Welcome to another mystical perspectives.
This is Reverend Cindy Palus.
How are you doing?
I wanna talk about a very important topic,
And it's about everyday spirituality,
Practical mysticism.
How do we take those enlightened states and put them to work in our life?
And make them really useful to help our lives be better and help others as well.
Today's talk is based on a book by Dr.
Paul Leon Masters,
Meditation Dynamics.
And this is from the last chapter in the book.
And I'll start with a statement and then we'll do a little talk in contemplation and meditation.
With this statement,
Let's consider this.
Take a few deep breaths first and sit comfortably,
Relax,
Breathe in that.
Clearing breath of spirit,
Breathing it in.
And relaxing and breathing any other thoughts out,
Just letting them go so that you're in a clear and receptive place.
And contemplate this for a moment.
Carried to its ultimate conclusion,
Meditation is learning to live naturally,
As well as to be in contact with and have control over oneself.
Now,
This is the lifetime practice.
This is not just meditating every morning or in reaching enlightenment,
But this is how we really put to work what we get.
Living naturally means being sensitive to nature's inborn resources and innate intelligence.
Being in control of oneself means having control of the inner levels of one's mind.
When you can do that,
Then you can put that to work in your life.
You get to that inner core,
That centered place,
That connection with your soul and spirit,
And then you find yourself transformed to the point where you can actually live in that place.
All the great teachers talk about this.
In the Christian mystical perception is Christ consciousness.
It's that awakened state,
The enlightened state of being,
But not leaving it,
Staying there,
Not just experiencing enlightenment,
But living from that place in everyday consciousness.
Sooner or later through the practice of meditation,
If you're a serious student,
You'll discover what true spirituality really is.
And it will be seen as,
What a great example,
Christ saw in it,
As Buddha saw in it,
With his precepts,
As Krishna saw it,
And as other great seers and prophets and masters have seen it.
The person who is practicing meditation will experience this meaning and definition of the word spiritual is quite different from the orthodox Christian view.
We're not talking about just going to church on Sunday,
Obviously.
So many have evolved beyond that and want to find and seek that truth within,
Not just the outer crust of the words and the teachings.
Because if you do just that,
You're missing the most fundamental teaching,
And that is contact with one's most precious innermost self through the practice of meditation.
Now we're seeing more and more people who are doing yoga.
There are so many different forms of yoga.
Yoga means union with God.
Now I've heard so many teachers say,
Union with body,
Mind and higher self,
Or watering it down because they're afraid people will be offended by the word God.
But that's missing the mark of what it was really created for.
When you do yoga,
You are in physical postures,
And in those postures completely tuned in to your body and putting your mind totally into those postures and your soul,
And thus with God.
And I've found very few teachers that understand that in yoga.
Now we're seeing it of course as more and more people are meditating.
And if you really do the practice,
You'll find practices like yoga,
And Tai Chi,
And Qi Kung.
The Eastern practices were created so you could take your spiritual highest self and put it into action and movement.
And when you do that,
Then you can start to translate that and integrate that into your everyday living.
Thich Nhat Hanh does a walking meditation.
And if you do Zen practice,
You do Kenyan.
Kenyan is walking very,
Very slowly.
Typically at some places after 40 minutes,
You'll get up and walk.
And as you walk very,
Very slowly,
Like in slow motion,
Around the room you maintain that same place you're at in meditation.
In Thich Nhat Hanh's case,
He takes it to walking outdoors and taking that meditation to walking.
And as you're doing this,
You're learning how to integrate that same place you get to in an enlightened spiritual state into your everyday life.
Unless you have experienced that bliss,
That higher state of spiritual consciousness within yourself,
And you've integrated that amazing awareness into your conscious daily life as positive personality patterns,
Then you really have no true frame of reference from which to teach your comment on spiritual truth,
As with so many spiritually blind religious fanatics.
And you can have a guru or a teacher,
But a real guru or teacher will tell you.
It's there inside yourself.
That's the real litmus test.
Through a multitude of meditation experiences the innate spiritual level of one's mind.
The student's meditation discovers life's innermost mysteries.
So you're given this blessed sacred gift you find.
