To help with your spiritual growth and as a follow-up to my articles, The Meaning of Life: Rise and Shine   and What’s the Meaning of Life?, A Response, Part 1, the following are four summaries of spiritual understanding that I’ve come across over my years of study. They were written in 1931, 1944, 2004 and 1981, respectively. The first is an excerpt from Edward Bach’s Heal Thyself, the second is part of Aldous Huxley’s introduction to the Bhagavad Gita, the third is a part of Ken Wilbur’s article at Beliefnet.com. and the fourth is from Leichtman and Japikse’s “Active Meditation”. As you read these notice the similarities between them and the overall spiritual themes being taught.

Edward Bach wrote in Chapter 2 of Heal Thyself the following “fundamental truths”:

“The first of these is that man has a Soul which is his real self; a Divine, Mighty Being, a Son of the Creator of all things, of which the body, although the earthly temple of that Soul, is but the minutest reflection: that our Soul, our Divinity Who resides in and around us, lays down for us our lives as He wishes them to be ordered and so far as we will allow, ever guides, protects and encourages us, watchful and beneficent to lead us always for our utmost advantage: that He, our Higher Self, being a spark of the Almighty, is thereby invincible and immortal.

The second principle is that we, as we know ourselves in this world, are personalities down here for the purpose of gaining all the knowledge and experience which can be obtained through earthly existence, of developing virtues which we lack and of wiping out all that is wrong within us, thus advancing towards the perfection of our natures. The Soul knows what environment and what circumstances will best enable us to do this, and hence He places us in that branch of life most suited for that object.

Thirdly, we must realize that the short passage on this earth, which we know as life, is but a moment in the course of our evolution, as one day at school is to a life, and although we can for the present only see and comprehend that one day, our intuition tells us that birth was infinitely far from our beginning and death infinitely far from our ending. Our Souls, which are really we, are immortal, and the bodies, of which we are conscious are temporary, merely as horses we ride to go a journey, or instruments we use to do a piece of work.

Then follows a fourth great principle, that so long as our Souls and personalities are in harmony all is joy and peace, happiness and health. It is when our personalities are led astray from the path laid down by the Soul, either by our own worldly desires or by the persuasion of others, that a conflict arises. This conflict is the root cause of disease and unhappiness. No matter what our work in the world-bootblack or monarch, landlord or peasant, rich or poor-so long as we do that particular work according to the dictates of the Soul, all is well; and we can further rest assured that in whatever station of life we are placed, princely or lowly, it contains the lessons and experiences necessary at the moment for our evolution, and gives us the best advantage for the development of ourselves.

The next great principle is the understanding of the Unity of all things: that the Creator of all things is Love, and that everything of which we are conscious is in all its infinite number of forms a manifestation of that Love, whether it be a planet or a pebble, a star or a dewdrop, man or the lowliest form of life. It may be possible to get a glimpse of this conception by thinking of our Creator as a great blazing sun of beneficence and love and from the center an infinite number of beams radiate in every direction, and that we and all of which we are conscious are particles at the end of those beams, sent out to gain experience and knowledge, but ultimately to return to the great center. And though to us each ray may appear separate and distinct, it is in reality part of the great central Sun. Separation is impossible, for as soon as a beam of light is cut off from its source it ceases to exist. Thus we may comprehend a little of the impossibility of separateness, as although each ray may have its individuality, it is nevertheless part of the great central creative power. Thus any action against ourselves or against another affects the whole, because by causing imperfection in a part it reflects on the whole, every particle of which must ultimately become perfect.”

In the introduction to the Bhagavad-Gita translation by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood, Aldous Huxley wrote the summary of his Perennial Philosophy:

“First: the phenomenal world of matter and of individualized consciousness–the world of things and animals and men and even gods–is the manifestation of a Divine Ground within which all partial realities have their being, and apart from which they would be non-existent.

Second: human beings are capable not merely of knowing about the Divine Ground by inference; they can also realize its existence by a direct intuition, superior to discursive reasoning. This immediate knowledge unites the knower with that which is known.

Third: man possesses a double nature, a phenomenal ego and an eternal Self, which is the inner man, the spirit, the spark of divinity within the soul. It is possible for a man, if he so desires, to identify himself with the spirit and therefore with the Divine Ground, which is of the same or like nature with the spirit.

Fourth: man’s life on earth has only one end and purpose: to identify himself with his eternal Self and so to come to unitive knowledge of the Divine Ground.”

In a Beliefnet.com article titled An Integral Spirituality, Ken Wilbur wrote that most of the great wisdom traditions agree that:

“1. Spirit, by whatever name, exists.

