Tag Archives: Spiritual Teaching

Guest Post: The Force Be With You

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By Lou DiVirgilio

The Force be With You.

Most people would recognize where that title originated from.   It originated, from the movie, “Star Wars.”  In the Star Wars vernacular, the force is used as the equivalent usage of the words, “divine-destiny,” and has a spiritual connotation of an enlighten, “spirit-soul.”  The force can only be evoked, by those who have been initiated into a “Jet I,”.   However, there are numerous path ways to spiritual initiation; as Patanjali, who wrote the “Yoga Sutras”, explains thus, “One truth, many paths;” with the key ingredients being spiritual integrity and divine manifestation of a spiritual nature.  What this means is that all human beings are, spiritually evolving into their spiritual heritage.  “Know ye not that ye are gods and the spirit of the eternal liveth with you?”

Gautama the Buddha, speaking to his disciples, reinforces and conforms our heritage, “Never let discouragement enter into your soul, see your suffering in the world, see your unhappiness and pain and ignorance, misery and distress which wring the heart; the stones, the plants, the beasts, all the component atoms of these, each and every one, aye, and sun and moon and stars and planets—-all in evolutionary future ages will become Buddha.  Each one will become Buddha.” 

What a wonderful picture of our spiritual heritage the Buddha has set before us.  How it quiets the heart and stills the mind; for if one atom, one man, become a Buddha, everything will, in this universe be rooted in that One; in it we will live, move and have our being.  Some day, somewhere in the incalculable aeons of what we call the future, all now in the multitudes of suns, and stars, planets, comets, gods, men and women, animals, plants, stones, atoms, elements, worlds, everything, each as individual, is destined for Buddhahood.

Thing’s G. de. Purucker—   “One truth, many paths.” Be good, do Good”

                                                           Louis DiVirgilio

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Guest Post: the source of our longing

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By Lou DiVirgilio

Due to the  unreliability of our senses, we are deceived into believing that our outward expressions will  somehow bring us fulfillment.  When these expressions are misrepresented as the cause, a great entanglement appears, not freedom.  The aim of every individual’s life energies, weather you realize it or not, is to touch infinity; even though you may be satisfied with where you are, at.  However, your life energies are longing to brake the boundaries set up by your physical and mental structures.  The out come of such decisions is that you start believing that you are a separate and autonomous entity.  


Nothing in the Universe is separate.  It’s our psychological and physical content that exposes the myth of separateness.  We are not, by a long shot, the masters of the Universe.  Remember, the effects of karma are still in play, which binds one to the body and determines many aspects about a person.  In truth we, are in a primary and original sense, a chip off the old cosmic block, or as Carl Sagan was found of saying, we are made of  “star stuff.”  Our whole being, atom for atom, is intimately tangent and networked throughout the breath of the cosmos.  We are the same “stuff” molded from a cosmic matrix into one of many possible forms.  In other words, we are the embodiment of the cosmos, and the same quality and same conditions as those required to uphold the cosmos are essential to each of us.  Giordano Bruno, a fifteenth century natural philosopher, explains our cosmic connection and relationship in the following manner:  “All things are in the Universe, and the Universe is in all things; we in it and it in us; and therefore, all things concur in perfect harmony.”  He continued, “All the differences that we see in bodies is in regard to their form, complexion, constitution, and other properties and relationships, which is nothing more than a different mode of the same substance, the unchangeable and eternal essence in which are all forms, constitutions and members, un-manifest and homogenous.”  So, in the whole universe there is a certain relativity of its parts, irrespective of the exact measurements of anyone of its forms.  


We are as musical tones resonating in certain proportional vibrations to one another.  If we keep within the proper proportion we create benefit for all others and for ourselves.  If we violate this harmony in any manner, we bring injury to all others and to ours selves. 


                                  One truth, many paths.  Be good, do good.
                                                        Louis DiVirgilio                 

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Guest Post: One general law and one common system of manifest rule throughout the universe.

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By Lou DiVirgilio

We humans are the universal composites of all our cosmic elements, and therefore, in truth we are a microcosm, or little world in and of our self, and as such our very thoughts touch the outer limits of the most distant stars, and also with the tiniest of vibrations, touches those distant stars.  All things in universal nature are repetitive in structure and in action .  The small mirrors the great, and the great reproduces itself in the small, for in truth the twain is one.  “Know ye not that we are gods, and that the spirit of the eternal liveth within you.”  

