JANUARY 10 ~ DAILY REFLECTION ~ from: ALONG THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT ~ by: Dr. David R. Hawkins. ►Q: What can we actually do to be helpful to the world? A: Make a gift of your life and lift all mankind by being kind, considerate, forgiving, and compassionate at all times, in all places, and under all conditions, with everyone as well as yourself. That is the greatest gift anyone can give.◄ From: “The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing Is Hidden” (2002), Chapter 17: Dialogues, p. 257 ---------------------------------- With Additional Context: ---------------------------------- Although the level of consciousness of all mankind was only at 190 (a negative condition) for centuries, in the late 1980s, it suddenly crossed over the line of Truth at 200 and now stands at the current positive level of 207, which is within the realm of Integrity. ►Q: What can we actually do to be helpful to the world? A: Make a gift of your life and lift all mankind by being kind, considerate, forgiving, and compassionate at all times, in all places, and under all conditions, with everyone as well as yourself. That is the greatest gift anyone can give. Q: What is the core essence of the spiritual search?◄ A: Consciousness advances itself when it is provided with essential information which then becomes activated by intention. This in turn prompts inspiration, humility, and surrender, and these tendencies become progressively more operative. When dominant, they lead to dedication and perseverance. In addition to these aspects of consciousness, progress is greatly aided by expert guidance and the usefulness of the calibrated levels of consciousness of the teachers and the teachings. Spiritual endeavor in the past was really quite unreliable and seekers were prone to falling into misleading error with no way of realizing what had happened or why. Sometimes high levels of truth are mixed in with serious spiritual error, and what could have led to real progress led instead to spiritual disaster. Often the error is outside the context of the reality of the seeker and thus escapes detection. Through the mass media, great numbers of people are deceived and millions of dollars flow into pious-sounding spiritual leaders, quasi-gurus, and ecclesiastic public figures. It is actually the talk that is glib. If the sound is turned off on the television set, simple observation reveals the truth. Happily, Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita that, “Even if a devotee is misled and on the wrong path, if his heart is devoted to me, I will favor him as mine. The impact on the devotee who has been misled is severe when the spiritual rape is uncovered. The disillusionment is more severe than that which follows deception or financial disaster in personal life. Some dejected former devotees never recover and go on to severe depression and total collapse. Some become like walking shells. Spiritual error and disillusionment can be grave and permanently damaging; therefore, the frequent admonition of “caveat emptor” recurs in these present teachings. The loss of a monetary fortune is trivial compared to the major spiritual loss because the guru is often held in such high esteem and almost god-like adoration. This tendency on the part of the seeker is taken advantage of by the spiritual charlatan who is seductive, glib, and adept at the tricks of the trade that occur in areas least expected and unexamined. Often the spiritual error is so disguised and rationalized that it is all but undetectable. Even the teacher of false doctrine may be unaware. From: “The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing Is Hidden” (2002), Chapter 17: Dialogues, pp. 256–257 ---------------------------- Related Teachings: ---------------------------- From “Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man” (2008), Chapter 16: Transcending the World–What is the World?, pp. 304–305: Is the world ‘real’ or an ‘illusion’ has been a topic addressed by philosophers throughout history, but none has really offered a pragmatic, satisfactory means of resolution due to the lack of an explanation that is based on the inherent realities and proclivities of human consciousness itself. Thus, a statement such as “There is no point in trying to change the world because the world you see does not even exist” sounds true at consciousness level 700 but is not actually comprehensible to the average person. Similarly, to “wear the world like a light garment” (St. Francis of Assisi) sounds correct, but just how does one actually do it? That man’s primary error is ‘ignorance’ (as per Jesus Christ, the Buddha, Krishna, Socrates, etc.), requires explanation as the statement fails to explain whether that ignorance is innate or due to moral defect, willfulness, biological fate, karmic limitation, or intrinsic human proneness to error. In this context, ‘world’ means two things: (1) the world as it is in reality/nature (Descartes’ “res externa/extensa”), or (2) the world as it is perceived, observed, witnessed, and interpreted by the human mind (Descartes’ “res cogitans/interna”). In addition to the experiential interpretations of the world, there are now added interpretations by both Newtonian physics and quantum mechanics. The world has been interpreted over the centuries by various philosophies, including metaphysics, ontology, theology, and more. There is now also the world as reflected and interpreted by the media, which is then further processed by the senses. Whereas Socrates, Descartes, and others clearly expressed the dilemma of man, they failed to provide an explanation that would resolve the conflict, which is so well demonstrated by the confrontational Scopes trial as well as today’s political debate about the proper alignment of different worldviews, including secularism versus faith and priorities of rights.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 19:39:07 +0000
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