2. Spirit, although existing “out there,” is found “in here,” or revealed within to the open heart and mind.

3. Most of us don’t realize this Spirit within, however, because we are living in a world of sin, separation, or duality—that is, we are living in a fallen, illusory, or fragmented state.

4. There is a way out of this fallen state (of sin or illusion or disharmony), there is a Path to our liberation.

5. If we follow this Path to its conclusion, the result is a Rebirth or Enlightenment, a direct experience of Spirit within and without, a Supreme Liberation, which

6. Marks the end of sin and suffering, and

7. Manifests in social action of mercy and compassion on behalf of all sentient beings.”

The following is from “Active Meditation” by Robert Leichtman and Carl Japikse. It is from the last chapter titled The Western Tradition and the authors describe the following as what should be the goals of those of us on the spiritual path in the West.

1. To make the God within our primary source of enlightenment, growth and creativity.
2. To link the personality with the higher self, thereby producing a spiritualized individuality capable of responding to the forces and qualities of spirit.
3. To ground the life of spirit through the enlightened activities of the personality on the physical plane.
4. To learn and use the skills of devotion, understanding, and obedience to link the personality with all three of the major aspects of divine life – love, wisdom and will.
5. To purify and illumine all aspects of the personality so they become agents of spiritual force.
6. To cultivate the spiritual intuition, by linking an illumined mind with the wisdom of the soul.
7. To nurture a constant awareness of the underlying goodwill and unity in the divine presence.
8. To recognize that it is our duty and privilege to serve the purpose of the soul.
9. To become consciously aware of the reality of the Hierarchy and its plan for the evolution of humanity and civilization – and to assist in implementing it.
10. To become consciously aware of the spiritual groups the higher self is part of – and to learn how we can contribute to the work of these groups.

Cheers,
Brendan

Marty Nemko, a career coach, author, blogger and radio talk-show host in the San Francisco area, who has very practical career and educational advice that I highly recommend, wrote a very personal article titled “What the Hell is the Meaning of Life”. This article is the first of a seven part series in response to Marty’s question. It’s an introductory article that gives an overview of the “big-picture” spiritual perspective that’s needed before addressing the specific points Marty raises.

The question “what’s the meaning of life” has to be approached from a broad perspective or a higher point of view. The confusion that everybody has with this question stems from trying to “figure it out” from a narrow, limited perspective. A higher perspective is reached by contemplating, in a detached and impersonal way, why we’re here and who we are. I address this in more detail in my article The Meaning of Life: Rise and Shine but the following is a brief summary.

First, let’s discuss who you are. This may seem like a ridiculous question. Of course you know who you are. You are your name, age, sex, family, nationality, religion and occupation. This is who you are, right? Well, yes but I’m referring to a deeper understand of self. You are a human being with a physical body that you use to act and get around. But you’re more than just a body. You also have feelings, i.e. an emotional body, which expresses your mood and attitudes. You also have a mind, i.e. a mental body, which you use to think and figure things out. Each of these “bodies” has conscious and subconscious components. The conscious part is what you are aware of at any given moment while the subconscious part is what goes on automatically such as bodily functions and emotional and mental functions like habits and memories. Collectively the physical, emotional and mental bodies are known as your lower self, ego, human self or personality (I refer to it as the personality).

But you are not just this personality. You have a “higher” body that we call the higher self, true self, divine self, real self or soul. It is your inner essence. Your soul is that part of you that was made in God’s image. It’s an aspect of God, often referred to as a child of God or a spark of God. What a wave is to the ocean or a ray of sunlight is to the sun, so the soul is to God. The soul is refined and abstract while the personality is dense, materialistic and concrete.

Why aren’t you more familiar with it? Because it is more subtle and abstract than the personality. For most people the soul operates behind the scenes however it’s there and active whether you’re aware of it or not. Just as you use the physical, emotional and mental bodies to act, emote and think, respectively, you use the soul to intuit. Intuiting is when you think abstractly about what you should do, why you should do it and what it means. It’s what you use to consider the vision, purpose and meaning of your work, marriage, friendships and life. Alas, most of us aren’t familiar this and we drift through life in a sea of confusion.

However this confusion starts to lift when you intuit that you don’t have a soul but that you are the soul. Your real self is as this soul who uses the physical, emotional and mental bodies to operate in this world. Your true self is as this eternal, immortal soul that is here to fulfill God’s plan.

What is this plan? Why are we here? We’re here to express the divine ideals of love, joy, beauty, peace, compassion, courage, wisdom and goodwill in the world. We commonly refer to this as developing and expressing our character. By expressing these qualities we are redeeming and refining the physical, emotional and mental worlds and bringing heaven to earth. Figuratively we are bringing “light” to the world.

With this meaning-of-life background we can now address each of Marty’s specific points about life from a higher, spiritual perspective.

Next time – is money the answer to the meaning of life?

