1. The nonspiritual being lives exclusively within the five senses, believing that if you cannot see, touch, smell, hear or taste something, then that something simply doesn’t exist. The spiritual being knows that, beyond the five physical senses, there are other senses we use to experience the world of form.
As you work toward becoming a spiritual being as well as a physical being, you begin to live more and more consciously within the invisible realm that I have discussed in this chapter. You begin to know that there are senses beyond this physical world. Even though you cannot perceive it through one of the five senses, you know that you are a soul with a body, and that your soul is beyond limits and defies birth and death. It is not governed by any of the rules and regulations that govern the physical universe. To be a spiritual being means that you allow yourself the option of being multisensory. Hence a whole new world opens up. As Gary Zukav writes in The Seat of the Soul, “The experiences of the multi-sensory human are less limited than the experiences of the five-sensory human. They provide more opportunities for growth and development and more opportunities to avoid unnecessary difficulties.”
2. The nonspiritual being believes we are alone in the universe. The spiritual being knows he or she is never alone.
A spiritual being is comfortable with the idea of having teachers, observers and divine guidance available at any time. If we believe we are souls with bodies rather than bodies with souls, then the invisible, eternal part of ourselves is always available to us for assistance. Once this belief is firm and unshakable it can never be doubted, regardless of the rational arguments of those who live exclusively in the physical world. For some this is called intense prayer, for others it is God, that universal, omnipresent intelligence or force, and for others it is spiritual guidance. It matters not what you call this higher self or how you spell it, since it is beyond definitions, labels and language itself.
For the nonspiritual being this is all hogwash. We show up on Earth, we have one life to live and no one has any ghosts around or within to help out. This is a physical-only universe to the nonspiritual being and the goal is to manipulate and control the physical world. The spiritual being sees the physical world as an arena for growth and learning with the specific purpose of serving and evolving into higher levels of love.
Nonspiritual beings accept the existence of a supreme being or God, not as a universal force that is within us but as a separate power that will someday hold us accountable. They do not see themselves as having assistance or a higher self, unless they have the kind of direct experience of divine presence recorded by St. Paul or St. Francis of Assisi.
Spiritual beings simply know, through their personal experience of having been in contact with their own divine guidance, that they are not alone, and that they can use that guidance to become miracle makers in their lives.
3. The nonspiritual being is focused on external power. The spiritual being is focused on personal empowerment.
External power is located in the dominance of and control over the physical world. This is the power of war and military might, the power of laws and organization, the power of business and stock market games. This is the power of controlling all that is external to the self. The nonspiritual being is focused on this external power.
By contrast, the spiritual being is focused on empowering himself and others to higher and higher levels of consciousness and achievement. The use of force over another is not a possibility for the spiritual being. He or she is not interested in collecting power, but rather in helping others to live in harmony and to experience real magic. This is a power of love that does not judge others. There is no hostility or anger in this kind of power. It is true empowerment to know that one can live in the world with others who have differing points of view and have no need to control or vanquish them as victims. A spiritual being knows the enormous power that comes with the ability to manipulate the physical world with one’s mind. A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force in the universe. The entire philosophy of aikido and the Oriental martial arts is based not on external power over the opponent, but on becoming at one with that external energy to remove the threat. Empowerment is the inner joy of knowing that external force is not necessary to be at harmony with oneself.
To the nonspiritual being, no other way is known. One must constantly be ready for war. Even though the spiritual masters to whom they often pledge allegiance speak against such use of power, the nonspiritual being simply cannot see any other alternative.
Authentic empowerment is surrendering to that which is loving, harmonious and good in ourselves, and not allowing for enemies in our consciousness. It is an alignment with the soul that is our very purpose for being here.
Once you no longer need to dominate others, to acquire more possessions or to control the environment around you, you will have shifted your focus from external power to personal empowerment. You will find that being personally empowered does not reduce you to wimphood and being the victim of others in any way. Quite the opposite is true. You will find that you do not even perceive others to be potential victimizers. You will be a defuser of such threats, and in fact will not even encounter such proddings. Moreover, the absence of a need on your part to prove how powerful you are will give you the opportunity to empower others.
When you get to the giving stage, you will be aligned with your purpose and then you will be at the place where you can be a miracle maker. You will ask nothing of others, not because you are proud or omnipotent, but because you are a light unto yourself. This is the way of the spiritual being, and only when you abandon the need for external power and align yourself with your soul’s purpose, will you be ready for real magic.
4. The nonspiritual being feels separated and distinct from all others, a being unto himself. The spiritual being knows that he is connected to all others and lives his life as if each person he meets shares being human with him.
