Freedom Without Responsibility

This entry is part 61 of 73 in the series 2015

2015

Dec 11, 2015

Freedom Without Responsibility

Adam writes:

On the individual side of things, this would explain why sudden changes in human consciousness (i.e. when the individual gives himself/herself more freedom to explore and express, uninhibited by prior beliefs and unearned authority) so often result in temporary chaos of indulgence. A religious person that releases the binds of controlled thought that has always controlled his actions, thus overindulges in the senses for a time – perhaps even succumbing to long term addiction and dangerous, even life-threatening behaviors.

Hopefully the individual eventual learns to harness/control the passions again, but with a higher sense of consciousness and enhanced freedom. Three steps forward with two steps back, but ever upward.

This tendency of the disciple to get out of control and throw away the benefits of control imposed upon him when he makes his first advances into spiritual freedom was addressed in the book of Revelation. Here is the verse with my comments:

The Master follows the praise with some criticism:

“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Rev 2:4-5

Scholars are somewhat mystified as to what was the “first love” of the church at Ephesus. Some think that it was the original enthusiasm, brotherhood or ideals of the members that just wore off and they were being admonished to get themselves recharged.

A closer examination will reveal that this was not the problem. To understand what the first love is we need to return to the key word which is “permission”.

As written earlier, the first real step toward enlightenment and movement on the path occurs when the seeker gives himself permission to follow his internal authority rather than the outward. To discover the first love we must ask ourselves what the seeker was attracted to that caused him to take the steps to find the path in the first place – before he followed his internal self. In other words, what virtue did he have before he was enlightened that made him move toward Spirit to begin with?

The answer leads us to his first love.

Before he was ruled by internal permission, his life was governed by external authorities who gave him permission. These external authorities were seen as representing the voice of God. As such, the seeker took these outer commands and instructions very seriously. He felt that if he disobeyed the prophet, priest, guru or book it was the same thing as disobeying God. He was thus very assiduous about honoring that voice and being a good servant for God, as he understood the concept. This was his first love.

Then, at the start of his new journey, he discovered that the authorities representing the voice of God knew no more about the truth than he did – that his internal voice was what he needed to follow.

The problem is that there are two internal voices. One is the voice of the Spirit and the other is the voice of the lower self, expressing lower desire. When the seeker first begins his journey on the path it is true that he does indeed contact the real voice, but neither is he perfect nor has he overcome selfishness. The lower voice is much easier to hear and requires no meditation or concentration of attention to get its message. Thus, when the aspirant begins his spiritual journey, he hears the lower voice much more than he hears the higher.

In the past he had some protection from following the lower nature because he followed his “first love,” his teachers and the voice of God they represented. Despite their faults, these outer authorities admonished him to exercise self-control over his passions and lower nature. They encouraged him to have self-discipline.

When the seeker discovers his inner authority and gives himself permission to ignore the outer, he (for a period of time) goes from one extreme to the other. He goes from obeying every external word that seems to come from God to ignoring all he has learned in the past.

What does he do now? Now that he has released himself from outer authority he follows the inner, but the trouble is that the spiritual voice does not lay down the law in detail, as did the outer. If he has a decision to make and does not receive clear instruction from the Spirit, he falls back on lower desire. When he makes this mistake he is left with a choice between lower desire and outer authorities… BUT he has rejected outer authorities, so in all areas where he has no clear communication through the soul (or perhaps ignores that communication), he is left with following lower desire.

The net effect of this situation can be summarized as follows:

(1) The seeker makes the breakthrough and clearly hears and follows the still small voice.

(2) He releases himself from the bondage of outer authorities.

(3) He feels free and this freedom seems to be what enlightenment is all about. He now goes overboard and follows every desire that comes to him, ignoring the discipline he learned in the past.

This explains a popular criticism that many who consider themselves “enlightened” receive from the rank and file religious people. With some justification they will accuse them of being carnal, undisciplined, licentious, rebellious, etc. The seeker will often laugh such criticism off as being somewhat primitive and unenlightened, and continue to follow any impulse that feels good to him. This takes him away from the soul for a period of time. He will find that he will need a wake-up call from the Master’s voice to set him back on track.

In a moment of sanity, when he sees that the lower impulses lead to disaster after disaster, he hears the higher voice:

“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”

Upon hearing this message he realizes that he has discarded many principles from his past that harmonize with the voice of the Spirit. He has merely used his new freedom as an excuse to follow his lower nature. He sees that if he continues on the current course he will lose contact with the true inner voice and the light (candlestick) will no longer shine within. He must “repent,” or change course. He must honor those things from the past which were good and lead him toward Spirit, and follow the voice of the soul to yet higher realms of understanding.

The Lives in the First Two Centers

In the last post we discussed the influence of the lesser lives through the solar plexus center demonstrating as the lower emotions calling for our attention.

So what about the other centers?

Another center that is often of equal or greater force in getting our attention is the sacral center. This is the center governing sexual energy.

These lives are particularly powerful in young people who have not settled in some type of routine of self control and direction. If reasonable self control is not established the main deva life with its lesser components will dominate the person until his vital energy is exhausted.

The lesser lives of this center are quite easy to recognize. The only reason people do not is that they see the sexual energy as being a part of themselves rather than individual lives within the body.

Now think of a time that a very attractive person crossed your path. If you are normal you felt a strong pull, even if you are committed to someone else. Perhaps a part of you felt like grabbing that person and ravishing him or her on the spot, but of course, you controlled yourself.

Perhaps a part of you felt like throwing your current relationship to the wind and starting something fresh and adventurous.

Fortunately, most people do not follow all the desires expressed by those crazy lives in sacral center. Most put them under some form of control, though many yield in moments of weakness, usually to their regret.

When a provocative sexual situation occurs the observer can certainly at that point register that there are lesser lives in the body with a mind of their own and these lives need to be controlled and directed into a harmless outlet. When the person is highly aroused sexually he or she can definitely feel the effect of these lives which is beyond the mere thought process.

The ultimate testimony to the presence of life in the sacral center is the result of its creative activity which is the birth of a new and independent human life – a baby.

The first center in the lower regions is at the base of the spine. This is the initiating center from whence come the flow of energy that vitalizes or feeds the other centers and hence the entire body.

Now the seeker may comment that he can surely feel the influence of lives from the solar plexus and the sacral, but can’t think of any communication that would be coming from the base chakra. What in the world would that be?

The reason the sensing of the life there is not as obvious is that it is not as excitable as the lives tuned in to the emotions and sexual desire. Even so, all of us feel the life presence there every day, but again the reality passes over our heads.

Tuning into the life in the base center is quite simple. Just ask yourself these questions?

How am I feeling today on a physical level? What is my energy level? Do I feel tired or am I alert and ready to tackle my work?

Then after you ask yourself these questions tune into the life that activates and energizes your physical body?

This is the life at the base chakra. If you feel tired all the time then you are doing something to hinder its vitality. If you feel good energy and a sense of physical well being then you are allowing it to express its life force.

When someone asks you, “How are you, today?” you will generally say fine and see this totally in reference to your life. But the real answer you give (speaking physically) concerns the condition of the lives at the base of the spine.

If the seeker will quiet himself down, concentrate and tune in to his life energy he will become aware of this foundation life. Focus on the energy source for your body and whether or not it is adequate in the present. If it is not adequate then ask it what it needs in order to circulate more energy throughout the body.

Now let us focus on the throat and heart centers. What will communication or contact with them reveal?

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