John: So we’ve been describing the process of developing toward our higher self (see The Pilot Light). This process involves choosing not to see the world from the limited perspective of our ego self – and taking everything personally – but rather to embrace our more universal aspects and allow a greater connection to the inner light that is common to all.
This process can be a rollercoaster. We can attend a meeting or a seminar, be with a teacher, meditate, experience the beauty of nature, or do any number of things that inspire us, that light us up inside. But then we gradually let that light diminish in our dealings with the outer world – commute, work, paying bills, errands, personality conflicts, etc. So we meditate, and go to the next meeting, and on and on it goes in this pendulum of duality.
If we decide that our spiritual growth is a priority, then we must begin to evaluate how our daily actions affect us – what are the costs to our journey of the various things we do? It doesn’t mean we must drop out of the world, but we must keep a greater awareness and focus, and know that our intention is to honor the light inside of us, rather than to ignore or abuse it.
In this, we drop our preconceived notions of how we’re supposed to be, and instead we wonder, How do I hold onto that feeling of overallness? What do I have to let go of to maintain that state within myself?
And then it is the higher self that is our purpose and meaning, rather than all the external trappings of the physical world. It’s a knowing that the light within us is not our light, but is part of the overallness.
Then it’s a whole different ballgame. We are utilizing what is called a “second attention,” which enables us to look at ourselves as we try to sort things out. There is still much work to be done, but this is regarded as “traveling toward god.” It’s a point where we become caretakers of the light within us, trying to let it grow rather than diminish, by our choices, our thoughts, and our actions.
If we persevere, we can reach the point where we know that the light is an overallness, and yet also feel deeply that we are part of the overallness; then we are “traveling in god.” That’s the difference. When we are in the light, that’s part of the overallness. That meets the definition of traveling in god. That’s when the game begins, not before.
This is a state where we are able to have the expansiveness and freedom of being in the light, yet it can be grounded within the lower self. We develop a better acuity and insight. The higher self is an expansion, the lower self is a contraction of that. But we are able to transmit the freedom and expansion of the higher into our lower-self activities – into our daily lives – so there really is no difference. The lower becomes an expression of the higher, through us, into the world.
So we can have our feet on the ground, dealing with the various octaves in life, but doing it from a freedom from within, where neither state denies the other as a limitation, meaning the higher self does not deny the lower self or vice versa.
And it is just this process of the expansiveness of the higher-self manifesting through the groundedness of the lower self that allows an illumination to occur, a spark to occur, so that we can see the unseen, and know the unknown.
