Many paths lead Home

 The saying goes, many paths lead to Rome, which in our community reads Home instead. I explored many of them. It is not right to say, this method is good, and that method is less useful. We are all so different. There is the philosopher and the doer, there is the empath and the thinker. Consequently, we are all pulled in different directions to walk up the imaginary mountain. In the end every method can only get us near That. The final push always has to come from what lies beyond self. Below an outline of potential practices, as well as potential pitfalls.

 

Spirit

That’s how my journey started in 2008, with the 11:11 phenomenon. It seemed like the Holy Spirit met me everywhere, in people, events, symbolic messages, synchronicity. The world was on fire for me in the early years and shone with an intensity I had never seen before. There is definitely a glue that connects this 3D world with the higher dimension of being and we have continuous access to it. 

 

Pitfall: It is possible to project into these symbols. For example, look at numbers often enough, consciously as well as subconsciously, and it will always be 11:11 somewhere.

 

Observer 

“I am the one who listens to my thoughts”, describes the observer role well. Perhaps you have already experienced the eternal Buddha eyes that simply put the “me, myself and I” identity out of commission. As J. Krishnamurti was fond of saying, the observer is the observed. I have that experience often when I get lost in the swaying of trees or while driving through landscapes. 

 

Pitfall: The one who listens to your thoughts, or is aware of your feelings, may be another layer of self. It is easy to fool oneself in this assumed observer role.

 

I am That

Each time when we are part of the flow, when S (erenity), E (nergy), L (ove), F (low) reign, we are That. No thoughts, nothing but a serene, blissful feeling, the higher energies simply flow through us. We are Self. We are That!

 

Pitfall: just like with Consciousness, it is easy to mistake our projected God identification with the divine energy flow. 

 

Dissolving self-awareness 

Sometimes when we completely zoom into the workings of self, it vanishes. The mind which understands itself becomes still at that moment. Feelings which are grasped, worked through and let go off transmute into a serene, blissful state.

 

Pitfall: it’s the momentary cessation of self that we are after, not some further analysis of deeper and deeper layers of self identity. Remember that the self loves analysis, but where there is true love, the self and analysis is not.

 

Spiritual evolution 

 

I am this and that.                                        Unconscious existence

 

I am no ego.                                                  Perceived decision maker

 

I am aware of body, mind, world.              Perceived observer

 

I am still—I Am That I Am                        Conscious Unconscious