Mortification of the Flesh and Spirituality

Note to my rationalists and materialists friends: This is an esoteric note on occultic spirituality in which you may not be interested, and it may even seem bizarre or insane.  You were warned!

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All religious traditions have mortification of the flesh.  Too much sensory stimulation for pleasure or otherwise drowns out the sensory acuity necessary for spiritual awakening.  Spiritual awakening is a sixth organ, or a sixth sense.  This is not figurative; it is literal.  Another sensory organ develops in spiritual awakening.

Think about if you have an itch on your foot.  Then, what happens if you smash your fingers with a hammer?  Then your foot itch would go away.  A similar phenomenon happens when you see spiritual awakening.  The sensory organs can drown out the small tingling of sensation developing when your spiritual organ awakens.

There are many ways to perform the mortification of the flesh.  It is not usually meant to be destructive, but I suppose some of the flogging that happen in places like the Philippines during Lent could be damaging if the people doing it were not smart.

What are some of my favorite mortifications of the flesh?  I prefer the ones that increase health, but include a large dose of discomfort - at least at the beginning.

A cold shower is perfect.  If you are more adventurous, you can take a hot bath, and follow it with a Cold Soak in the water until you begin shivering.  Shivering is a sure sign that you have achieved mortification of the flesh!  Some guys are crazy enough to take ice baths.  I have not yet achieved that advanced level of mortification!

Long bike rides are also mortification of the flesh.  Any bike ride longer than 10 miles may fall into this category.  Boredom, pain, heat, cold, muscle aches, etc, all contribute to the mortification of the flesh, without permanent damage since bike riding increases fitness up to a point.

Fasting is a traditional mortification of the flesh during Lent and Ramadan.  It is often beneficial for purging the body of toxins, but with no permanent damage if done properly.

We are attenuating the senses in most of these cases to make the spiritual organ more sensitive so we can sense the spiritual world, and develop the spiritual organ into a higher spiritual intelligence.  But, the organ must first awaken.

The Spirit is often referred to as a Wind, since the root meaning in the ancient languages is breath or air.  This is because there is no material cause and effect relationship with Spirituality and Spiritual practices.  Sometimes we see the white light and hear symphony of the spirit world, and sometimes we do not.  The Spirit goes where it wants.  It comes to you when it is ready.

Personally, I have had exactly Two major Spiritual experiences during meditation where the Spiritual Sense organ awakened and the sensory perception was so bright my entire body was vibrating from the energy.  The first of these experiences was scary beyond all belief since I was not prepared for the experience.  The second time I was prepared.  I felt like an unworthy animal in the presence of the Spirit world, unmerited favor, as the scripture says.  But, after these experiences, there was an attenuation effect in the background of my consciousness where I can perceive sensations in the Spirit world during conscious days occasionally, but on a lower level of intensity just barely above the perception of consciousness.

This is not exactly extraordinary.  You can Google meditation experiences, and many all over the world have had similar awakening experiences.  Throughout history, many Esoteric cults and religions were centered around mystical experiences that elevated the mind to a point where the rulers and priests were expected to be "enlightened" with these experiences, which, of course, were deeper than my own described above.

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Putin or Hillary?

These words came to me this morning after reading and listening to some messages of Faith:

We people of Faith have declared an Open Revolt against the world. This is why secularists and materialists hate traditional Christians, Russians, Orthodox, Traditional Muslims, and any well established system of Faith. This is the fight within the soul of our Donald Trump: On one side of his soul the Christian Putin character fights the other Secular Hillary character . He is caught in the middle of a spiritual warfare. What goes on in Trump's soul is a reflection of where We Americans are. We can choose redemption at this point or destruction. Shall we turn our American faces toward Putin or Hillary? That is the choice we will make.

On a spiritual level, We Americans, and those foreigners who come under the American Orbit, have a choice to make.  The soul of Donald Trump is the expression of our choice.  Trump's soul is torn between the symbols of Putin and Hillary: Traditional Faith versus Secular Materialism.

Traditional Faith will sustain us for a thousand more years, but the path will be hard as we struggle to wake up from our illusions.

Secular Materialism will give us knowledge and power over the very short term, but we will be destroyed within one generation or less.

Trump's struggle is our struggle.  We in the West are watching Trump, yes, but we are also watching our own souls, as Trump makes the choice on our behalf.  Spiritually, he will make the choice we decide upon.  He is our agent in that world and is bound to us, even though he is the incarnation of a Great Spiritual power such as an Archangel or something similar.  

Choose in your soul NOW.  And, Trump and his incarnate Archangel will choose accordingly.

The time has come.  You are called this very hour to make the choice.

And may the universe and all its agents watch over us as we make the choice!

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Dark Night of the Soul II

Dark Night of the Soul II

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Why would anyone want anything to do with the Dark Night of the Soul?