When a person feels separate from all others he becomes more self-centered and much less concerned about the problems of others. He may feel some sympathy for people starving in another part of the world, but that person’s daily approach is, “It’s not my problem.” The splintered personality, the nonspiritual being, is focused more on his own problems, and often feels that other human beings are either in his way or trying to get what he wants and so he must “do in” the other guy, before he gets done in himself.
The spiritual being knows that we are all connected, and he is able to see the fullness of God in each person with whom he makes contact. This sense of connection eliminates much of the inner conflict that the nonspiritual being experiences as he constantly judges others, categorizes them according to physical appearances and behaviors and then proceeds to find ways to either ignore or take advantage of them for his own benefit. Being connected means that the need for conflict and confrontation is eliminated. Knowing that the same invisible force that flows through himself flows through all others allows the spiritual being to truly live the golden rule. The spiritual being thinks, “How I am treating others is essentially how I am treating myself, and vice versa.” The meaning of “love thy neighbor as thyself is clear to the spiritual being, while it is considered nonsense by the nonspiritual being. Negative judgment is not possible when one feels connected to all others. The spiritual being knows that he cannot define another by his judgments, that he only defines himself as a judgmental person.
Research at the subatomic quantum level reveals an invisible connection between all particles and all members of a given species. This oneness is being demonstrated in remarkable scientific discoveries. The findings show that physical distance, what we think of as empty space, does not preclude a connection by invisible forces. Obviously there exist invisible connections between our thoughts and our actions. We do not deny this, even though the connection is impervious to our senses. The nonspiritual being cannot make such a leap, but the spiritual being knows that th
is invisible force connects him to all others, and therefore treats all others as if they were a part of himself. It is all a question of knowing. The nonspiritual being knows and acts as if he were an island, separate and distinct from others, unconnected. The spiritual being knows the truth of John Donne’s famous lines:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
There can be no finer description of the spiritual being. He is indeed involved in mankind and lives his life each day in this fashion. Plainly stated, miracles and real magic are simply unavailable to those who believe themselves to be islands in the sea of humanity.
5. The nonspiritual being believes exclusively in a cause/effect interpretation of life. The spiritual being knows that there is a higher power working in the universe beyond mere cause and effect.
The nonspiritual being lives exclusively in the physical world, where cause and effect rule. If one plants a seed (cause) he will see the result (effect). If one is hungry, he will seek food. If one is angry he will vent that anger. This is indeed a rational and logical way to think and behave, since the third law of motion—for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction—is always operating in the physical universe.
The spiritual being goes beyond Newton’s physics and lives in an entirely different realm. The spiritual being knows that thoughts come out of nothingness, and that in our dream state (one-third of our entire physical lives), where we are in pure thought, cause and effect play no role whatsoever. In the dream state you can be age forty in one moment and age twelve in the next, you can climb into a car and fly over your childhood home. Thoreau summed all of this up nicely with his provocative observation, “I do not know how to distinguish between our waking life and a dream. Are we not always living the life that we imagine we are?”
Thus the spiritual being knows that thoughts are not subject to the laws of classical physics, and that it is with our thoughts that we create our reality. When one lives purely by the laws of cause and effect, one can never expect to create miracles, because miracles and real magic are beyond the logic of physics. It is with the power of our minds that miracles originate, and therefore cause and effect are replaced by a belief in the effects that come out of what we call nothingness or emptiness.
Our thoughts and beliefs are miracles unto themselves, and they are our only tools for processing this physical world. They defy cause/effect logic, since our thoughts come from seemingly nowhere; therefore our miracle-making ability also stems from that divine place of no thing. If you need a cause/effect explanation, then you are unable to enter the world of real magic. Just as all sounds that we make stem from silent emptiness, so too do our thoughts, and our capacity for miracles is thus also a power that comes from within the silent empty space of our true being.
6. The nonspiritual being is motivated by achievement, performance and acquisitions. The spiritual being is motivated by ethics, serenity and quality of life.
For the nonspiritual person, the focus is on learning for the purpose of high grades, getting ahead and acquiring possessions. The purpose of athletics is competition. Success is measured in external labels such as position, rank, bank accounts and awards. While these are all very much a part of our culture, and certainly not objects to be scorned, they simply are not the focus of the spiritual being’s life.
For the spiritual being, success is achieved by aligning oneself with one’s purpose, which is not measured by performance or acquisitions. The spiritual being knows that these external things flow into one’s life in sufficient amounts and that they arrive as a result of living purposefully. The spiritual being knows that living purposefully involves serving in a loving fashion. Mother Teresa, who has spent many years of her life caring for the most downtrodden among us in the slums of Calcutta, defined purpose this way in For the Love of God:
The fruit of love is service, which is compassion in action. Religion has nothing to do with compassion, it is our love for God that is the main thing because we have all been created for the sole purpose to love and be loved.
