I am feeling philosophical today. One of the things that has been on my mind is the difference between meditation, prayer and calling on your psychic support system (hats off to Sonia Choquette). When I was a kid I put the same faith in all fairy tales: be it the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, the Three Kings, or Jesus, Mary and Joseph. My 7 year old mind couldn't see the difference between them, and I prayed to God and the Saints half heartedly, because all of my bets were on Santa or the Tooth Fairy delivering toys and gold coins.
Looking back on it, my interest in the miraculous side of spirituality lost out in the competition with Santa Claus. The problem is that reindeer and elves don't last forever, by the time I was 9 they had vanished and I was left with a spiritual belief system that didn't ring any bells. I was in the habit of praying half-heartedly and asking for things because I had to (but without any real thought or intent going into them).
Prayer is a great form of meditation, especially if you're reciting a nice soothing mantra. Reciting the Hail Mary can be a great source of calm and inspiration, but if you don't learn to couple it with intent and certainty you won't see action in your life (at least I didn't). Now that I've discovered the power of intent, the world is full of truly exciting opportunities. Who would have thought that having that certainty can sort out a job, a new apartment, or even a chance encounter with a soul mate?
All of these miracles and synchronicites exist because of our psychic support system: the angels, spirit guides and the energetic currents in the universe. Even now as an adult, I find these unseen forces to be even more exciting than the fairy tales I believed as a child. But as an adult we have that big barrier of scepticism to get over, before we open our eyes again.
How cool would it be if tomorrow's kids learn about intent, certainty and all of these psychic buddies instead of Santa Claus and the Reindeer? We would have generations of awakened beings, instead of going through this period of darkness between the end of Santa Claus and the next spiritual awakening (which took about 20 years in my case).
I'm not really up to the challenge of taking on organized religion, but we don't really have too. Most modern religions and/or spiritual paths recognize one of our ascended masters, and maybe even the angels and spirit guides (what are saints, after all?). Do you think it could work? I think our kids are ready to grow up without Santa. Dramatic, but maybe they can grow up with a lot more than just Santa.
Religions? You don't need religion for anything, religions are the source of hate, destruction and negative spiritual patterns.
ReplyDeleteTrue spirituality focused on God - the Source of all that is, and the "God" within you, your Buddha mind. Spirits, entities, angels, deities, saints, they're just wrong because sorry, but you never really know if you're talking to some archangel, or damned astral critter who's just feeding on you.
Now to difference between meditation and prayer. Prayer is your pure intend supported by love and trust, which you direct to God (or The Source, The Universe). Meditation, on the other hand, is a practice of expanding your consciousness - to be aware of everything, yet to be focused on nothing.
That's my point of view :).
Hi Nathan ...
ReplyDeleteThx for the comment, it's good to have a little friendly debate =)
On the point about religion, I agree that a lot of bad things have been done under a religious flag but it's usually politics and power that drive the situation. If they didn’t use religion to manipulate people they’d use another ideal.
When religion is based on faith it can be a very powerful support system and the prayers & rituals that organized religions embrace are as valuable as any other kind of spiritual practice. Faith based religions work well for a lot of people, especially if it teaches them to be kind, compassionate and to accept things they can’t change (the wisdom of the 12 steps …)
On the 2nd point, ... It takes a little bit of practice, but there are lots of ways to get to know your angels safely. I've taken a couple classes where we take turns calling in different levels of angels & ascended masters, and they have a really high vibration that is completely different to a common spirit or astral critter.
As with getting to know any acquaintance in the real world, you need to trust your intuition & your own judgment before letting them into your life or listing to what they say (do they give you good or bad vibes?). A good guide/angel won’t tell you what to do, they point out things you might be overlooking and they help you find your way.
We all have guides & angels, whether or not we make an effort to communicate with them. They go out of their way to give you “Aha!” moments, so a lot of our brilliant ideas actually come from them! There is a lot of extra stuff they can help with, but they only intervene if you ask them so that’s why I recommend going down that route.
If anyone is interested in this and they can’t get to a proper class, Sonia Choquette’s book “Ask Your Guides” is really good. And just to be safe, I always protect myself with white light before any meditation, and it’s also a good idea to ask Archangel Michael to look after you (he can handle any nasties) …
And he always shows up =)