"The Coming of the Higher Self; Objects in the Mind's Mirror are Closer than they Appear!"

Dog Poet Transmitting.......

Every morning, first thing, I go to one of the books from Swami Vivekananda's Complete Works. I'm reading it for the second time now and there will be a third. How anyone could read some way into his writings and not be committed to reading them for the rest of their lives is beyond me. I'm on the second volume, which starts off with the book, “Jnana Yoga” at the end of the chapter titled “The Necessity of Religion”.

One needs to remember, when it comes to Swami Vivekananda, the time period he lived in and the culture he was a member of, when we consider the term, 'religion'. I try to cut him some slack in that regard, given how I view the word, given how 'religion' has been exercised over the course of long history.

This morning I was reading a passage and I thought that perhaps I would post it for the benefit of those readers who are seeking in metaphysical regions. I usually read passages of similar length or a page or two longer. Cutting to the chase, here you go;

“It has been said that too much attention to things spiritual disturbs our practical relations in this world. As far back as in the days of the Chinese sage Confucius, it was said, "Let us take care of this world: and then, when we have finished with this world, we will take care of other world." It is very well that we should take care of this world. But if too much attention to the spiritual may affect a little our practical relations, too much attention to the so-called practical hurts us here and hereafter. It makes us materialistic.

For man is not to regard nature as his goal, but something higher. Man is man so long as he is struggling to rise above nature, and this nature is both internal and external. Not only does it comprise the laws that govern the particles of matter outside us and in our bodies, but also the more subtle nature within, which is, in fact, the motive power governing the external. It is good and very grand to conquer external nature, but grander still to conquer our internal nature. It is grand and good to know the laws that govern the stars and planets; it is infinitely grander and better to know the laws that govern the passions, the feelings, the will, of mankind.

This conquering of the inner man, understanding the secrets of the subtle workings that are within the human mind, and knowing its wonderful secrets, belong entirely to religion. Human nature — the ordinary human nature, I mean — wants to see big material facts. The ordinary man cannot understand anything that is subtle. Well has it been said that the masses admire the lion that kills a thousand lambs, never for a moment thinking that it is death to the lambs. Although a momentary triumph for the lion; because they find pleasure only in manifestations of physical strength. Thus it is with the ordinary run of mankind. They understand and find pleasure in everything that is external.

But in every society there is a section whose pleasures are not in the senses, but beyond, and who now and then catch glimpses of something higher than matter and struggle to reach it. And if we read the history of nations between the lines, we shall always find that the rise of a nation comes with an increase in the number of such men; and the fall begins when this pursuit after the Infinite, however vain Utilitarians may call it, has ceased. That is to say, the mainspring of the strength Of every race lies in its spirituality, and the death of that race begins the day that spirituality wanes and materialism gains ground. Thus, apart from the solid facts and truths that we may learn from religion, apart from the comforts that we may gain from it, religion, as a science, as a study, is the greatest and healthiest exercise that the human mind can have. This pursuit of the Infinite, this struggle to grasp the Infinite, this effort to get beyond the limitations of the senses — out of matter, as it were — and to evolve the spiritual man — this striving day and night to make the Infinite one with our being — this struggle itself is the grandest and most glorious that man can make.

Some persons find the greatest pleasure in eating. We have no right to say that they should not. Others find the greatest pleasure in possessing certain things. We have no right to say that they should not. But they also have no right to say "no" to the man who finds his highest pleasure in spiritual thought. The lower the organization, the greater the pleasure in the senses. Very few men can eat a meal with the same gusto as a dog or a wolf. But all the pleasures of the dog or the wolf have gone, as it were into the senses. The lower types of humanity in all nations find pleasure in the senses, while the cultured and the educated find it in thought, in philosophy, in arts and sciences. Spirituality is a still higher plane. The subject being infinite, that plane is the highest, and the pleasure there is the highest for those who can appreciate it.

So, even on the utilitarian ground that man is to seek for pleasure, he should cultivate religious thought, for it is the highest pleasure that exists. Thus religion, as a study, seems to me to be absolutely necessary. We can see it in its effects. It is the greatest motive power that moves the human mind No other ideal can put into us the same mass of energy as the spiritual. So far as human history goes, it is obvious to all of us that this has been the case and that its powers are not dead. I do not deny that men, on simply utilitarian grounds, can be very good and moral. There have been many great men in this world perfectly sound, moral, and good, simply on utilitarian grounds.

But the world-movers, men who bring, as It were, a mass of magnetism into the world whose spirit works in hundreds and in thousands, whose life ignites others with a spiritual fire — such men, we always find, have that spiritual background. Their motive power came from religion. Religion is the greatest motive power for realizing that infinite energy which is the birthright and nature of every man. In building up character in making for everything that is good and great, in bringing peace to others and peace to one's own self, religion is the highest motive power and, therefore, ought to be studied from that standpoint. Religion must be studied on a broader basis than formerly. All narrow limited, fighting ideas of religion have to go. All sect ideas and tribal or national ideas of religion must be given up. That each tribe or nation should have its own particular God and think that every other is wrong is a superstition that should belong to the past. All such ideas must be abandoned.

