This week, we conclude our series with Greg Reese, who shares how healing from traumatic child abuse can be a universal method for a human being to discover their unique purpose in life.
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We human beings have the free will to choose
our own path. And while some may have it harder than others, the fate of the
individual is up to the individual alone. It is ultimately up to us whether we
thrive, survive, or stagnate.
It is our choice to accept or ignore this unique personal
responsibility. And while these modern times of convenience make it easy to
shrug off the crucial task, our happiness may very well depend on us answering
the call.
The organism that we are living within, known as a human being,
is very complex. We have a physical body to maintain, emotional attachments and
aversions to manage, and an unending stream of thought to oversee. As stewards,
we are faced with a great deal of work. If we ignore this work then we decline
into ruin, and if we rise up to the task then we can control our own fate.
"The word spirituality has acquired a
certain loftiness to it. It conjures up images of the esoteric and the mystical
when in fact it denotes something really quite simple. Spirituality is really
nothing more than the art of self-management.
On the Spiritual path there are hundreds of traditions and thousands of
practices we can study, but really, it's just one practice. The practice of
controlling our own mind. If we don't control it, then it controls us. Or
worse, someone else controls it for us.
This seems to be a part of the whole human experience. We are born, we are
broken, and we fix ourselves. Or, we don’t. But if we do, then we become more
human than we were at the start. We become fortified with self-knowledge."
~ Sex Drugs and Om: An Autobiography of an American Yogi
For those of us paying attention, we are constantly receiving
valuable information about our state of mind.
As above, so below.
What we see in the world around us is a reflection of what exists
within us. And so rather than wasting our efforts on futile attempts at
changing the reflection, we must go within and change the source.
The changes we make within our self are then
projected upon the world around us. And when we make peace within our self,
then it reflects outwardly into every experience.
Just like everything else in our world, each one of us is made up
of the same positive and negative charge. If we are feeling the desire for more
balance in our life, then we must go within and take responsibility for the
organism.
We can change the external world to a small degree, such as
creating laws for people to conform to. But the level of power that we have to
affect change over our self is beyond comparison. We can even change our own
beliefs, which changes the way we see the world.
Adapting ourselves to the
world around us is naturally humbling, and humility is a powerful key towards
success.
Everything has its polar opposite. And so when we convince our
self that "I am a good person", then we create a belief that the "bad people" live outside of us.
This gives the ego all the fuel it needs to rise up and
seize the fallacious moral high-ground, robbing us of our humility. The more we
focus on problems out there in
the world, the less we attend to our own flaws.
The spurious moral high-ground is yet another distraction the ego
sells us to maintain its reigning power. There is no such thing.
Our responsibility is to take care of our own personal organisms,
and we have the choice to beat our own paths or follow somebody else's.
Managing the fate of the world is not our business, but if it is our purpose,
then the most effective way to succeed would be to first become that
change.
By doing this we can effectively make our personal organism happier, thereby
inspiring others to follow their own heart and do the same.
What we are talking about here is known in the spiritual
tradition of Hermeticism as the Great Work.
"The Great Work is, before all things, the creation of man by himself,
that is to say, the full and entire conquest of his faculties and his future;
it is especially the perfect emancipation of his will."
When we fail to follow our heart then the ego takes over, and usually drags us along the hard way. But when we find the courage to follow, then the path is laid out before us and we begin to resonate with life harmoniously. This great work leads us to knowing true and sustainable bliss.
We will start to notice which things make us suffer, and let them go. And we will begin to see what makes us happy, and start working towards cultivating more of it in our lives. We have an extraordinary opportunity in today’s world to pursue our happiness, follow our bliss, and manifest our own reality.
~ Eliphas Levi
We will start to notice which things make us suffer, and let them go. And we will begin to see what makes us happy, and start working towards cultivating more of it in our lives. We have an extraordinary opportunity in today’s world to pursue our happiness, follow our bliss, and manifest our own reality.
Another powerful key to success is Gratitude.
Expressing gratitude somehow results in seeing more agreeable things in our
life. And when we look hard enough, we find that everything warrants gratitude.
Even our suffering brings great opportunity. Whenever the unexpected shows up
in our life and derails us, we can stand up and face it and receive its golden
knowledge. And when we express gratitude for this, we turn it into a blessing
that brings forth abundance and good fortune.
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Greg Reese was born in Vallejo, California, raised in Cleveland, Ohio and now lives in a yoga ashram in Virginia. Since leaving High School, Greg has been a carpenter, musician, filmmaker and writer, as well as a saw-gunner in the US Marines. At the present time, he works in the audio-video department of the yoga ashram.
Having been a writer of poems and essays all his life, and having had such a uniquely unusual life so far, Greg decided to write a book about his experiences. Sex Drugs and OM: An Autobiography of an American Yogi, is an enlightening, entertaining account of how he elevated himself beyond suffering with yoga and meditation, and found sustainable happiness.
Greg is busy writing his first novel, plans on moving to Hawaii, and writing several more to come.
Having been a writer of poems and essays all his life, and having had such a uniquely unusual life so far, Greg decided to write a book about his experiences. Sex Drugs and OM: An Autobiography of an American Yogi, is an enlightening, entertaining account of how he elevated himself beyond suffering with yoga and meditation, and found sustainable happiness.
Greg is busy writing his first novel, plans on moving to Hawaii, and writing several more to come.
His favorite quote comes from Robert Anton Wilson, and sums up his feeling about belief - “Only the madman is absolutely sure.”
Beautiful piece, thank you for sharing!
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