“It’s time to rise and shine” says my wife to my daughters some mornings if they’re being slow and groggy. If she means anything by it she means for them to get up and get going and be good and to do their best throughout the day. But it’s mainly just a meaningless expression, a cliché. A cliché is defined as an “overused expression; a phrase or word that has lost its original effectiveness or power from overuse”. But what’s implied is that the phrase once had an original effectiveness or power. Could there be an inherent meaning and power in this phrase? I think so, in fact I think “rise and shine” is a metaphor for the meaning of life.

The question “what’s the meaning of life?” has a lot of implications and facets but for this article I’ll focus on two related questions; “who am I?” and “why am I here?”. Let’s address each question with the two parts of our “rise and shine” metaphor.

Who are You?

To answer the question “who am I?”, let’s start with what we know. You have a physical body, you have emotions (an emotional body) and you have a mind (a mental body), collectively called your human self, lower self or personality. You act with your physical body, you emote with your emotional body and you think with your mental body. They are analogous to the states of matter in chemistry; the physical body is solid, the emotional body is liquid and the mental body is gas. Think of these bodies going from the bottom (physical) to the top (mind) “rising” in their level of refinement.

But the key insight in addressing the question “who am I?” is that you are more than just these bodies. You also have a spiritual body known as the higher self or soul. The soul is the immaterial inner essence that animates and sustains us. It’s often referred to as “the spark of God”. Just as the activities of the lower three bodies are to act, emote and think, respectively, the activity of the soul is to “intuit” (i.e. intuition). The soul’s scientific analogy is energy (as in Einstein’s E=Mc2 equation). The soul is more refined than the personality but that’s not quite accurate because they’re totally different. The soul is abstract while the personality is concrete. The soul is immortal and infinite while the personality is mortal and finite. In my science analogy the soul is with physic’s energy (abstract) while the personality is with chemistry’s states of matter (concrete).

To rise means to realize this but to truly rise and understand you need to know that you don’t have a soul but that you are a soul who created and uses your physical, emotional and mental body to achieve its purpose. As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955), a Jesuit priest said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” As the soul you are eternal, that is, you’ve been since the beginning of time and you will always be. You are immortal, that is, you were never “born” and you will never “die”. You are a child of God as Jesus said, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son (that’s you, your spiritual self, whether you’re a man or woman), so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) God created the soul and the soul created the personality. This process is described in the story of Adam and Eve. God created Adam (the soul) and Adam, since it was his rib, figuratively created Eve (the personality). And thereafter spirit and personality became one. This is what it means to figuratively “rise from the dead” or to be reborn (i.e. “born again”). Again as Jesus taught, “I am telling you the truth, that no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born or water and the Spirit. A person is born physically of human parents, but he is born spiritually of the Spirit” (John 3:5-6)

Why are You Here?

So “why are we here?”…we’re here to shine! What does it mean to “shine” in a deeper sense? As discussed you are a soul who has a physical, emotional and mental body to use in this world. The soul wants a personality that is productive, disciplined, esteemed, in-control, together, mature, organized. Why? So that it can effectively use it. What does the soul want to use the personality for? To express itself. What does the soul want to express? Love, joy, beauty, goodwill, compassion, wisdom, peace, patience, harmony, courage. Why does the soul want to express these qualities? Because these qualities are divine, that is they are aspects of God, and the expression of them is what redeems and refines the world. Through their expression we enlighten the world and fulfill the purpose of humanity and God’s plan.

Does this seem too easy, too simplistic? It’s not because the personality has a life of its own and clings to it’s old habits, attitudes and thoughts. It also feels the downward pull of the negativity of the collective of humanity (i.e. mass consciousness). To truly shine you have to understand what it means and how it works. For example we’re not just not being dour but rather we want to actually be cheerful and joyful. We’re not just biting our tongue and suppressing anger but actually being tolerate and peaceful. In a seeming paradox, to complete the process of rising you have to descend. This means that you have to bring the divinity that you register abstractly at the soul, down into the mind, emotions and body to complete the cycle. For example if you often get angry with your child you should intuit that you need tolerance. Then you use your mind to think about how to apply it, use your emotions for the proper attitude and your body to actually act appropriately.

So, rise and shine! Know who you are and why you’re here. Think of “rise and shine” as a seed thought for the meaning of life. You’re more that what you think you are. You’re here to do more than what you think your suppose too. As Isaiah said, “Arise, Jerusalem (read children of God, you and me), and shine like the sun; the glory of the Lord is shining on you!” (Isaiah 60;1) And, as Jesus said, “You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead he puts it on a lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

Cheers,
Brendan

P.S. Get an immediate download of your FREE copy of Enlightenment and the Meaning of Life by clicking here.