There are a few sayings.  Pressure is what makes the diamond.  Heat is what purifies steel.  

It seems that suffering is a part of the human condition for all people.  Even the privileged and elite go through pain and turmoil between their successful ventures.  We may never see this, though, in many cases where there is a well-crafted advertising image.  

Even if things are going well, it seems that the natural progression is the necessity of adversity before cashing in on any advantage or fortune.  Furthermore, the higher one ascends, it seems like each threshold to cross before the next breakthrough has an even stiffer price to pay.

The entire universe seems to rotate at extremes.  We live on a comfortable planet protected by Jupiter from objects flying at us from outer space.  Our atmosphere provides another layer of protection as that of a womb.  But for the most part, things in the universe are either extremely hot or extremely cold.  There is no room for average or the middle.  Even on Earth, it is strange that we complain of bad weather or climate change, if that is to be believed.  However, the strange thing is our expectation.  Why should we expect normal weather?  We live in Earth womb protection under extremely unlikely conditions.  Thus, when normal things happen in the universe - burning up, freezing up, destruction, explosions, collisions - why are we so shocked?  

Thus, if we want to rise high - to escape the atmosphere of the Earth - we must increase the risk of catastrophe.  Day and night go together.  

When the ruins are cleared after a catastrophe, what is left is really strong.  When the war is over, strong men remain and take over the next age.  Those who survive the deepest sorrow rise up like the phoenix stronger than ever.  

Favorite Spiritual Ritual

Meditation - I have been doing this in one way or another for over 10 years.  I have developed a few methods that work for me, and here I will describe my favorite one that rarely disappoints, when performed mindfully.

1. Prepare a hot bath.  Ensure that the water will cover your stomach, even if slightly.  Ensure that the water is hot, but not quite scalding.  
2. Get into the hot bath and lay there for 5 minutes.  Breath regularly, and do not force any muscle within your body.
3. Breath a deeply as you can without discomfort 4 times.    Place a normal breath between deep breaths - Deep (1), normal, Deep (2), normal, Deep (3), normal, Deep (4)
4. Perform Progressive Muscle Relaxation.  This is a common technique you can search for online, but let’s briefly describe my technique here.  Begin at the top of the head.  Relax all muscles from the top of th ahead to the chin.  Take a few moments to do this loosen everything up until none of the muscles are doing anything whatsoever.  This is not as easy as it sounds!  Then, proceed to the neck, loosen all muscles.  Sweep downward like a scanning machine and progressively loosen the muscles you are focusing on with your imaginary scanner.  Keep on going downward until you reach your toes in the same fasion.
5. Do absolutely nothing for 2 minutes.  If you feel any group of muscles tensing up during this period, bring your focus to that muscle group and relax those muscles.
6. Perform Eye Fixation.  Again, this is a common technique searchable elsewhere, but I describe my own here.  I focus upon a cross pendant my son gave me for father’s day.  I see it in my mind.  I do not let any other image into the mind.  I bring it closer to my face.  I let it grow - larger and larger to the point I can climb onto it, it is so big.  Then, I direct my energy to the object.  I pour forth energy into the object.  I then change the colors of the pendant.  White, red, yellow, black, blue, green, etc.  I then change the brightness of the object.  I do this until I reach a point of satisfaction and complete relaxation.

Often, during point (6), you will receive a revelation from your intuition (or God or the universe).  Sometimes you will receive many revelations.  Often this is a problem completely solved in your life, and at other times, it is a new idea to think about for days or weeks to develop from a creative perspective.

Also, during point (6), you will often feel as if you ego is dissolving into nothing.  Your sense of self may change, and you become more in touch with another spect of consciousness you can rarely access any other way.

Enjoy!  I hope you experiment with meditation and find your own way with what works for you.

Dark Night of the Soul

When you choose a spiritual path, you choose the cyclic nature of Spirit.  The spirit is wind or breath traditionally speaking.  The wind blows when it blows, and it is still when it is still.  We have no control over the wind.  

Thus, if we ascend the heights of Spirit, we also accept the depths.  It is like going out to the Sea - you ride the crest and the trough of the waves.

The Dark Night of the Soul - what is this?  Nothing works.  Prayer, ritual, meditation, charity - nothing works.  Everything that once worked from where you draw strength no longer works.  Nobody understands you.  Even those who have gone through the Dark Night have no concept because the Dark Night has a strange way of annihilating the Ego to the point where we do not clearly recall the Dark Night - it is like a half remembered dream that does not seem quite real - we may even doubt it ever happened.  This is what happens when Ego fades and all is left is the Void - the For Itself, the Abyss, or whatever words we attach to it.  

Others only see the Persona - our face to the World.  They cannot perceive - perhaps even conceive - that we experience the Void, the Abyss, the Nothing, the No Thing.   

Mortification of the Flesh on a Bike

Someone once said that cyclists all had demons they fought with the act of cycling itself.  Hard exercise is often mortification of the flesh. And, so it is.

