In the Star Wars movies there is the Force.
The Force has a dark side and evil forces personified by Darth Vader, and
the Emperor of Darkness inhabit it. On the dark side there is a lot of anger,
aggression, hate and human ego.
Thankfully there is also a light side of
the Force with a Jedi master, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kanobi and other ‘Jedi’ knights
who embody peace and love and truth.
In our classes we speak of this Force
as one interesting way to explain states of mind or consciousness. The thoughts
we allow into our consciousness will decide where our state of mind is located.
Our low or high consciousness will determine the way we view the world.
We all live on the same planet but according to our state of mind we can
view the world in as diametrical a manner as heaven or hell.
"Once there lived a village of creatures
along the bottom of a great, crystal river.
The current of the river swept silently over them all – young and
old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going its own way, knowing
only its own crystal self. Each creature in its own manner clung tightly
to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of
life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth.
But one
creature said at last, “I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with
my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go
and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom.”
The other creatures laughed and said, “Fool! Let go, and that current you worship
will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die quicker
than boredom!”.
But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let
go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks.
Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted
him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.
And the creatures
downstream to whom he was a stranger cried, “See a miracle! A creature like
ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!”
And the
one carried in the current said, “I am no more Messiah than you. The river
delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go.
Our true work is this
voyage, this adventure.” But they cried the more, “Saviour!” all the while
clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they
were left alone making legends of a Saviour." –
Richard Bach, Illusions Simply put, if we allow
ourselves to be thinking negatively, to be caught up in hate or anger or
restlessness and worry, then we are going to view the world through that
state of mind. It is as if we are wearing a pair of glasses that warps our
vision in a negative way.
To put it mathematically, our average state of mind might be -50, our range
of thoughts and experiences are limited to say -80 thru to -20. That is,
in some moments we are mildly unhappy, whilst in others we might be suicidal.
For us in that state of mind it is very difficult to even imagine what
love is and if we do touch it would only be with great effort and for a
very short time we might glimpse a limited form of love.
Reflect also that negative people
find themselves attracting negative events, other negative people and negative
futures.
Conversely if we are able to live in a positive state of mind,
then the range of our thoughts and experiences are elevated. In our bad
times we might be a little unhappy but most of the time we would feel the
more 'heavenly' qualities of love, wisdom and joy. From here we can also
begin to understand how our states of mind affect each other.
Have you ever
walked into a room where people had been fighting and immediately felt a
certain uneasiness in the air? Or conversely have you ever met a person
you immediately felt happy being with or you noticed that person made everyone
feel better, just by his or her presence. Think about this; imagine that
if you are in state of mind that is, for example, +20, what it would be
like to meet someone in a +200 state of mind. Obviously, your consciousness
would be raised just being with that person.
Imagine, for a moment, what
it would be like to meet a real spiritual master, like a Buddha or Jesus, perhaps his or her consciousness
might be +20,000 – you might find that you would be immediately feeling
more peaceful, happier, more loving without perhaps, really understanding
why.
The really interesting thing about this process, is how light attracts
light. Have you noticed that when you are in +50 state of mind you attract
other +50 people and +50 situations. The ways we perceive the events of
our life are reflections of our state of mind.
It is exciting to note how
the more conscious we are of each moment, the more each moment has the capacity
to guide and inspire us.
You might also have already discovered
that people with higher states of mind inspire and elevate you. Obviously
it is important for us in pursuing higher levels of consciousness that we
choose life situations that enhance our state of mind.
In summary, it becomes
evident as we notice the effect of our levels of consciousness that; - Firstly
– we view the world through our states of mind. - Secondly – we affect each
other. - Finally – we profoundly affect our future. Significantly it is
simple arithmetic to contemplate how the negatives in our lives can be turned
into positives.
While we cling to darkness we cannot release ourselves to
the light. Most of us would be aware that we cannot conquer hate by repressing
it – we must transform it, illumine it with light. For example, if we hate
someone, then it is very difficult to raise our consciousness to any significant
level because our state of mind is being dragged by this very strong negative
in our consciousness. We cannot just repress it, for it is still a part
of our nature – for us to proceed we have to let go of our attachment to
that hate and illumine it with light (in this case, love).
The more significance we give the moment, the more
the moment becomes significant.
Very simply,
we must try and move along the Force – perhaps imagine that we only ‘don’t
like’ that person, then perhaps we can work towards being just ‘indifferent’.
It is often said that we must learn to forgive our enemies. By forgiving
we are letting go of our negatives.
Finally, though we might see that all
people are inherently loving, peaceful, wise and happy souls, some people’s
states of minds are so far from the light that their outer actions might
be
negative. We should identify with their real natures, rather than their
outer actions and we will find that we can then ‘like’ or even ‘love’ those
that previously we had hated and our liberation from that negative is complete.
The light side of the Force is nothing other than your own heart. How conscious
you are of your heart reflects the height of your consciousness. This is
important: the light side is nothing other than a heightened awareness of
your heart, whilst the dark side is ignorance of your heart.
This is what
is meant by consciousness from a spiritual perspective, it is simply how
'conscious' we are of our heart. Notice one last thing. That on the dark
side there is an increased rate of thinking, often with an even more decreased
degree of control. When we are angry there are so many thoughts whirling
around and so little control - whilst we are angry, we cant listen, we cant
stop and breathe, it is out of control.
Come to the light side and you will
see that in love there is no thought, there is just the 'Aah' moment. As
we travel to the light side, our rate of thoughts decreases, our control
over our thoughts increases and finally we enter into the intuitive experiences
of the heart when we are fully on the light side.
The Path of the Heart
The basis
of the Path of the Heart, is you and your relationship with your highest
self, your Heart.
Upon realising that all meaningful moments originate in the heart,
it is also inevitable that the spiritual seeker, growing in wisdom and confidence
in him/herself, will learn to trust and seek out more of those moments from
within. It is with this wisdom that we are finally ready to embark upon
the journey.
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You might imagine yourself as being super-successful in your chosen vocation, or perhaps a great and powerful world leader, or a rich and famous musician or sports person.
1. Grounding In