Spiritual Realization

(an online course)

Spirituality is a way of knowing who you are, and mastering your relationship with the world-at-large. True spirituality is about self-mastery. The new paradigm for spirituality departs from old ritualistic traditions, religious dogma, and indoctrination. It is a way of being, and a way to be free from all that might otherwise oppress you. It is about liberation from the system of suffering which has been in place in this world for a very long time. And, rather than being just another belief system, it is a practical, simple, and realistic way of embracing a Greater Reality — by simply being more of who you truly are.

This is the basic outline of the course:

Lesson 1: The spiritual self
Lesson 2: A world of illusions
Lesson 3: Indoctrination, dogma, and delusion
Lesson 4: Grace
Lesson 5: Spiritual practice, meditation, and prayer
Lesson 6: Stepping out of the karmic system
Lesson 7: Spiritual healing and wholeness
Lesson 8: A "path" with heart
Lesson 9: Spiritual freedom
Lesson 10: Review

The goals are to:
• transcend illusions of self, and come closer to your true spiritual Self
• step out of illusions about the world, and come closer to a Greater Reality
• move beyond unconscious living, into a higher consciousness
• open to and align yourself with your highest good, true grace, and healing
• realize your spiritual freedom, even while living in the material world.

Lesson 1: The spiritual self

Introduction
1. Who Are You?
2. Spirit, Soul, and Being
3. Still Haven't Found What You're Looking For?
4. Reflections of You
Exercise One

5. Connectedness
6. Purpose in Living
7. Spiritual Flow
Exercise Two

8. The Way You Live
9. Honoring the Divine
Exercise Three

10. You Could Be Magnificence
Exercise Four

Introduction

Welcome to the course in Spiritual Realization. All of us are born into a world of problems. It is up to us — individually and collectively — what we do about it. Spirituality is seeking a larger perspective on life, seeking to understand who we are and our relationship with the world-at-large, in the highest sense. And it is an intensely personal experience.

Spirituality is different from religious indoctrination; it does not necessarily depend upon any particular dogma, doctrine, or ideology. It is a personal experience which may or may not be shared or understood by others, but which you may experience as who you truly are.

In this course we will not seek to adopt an ideology, belief system, ritual practice, or tradition from the past. Rather, we will be moving beyond all of that. Teachings and traditions that we may have relied upon until now, only have value at a certain stage of our spiritual unfoldment. Then we have to move on. In fact, many things that might have once appeared to "help" us, may be seen as more of a hindrance — when it is right for us to go beyond them.

This is a course in spiritual mastery, going far beyond any commonly available teaching or traditional approach. It is a course for finding spiritual freedom, peace, and healing, beyond anything that you might have expected or come to accept in the past. It is a whole new paradigm of spiritual being.

You may find it helpful to write down your thoughts, insights, or experiences in a notebook or journal. (If you have the Inner Life software program, you can use it for that purpose.)

Note: The purpose of the course is to make you think, to be more self-aware, to gain perspective, and to learn how to apply universally applicable principles to situations in your own life. What's different about Simply Self courses is that there is no "fluff" or stories about other people, no facts to memorize or "top ten" ways to make everything in your life perfect. Be aware, your comfort zone will be challenged. For some, the material may seem like common sense, something you already know but have yet to practice. For others, the realizations you make will be profoundly transformational. As in life, you decide what it means to you.

1. Who Are You?

The search for who we are begins with consciousness itself. Consciousness is more than an awareness of what is external to you; it is an awareness of what is within you, and who you truly are, on the deepest level.

We all have a body — most of us think we are our physical body. Even those who think of themselves as spiritual beings are likely to identify with their body as their self, in day-to-day living. It is extremely rare, in this world, for a person to know — understand and experience — that they are not their body. Yet that is the most basic truth about who you are: you are no body. You are a spiritual being. You are a consciousness or being of energy and light. You are spirit.

The more you identify with — take your identity or sense of self — from what you are not, the more you suffer. You lose your way in this world. You lose sight of the spiritual essence of things.