Today I was riding my road bike along the backroads around Avery Island, Louisiana.  I rode almost 15 miles.  It was hot, and I had ridden 11 miles yesterday along a similar route.  

The route was the typical desolation of this area of the country: stagnant bayous, tall weeds, bad pavement, humidity, intense heat, dumped trash, patched trailers, and the sound of cicadas.  The water stank with brackish putridity.  

In all this desolation, you think - especially on a bike.  I was pushing myself.  I had to.  It was unpleasant riding on bad pavement; my hands shook and my bones rattled as if I were using a jackhammer.  

Mortification of the flesh!  The spirit is freed!  It is like fasting, or some ritual of deprivation.  You find out what is important, and what is not.  Your perspective widens and you see clearly things you had not when the flesh was not mortified.  When the environment all around you is devoid of meaning, the spirit arrives and fills the void.  The desert is where all the major religions began.  Since nature abhors a vacuum, our desolate areas become settings of spiritual renewal - if only for a while, or for longer.

Often, we find strength in situations that appear intolerable at the time.  Of course, afterward is always when we realize this.  If we realized this in the moment, it would not be the same, and it would not have the same effect.  We cannot realize it in any case because of the nature of the ebb and flow of spiritual stress and spiritual flourishing.  One gives rise to the other in a regular rhythm.  

Spirit and Life Part I

Spirit and Life Part I

One test of spirituality is when one walks into a building or into a conversation.  Can you breathe?  Is the air fresh from a spirit perspective?  Or, do you feel boxed in, on edge, nervous, or uncanny?  These are signs for spirituality or lack thereof.  

The older we get, the closer we come - to giving birth to a spirit being - in death.  Thus, we develop better understanding of spirit as we age - especially as we cross the threshold of middle age.  

In Latin as well as Greek (spiritus, pneuma) it refers to breath.  To truly understand Spirit, we must understand the original and universal meaning of the words with the same referent.  Thus, Spirit, means breath.  It is the air we breathe.  Thus, Holy Spirit is Holy Breath.  

We see the importance of this breathing in meditative practices.  Almost all of them have breath exercises.  Sometimes you focus on the breath.  Sometimes you breathe deeply.  Often breath walking is used.  Taking deep breaths is also common.  Correct or elegant ways of breathing is also taught among many.

Thus, to be spiritual is connected to being able to breathe - literally and figuratively.  Even the animals know that when something hisses, it is signaling that it is alive and ready for action - it is not dead and ready to be eaten!

Breath and wind are fluids.  Often, another way to understand spirit is the use of water - another fluid.  Baptism is with water.  Many meditative and therapeutic practices use water - massage, aroma therapy, a spa, steam rooms, cold showers, and the like.  

Thus, Spirit is formless, and we cannot get our hands around it - literally and figuratively.  It is undefined.  It changes.  It takes the form of the container, or no form when flowing or blowing.  

One word of caution is Spirit as Fire.  In the New Testament, during the Day of Pentecost, Spirit is referred to as Fire.  What happens when something catches fire?  It is consumed - destroyed.  Often fire provides warmth for comfort and cooking, but it is dangerous.  Thus, Spirit as Fire is dangerous lest we be burned.  So what is Spirit as Fire?  It is warmth and energy.  

Fire, like air and water, is a fluidic substance that has no set form or shape, and is in harmony with the other symbols, as long as we can perceive their commonality - fluid, flowing, undefined, uncontained, life-giving, refreshing, formless, flowing or blowing.

Thus, Spirituality in our lives should have some strong symbolic reference to these substances - the universal one is breath and Air, followed by Water, and lastly, Fire.

As before, a good test of spirituality is when one walks into a building or into a conversation.  Can you breathe?  Is the air fresh from a spirit perspective?  Or, do you feel boxed in, on edge, nervous, or uncanny?  These are signs for spirituality or lack thereof.  

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Spiritual Retreats

To function efficiently, we have to have routines.  We wake at similar times, and perform certain morning routines, before beginning work.  Then we retire and settle in to close the day with more routines we repeat quite often.

When we get into autopilot, sometimes we get stuck and lose perspective.  Those fine-tuned to spirituality know that we must break the routine to regain perspective when we become numb or low energy.  We need something to break the repeating infinite loop to re-inject some life.

A country ride is one way to do this.  I recently took a drive through the desert to clear my head and to rejuvenate.  

Drinking to the point where you are no longer your normal self is another way of regaining spirituality.  Judaism and Christianity have sacred meals with wine for a reason.  All spiritual people know the importance of intoxication of some sort.  Teetotalers are generally lacking in spirituality unless they have another form of intoxication to reprogram the mind from routine boredom and numbness.  

But, one way or another, you have to break the routine when you approach numbness.  Perspective brings meaning, and Spirituality, at its core, is finding meaning.