subject: Do You Live from a Giant "No!" [print this page] Of all the creatures on Earth, only humans imagine they have to alter themselves, bend themselves out of shape, fix themselves in one way or another in order to be "spiritual."
It's only humans who want toescape their naturalness, preferring some altered state that has an otherworldly emphasis.
To learn to live joyously, ecstatically, rapturouslyand we arenottalking about going wild in ways that are dysfunctional and ultimately harm usisn't generally why folk go to a church, a temple, a mosque, an ashram. They go in order to in one way or another "straighten themselves out," whether that be in the form of unburdening themselves of guilt or trying to "toe the line" the way they believe theyshould.
So much that's associated with spirituality majors incontrol, instead of in the ecstatic enjoyment of the adventure of self-discovery.
Having said this, there's a fundamental difference between control and being responsible.
To be a responsible person, directing our actions in accord with our true being, tends toward increased joy, a deepening love of life, an expanding sense of adventure, and increased originality and creativity.
To be a responsible person tends toward rapture, ecstasy, and celebration.
Control on the other hand suppresses these states. It makes us conform to the bland mediocrity of most people's mundane lives.
It's as if something in us utters a giant "No!" to the fullness of life. We resist being ecstatic, rapturous, joyous.
And so we set up all these spiritual paths for the purpose of reinforcing this learned "no" that we utter whenever we are offered a chance to embrace the fullness of life.
Let's be clear: This "no" isn't something we come into the world saying. Quite the contrary, we come into the world alive, adventurous, excited, raring to go. We come with the potential of being full participants in all the excitement and rapture life has to offer.
Just take a look at the religion and spirituality of the planet, continent after continent, with billions upon billions of adherents to these various paths. Most human lives when you get right down to it areself-diminishment writ large.
We come from the high origin of bliss, then promptly start reining in that bliss, until in many of us there's little left by middle age that resembles the incredibly excited, adventurous, joyous, rapturous creature we began life as.
What we've got in the name of a great deal of so-called spirituality is a grand display of what Eckhart Tolle calls the collectivepain-body.
The theme of so much that goes under the the banner of spiritual seeking is the annihilation of our natural being, our true self, our expression of the infinite Source from which we have sprung.
And the theme of the pain-body is "Be unhappy!"
Authentic spirituality flows in just the opposite direction. Authentic spirituality is all about embracing this moment, as it is, in its total naturalnessembracing who we are in our innate being.
To be spiritual isn't about some other life, some altered state, some "fix" we are suppose to go through. It isn't about restricting ourselves.
To be spiritual is to unleash the fullness of our being, right here, right now, in this very moment. It's to embrace thewhole of our experience as a manifestation of the divine Presence.
