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Spiritual Mood Swings
What feels like backsliding in the middle of the journey is actually a return to parts of yourself that need spiritual attention. The soul is constant; only your perception changes.
You see yourself leaping forward or falling back. You find inner peace only to lose it again. You struggle to overcome discouragement and the temptation to reclaim the normal life you had before this whole seduction of spirit lured you in.
We tell ourselves all kinds of stories on the path. And what they all have in common is that they’re never completely true. When you refer to yourself as “I,” who is that person? The “I” when you were three years old or the “I” on your wedding day? The “I” who found a vision to live by or the “I” who now feels that her vision can’t be attained?
Every self is provisional. “I” is temporary and subject to everything that time brings: One day it was born, and one day it will die. The ego shifts constantly. We experience this whether we’re on the path or not.
No matter whether “I” feels victorious or defeated, elated or discouraged, these are mere phantoms compared to consciousness itself. Out of consciousness everything else is built. The world consists of images on a screen, and consciousness is the steady light that emanates from the projector.
It would be tidier if spiritual seeking were just a matter of enduring one dark night of the soul, after which you would feel secure in your link to God. But there are many dark mornings of the soul, many shadowy afternoons and dim twilights. The middle of the journey concerns all the things Jesus taught his disciples about reaching God-consciousness.
Adapted from The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).
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19 comments
add your comment ».. ahh and sometimes the brighter the light, the darker those shadows can be.
Observe, detached, the movements of the Ego.
Escape your Id - Entity. Strive to be Authentic in all ways.
Dark and Light...
Nice Little Reminder. Thanks for the supportive words...
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It's not about 'right and wrong'. 'Right and wrong' is too churchy and too black and white for me. It's more about the heart and following our true inner guidance.
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Comment to Dwight:
I have found that the more I went "inside" and communicated with the Beloved, the more I wanted to reach out, be loving and helpful and bring more joy, peace, and love in the world. So I am not sure that everyone who wants to commune within stays there but maybe some do. I just know how it has been for me.
Thanks for giving me something to think about.
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OMG! I needed this today. Spiritual Mood Swings! I have them and it is nice to know that this is something many people experience. As a female, I can identify with mood swings. LOL
"God-consciousness" Now there's a term I can sink my teeth into. Up three steps, back two. What a dance!
I'm writing a book I hope to publish called "Love is My Decision" and I swear that EVERY day I am challenged to do exactly what I am writing about. It is a non-fiction book to start with but it is reality book writing for sure.
Okay, deep breath, relaxing into accepting that I have spiritual mood swings and that is "normal". I sure am glad to be normal. The ego may shift but "I" remain steady. Got it! (That is until I lose it again.) Ha!
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Dwight: I have never heard about "situational ethics" , it seems to mean, what is right and wrong is determined by situation. I would go one step further saying : in the center of our chests where we feel heaviness or lightness depending on our behavior is the "heart center".All humans except sociopaths have this. It is the part of us that knows i oneness with entire creation and incapable of evil. It's trustworthy in judgement and is the true judge of our lives at their end. Concern about spontaneity need only arise when we are judging from the mind.By trusting you heart to make the right ethical decision for yourself and all concerned you will always do the right thing. Rather than subjecting yourself to the lifelong study of other's judgements in similar situations which will never be the same, a lifelong commitment to following your heart will ensure living in joyous bliss. It is a terrifying and dangerous decision that can leave you open to great suffering when the dictates of your heart move you in directions others might not like. Ultimately the results of such decisions are to the benefit of all. It is no light decision, people will choose death to keep their hearts light. It is so profoundly simple: being human means choosing constantly,in each moment asking and listening ,feeling whether heart is heavy or light over each potential, and trusting that whatever the repercussions, that lightheartedness is worth everything.
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Yes Mathias! The river is never the same.
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I totally agree with Uma and Neda and others. I only wish to add: You can never step into the same river twice.
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part two
They look out far beyond where that moment in time is and assess what they would do in that far out time in the future. Thus they again miss that moment of bliss that they could have had if they had learned to live with their conscience using Situation ethics.
For one thing that most people like to see out of others is spontaneity. Meaning a quick grin- a crisp hello, solid handshake, compliments that burst like a flower unexpectedly, for one to show outwardly that they rejoice in life for that moment and that moment alone. Leaving nothing UN said no need left UN fixed and living that moment, as that was all there would ever be.
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It is unto all humankind to live with each other. The few that want to retreat and live inside of themselves are to be pitied. How ghastly can some become when in a trance like state trying to mediate toward a new them? Saying that the real road to personal freedom and living a full life of giving back to others can only come about by getting in and staying in the game of life. All retreats away from our sound sane sanguine stridently said kind and gracious words and good moral actions in civility owed to one another should never be at the cost we owe one another. So gross excess in introspection can sometimes be an escape that some of our family friends and kin find unnatural.
Situation ethics once aspired to and learned can make each moment the clocks ticks a new driving force in each of us to do the rights in life and shun the wrongs. However to do one must commit to a life of learning. Then at each step of the learning experience gain more personal insight to avoiding the many pitfalls of having a selective memory. For once a person finds themselves in a retreat from the present to their selective memory from the past for needed data to know how to respond, the moment of bliss that could have been is then long gone. And that same train of thought does occur to those who have a need to live in a futurist state that they have created and then the same becomes true. They look out far beyond where that moment in time is and assess what they would do in that far out ti
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We are supposed to live in the Now, which means that by the time I have finished typing this message, the 'I' that started writing it will not be the same 'I' that finishes it. We have been designed to continually evolve and this can happen every few seconds. It is also a lesson in non-attachment to our ego identity.
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