It is in ways such as this that the spiritual being’s inner and outer reality is experienced. It is not necessary to become a saint ministering to the impoverished to become a spiritual being. One simply must know that there is much more to life than achievement, performance and acquisitions and that the measure of a life is not in what is accumulated, but rather in what is given to others. The spiritual being knows that he showed up here with nothing material and leaves the same way. All he can do therefore is give of what he has in this metaphysical instant called his life, his parenthesis in eternity. While the spiritual being will achieve and perform at high levels and even acquire many possessions, the motivation to do so is not the organizational principle that guides his life. Living ethically, morally and serenely while being aligned with a spiritual purpose is at the core of his being. Real magic cannot be experienced when your focus is on getting more for yourself, particularly if it is at the expense of others. When you experience a sense of serenity and quality about your life, knowing your mind is what creates such a state, you will also know that from such a state of mind flows miracle-making magic.
7. The nonspiritual being has no place within his awareness for the practice of meditation. The spiritual being cannot imagine life without it.
For the nonspiritual being the idea of looking quietly within oneself and sitting alone for any period of time—repeating a mantra, emptying one’s mind and seeking answers by aligning oneself with one’s higher self—borders on lunacy. For this person, answers are sought by working hard, struggling, persevering, setting goals, reaching those goals and setting new ones and competing in a dog-eat-dog world.
The spiritual being knows about the enormous power of the practice of meditation. He knows meditation makes him more alert and able to think more clearly. He knows the very special effect meditation has in relieving stress and tension. Spiritual people know, by virtue of having been there and experienced it firsthand, that one can get divine guidance by becoming peaceful and quiet and asking for answers. They know they are multidimensional and that the invisible mind can be tapped at higher and higher levels through meditation, or whatever you want to call the practice of being alone and emptying your mind of the frenetic thoughts that occupy so much of daily life. They know that in deep meditation one can leave the body and enter a sphere of magic that is as blissful a state as any drug could temporarily provide.
The great French scientist Blaise Pascal provided us with this insight: “All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.” One of the greatest joys of becoming a spiritual being is learning about this whole new phenomenal world. You will actually feel lighter, more blissful and, ironically, more productive than you ever felt before. For the nonspiritual being this is perceived as an escape from reality, but for the spiritual being it is an introduction to a whole new reality, a reality that includes an opening in life that will lead to miracle making. (More on how to meditate and some useful techniques will be found in chapter 3.)
8. For the nonspiritual being, the concept of intuition can be reduced to a hunch or a haphazard thought that accidentally pops into one’s head on occasion. For the spiritual being, intuition is far more than a hunch. It is viewed as guidance or as God talking, and this inner insight is never taken lightly or ignored.
You know from your own experience that when you ignore your intuitive proddings you end up regretting it or having to learn the hard way. To the nonspiritual person, intuition is completely unpredictable and occurs in random happenstances. It is often ignored or shunned in favor of behaving in habitual ways. The spiritual being strives to increase
consciousness concerning his intuition. He pays attention to invisible messages and knows deep within that there is something working that is much more than a coincidence.
Spiritual beings have an awareness of the nonphysical world and are not stuck exclusively in a universe restricted to the functioning of their five senses. Hence all thoughts, invisible though they may be, are something to pay attention to. But intuition is much more than a thought about something, it is almost as if one is receiving a gentle prod to behave in a certain way or to avoid something that might be dangerous or unhealthy. Although inexplicable, our intuition is truly a factor of our lives.
For the nonspiritual person, this seems to be merely a hunch and nothing to study or become more attuned to. The nonspiritual person thinks, “It will pass. It is just my mind at work in its disorderly way.” For the spiritual person, these inner intuitive expressions are almost like having a dialogue with God.
I view my intuition about everything and anything as God talking to me. I pay attention when I “feel something” strongly and I always go with that inner inclination. At one time in my life I ignored it, but now I know better and these intuitive feelings always—and I mean always—guide me in a direction of growth and purposefulness. Sometimes my intuition tells me where to go to write, and I follow, and the writing is always smooth and flowing. When I have ignored this intuition, I have struggled tremendously and blamed “writer’s block.” I have come to not only trust that guidance in my writing, but to rely on it in virtually all areas of my life. I have developed a private relationship with my intuition—from what to eat and what to write about to how to relate to my wife and other family members. I meditate on it, trust it, study it and seek to become more aware of it. When I do ignore it, I pay a price, and then remind myself of the lesson to trust that inner voice the next time.
Real Magic Page 5
