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There are three ways the mind may use intellectual information. There are three ways that spiritual teachings may be considered. They are: 1. As more building blocks for one's own mental prison. 2. As a trigger for spirit's awakening. 3. As unwanted baggage that pulls the life back down to the mental sphere. Let us consider them. * * * * * The various teachings, religions, and philosophies of the world are today magnetically attracting people and holding them within their own particular mindset. Like giant spider-webs, people get caught in them. People are held there, and are trapped by their own minds and thoughts. People believe that they willingly choose to hold Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Scientific, or other views, but in fact almost all the time, this is not a matter of free choice. Their free will never had a chance to choose, for they were brought up in that particular religion or teaching, or it was a part of the popular culture. People feel that they are free when in many respects they are not. We might, for example, investigate those who have freed themselves of their particular religious beliefs. We will find that they are usually traumatized by the experience. Recovering Ex-Catholics, de-programmed cult members, people who have left fundamentalist churches, etc. all report that the effort of leaving was difficult, stressful, and painful. They usually had to struggle with all their might to get free. This demonstrates the power of the mindset of the world's teachings. They are traps, and most people are very stuck in them. What happens, then, when people who are in a given teaching receive more intellectual information that is along the lines that they currently believe? The effect is to trap those people even more firmly into the matrix that they are in. The result is that their prison house of "spiritual" beliefs is stronger. Each book becomes one more stone in the walls of their prison. Each lecture or sermon becomes one more nail set in the prison walls. We can see that the world corrupts the Truth in order to further its own selfish ends. The exalted words of the Buddha are used to set people firmly within the confines of their particular culture and beliefs. The uplifting words of Christ are used to strengthen narrow fanaticism. Words that, when uttered, were infused with Truth and Life, are when repeated by the human mind, empty of substance and dead. Many of the people who escape from the religious instruction of their childhood often wind up in yet another teaching. Perhaps the one they choose is more liberal, or is occult or esoteric. Perhaps people investigate this or that group, go to this or that workshop, or read this or that book, expecting to find what they seek. For people imagine that they are choosing between one teaching and another or one philosophy and another, when in fact the choice is between mental teachings of all kinds and Truth. We cannot really expect to find Truth just because we have switched from one mental teaching to another, from one religious belief to another, or from one philosophy to another. We can only find Truth by escaping entirely out of the realm of the mind into the realm of Truth. We can only find Truth by rejecting all mentally held beliefs and teachings, and seeking that Truth within that is not bounded by any religion or philosophy, and cannot really be spoken of in words. Thus, when we offer what is to us spiritual Truth and life, we are often only making it more difficult for people to see Truth. We are often surprised by their negative reactions, when we should know and realize that as long as people are only capable of receiving "mental" food that they are incapable of digesting the divine Truth properly. As long as people can see only mental truth, they will never find spiritual Truth. As long as people cling to a teaching or a teacher, they will never find the Truth in the heart. As long as people are wandering from one teaching to another on a purely mental quest, they are not seeking rightly and cannot yet inwardly "see" Truth. * * * * * Sometimes an individual may be open and seeking. They may be reasonably free of the impressions of the world's teachings and not dominated by their own thought forms. They may be ready for something more than mere words. They may be seeking beyond the realm of the mind. They may want something more than the fulfillment of their own personal desires. In this case, when they read or hear words of living Truth it can awaken the spirit in the heart. The flame of the divine Life can rise up. The Heart can awaken under the impulse of the Truths that are revealed to the mind. When the Buddha spoke, he did not quote former teachers, but let words of Truth arise on his lips and spoke forth what was needed to those who were present. The Buddha never taught "Buddhism" but only lived and spoke the Truth. That Truth was evoked by the seeking of those who were around him. That Truth arose because a fiery synergy arose between those who sought and the "Spirit of Truth" that always endeavors to reveal the divine and uplift the heart. You can see this over and over again in the Sutras: a seeker asks the Buddha a sincere question, the answer arises, and the whole group of listeners is uplifted. This is how the awakening of the spirit works. When Jesus taught the multitudes, he did not quote former teachers, but let words of Truth arise on his lips and spoke forth what was needed in that particular moment. Again, the Truth was evoked by sincere and humble seeking by his disciples, and the "Holy Spirit" descended upon them. Jesus never taught "Christianity" but always spoke of the imminent Will of God, ever living and ever present. It is in