You may believe that what we observe about where we are in our present developed behaviors, does not even come close to being god like.  What is more, our witness to our behaviors acknowledge that we chose to  live at the level of the animals, even though we have evolved further then the animals.  We however, cannot be excused because we have evolutionarily surpassed the animal’s level of instinct, and as such, have a solid foothold into becoming the highest technological species existing, now on this earth.  There is a caveat, this evolutionary component, although locked in, needs more tweaking, before it can operate at its full capacity; which means more time is needed, and in the mean time there is a steady evolutionary march forward.  Without taking into account the affect evolution plays within our solar system, one great part of our understanding of its mysteries will not readily become available to us: the Universe’s time movements are in sink with evolution. 

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Guest Post: “The world is too much with us. Getting and spending we lay waste all our powers, little we see in nature that is ours.” “William Wordsworth”

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By Lou DiVirgilio

Most of our living is at the level of our solar plexus.  This level of living coincides with our senses: seeing, smelling, hearing, feeling, and tasting.  The trouble with our senses is that they are not reliable. For example, it is dusk and you are walking, your eyes see something coiled, your senses say it is a snake.  However, the truth is, it is a coiled hose.  Its not that all our senses deceive us, they do however, lack the consciousness to discern fully, and at the same time you might say there is a quality of ignorance about them.  Our senses do however, provide us with the capacity to maneuver effectively about our lower levels of  our lives, that is “the getting and spending” part, but at the same time, negatively disassociates us with Nature. 

The Buddhist keep the relationship between the, lower material aspects of our lives, and the spiritual part,  by simply dividing the outcome of living a material based life, against the higher spiritual. The basic difference is that a strict material, “getting and spending” lived life, brings suffering, while the spiritual lived life brings happiness.  Most people, if asked which they would prefer, would chose happiness.  However, our “getting and spending” way of life has been praised, culturally excepted, and built into the perceived best practice of life to emulate. It has been praised so positively, that it has become a compulsion, to the point that we cannot control it, it controls us.   Compulsion is cyclical, and loops us, so that the more we use it the stronger it becomes, and the more difficult it becomes to brake free. 

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Guest Post: The Dual Nature of Human Nature

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By Louis DiVirgilio

The moment we decide to enter upon the path of spiritual realization we are enlisting in a great war, between ourselves and ourselves.  Than, once we the discovery that our human nature is dual, and that a battle is ever going on between our higher self and our lower self, we began to realize, that of all battles, this is the most fearsome and terrible.  


What is so fearsome, is that we do battle with opposing aspects of our selves-the light side and the dark side, and conflict comes not only from outside sources, but also from habits of mind, laden with deep and powerful emotions, caused by experiences from both this and past lives.  All these kindred aspects of ourselves confront and attack in a rapid, and continuous succession. 

 
As we enter the battle field within ourselves, we call forth and analyze our life purpose, our motives, taking courage to compare wrong things with the right things.  There sitting nose to nose with our truth, we do battle with our lower nature, and by subduing pain and pleasure, by unbending faith in our higher self,  we secure sacred wisdom.  Then we can wheel our sword of wisdom, and slash through the world of illusion to gain freedom from our own mortality.

                                                One truth, many paths.  Be good, do good.

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Guest Post: Being is Not a Fixed State

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By Lou DiVirgilio

As human beings living within our current evolutionary times, we ride along on the waves of our  immediate conditions and circumstances, and infuse our self’s with all the social, and cultural activities that conform to the ideal of the times.  We begin to incorporate these cultural ideals into the very fabric of our lives, and relate to them as real fixtures of our being.  We also begin to unconditionally ride these ideas as a way to build up our life capacities, strategies, and even our characteristics.  These ideas bring forth enormous power on behalf of our cultural, current understandings: for instance, the spread of religious understandings, the ready acceptance of philosophical principles, the growth of political fads, and the effigies of science, are all examples of the manner in which we may be torn from our moral moorings by these ideas sweeping over our minds and overwhelming both our willpower and our sense of moral responsibility. What is more, our resolve to move within truth, deteriorates, and we begin to live our lives on lower levels, and what is worse, we let ourselves become compulsive, recycling our behaviors over and over, until we lose control, and now instead of, we controlling our compulsions, our compulsions are now controlling us.  

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A throw back

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My husband just airdropped this to me. Turns out in 2012 I used to write posts like this, and share them to subscribers. The reminder makes me wonder why I don’t really write anymore and that makes me sad. So since I’ve no new material, here’s something old and still relevant.

Guest Post~ Meditation: A Discipline of Mind

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By Lou DiVirgilio

The idea of meditation and its practice has nested within our cultural confindmints for a number of years.  Generally, it congers up for us visions made popular by T.V. and movies: of priests or monks cloistered in some remote place, either chanting or quietly absorbed in prayer, or a practitioner of one of the marshal  arts preparing for mortal combat or some spaced out “newager” sitting in a crossed legged position trying to experience oneness.  Beyond those images, we have not a cultural niche of real value in which to place the practice of meditation.  

