Seeking Spirituality: RH'L7 in Practice
Up-Side
The seeker after expects happiness in the form of some experience of God or the divine or the non-dual nature of Absolute Reality. Those experiences may turn out to occur rarely or regularly.
The intrinsic challenge is managing everyday life so that spiritual efforts are integrated and not compartmentalized. Profane distractions bedevil spiritual efforts, and dualistic perceptions interfere with blissful states and ineffable mystic union. For some, retirement into a religious order or an ashram is the solution: not as a rejection of the ordinary, but as a relief from the burden of handling it.
A person on a may be comfortable in deepening their immersion within a given tradition. However, in both East and West, different religious faiths and a variety of spiritual paths will often be explored. For personal needs, different spiritual communities or spiritual guides will be tried. Some prefer
The social effects will be affected less by the than by its particular manifestation which, as noted, can vary greatly. Where the provides evident social value (e.g. serving the needy), there is affirmation or admiration. Where the is centred on arcane rules or blissful states, there may be little connection to others.
The means vary in accord with the choice of spiritual discipline. Some are detailed and structured, involving a great deal of intense experiences, complex beliefs and contemplation. Others are so unstructured as to be nearly formless: nothing more is required than receptivity or a simple direct emptying of mind/ego/self.
Down-Side
The inherent problem lies in the need to handle the practicalities and dualities of living. If you enter a religious order to pursue a spiritual path, then you are likely to be fed, housed, clothed and given a structured timetable. If you do not, then you have to develop or find some viable arrangement for yourself.
The greatest seekers have emphasized that the divine is concealed. To penetrate that concealment, it is necessary to heighten the imagination and intensify experiences. As a result, there is a temptation to push imagination too far. This can lead to a fevered mental state that claims divine revelations. For narcissistic personalities, it is then a short step to delusions of grandeur and visions that are wish-filled hallucinations. Leaders who lack grounding in everyday reality often use these to embroider a cult, generate charisma and bind their credulous followers.
For those authentically on the path, there is a possibility of dangerous negative states. Too much can be expected of God. The doubt and disbelief then engenders a «dark night of the soul» in which the person feels lost, abandoned, even betrayed. More dangerous, even to death, are efforts to combat perceived earthly evils and disillusionment by «forcing the hand of God» using austerities and meditation.
- Now: review all Primal Quests from a practical standpoint.
Originally posted: 29-Jun-2012