Most people in this modern age live busy lives. Their focus is on their families, their homes, their communities, and their careers. Not surprisingly then, spiritual practice takes a low place on our priority list, especially prior to our retirement years. It seems that the only time we feel motivated about learning spiritual truth is when faced with a crisis, such as the death or illness of a loved one. Only then are we impressed with the nature of our own mortality, which in turn leads us to contemplate the meaning of human life from a spiritual perspective.
The problem is that neglecting our spiritual Selves is not merely an option with minimal repercussions. Rather it impacts our lives in many ways that we do not immediately perceive. It hurts us more than we know.
It is not our busy ness per se that causes problems. Rather it is the tendency to fall into unconscious patterns of thinking and emoting that busy ness promotes. While we are busy doing, our inner world usually gets put on autopilot, so that our thinking and emoting happens all on its own impetus and without any awareness on our part. Then to further exacerbate this predicament, into this vacuum created by our unconsciousness there flows a steady stream of unwanted and troublesome influences - influences such as sin, fearful dualistic thinking, karma, and world mesmerism.
These troublesome influences are indigenous to the earthly plane that we call home. They operate according to natural universal law, and their impact upon our inner world is always one of devastation. This explains why human life is and always has been so problematic. Played out under the canopy of the earthly plane of reality, our lives are subject to these devastating influences until we learn how to reverse and overcome them.
This then is the true task before us. The earthly plane is the reflection of Adamic consciousness. It is the environment for all activity on the karmic cycle of birth and death. As long as our own state of consciousness lines up with the earthly plane's reality, we will keep coming back through the doorway of human birth. But there is a way out of this dilemma - a way that frees us from the troublesome influence of the earthly plane and breaks the repetitive cycle of the karmic wheel once and for all.
This way involves approaching this present lifetime on the earthly plane as primarily an opportunity for raising our state of spiritual consciousness - from the Adamic state that is aligned with the earthly plane to the enlightened state that is aligned with heavenly eternal life. This is totally within our potential to do, although it takes work and generally does not happen overnight. What is required is that we make spiritual consciousness development a top priority.
This also is an aspect of life on the earthly plane. In addition to subjecting us to a constant bombardment of challenging oppositional influences, this plane also turns out to be a highly opportunistic climate for spiritual growth. Like its flip-side aspect of devastation and infestation, this often-overlooked aspect of life on the earthly plane operates according to a universal law that is as sure as science. In other words, once we make spiritual consciousness development a top priority in our lives, we will find ourselves becoming recipients of a wonderful outflow of help and guidance right here on the earthly plane.
This is the true meaning of our word God. God is not some personal anthropomorphic being that we must seek to have a relationship with. Rather God is the benign aspect of universal law that we find operational on the earthly plane. And the activities we have come to associate with God are, in fact, scientific environmental laws. What this means is that in the same way that the earthly plane can bring a flow of devastation into our lives through unconsciousness, by making spiritual consciousness development a top priority or what the Bible calls "seeking God" we can draw unto ourselves a flow of blessing and ultimate liberation.
Salvation, redemption, and deliverance are not religious doctrines. They are universal laws just waiting to be set in motion in our experience through our conscious spiritual focus. This was what Isaiah the Prophet meant when he wrote: "As the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations" (Isaiah 61:11). Plant growth is not a religious matter. It is a scientific characteristic of the earthly plane. In the same way the experiences we call salvation, redemption and deliverance are scientific certainties on this plane.
This is wonderful news indeed. It reminds me of Jesus' words to his disciples, "I will not leave you as orphans" (John 14:18). We who have been repeatedly born into the earthly plane and have drunk the cup of its devastation to the dregs can at any time reverse this trend simply by turning to God. The universe has not left us desolate. Rather it has provided a way for us to overcome and lay hold of eternal life right here, right now on the earthly plane.
Thanks to this created benign aspect of life on the earthly plane, our deliverance from suffering and misery is always within our reach. True, it does not come to us automatically. If we persist in our unconsciousness, our lives on this plane will continue to be challenging and problematic. Moreover, we will not escape this wretched condition when we die, but will surely return to this plane via yet another human birth. But as we become more and more conscious and seek to align ourselves with God, we will discover that the earthly plane is not only a realm of devastation and suffering; it is also one of great hope. And this hope is built right into the fabric of creation. Thus we determine our experience. Can you see how indulging busy ness and giving into the temptation to put off spiritual initiative indefinitely is a little like playing with fire? If death does not deliver us, is it not then wisdom to get busy with spiritual initiative in this lifetime and thereby lay hold of the true deliverance? This true deliverance will never let us down, for it is a built-in aspect of created life here on the earthly plane. Escape from the karmic cycle of birth and death is not just a wishful fantasy; it is very much within our reach. All we have to do is take it seriously enough to make it a priority.
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