And then,
What do you do with it?
Then comes the everyday kindness,
The everyday goodwill,
The everyday practice of practical mysticism.
And if you're a student of meditation,
Or of metaphysics,
Or mysticism,
You do not have to limit yourself.
The universe,
In its tremendous versatility of expression,
Exists there in the center of our minds,
As our true inner self.
By expanding your thinking in this way,
You'll begin to create patterns,
Mental atmospheres,
That allow the universal mind of God within you the freedom to reach you with good,
With love,
With light,
Through all of the channels of living.
Meditation maintains contact with that wisdom that is timeless,
The timeless wisdom of the heart and soul.
Without it you can become very superficial in your thinking and playing the mental game,
Repeating words that make you sound like you know what you're doing.
But if you're really connecting in meditation daily,
You can be far more certain that your words will communicate the authentic,
Real you.
A central truth that's talked about in the New Testament is known as the gospel of the kingdom of heaven.
And there's an important key in that.
It states that heaven is not just an after-death place,
But refers to the living presence of universal light,
Spirit and intelligence as that very central core right there within your being.
This presence is the reality of who and what you truly are.
It's a reality that is absolute,
An absolute that is God,
The universal source,
The oneness of all.
It's a living presence that is the ultimate source of power that a man or woman may know.
That's the God power right there within you.
Through knowing this and merging with this presence within yourself during meditation,
You can actually experience the biblical truth of the peace that passeth all understanding.
And when you experience that peace,
Not only do you find it changing your state of mind in the moment,
But it has a ripple effect of reaching the heart of that light and love that can be with you at all times if you learn how to merge with it and bringing it into your everyday practice.
Now let's breathe in that breath of spirit,
That presence,
The essence of that presence,
That I am that I am.
Let's set our mind to the intention to live life with that energy,
That goodwill,
Today and every day.
Let it fill your mind and emotions,
Your heart,
And know that with goodwill,
You can find compassion,
You can find understanding,
You can find peace,
You can find that good that can be your teacher every day.
Let goodwill and kindness be your creed.
Let love be your guide.
Find a way to live with more loving kindness each day and know that energy is the good that is God within you.
It is the real you.
You are a thought being experienced in God's mind.
You are a child of that light and love.
You are the beloved of the beloved.
You hold the goodness of God within you.
So be grateful that God is good all the time and that you can turn to that goodness,
That source of love and kindness at any time.
Now let's have a communication within ourselves to the highest part of that goodness within.
Ask that energy to show you what you should do and what that energy wishes to do to express,
To prepare the world for what is your truth expressed in the world.
Open that inner door.
Sense that love of God's light.
Let it fill your every cell,
Your very being,
So that you can see and feel what you need to see,
So that you have that vision within of that heaven waiting there for you,
The higher reality,
That you can bring that reality right into your life at this very moment,
That you can experience that presence.
What is that presence to you?
Can you be open to it?
Can you receive it?
Can you believe it?
And can you be it?
Can you maintain that energy daily and share what you get from those inner realms that you go to in meditation?
Can you let it help motivate yourself and renew you to fulfill the purpose for which you came?
Let your intention be known and be so clear that you can really live with joy and happiness here,
That you can evolve and share that vision and believe that that energy of love,
Loving-kindness and goodwill can be at the heart of you and be expressed outward so you can live with more loving-kindness every day.
Realize that there is a common spirit now.
Find that spirit within you,
That presence,
That energy that is alive in every single cell of your body,
In every grain of sand,
In every star throughout the universe,
Experience the power of that pure energy of God's goodness,
That unconditional love,
That infinite light and know that that light is always there to call upon,
To use,
Not just in meditation,
But to use and live with in your everyday life.
Breathe it in,
Breathe it out,
Feel it,
Absorb that light,
Become that living light and know that you are together there with the dream,
The Creator's dream.
And you can make that creation dream a reality.
You can make that peace that passeth understanding always present within your core,
Within your heart of heart,
Within your mind.
Now breathe in a deep breath and say thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you for that blessed energy that you can use in every single minute of every single day,
Not just in meditation,
But in making your life a reflection of the one light and love of God.
Thank you for listening.