You are not the body. You are not a body that has a soul. You are a spirit or soul that has taken on a body. Think about this a bit, to see how this shifts your perspective on who you think you are.

You are a spiritual being. That is who you are.

Of course, the world-at-large tells you who you "are," too, who you should be, what is expected of you, how to act so as to be accepted, approved of, and rewarded in this life. Yet, none of that is necessarily a validation of who you truly are. More often, it is programming, an invalidation or misidentification of who you are.

The continual programming, especially via the media, of physicality, sensuality, sexuality, and materialism, has an ultimate effect. It causes you to identify more with things of the material world — which you are being sold — rather than things of the spirit. There are countless shows that focus on the body, including physical death, as the be all and end all of existence. Murder mysteries, autopsy crime shows, sporting events, and so on. It is all about the body, as if the body — physicality, emotion, ego, and related activity — was all there is to life. That is very far from the truth. Even so-called spiritual shows are grossly distorted, seeking to emotionalize and upset us as some kind of entertainment. Entertainment is not the truth — it is selling you something, and playing to your programming, emotions (especially fear), and ego. It is merely seeking to profit by your ignorance.

Many people's lives — and sense of who they are — revolve around the most gross physical needs they have. Though these daily "needs" may seem quite real and necessary, that is not all there is to life. You — who you really are — will survive death. And you may wonder what in the world everything meant in this life, why you were so lost, why you didn't have a clue, why you didn't realize or find what you were really looking for. You may wonder why you never found you.

There have been teachings and traditions that have helped people to know who they were and better cope with life in this world, throughout time. A common thread of spiritual teachings is that the body and the ego are not the true inner being. Some traditions seek to eliminate the ego, which is seen as an obstacle to simply being one's true self. A person might be taught to not think too highly of themselves, or to think of themselves as insignificant. That is not really what we are trying to get at, here. We are seeking a place which honors who we truly are, without being egotistical, and which does not require that we be "put down" in any way. So, it isn't that you are "nobody," but simply that you are not your physical body. Who you are — spiritually — is important, and not anything insignificant or inconsequential. Who you are is very important.

This is the simple truth: you are a spiritual being. You are not made of the gross matter of this world. The body you have is not the real you, it is just a vehicle you are using at the moment. You exist for higher things, beyond merely eating, drinking, sexing, and ego ambition (all of the things that are glorified in the media). Most people are so lost in the world that it becomes their usual state of mind.

After a long history of human existence, people do not know who they are — spiritually — any better, today. In fact, they know themselves even less. That is the story of life on Earth — life after life — for countless souls and spirits, consciousnesses and beings. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Now you have an opportunity to know your self, more deeply and truly than you may have in a very long time, to come closer to who you really are. Not who you have been told you are by the world, but who you realize you are within you. The truth of who you are, and what you know on the deepest levels of your being, will resonate within you. Call it deeper feeling, resonance, intuition, knowingness, insight, or realization — the word doesn't matter. What matters is that you find that place within you which validates who you truly are, rather than being content to remain lost in a world that invalidates you in countless ways.

This is an opportunity to come closer to the highest good, within you.

It is all right there. Here. Now.

7. Spiritual Flow

There is a spiritual flow to life, a way in which your life works, on a deeper level. The more you experience connectedness, the more you experience flow. Flow does not mean everything in life becomes easy, you experience no problems, or suffering disappears. It simply means that the movement of your life experience proceeds from a more subtle, spiritual, fulfilling place within you, rather than being a more gross reaction to everything outside of you.

Flow comes from connectedness. But, it is important to discern what you are connecting to. All sources of energy and power are not the same, of equal value, use, or potential harm. In a simple analogy, there are unseen hot and cold water lines connected to a washing machine. Hot water can shrink many clothes, and cause the colors to bleed, but cold water will not; but hot water can help to wash the oil and grime off of clothes, while cold water may not. So, hot water may have a negative effect in one way, and a positive effect in another. We have to be discerning in what we choose each time, determine the proper flow, and not just "turn on the tap."