As the human mind broadens, its spiritual steps broaden too. The time has already come when a man cannot record a thought without its reaching to all corners of the earth; by merely physical means, we have come into touch with the whole world; so the future religions of the world have to become as universal, as wide. The religious ideals of the future must embrace all that exists in the world and is good and great, and, at the same time, have infinite scope for future development. All that was good in the past must be preserved; and the doors must be kept open for future additions to the already existing store.

Religions must also be inclusive and not look down with contempt upon one another because their particular ideals of Cod are different. In my life I have seen a great many spiritual men, a great many sensible persons, who did not believe in God at all that is to say, not in our sense of the word. Perhaps they understood God better than we can ever do.

The Personal idea of God or the Impersonal, the Infinite, Moral Law, or the Ideal Man — these all have to come under the definition of religion. And when religions have become thus broadened, their power for good will have increased a hundredfold. Religions, having tremendous power in them, have often done more injury to the world than good, simply on account of their narrowness and limitations. Even at the present time we find many sects and societies, with almost the same ideas, fighting each other, because one does not want to set forth those ideas in precisely the same way as another.

Therefore, religions will have to broaden. Religious ideas will have to become universal, vast, and infinite; and then alone we shall have the fullest play of religion, for the power of religion has only just begun to manifest in the world. It is sometimes said that religions are dying out, that spiritual ideas are dying out of the world. To me it seems that they have just begun to grow. The power of religion, broadened and purified, is going to penetrate every part of human life.

So long as religion was in the hands of a chosen few or of a body of priests, it was in temples, churches, books, dogmas, ceremonials, forms, and rituals. But when we come to the real, spiritual, universal concept, then, and then alone religion will become real and living; it will come into our very nature, live in our every movement, penetrate every pore of our society, and be infinitely more a power for good than it has ever been before.

What is needed is a fellow-feeling between the different types of religion, seeing that they all stand or fall together, a fellow-feeling which springs from mutual esteem and mutual respect, and not the condescending, patronizing, niggardly expression of goodwill, unfortunately in vogue at the present time with many. And above all, this is needed between types of religious expression coming from the study of mental phenomena — unfortunately, even now laying exclusive claim to the name of religion — and those expressions of religion whose heads, as it were, are penetrating more into the secrets of heaven though their feet are clinging to earth, I mean the so-called materialistic sciences.

To bring about this harmony, both will have to make concessions, sometimes very large, nay more, sometimes painful, but each will find itself the better for the sacrifice and more advanced in truth. And in the end, the knowledge which is confined within the domain of time and space will meet and become one with that which is beyond them both, where the mind and senses cannot reach — the Absolute, the Infinite, the One without a second.”

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There will be a certain amount of the readers who will find much to ponder in this short excerpt. For others it will hold little interest. Such is the way of things. For the MOST PART, people go where their fancy leads them and for many of those (in these times most especially), it's off to another fancy following that. Due to the press of materialism upon the human mind, a significant portion of us are Creatures of Whimsy. Entire lifetimes can go by AND DO... where nothing of real substance will arise. The whole of the life will be composed of vignettes of the exercise of various appetites; chapters of desire satiated and... yet... not satiated. We are restless souls in search of something definable that will complete us. This is where Hungry Ghosts come from, when the focus is too much upon a passing mirage of externals. What will complete us CANNOT BE FOUND in externals. Of course, we have all heard this and the usual, “yeah, yeah” occurs. Usually it is “yeah, yeah, but...”

Our eyes glaze over because we have heard it all before and so we can't even see it anymore AND 'IT” is we. It is us. That which completes us, is that portion of ourselves we close off, in order to run riot, through the amusement park of the senses. It is our own Higher Self and it contains EVERY missing thing. I will go into more detail about this mysterious Higher Self in our next encounter. For now, let me say that it is the answer to every question and the true satisfaction of every appetite and I bring it up BECAUSE... BECAUSE... with the coming of The Avatar within the hearts of humanity, THIS IS THE PRIZE of engagement!!! For those who have prepared a place for The Avatar, The Second Coming, The Baptism of the Spirit, whatever it is that you call it, it is the union with the Higher Self that occurs with the appearance of The Avatar in the human heart.

Over the long course of these blogs, much has been said of the pending and possible, quantum leap spiritually, which has come into a potential state in The Apocalypse. All of the endless talk and myriad suggestions that have shown up here are about this feature of a Grand Apocalypse; UNION WITH THE HIGHER SELF. Those presently so employed in the seeking and pursuit of spiritual awakening, HAVE THIS prospect before us. Keep sleeping and it will pass you by. STRUGGLE FOR AWAKENING!!! Pray for the assistance of guidance from The Oracle Within. You WILL NOT DEPART HERE EMPTY HANDED!


Heaven is preparing to COME DOWN, in those places, where the invitation is being broadcast (and heard). The Great Achievement occurs HERE, on this plane of existence. It does not happen at some point further on, once you leave here. It HAPPENS HERE, the celebration takes place on departure (grin). Of course, some measure of celebration happens here as well. Do not forget, 'objects in the mind's mirror are closer than they appear.'



End Transmission.......

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4

Volume 5

Volume 6

Volume 7

Volume 8

Volume 9

Today's Song is;

♫ Patterns ♫

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