Being here and things that happen

 June 15, continued

Another point that was brought up during this discussion was the question of how I can tell the difference between the inner and the outer.

The inner awareness explains itself; and the moment that it begins to manifest of its own volition, there is no question about the difference between the inner and the outer. I come into relationship with a higher energy which isn’t a fleeting experience of magical properties; it is a permanent presence of this finer energy which flows into being at every moment of existence.

While I have often called this the organic sensation of being, there is more to it than meets the I or can be captured in a phrase. The inflow of the higher energy of the divine into being is the fundamental beginning of all existence, but — on our level and in our case — most especially, the beginning of our existence and the fountain of life from which all of our Being begins. It is the aim of existence, first and before anything else, to come into a permanent relationship with this inward flow of divine energy which creates Being.

 The inner quality of our spiritual life is entirely formed from the vibration of divine energy within Being. The attention of awareness needs to be clearly focused on this energy at all times, so that one lives first from this manifestation, and only afterwards from all the others. This is what’s meant by the inner; the vibration doesn’t “come from” some hypothetical physical location outside us, it arises from within our Being. We don’t begin by having experiences and encountering objects, events, circumstances, and conditions. We begin by being here. Unless we engage directly in the action of being here first, we have no capacity for distinguishing the difference between being here and things that happen.

 Only a relationship with a higher vibration can establish the fundamental ground within which we distinguish the difference between being here and things that happen. To use the classic phrase, “be here now,” is not enough. There is a way to be here now; and it isn’t the way of the mind, the way of thinking about how I am here. The action of telling myself I’m here with the mind is useless. I need to know I am here from within the vibration of Being. In order to encounter this state, my search needs to be centered from within around this.

This search can’t be conducted solely through meditation. The search needs to be conducted every day, all day long, while I am encountering the various things that take place in life. That is to say, the search is conducted from within, on behalf of the spiritual, through the action of sensation. Until I attune my attention to this intimate property, I am looking in the wrong place. There is no set of spiritual instructions, no special practice, that can substitute from an intimate attention that’s turned specifically towards this inner spiritual nature, at all times as I go through my daily life.

I want to repeat that, at all times. There is never a moment in life when one is excused from the effort to focus more clearly on Grace.

Wishing the best for you on this day,

Lee

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.