Life is like this. We make choices all the time as to what energies to flow with. Just opening up the faucet doesn't necessarily mean we are discerning as to which energies are coming through. That is a very fundamental and necessary choice we need to make: to connect with and bring through the right energies for us. This is what we mean by true spiritual "flow." We choose the energies that we allow to flow within us and through us, into our lives, in a positive way. A habit of familiarity, or a pattern of doing something a certain way because we learned how to do it that way, is not really discerning what is really right, here, now.

There is a quality of effortless action when we experience being "in the flow." It is almost like doing nothing and having everything done; you get yourself out of the way, and let it happen for you. Realize, this is different from habitual ways of living that create a false sense of "going with the flow." The extreme example would be addicts who go through the same routine repeatedly, and just give in to the pressure to abuse themselves with drugs — this is not being "in the flow." Or, another way of looking at this is: it is being in the wrong flow, one which is rushing inevitably toward a place the person really doesn't want to wind up, or can't even imagine winding up. This is living in denial, ignoring or suppressing the experience of truth, true inner-directedness, and conscience. It might be easy to ignore conscience, truth, or reality, but that doesn't make such behavior a "flow" experience. It is nearly the opposite.

What we may refer to as "flow" in our modern language may be what was called "the Way," a long time ago. There is a Way in which we connect with, experience, and move with a Greater Reality. It is a connection with truth, peace, love, and light. There is a natural benefit in aligning ourselves with the proper Way; it brings us closer to the True Source. Ignoring, resisting, or reversing this connection causes the benefits which might otherwise flow to us to no longer do so. If we lose the inner qualities of truth, love, and simplicity, our outer life becomes more delusory, unsupported, complicated, and problematic.

So, there is an upward spiritual current or flow, and there is a downward one as well. One leads us higher, spiritually; the other, lower. We choose our direction, within us. And, we can clear anything and everything out of the way of Divine flow in our lives — especially the lower ego-emotional nature, attachments, illusions, false desires and needs, and self-limiting patterns of behavior. We can see what the flow of our life really is, and make better choices.

Exercise Two: You will need about five to ten minutes of quiet space to do this exercise, without interruptions. First, take a few deep breaths, relaxing on the exhale, and sit comfortably. Be aware of any changes you need to make in your surroundings, to have a quiet space, without interruption, including turning off your cell phone or other media.

Take a deep breath, relax, close your eyes, and picture where you are in your life. See or feel or get a sense of your life as a flow, a larger movement containing many smaller movements, tasks, activities, goals, and desires. Get a sense of what is organizing or moving through your life, the larger factors that may be driving you, motivating you, or inspiring you. Look at what moves you. Consider what touches you on a deeper level. What allows the simple, creative expression of who you are, in your life? What does not allow that; what interferes with or disallows you being who you are, and being happy, at peace, and fulfilled?

Next, consider what is the song of your life, what is the movement, what is the dance? Gently move your arms, your hands, your body to get a sense of your own inner movement. If you wish, you can get up and move, too, but keep your awareness within you.

Now, take a deep breath, relax in your seat again, and picture yourself floating along in a river, the river of life. What does that river look like to you, and how are you doing? Is it a rushing river, or a quiet and peaceful one? Are there rapids, boulders, obstacles? Are you moving swiftly or slowly, or are you just floating in a tide pool, waiting to resume your flow along the river? Are you paddling upstream? Are you in a boat of some kind, or are you floating along, trying to keep your head above water?

When you are ready, you may open your eyes. Write down what you experienced, what you noticed about your life, what came to awareness, what images came to mind, what thoughts or feelings came up. What is the flow of your life like, now? And how might it be better, easier, more fulfilling, more free?

Flow is about being receptive to creative energy or higher inspiration. We need to be open to receive it, and we need a way to express it. Flow needs to move, to create the space for more flow. Whatever restricts flow in your life is like a crimp or knot in a hose; the proper flow needs to be restored. Realize, energy and spirit — your inner essence — are far more subtle and flowing than anything in the physical world, including water. But, the flow of water is a good analogy to remind you of the eternal movement of spirit, and the need for that in your life. You may wish to do the above exercise at various times, to get more in touch with the flow in your life.

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