I always tell new students that you must come to this work “on your knees,” which connotes the level of surrender and humility required for a seeker to begin to consciously, and successfully, walk their spiritual path. And, at some point along the way, I must also give my students the understanding that not only do you have to come to it on your knees, but that this work will bring you to your knees, as well.
I’ve witnessed a lot of that this past month.
You see, there comes a time when much of the basic work is behind you. You have surrendered enough to enable you to begin the dissolution process in earnest and you have witnessed profound changes in your inner/outer worlds. This is when the path begins to climb steadily, becoming increasingly more precarious in incline as you venture forward.
This work will challenge everything you believe in and everything you are attached to…and I do mean EVERYTHING.
Jobs, friends, families, spouses, homes, material possessions, your hopes and dreams…there is nothing off limits when it comes to your spiritual liberation.
When I explain to seekers that it takes great courage and strength to do this level of work, I am convinced they think I’m kidding or being overly dramatic. That is, until they have their own experience of bringing brought to their knees.
When you don’t do your inner work, you must live the lessons out in the physical, which is hard enough. No one wants to lose a job, or their possessions, or the love of friends and family. Walking through each of these experiences takes courage and humility because you must recognize that you brought it on yourself and that the experience is intended to further your spiritual growth. When utilized, the outer experience leads to inner growth.
But, there is a much scarier and trying proposition. That is, to step up to plate and do the inner work before it is forced on you, which can then lead to new outer experiences. What does that look like? It looks like the student who becomes so committed to seeing through all of it that they are not only willing, but proactively begin searching for all the areas where they still function from the patterning, and then take measures to stop it.
This invariably results in students who must make very tough choices. Choices that leave the personal self begging for another chance, screaming to be heard, and working overtime to justify why you should listen and agree. Why? Because in order to transcend the life/death cycle, you can’t carry dysfunctional attitudes and ways of functioning in the world with you.
The mind is so incredibly subtle, that most of your dysfunctional behavior gets covered over and hidden from your own sight. It takes great skill to go in, at an unconscious level, and root out what still binds you. But do it, you must. And you will cry until your tears run dry, you will punch pillows and stomp your feet, you will beg Spirit to change things so you don’t have to do what your Knowing has shown you that you must.
And then, you will surrender to your heart, to your Knowing, to God within, and you will move forward from the place of right action into the void of the unknown…
…on your knees.
Love,
Shusara
