eat with, or as complicated as software code to run computer programs. For many of the things we do, we need tools to go the full distance with our tasks. Right?
Think how boring life would be if we had no vehicles or tools. Wouldn’t we just be sitting at home, twiddling our thumbs? But then again, would we even have a home? How would it get built with no tools? No, we’d still be in a cave, maybe starving, because we had no tools to hunt with.
That Ringing Sound
“The audible life stream is the cardinal, central fact in the science of the masters … the supreme fact and factor of the entire universe … the very essence and life of all things … less known than any other important fact of nature, yet it is the one determining factor of all nature.” — Dr. Julian Johnson, ‘Path of the Masters’
Got Sound? I certainly hope so. If you are reading this, then you definitely do, but you may not know that you do … unless you have been medically diagnosed with a condition called tinnitus.
For those of you that do not know what that is, Webster’s dictionary defines tinnitus as, “any ringing or buzzing in the ear not resulting from an external stimulus.”
The medical community reports that approximately 20% of the people in the USA suffer from tinnitus, which means over 60 million of us. Wow, that seems like quite a lot, but how serious is it really? Well, those reports say things that bring it on are allergies, head injuries, loud noises, medications, infections, tumors and diseases. Treatments are offered to treat those symptoms, but they are not completely sure what causes it. There are four main treatments currently available; prescription drugs, maskers (devices one wears that produce soft sounds to drown out the inner sounds), behavioral modification training (learning not to listen to the inner sounds) and surgery in the most chronic cases of all.
The Search
“Silence is the language of God. All else is poor translation.” — Jalal ad-Din Rumi
A person who had just died walks up to the pearly gates of heaven and greets St. Peter with anticipation and joy. So, St. Peter welcomes him to heaven.
Then the person replies, “St. Peter, I’m so glad to have made it here to heaven. Now I’d like to meet God.”
St. Peter gazes at him oddly, takes an appraisal of him and finally says, “You mean to say that in all your years on earth you have never met God?”
The person appears puzzled, then answers with, “No. How could I meet God on earth?”
St. Peter asks, “Did you ever look for Him?”
The new person answers, “No, uh, I guess I didn’t.”
St. Peter replies, “Well you certainly won’t meet Him here either. That is, if you don’t look for Him.”
Do you know what you are looking for?
TMC