I’ve met a lot of philosophical and spiritual people over the years, and unfortunately many have missed the point.
Draw in, for you can save a major detour here.
Watch out. Do not become a badge collector, level attainer, or system analyser. There’s no need to gather information and ever more complex ideas and theories, or conduct endless thought experiments. This is easily mistaken for spiritual advancement.
I’ve met so many who “know” but are not. They think but cannot be.
I know because I was one. Which is funny, because I’d already seen the truth of it ages before.
When I was an outdoor instructor, my job was as a fear whisperer. It was to convince other nervous and terrified people that their minds were lying to them. That if they could get moving, one step and then another, they’d experience a kind of accomplishment, a joy and aliveness they would have thought their way out of.
Around the same time, I realised there was something deeper, something realer and more alive within me. Almost like the clouds of thinking would part and the bright sun of a higher Self would shine through.
I longed for more of that.
And so I did what I’d been taught to do. I went hunting for the secret, the hidden teachings, the obscure theories. I read, I studied, I collected.
I turned up to learn Ascension feeling pretty superior, to the point where I thought my teachers were a bit stupid.
They didn’t seem to be taking any of this seriously enough. They giggled too much, and it was far too simple to be ‘worthy’.
I soon realised it was me who was lacking.
They had something I didn’t: a depth of experience, a nourishment, a quiet aliveness that all my searching hadn’t given me.
I had knowledge, but they had the thing itself.
And that is the point.
You can’t think your way to the aliveness and directness you’re looking for. Thinking about something isn’t the same as experiencing it.
That’s what you need to know: none of this requires brain power.
Don’t try to fix a noisy mind with better thoughts. You can’t put out a fire with more fire.
Likewise, you can’t satisfy a longing for something deeper by thinking differently. That’s like trying to convince yourself you’re not hungry. It only lasts so long. You want the substance that’s beyond the mind.
Direct experience is what changes you.
So the invitation is to use the tools you have. Take the time to practice Ascension.
Go beneath all the labelling, judging and commentary, and discover not only what is truly here, but who you are as you experience it.
Be careful you’re not mistaking knowing the path for actually walking it.
Maybe even ask yourself: Where are you still busy collecting knowledge when what you really need is experience?
That’s the whole game, truly.
Less thinking about it. More living it.
Go well!
Arjuna