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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.
My Spiritual Adventure, Part 2
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”― Aristotle
That very next weekend after that life-altering class I went to a potluck where everyone there was no one I knew, and was hosted by the organization that this teacher ran. I have never been the best at small talk, especially around people I did not know at all. I mostly kept my mouth shut, and just watched and listened. I was invited to this potluck by the people who had put on the class, since I had expressed an interest in learning more about this inner sound. I spent most of the afternoon getting to know some of the people there. Most of them had already started some type of meditation program that involved this sound, but a few others were in the same boat as I was. Just kicking a few tires and seeing what was what.
After we had chowed down some really great food, mostly of the healthy and organic type, our ‘spiritual mechanic’ who had given the pretty amazing lecture spoke for a while. He was very low key and unassuming, but I was enticed by what he had to say. A few people asked him questions, but overall it was pretty laid back. Apparently he had been meditating on this ‘sound current,’ as he called it, for more than 20 years and had started teaching it just a few years ago. He wanted to make it clear that he was not a guru or master, and that he didn’t want anyone’s devotion. In fact, if anyone tried that, he would not teach them. He would probably get up and leave the room, thus leaving you to your own thoughts. He had learned in the eastern devotion schools, but then left them behind once he started his own school. He preferred to just be a simple teacher, a coach, a friend, a confidant if possible, and at times he could be coaxed into working as a spiritual mechanic. In essence, helping people fix some of their spiritual problems that were holding them back.
My Spiritual Adventure, Part 1
“Silence is the language of God. All else is poor translation.” — Jalal ad-Din Rumi
I have previously mentioned several times that I would write here about the particular meditation system I have been practicing for more than 40 years now. Well, since I recently finished an annual retreat hosted by this organization, I figured this was probably a good time to spill it. But be warned, there is a lot to communicate here so it may be written in several posts.
I shall start at the beginning, as it should be …
I found myself in the early 70’s at the University of Texas, after several of my unexplained experiences when I was growing up, which I have already mentioned some of here in this blog. This offered up an environment to help me explore my ‘predicament,’ trying to figure out what the hell had been happening to me.
I spent more than a year reading volumes of material on anything related to this. Back then it wasn’t like today. Nowadays, you can find all kinds of metaphysical books in most bookstores. Then you really had to seek them out, because most bookstores didn’t carry those types of titles.
Still, they weren’t very satisfying. A good portion of them were all theory and philosophy. Some were about experiences the authors or others had, but didn’t really say how or if those experiences were repeatable by anyone else. What I wanted was the nuts and bolts of this greater reality.
Shasta Time
“I consider the evening twilight on Mount Shasta one of the
grandest sights I have ever witnessed.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
Every year about this time I, along with a host of others, head to Mt. Shasta for an annual retreat and to partake of her spiritual goodies. My first trip up here was in the summer of 1972 when I was just 20 (that was an amazing trip and camping experience I should write about some day). I have come up every year at this time, except for one year when I went to climb around the pyramids of the Yucatan. So this will be my 41st retreat up to Shasta. And every year is different, each with its own set of spiritual challenges, lessons, progressions, and comprehensions. And of course, seeing old friends and meeting new ones.
As I write this I am just starting to get my camping gear together. But I also wonder how many more years I will be able to camp up there. I guess as long as my body will put up with it, hopefully until I am at least 80. There are times when hiking, meditating, or just hanging around my camp, when it feels like I am home. At least as much as you can feel at home in this physical corporeal existence.
Answers for Questions?
“Life is available only in the present moment.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
Do you ever ask the big questions of or about life? You know the ones, ‘what is the meaning of life?’ … ‘why are we here?’ … ‘who am I?’ … ‘does any of this even matter?’ … and on and on. Do you think those questions matter? Do you think the universe, creation, God, Deity, or whoever or whatever is out there cares … at all? Should that or they even care? Why or why not? Are we done asking these asinine questions yet? Yes … for now, for aren’t there always questions, won’t there always be, as long as we humans are around? Yes, of course. Well, at least that one was easy to answer.
Oh, but wait, one more question. Are there even any answers to any of these questions? Okay, done for now with the questions part. Now, maybe we can move on to the answers part. Yes, answers, the hard part of the equation. Questions, the easy, lazy part. We all have questions, of one kind or another. We can all ask them, whether simple, profound, or just there, so easy to ask. But humans seem to be in the business of the search, always searching for answers, whether it be in mathematics, science, business, psychology, spirituality, and so forth. In every human endeavor throughout history, questions were the foundation for the march forward, no matter the answers. For we usually found some kind of answer to temporarily satisfy us. Or did we (oops another question, can’t seem to get around that)?