Spiritual Davos
It's not about always feeling good. It is about always feeling.
It has been a confusing couple of weeks as I have struggled to get a foothold in a consistent dimensional space.
There are moments when even gravity has given up its battle to impress upon me the reality of "this" world as I drift effortlessly through life untouched by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. In this space everything seems possible, time stretches and contracts at will and from this perspective even the loudest complaints of a suffering world fail to grab my attention. From this space everything doesn't just appear perfect, it is perfect.
And then...
Everything gets personal. For me this shows up in other peoples suffering requiring my attention and it seems the gravity I momentarily escaped has merely been gathering, waiting for the right opportunity or situation to demonstrate to me the true nature of this existence and the weight of the human experience. As life calls for my attention I can't help but get pissed off with it.
From the higher dimensional aspect I fully understand that monastic pull to sit on top of a mountain contemplating God, distant from the pain the world insists upon me witnessing. This sort of spiritual "I'm alright Jack!" justifies itself by its notion that twelve hours a day of meditation is raising the vibration of the planet, whilst conveniently keeping a sanitary distance from the rest of humanity.
This is the standpoint of those whose aspiration is "ascension" or "transcendence", a literal rising above the muck of humanity. When genuinely attained this is, for a while at least, a beautiful place to experience, but, over time, a comparatively flat existence compared to the drama of real life. From this space suffering really does look like a choice.
However from the view-point of suffering there is no choice. When our orientation is within the lower dimensional aspects of cause and effect and gravity weighs us down there is no broader perspective. Neither is it all bad.
The experience at that level has built into it the highs and lows of everyday life, and a common mistake in modern spiritual teachings is to associate the "highs" of third dimensional reality as being a higher dimensional experience. Promising to have a better experience using the law of attraction or meditation is a great marketing tool, but is still the same level of consciousness. Chasing happy is part of the suffering.
To draw a comparison to this spiritual smugness, look at the financial equivalent currently occurring at Davos. The world's billionaires discuss ways to improve the world. Actually their world can't be improved upon and their real interest is in maintaining their privilege, rooted as it is, in the game of relativity. Their understanding of the rest of the world is so lacking, in material terms at least, that they cannot share the perspective of the poor. Just as an enlightened being understands suffering is a choice, so the super rich understand poverty to be a choice. And they are both correct, but only from their viewpoint. Accordingly both should be mindful of their preaching to those in a different space.
Raise your vibration or get yourself a job is only relevant advice in the right context.
My understanding of the past two weeks' humbling experience is that it has been my clumsy attempt to occupy both dimensional spaces simultaneously. To be in the world but not of it so to speak. To really feel the suffering of others requires proximity to it. Sitting on a mountain jealously guarding a personal Nirvana just doesn't do it . At the same time to be of any use I cannot identify with the suffering. To put it another way, I can neither become part of the problem nor its resolution.
As I have moved close to that suffering of late I have witnessed my own self judgment, berating my own lack of compassion, impatience or anger with certain situations. Actually, those feelings are fine and a natural consequence of being human andbeing close to the real world. Just keep a watchful eye for the self judgment. My judgment of those feelings alerts me to the fact that I have become part of the problem, as the judgments are simply my spiritualised ego deciding what is right and wrong to feel.
To move close to the suffering requires huge self compassion and self love and an acceptance of my humanity. I seek resolution with my self within the suffering not to resolve the suffering.
It's not about always feeling good. It is about always feeling.
Not an easy game.
Be gentle on yourself.
Love
Bill