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A View Of The Spiritual Journey

Introduction

When discussing the nature of the spiritual journey we first need to discuss the nature of spirit. Spirit (or soul) is often seen as that which survives the death of the body: the immortal essence. But just how immortal do we mean? Are we talking about spirit surviving an awfully long time or spirit lasting for ever? For instance:- would spirit outlast the end of the universe or would spirit end with it?

There is a great difference between something that is eternal and something that is very long lived. That which is eternal has no beginning or end. It does not change because to do so would mean its essence is different before the change to how it is after the change. And if the essence of something changes it is no longer the same and so its nature was not eternal but temporary. If it does not change time cannot affect it as there is nothing to show the passage of time. It can’t get bigger or smaller, change shape or grow as time passes as this would, again, require it to be different from one moment to the next. As it doesn’t change or experience time it can never be born and it cannot die as this would require different states to exist at different times. Spirit cannot learn or evolve as these, too, require change.

All shapes or forms have a beginning when they are created and an end when they are destroyed. This includes vast shapes like the sun or the universe and subtle shapes like the dream world, emotions and the mind and thoughts. It is the differences between the shapes of all the forms in creation that give rise to the infinite diversity of objects we see and it is these difference that allow us to feel separate from each other and from the objects in our environment. Spirit cannot have a shape or form as it is without beginning or end. Having no shape or form it has nothing about it that can be defined or described in words, thoughts or feelings as all of these have beginnings and ends. There is only one spirit as spirit has no form to produce the differences that give rise to the appearance of there being many different “spirits”. This unified nature of spirit means that all things and all beings share a common root in spirit.

This eternal view of spirit is the essence of the Sufi, Taoist, Buddhist and Hindu systems and these systems place the personal realisation of this eternal, spiritual nature as their goal. These ideas are also touched on within Christianity, Islam and Judaism with the idea of an eternal state of consciousness in heaven, although they assume you can only know these states after your death, unlike the Eastern systems above. The Bhagavad Gita and The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu are two excellent books on this subject.

If spirit is not taken to be eternal then we would have no immortal essence. Our existence would be transitory, however long lived we were and for however many lives we had. There would be no commonality or deep unity between things as everything would be isolated from everything else. This is the materialist’s view and is not always a pleasant one to live by as it limits the possibilities of a person’s life, it can lead to a fear of death and a it can produce a fixation on material wealth.

On the basis of this spirit will be defined as that which is eternal, unchanging, formless, timeless, ageless, without beginning or end and never having been born or never having died. The one spirit is the source of all the infinite variety of beings and things that are in creation and yet spirit transcends all of these as well. It cannot be influenced, harmed or controlled by anything as, to do so, would be to change its essential nature. Anyway, how do you affect something that has no shape or form? This would be like attacking space, however much you chop it or box it, space is still space. Even by “filling” space with something you only have the appearance that the space is gone. Take the object away and the space is still there!

Having defined spirit we need to define what is not spirit. Matter or form are the words I will use to describe the non-spiritual. As well as physical matter, matter includes the subtle kinds of matter that make up the mind and emotions and includes mental, emotional and physical energies. Matter is that which has a beginning and end; is affected by time and so ages and is temporary (or transient), not immortal. It is matter in which the processes of birth and death, cause and effect (or karma), and reincarnation occur. Matter is eternally changing and this creates the infinite variety of forms seen in creation.

We therefore have the transitory nature of our lower self (the combination of mind, body and emotions: our everyday personality) and the eternal nature of our spiritual self. Between these is the higher self (which includes the higher mind and intuition). The higher self is the source of the patterns which make the lower self and it gives rise to a number of lower selves over vast durations. It is these patterns which give rise to reincarnation and the sense of past, present and future lower self lives. While the higher self lasts for a very long time, it does eventually change and is therefore not immortal. Because change can occur within the higher self it can be said to learn and evolve. Most of the confusion about the nature of spirit comes from calling the non-eternal higher self spiritual. This would be fine if eternal properties where not also ascribed to it. There is no right definition of spirit but confusion can be minimised by clearly distinguishing between that which is transitory (however very long lived it is) and that which is truly eternal.

The Spiritual Journey

This is the inner journey we make that leads to the realisation of our spiritual nature.

It begins at birth (or before) when we start the process of identification with the body, emotions and mind. We believe that these forms are what we are and so believe that when these forms are changed we may be hurt and when they die we will come to an end. This causes great insecurity and fear. The spiritual journey is all about changing what we think we are. This is done by letting go of our more limited, smaller identity and discovering we have a greater, freer identity that will last even though the lesser identity changes. As children we discover our emotional self which makes changes to our physical body and environment less threatening. We go on to develop a mental identity which makes emotional upsets less unsettling. With meditation, visualisation, philosophy, Yoga or Tai Chi etc. we may then begin to discover the higher self and find that changes to the lower self are less disturbing.