our immediate response to that Will in the present moment that Truth is revealed. The great mystics and saints of all ages know this, that Truth resides within and not in any written or spoken teaching. Truth resides in the present, and is not something that is remembered or learned in the past. Thus they all spoke from the Truth within them, and by that Truth appearing in the world, the hearts of those who had "eyes to see and ears to hear" were uplifted. Thus Truth is not the recitation of teachings, nor a body of thought, but is living Wisdom that is expressed in the world at the time and place best served to enfire the heart. There is, then, a time when the presentation of Truth does not build up more walls for the prison, but instead releases the spiritual life within us. This, though, only occurs on rare occasions. Today, as the prison houses of religion, science, and philosophy are built up with ever more words, books, and teachers, those prison walls are stronger than ever. Rare is the soul that escapes the prison house they grew up in. Rarer is the soul who seeks beyond the realm of prison houses into the realm of Truth. And still rarer is the seeking soul who has the courage to find his way into the presence of those who offer only the heart's Truth as food and drink for the weary traveller. * * * * * When the spirit of the heart has arisen, and when the words of Truth are known to be within and not without, then the seeker is looking in a new direction. Instead of looking outward, towards words and books for Truth, the seeker knows that Truth only resides within us, and can only really be found by looking within. Looking out at the world, the seeker can clearly see that the books and teachings of the world are almost universally inspired by the mind and not by the heart. They are empowered by the forces of the world and not the livingness of the heart. They are dead, whereas, the Truth of the heart gives life. Yes, there are the words of the Buddha and the Christ. But if our hearts are not awakened to life, those words will only lead us to death. Yes, there are the truths discovered by science. But if we live only for self we can only use that knowledge for selfishness. Yes, there are the words of the Masters and great teachers of all ages. But they are only the dead letter of the law if Truth is not alive within us. For those whose hearts that are aflame with Truth, there is no more need to seek from book to book, teacher to teacher, or workshop to workshop to find their hearts' goal. They have found it already. For them, the era of "mental seeking" is over. They are no longer pouring through books, studying, comparing, analyzing, etc. in an effort to understand, for they have become that which they have sought. They live Truth, and thus no longer seek Truth. Indeed, going back to the level of mental discussion, intellectual analysis, and detailed examination of the world can be painful for those who live in the heart. It is like a betrayal of the inner Wisdom to go back to what the mind wants to understand. For those who are aflame with Truth, there is no attraction in detailed philosophical discussion, building up chains of correspondences, making lists of similar items, or any of the multitudes of things the mind does when trying to understand things. For the Heart just knows, whereas the mind struggles. The Heart is Truth itself, whereas the mind can only reflect it. The Heart is the abode of Wisdom, whereas the mind can only understand things. For those who are aflame with Truth, there is no longer the search for more knowledge, more information, or more data. People imagine that "more is better," that complexity indicates high intellect, and that the universe can only be understood with vast amounts of information. But really, "initiation is simplification" as the Master DK put it. When Truth is known in the heart, then the complexity, the details, the analysis, and the multitudes of data fall away, leaving the simplicity that is the Christ Life. * * * * * We can thus see clearly where we stand. Perhaps we are attracted to one particular teaching, and believe that its words are truth above all other truths. But this belief is itself the invisible prison wall. Beware! We are firmly trapped. Perhaps we are seeking, going from one teacher or book to another, thinking that Truth can reside in the realm of the mind and in the text of books when in fact it can't ever do so. By this we can know that we are still in the first phase of seeking; that we have not yet come to the point where the living, inner Wisdom has awakened. Perhaps we are longing for Truth but feel that the world around us is dead and empty of any living Realization. Perhaps we are in the process of discovering that every bit of knowledge we will ever need is within our hearts. Perhaps we are at the point of surrendering our own intellectual understanding, our own beliefs, our own ideals, and our cherished teachings. We are willing to place all at the altar of the heart, in reverent humility, and in deep longing for God's Wisdom and not human wisdom, and for divine Truth and not worldly truth. In this we demonstrate that we are at the second stage of our quest, where the old is surrendered so that the new may appear. Perhaps the flame of the heart is alive, and the living Wisdom can be felt within. Perhaps intellectual pursuit of Truth has ended, and mental realization is seen as an empty goal. Perhaps the human life has been given up and the personality is dead or dying. For the divine Truth can only be known when we enter the realm of the divine, and the human ego cannot enter there — it must die. Then, and only then, do we know that we have found what has been sought. |
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