Friday, April 19, 2024

Both Willful and Beyond Will


There are two distinct stages to the spiritual path: One that is willful and one  that is completely beyond will.

Michael A. Singer

I think these two stages work together.  First, you need to be willing to do the work of getting free; willing to point your focus inward rather than outward; willing to let go of all your samskaras and habit formations; and willing to take your hands off the reins so that which is beyond will can do what it is naturally inclined to do. What is this thing? It is Chit Shakti...or conscious energy. What is in the way of it? You are with all your preferring and resistance. So what do we do crazy lady?

Well as you are making a conscious committment to break free of your habits of clinging and pushing away (we will be talking a lot about habits in a bit as I am completing my review of Atomic Habits by James Clear), and as you are opening up....the second stage  takes place. You need to relax...let go, accept, and surrender to what is as the Chit Shakti rises in you. 

Our deeply rooted preferences make certain behaviours easier for some people than for others. James Clear, page 121

Seems so simple, doesn't it? It isn't as easy as it seems. It is a challenge to break through our conditioning, and habits are a by product of that conditioning, but it can be done! We can break our habits of "little me" focus and be free. We can!

More and more, I see how both the refocusing of my will power and the letting go of my tendency to use it to Self-destruct in a convuluted way in order to protect the  little self is setting me free.  I am getting lighter and lighter in here. A lot more of the world can pass right through me now.  That is pretty cool. If I can get here to this point, anyone can!

All is well! 

James Clear ( 2018) Atomic Habits. New York: Avery

 Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( April 18, 2024) Exploring the Power of Will. https://tou.org/talks/


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