From Expectation to Realization

I am one of many who have devoted decades to spiritual study and contemplation but have felt frustrated by the sense of seeking that persisted despite sincere efforts. Recently, as I’ve shared here, I have embraced a new approach to realizing the truth - a direct nondual path. In addition to the freedom found through this approach, the insights I have gained may help others avoid futile spiritual practices that only serve to push true realization farther away.

Since this is the season of Advent in the Christian tradition, let’s look at how the anticipation in the story of old frames the root of our human/spiritual journey. The first Sunday of Advent symbolizes hope, and a candle is lit to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but perhaps more importantly theologically it is raising a sense of hope for the future. In traditional Christian theology, the hope and expectation are that Jesus will return, known as the “second coming of Christ.”

The birth of Jesus of Nazareth took place in a dark time in the history of the Jewish people. When he arrived on the scene, there was a heightened expectation of a messiah who would come and save the day; one who would grow up to become a just and mighty ruler that would overthrow the oppressive Roman occupation. Jesus was seen as the light that would dispel the darkness, the precursor to the coming of the kingdom.

But Jesus turned these expectations upside down, and inside out. He constantly taught and demonstrated that “his kingdom is not of this world.” His notion of God’s rule, rather than being the political and military deliverance of the nation of Israel was a spiritual deliverance in the lives and experiences of individuals. Rather than satisfying the egoic tendency to project the source of our well-being upon some special person or a particular circumstance, Jesus directs our search inwardly. Here within our very own Being, we are to find the eternal well of our Divine Nature, the distanceless path to liberation and peace of mind.

The message of this master of Life is as compelling in contemporary times as it was two millennia before us. Isn’t it true that we continue to create hopeful expectations that some future event or somebody will “save us” from the “oppression” we experience? But we do this at great peril to the sanctity of our recognition of the Eternal. Whenever I place my faith in that which is fallible, or temporary I am building my faith upon the shifting sands of the ephemeral world. I am setting myself up for disappointment and dismay. If I am to reap the fruits of the Spirit, then I must, as Unity co-founder, Charles Fillmore, proclaimed, “go to headquarters.”

While hope and faith may be a bridge from despair it will not take us home to the truth of Divine presence. This is because hope assumes a time and place apart from this present moment when what we want, or need may then arrive. Jesus taught that the kingdom of Heaven is within us, present in the here and now. Therefore, expecting external circumstances to bring us peace and happiness contradicts this teaching. Such expectations hinder us from realizing the inner peace and happiness that we deeply yearn for, but which is already and always available to us.

At this time of year, many people experience loneliness or sadness, often associated with holidays past when there was more delight and celebration that is missing from present circumstances. These are objective experiences, and we understand how a personal sense of self perceives something lacking since its orientation is from outside -in. Yet wisdom and the direct approach to spiritual understanding would turn us back upon the Presence of Being that has no such need nor lack, its simple recognition dissolves the yearning by its inherent wholeness and self-fulfillment.

When we recognize a difficult feeling, we become curious and investigate its nature and its relation to who and what we truly are. We don’t try to get rid of the afflictive emotion, rather we tease it apart from our identity by noting that feelings, no matter how intense or pervasive, come and go. But what of us remains? Before the feeling arose, we were present and aware, and after the feeling passes our sense of being and conscious awareness remains intact. There is a freedom that comes with such a recognition that we are not our thoughts or feelings, but the aware presence that is ever-present in the background of experience. Like the blank screen upon which a movie plays that is unaffected by the content of the movie, be it a comedy or a horror film, our true nature is immune to the dramas of our life experiences. This can be confirmed by our sincere inquiry in which we can ask how is my being affected by this situation? The answer, that your own experience validates, is that the real you, Being itself, is neither limited, stained, nor diminished by circumstances, thoughts, or feelings regardless of their character. Such a realization does not rely upon faith or hope but is self-evident and eternally true. Perhaps this recognition might be an expectation proclaimed for millennia, the “second coming of Christ” made manifest by its realization in you.

Namaste,

Rev. Larry