Notes on the Inner Meaning of Conscious Labor, part II

The entire work of the human body, in its own inward vibrational evolution, is a perfect model of what takes place in the solar system, just on a smaller level. Those who are interested in yoga and the chakra teachings might want to take note of this, although they may prove to be of somewhat limited value when applied to the cosmological scale we’re attempting to connect with from an inward point of view.

This baseline vibration of sensation, once it becomes a living intelligence, places a tremendous demand on an individual. One must agree, without compromise and in every sense of the word of service, to commit oneself to a relationship with this vibration. 

The vibration — which exists within our Being, but is not of our Being —  is paradoxically of a very high nature, much higher than our own, even though it expresses itself at the root and base of our existence. 

I call this a paradox because this much higher vibration actually forms the foundation of the level below us, which is where our Being has to be rooted in order to grow. Eckhart’s comment about the intellect has a relationship to this, because the spiritual intelligence (which is what he means by intellect) cannot discover and rest within its true nature until it put its roots down in this fundament of higher energy, which rests below ordinary being as a reservoir of life and the fountain from which it springs.

Again, all of this is allegory which does little to convey the actual experience. Nonetheless, the essential point must be restated: it becomes a demand. If we wish to know what it means to serve a master, to engage in the discharge of our duties towards God, we must personally know this energy and meet its demand within us. The service must be delivered without question, at all times, rooting our Being directly in the foundation of life so that we are required to confront our lives in every instant with this presence in us.

One might say that this isn't freedom at all: it's service, the binding of Being to a master who speaks a language we have not yet understood. Yet one knows instinctively through contact with the master that one must obey. 

 Conscious labor is like a servant girl from a crude village somewhere who is indentured and brought from the life of a wild beast or animal, dressed in rags and living in a hovel, into a vast palace belonging to a rich family. 

When the servant girl sees the palace,  much grander than any of the stories she's ever heard, she understands that she has an opportunity to live in this extraordinary environment, which represents so much more than she's ever had. But she must serve honorably in order to do so. She knows nothing about the palace; and when she finally meets the Deputy Steward, to whom she must report, she discovers that she doesn’t even speak the language of the palace. She must discharge her duties wordlessly, learning what is required from him through close observation and an instinctive, intuitive willingness to serve in order to keep her place in this extraordinary and wonderful situation which she knows so little of.

 Again, this is just by way of analogy, and entirely inadequate. When demand arrives in the form of a harmonic vibration that inwardly forms spiritual Being, one must consciously work to come into association with it at all times. 

This labor is not a labor from the direction of the sensation, which is (or ought to be) already present at all times; it is a labor conducted from the direction of consciousness and intelligence to be in relationship. The aim of a permanent sensation of Being is to begin this work, which is not in any sense of the word mature when one discovers it and sets out to engage in the work that’s necessary.  It is exhausting and designed, from its inception, to destroy everything one believes about oneself, one’s attitudes, one’s opinions, and so on. If the relationship is soundly formed, it progressively undermines and dissolves every egoistic tendency except those most essential to the conduct of every day life — those which are needed for the psychological health of Being and which, more importantly than anything else, are not destructive towards others. This is the manner in which a harvest is conducted: the unworthy parts of Being are discarded, while the worthy ones are collected together and concentrated. That which is not needed is thrown into the fire.

 Conscious labor, the relationship with a spiritual harmonic of Being, demands that every penny be paid. When I mention that we're always demanding a prenuptial agreement, my point is that we believe our exchange with spiritual Being is transactional and that we should both get something from it and be allowed to keep whatever we wish. 

Yet the real transaction of conscious labor is to show up willing to pay everything, and to understand with every shred of one’s Being that one will pay, and pay, and pay, and that one must pay God every shred of one’s Being—

without ever expecting a single thing in return.

Wishing the best for you on this day,

Lee

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.