"Like a ball batted back and forth, a human being is batted
by two forces within."
-Yogabindu Upanishad
"As human beings we have a divided nature - partly
physical, but essentially spiritual. We are constantly
batted by two conflicting forces. One force is the fierce
downward thrust of our past conditioning as separate,
self-oriented, physical creatures. Yet built into our very
nature is an inner drive that will not let us be satisfied
with a life governed only by biological laws. Some inner
evolutionary imperative is constantly exhorting us to grow,
to reach for the highest that we can conceive." Eswaran
I liken this ancient Indian spiritual teaching in the Upanishad
to the concepts of the False Self and the Essential Self.
"The Work" of Transformation would cast the dilemma in the terms
of being open to an objective observation of the driving force
within my life.
Which of the polar opposite influences in my life do I follow?
1. The Holy Ghost, expansive, unified, whole and pure--which is
said(by Christ and many other wisdom teachers to whom I seek to
listen)- to abide within me, in my heart, my essence?
Or
2. The ego-compulsive, and selfish?
Through daily meditative practice,
through stillness and silence
where I can once again find the Essence of life,
I must objectively and habitually retreat, and thus choose.
On the one hand I felt the call of God; on the other, I continued to follow the world. All the things of God gave me great pleasure, but I was held captive by those of the world. I might have been said to be trying to reconcile these two extremes, to bring contraries together: the spiritual life on the one hand and worldly satisfactions,pleasures, and pastimes on the other. ----Saint Teresa of Avila Saint Teresa of Avila was a remarkably spiritual woman. Even as a girl she could say passionately, "I want something that will last forever!" Yet this woman who was to become one of the world's greatest mystics went through twenty years of doubt and struggle before becoming "established" in God. If Teresa took twenty years, can people like you and me think of doing it in less? Her words can inspire all of us, for everyone begins with d...
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