The spiritual path is a path on which all may travel but on which few do journey. It is a path that is forged within yourself. When you begin, you inevitably will trip, stumble and fall, as it is a darkened path. You will at first see only your shadow–your ego–and believe that the road goes this way or that. You will still be identifying with the physical world and all of its attachments. An attachment is the idea of you being “something” – i.e., I am a doctor, I am a lawyer, I am funny, sarcastic, clever etc. You are none of these “somethings” as each of these things is an acquired mask or personality.
A meditative practice is a softness that, when blended with imagination, transforms your outer world into the image of your imagined state. To seek within yourself and find your spiritual light does not require special gifts. It is found through persistence and the practice of meditation, prayer or silent inner reflection. When the light begins to shine within you, you will want to be with it more and more.
When you are challenged by self-resistance and struggling to imagine and create, your subconscious mind is attempting to show you your hidden self. The self that denies your true, divine essence and inner power believes that the outer world is cause. However, the truth is, the inner world is cause, the outer world effect. The physical world and spiritual world meet as a war within you. Frustration, tears, angst and pain ensue. You must persevere in knowing that, as the creator of your reality, you have the power to change these states, if you will only seek within. Jesus eloquently laid it out for us as part of the Sermon On the Mount:
Ask and it will be given to you;
Seek and you will find;
Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matthew 7:7–8 (NIV)
This is one of the most powerful spiritual truths from the Bible that has ever been bestowed upon us. Try asking and being open to the answer. You will receive it. When you are open to receiving it, you will find it all around you. Through your perseverance, a door will open. Walk through the door.
Those who seek will find. Those who ask will receive. Those who knock will have the door opened. If you are consistent in your persistence for truth, your path be brilliantly lit by an inner light. This light is both spiritual and physical.
The following is an example of how you can apply this to your life.
Ask and You Shall Receive
When you find yourself experiencing the same circumstances, reactions, dramas, and frustrations, and encountering the same people over and over again in your life, stop for a moment. Silently go within yourself and ask to be shown what it is that you need to know about yourself.
What are these experiences reflecting back to you about you? If you perceive reality with your five senses, you are only viewing a reflection of your thinking, feelings and habits. Use the outer world to compare, analyze and define. Use the outer world to guide you toward what you want and remove your focus from what you do not want. Use the inner world to create, as it is merely a reflection.
Ask for the answer to be shown and clearly given, and it will be. It might be something as simple as a bus passing by carrying a huge sign that gives you your answer. When this happens, recognize it and always say a silent “thank you.”
Seek and You Will Find
To seek is to look within, not without. You can only know a thing by looking spiritually within yourself. Everything that you seek with unwavering focus – be it a relationship, that special person, a child, a job, a home, a large bank account– all exists within you as you. You must know it intimately.
What does this mean? It means that you must go within your secret place–your mind–and create it with feeling. You must feel it, clothe yourself in it, and become it. It becomes yours and is yours through knowing it so intimately that you can’t miss it.
All states of being already exist. You must move into the vibratory state and align with what it is that you seek. Be the thing itself — do not just talk about it or look at it.
For example, you must be in a state of love, and loving, if you are to know what love is. You must be and feel wealthy to know what wealth is. Create a vision board of the outer things you want to manifest in the physical world. This acts as a reminder and a focal point. In order to bring these things into your reality, you must feel them intimately and hold that feeling as if you already have them.
“Act as if ye have faith and faith will be given to you.” One modern translation of this idea is, “Fake it until you make it.”
Knock and the Door Will Be Opened to You
Meditation, controlled imaginative reverie and sleep are your entrance into the subconscious mind. Knocking on the door of the subconscious mind with the conscious mind will open doors that you never believed would open. Knocking is the act of being perseverant. Be persistent, focused, patient and repetitive in feeling the state that is desired.
When you focus your conscious mind upon that which you desire and need, results follow. While you meditate, you diminish the effects of the outer world and your mind becomes more receptive to suggestion. One of the simplest practices is to be thankful and grateful for the desired result before you see it in the outer world. But you must persist in the feeling of having it.
Being persistent in the assumption of your wish fulfilled causes subtle changes in your mind. It results in the desired changes you wish to see manifest in your life. Everything will harmoniously respond to meet your persistent assumption. If you notice that people are not acting toward you in the way in which you would like, for example, look within, not without. Have faith in your persistence of how you would like others to act towards you. Refocus, maintain and persist in the attitude of the wish fulfilled.
If you are short on time and cannot find much quiet time in your day, try this: Before dropping off to sleep at night, clear your mind by reviewing your day. If you feel you could have done something better, rewrite this in your mind, or visually reenact it. Then, state, “tomorrow will be a great day!” Hold in your mind the feeling of having what it is that you seek or need, or the person you see yourself becoming, with such vividness that you feel it existing now. Learn how to feel it as real. Practice being it as much as possible and think of only good things. Persistent feeling of the desired state is they key.
As you believe, feel and accept this as true, you will become indifferent to possible failure. When you accept the result as real and true, the God consciousness, which is you, finds a way. Remain calm and secure in the knowledge that the end has been perfectly defined and created. Then let go and let God, which is your consciousness that has been firmly implanted with your seeds of thought and feeling, create the how.