The problem is that we have no tradition, no established conceptual foundation, aside from the Science of Psychology whose study mainly focuses on the functions of the physical brain.  We therefore, need to barrow the cultural traditions of mind established over many ages, from the Orient and from India to help us understand, experience, and establish a true value for meditation. These borrowed traditions of mind are difficult for us to quickly and neatly integrate, adapt, and transpose into our culture.  Yet as remote as these concepts seem from our everyday experiences, we are beginning to realize that the practice of meditation has a relevance to our spiritual, mental, and physical lives. 

The motivation for this releverancy comes from our desperate desire to, in some way, neutralize and manage the stress and anxiety we create in our daily lives. People are desperately seeking any practice, method or technique that may relief their stress and bring some peace of mind.  The problem is that the search is usually confined to the material side, trying to find the right pill, therapy, medical technique  , psychological training, ect.  The more we search for cures from the outside, and the more our attempts fail to satisfy, the greater our stress, anxiety, insecurity, and confusion.  We are trying to satisfy infinite appetites with finite practices; an exercise in futility and ultimate frustration.  Life’s enduring fulfillments lie within us, and the practice of meditation puts us in touch with that infinite world within.  The practice of meditation begins to discipline our mind and gradually begins to abate those 1000 voices in the mind speaking at one time. 

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Guest Post: The Cyclical Revolvings of all Things

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By Lou DiVirgilio

There is a contemporary saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”  There is an ancient saying attributed to a Hebrew wise man, “There is nothing new under the sun.”  What these two sayings have in common is the suggestion that even though we see what is collectively designated as new, it is really a permutation of something that has already been.  What is thought to be new is an adaptation of something that has been, and what has been is a bases from which adaptations are created.  It is analogous to the Egyptian and East Indian myths of the Phoenix and the Garuda respectively.  These two birds, consume themselves in fire, then are resurrected from their ashes.  The operational theme in the above representation is the cyclic movement, from a time current bases, (from their former bird form, to an ashes form, then to a renewed form), to modifications, without a brake in the causal chain.  If we were aware of the movements of our lives, we would be also aware of its cyclic nature, but for most of us, cyclic movement is only a background, of which we pay little attention.    


We live within the great circulations of the Universe.  The Hebrew prophet, Ezekiel, described this cosmic movement as, “wheels within wheels.”  We live through the cycles of our lives, even before birth we must gestae for nine months, then the life cycle: birth, growth, death, decay.  Every manifest thing has duration, and moves in step with Universal Nature’s cycles: beginning, middle, and end.  Within Universal Nature’s Great Wheel are numerous major and minor wheels, Our Milky Way or galactic cycle-our imagination can scarcely grasp at the enormity of its cyclic movements or duration.  Then there is the cyclic movement of our solar system within the our galaxy.  Then are the lesser movements, our planet Earth’s 365 day movement around our Sun, our Earth’s 24 hour rotation, and how about our satellite, the Moon’s 14 day cycle around our earth-“wheels within wheels.” All these cycles, and many, many more we know and do not know, are webbed together, and are causally linked one to another.  Nature repeats herself everywhere, and it is on her repetitive action that the laws of cycles are founded. 

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Guest Post: the inner characteristics in all things

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By Lou DiVirgilio

As I age, and my body morphs into an older characterization of my younger self, my feeling of myself within my mind has not changed.  That is to say, in my mind my identity, my character, the way I use my energy, has remained constant.  And further, this felt quality of myself would remain the same even as I awakened from sleep, even if  I were hit on the head and lost consciousness, even if I awakened from a coma, even if I had amnesia.  This individualized quality of being is experienced, at sometime or another, by every spiritual awakened human being.  Even though there is unrelenting change bombarding our being, there is also a place of constancy within our consciousness, and this constancy gives us our feel of our unique quality.  


All manifest things have a certain predominant quality.  For instance, if an oak tree seed were planted, an oak tree would manifest, not a pine or maple tree.  The oak tree’s DNA has instructions and memory to form an oak tree; of course within the instructions are continuous adjustments of internal relations to external relations.  Therefore, not all oak trees would look 100% identical, but their oak treeness, their quality, their essential characteristics, and their function would predominately remain the same. 


You the reader, have probably noticed the difficulty of confidently understanding some of the meaning of certain ideas put forth in this blog. This difficulty arises first, from your unfamiliarity with the ideas put forth, and the limits of the English language for explanation.  The English language has no equivalent words for some of these ideas.  They are beyond its syntax.  That is the reason Sanskrit and other languages are used.  These other languages have incorporated these ideas into their word syntax.

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