Each of these stages involves letting go of our smaller sense of self. This is very challenging and will feel like a leap into the unknown and will bring up many fears as we will not be sure whether our sense of self will continue. Having let go of the smaller identity we find that we do continue to exist and that our new state of existence is much freer. There is also a sense that this new greater self has, in fact, always been there but we simply could not recognise it. Our sense of “I am” continues and, while there may be a deeper sense of stillness and a sense of being much bigger, the sense of “I am” is the same as it has always been. This is because the sense of “I am” comes from the stillness and stillness is always the same. After releasing the identification with a lesser self, that lesser self is still there and may continue to act in a very similar way. It is your relationship to that self that has changed and, in time, this brings greater flexibility and enjoyment of that lesser self. Thus identification with the higher self can allow us to enjoy the lower self more as we will be less threatened when trying out new experiences because we know that what we really are cannot be harmed by anything that affects the lower self.

While identification with the higher self can bring a realisation of existence beyond the death of the lower self, it does not bring a realisation of immortality or of the spirit as the higher self is not immortal nor is it spiritual.

It is only when identification with the higher self is released that we can realise our spiritual identity. This is not done in a mental way. Thoughts, having beginnings and ends, cannot contain or grasp the eternal nature of spirit. Similarly, words can’t describe it so the existence of spirit can never be proved by talking or writing about it. It can only be known through becoming it, through being at one with it.

On becoming at one with spirit you know that your true nature is eternal, that you exist whether or not your lower self or higher self exist. This is known in a non-mental way and realisations about the nature of this spiritual being cannot be truly expressed in thoughts or words. The spiritual self that you have will never change, can never be harmed and is totally free of any influence from the higher self or lower self. If it could be influenced or changed it would not be eternal spirit. This spiritual self has never been born and has never died and has always been there and always will be there in a blissful state of pure being. Realisation of your own spiritual nature means that you also realise that the same spirit looks from everyone’s eyes and that everyone has this spiritual nature even though they may not be conscious of it.

As spirit does not learn, when you know that your true nature is spirit this means that your deepest self has nothing more to learn. However, once you know you are spirit and therefore immortal, you have the perspective, neutrality and gentleness as an eternal foundation from which to explore the material realms freely. Although spirit continues to be and is unchanged by any such exploration, the lower and higher selves continue to change and learn and it is these aspects that “explore”. It is all about what you call “you”. The “spiritual you” does not learn but the “material you” continues to learn. Learning after realising you are spirit is particularly pleasant as it is done purely for the joy of it as what you know yourself to be cannot be advanced by learning or lessened by ignorance. Spirit it has nothing to do with either of these.

Spirit is a state of unity which means that it is one thing that is everywhere. What could be simpler than this? There is no ignorance in spirit as it is itself, it is one with itself, it makes itself and so there are no aspects of itself it cannot be aware of. Union with spirit is absolute because it is union with spirit in its entirety and its simplicity: nothing is held back. This is why spiritual realisation is seen as the removal of all ignorance and the revelation of Absolute Truth. However, the lower and higher selves are part of duality and the infinite diversity of beings and objects in duality means that there are an infinite number of perspectives and opinions and so there is only relative truth not Absolute Truth. Therefore the lower and higher selves will still be ignorant and will still learn after the spiritual realisation has occurred. In a similar way, while the spiritual self is immortal, the lower self is still mortal. The body and personality are still ruled by the laws of creation whether or not someone has any spiritual knowledge, so the lower self will still have good days and bad days.

The limited nature of the mind, body and emotions means that they can never even begin to grasp the eternal simplicity of spirit. For example, as spirit is eternal, when you become one with it you realise you have always been spirit, this is why it is a permanent state of being. The mind is sent into a spin and flounders as soon as anything eternal shows up and so will never truly understand how cause and effect do not apply to spirit. Practically, the fact that you always have been spirit means that the spiritual journey removes the veils that prevent us from seeing clearly what has always been there.

Conclusion

This description of the spiritual journey is based on my own realisations. As is stated above, these are not provable by words and, if they are at odds with your own knowledge or understanding, please question or reject any or all of them!

When I began my own spiritual journey it was the very fact that spirit is eternal, unchanging, beyond birth, death, time, learning or evolution that inspired me to journey towards it as it represented a permanent home in which to be.

The end point of the spiritual journey, the absolute and permanent realisation of your spiritual nature is a total liberation. It represents the end of seeking and the start of true being. From this wonderfully simple state of being a new journey begins: a journey based on an absolute knowledge of your invulnerability and based on the fact that you are free to explore whatever you want simply for the love of it.