Spiritual Liberation

There aren’t too many writers I absolutely adore. There are great books I’ve really enjoyed, but to be honest I’ve not always been blown away by the writing style. Then there are those people with a turn of phrase that’s so economical and sparse yet they manage to make every word highly evocative – Alice Sebold is top of my list for that skill – and there are writers who manage to convey great depth and soulfulness yet still remain accessible. That’s why I love Michael Beckwith’s work. I’d read a few of his essays long before The Secret made him a household name. Even in a collection of works by much more well-known spiritual writers, his words stood out. There’s something in the way he writes that makes me feel he’s the real deal.

Having taken a sneaky peak at his latest book, Spiritual Liberation, I’m starting to understand why he gets his message across so well. The man has been there and done it, suffered and screwed up, had a life-changing mystical experience and gone on to make a real difference in the world from his own authentic experience. That’s what makes his spirituality so attractive – it’s not pious. He says himself, “My central message is not about religiosity or churchianity. It is about aspiring toward spiritual liberation, which I define as becoming free from the narrow confines of fear, doubt, worry and lack, and living instead from a conscious awareness of one’s Authentic Self, one’s true nature of wholeness”.

He adds, “Spiritual liberation results from discovering and expressing the intrinsic qualities of enlightened consciousness that have been ours since the moment we came into existence. Simply put, all that is required to live up to our highest potential is already inside us, awaiting our conscious activation. Living up to our potential is about becoming more ourselves, more of who and what we are as awakening beings … Growing into spiritual adulthood has to do with understanding that we are here to attune ourselves to the evolutionary impulse that governs the universe, which is infinite, conscious, and seeks to articulate itself by means of us. We live in a universe where nothing remains static. All that exists has an observable impulsion to become more fully itself. An acorn seed, when planted in good soil and provided the proper nutrients, ultimately evolves into its fullest potential as an oak tree. Likewise, in order to fully evolve, the Spirit-seed at the core of our being must be cultivated. We too must till the soil of our consciousness with spiritual tools and inner nutrients that enable us to fully deliver our gifts, talents and skills.”

Bringing forth the Authentic Self is rarely a straight and narrow path – providing plenty of twists along the way – as Beckwith amply demonstrates in his own life story. In his younger days, he dealt drugs to pay for his own recreational use, until a mystical experience plunged him into an exploration of Eastern religions and the metaphysical, at which point the desire to carry on with that lifestyle left him. However, he decided to sell off a final delivery and was busted. Intuitively – despite all evidence to the contrary – he knew he wouldn’t end up going to jail, which proved to be the case when the charges were dismissed on a technicality. From that point on, he was determined to serve the spiritual force he calls ‘Love-Beauty’ in the world.

I have great admiration for those who are willing to lay their lives bare in order to help others. Too many people in the spiritual arena portray themselves as saints and are all too often found to have feet of clay. The reality is that if you’re human it’s a bit of a no-brainer to realise that you’re not perfect and – here comes another realisation that doesn’t require you to be a rocket scientist – perfection is pretty much unattainable anyway. Striving to be perfect just adds more layers to the mask of persona and takes you further away from authenticity. Allowing yourself to reveal the beauty that lies within you already is a far more healthy – and far less pressured – approach.

This week, give up trying hard and start letting yourself be who you really are. Spurn impossible standards and get a sense of humour about your own cock-ups. Embrace being human and love your divine spark. Give yourself an opportunity to discover what makes you feel more ‘you’. Give yourself the good soil and proper nutrients that it takes to unveil your true potential. Take a load off - you don’t need to be anything other than who you really are. That’s got to be a relief!

Click through to the Coach Fabulous advice column archive by going to http://coachfabulous.blogspot.com/. For alert emails on new postings, email subscribe@iamfabulous.co.uk. The I Am Fabulous archives can now be found at http://fabcentral.blogspot.com/. All material ©2009 Alison Porter. No article may be reproduced in full or in part without the express permission of the author.

The Good You Already Know

If you want to have enough juice to get the new year off to a rocking start, you’re going to have to take very, very good care of yourself over the next few weeks. This Christmas season seems to have an even more manic air than usual – if that’s at all possible – so keeping your own energy serene is probably going to be a bit more of a challenge than you might previously have expected.

Normally you might expect me to throw a few coping strategies your way, but when times are tough it’s best to rest yourself deeply in what you already know works for you. Ask yourself this question from the spiritual leader Michael Beckwith – “How have I practised the good I already know?”

We know what to do. The problem is we just don’t do it.

You know you have to take time out to refresh yourself. You know things turn out better when you listen to your intuition. You know doing stuff for others out of sacrifice drains you. You know when you’re taking on too much and your health will probably suffer. You know why your heart sinks when you say ‘yes’ when you really mean ‘no’. When are you going to draw the line and take care of yourself?

Start right now as you mean to go on into the new year. Before you frazzle yourself with over-commitment and busyness that you could actually avoid, start working on your ‘no’ muscle. Give it some exercise. It can’t get strong unless you work it out. Yep, the first time might be hard, but after that it does get easier. Don’t bother justifying why you can’t do things – just say no and leave it at that. Confidence is key. If you’re apologising madly, people are more likely to try to push you into doing things. Be straightforward and matter-of-fact and they’re unlikely to challenge your decision.

We really are in a time where we have to practise what we preach. It’s no good wanting things to change if we never do. It’s about aligning our whole selves with the vision of what we want for our lives and taking the steps we need to take to make that happen. As Beckwith says “For me it always comes back to practice. The beliefs that we hold become a basis for spiritual practice. And the practice becomes a basis for insight and revelation, embodiment of the truth that makes us free. Just merely having a belief about these principles is not good enough any more. We want to do away with believers and we want people to step into a greater embodiment through practice.”

He adds, “The idea is to say to yourself at the end of the day, ‘How have I practiced the good that I already know?’ If I throw myself into practice, now I'm making myself available – a candidate for greater insight, greater embodiment – and I continue to become more and never less than my true self, living up to the true meaning of my incarnation, which is to release life energy, to release sacred gifts and talents and capacities that I chose to release before I came here (which is another conversation). So the tip would be: find a spiritual practice that fits you and absolutely practise it, and then you will notice that you'll move from being merely a believer into actually having some real knowledge through the activity of your awareness.”

What goes for spiritual practice goes for any other practice that supports your physical, emotional or mental well-being. We know what works. We just need to practise it.

This week, think carefully about the things that you know to be true for you. What activities help you stay well physically? What practices keep you feeling centred and emotionally-balanced? What techniques do you know that help you to calm down your mind and give you clarity? What is it that makes you feel spiritually connected? Go with the tried and true and make life a little easier for yourself.

Finally, here’s a funky little graphic to propel you out of inertia and remind you to take care of yourself and put energy into creating the life you want to live. There’s probably nothing in there you don’t already know, but we can all do with a bit of a refresher on basic truths every now and then.

http://www.eightprinciples.com/

Click through to the Coach Fabulous advice column archive by going to http://coachfabulous.blogspot.com/. For alert emails on new postings, email subscribe@iamfabulous.co.uk. The I Am Fabulous archives can now be found at http://fabcentral.blogspot.com/. All material ©2008 Alison Porter. No article may be reproduced in full or in part without the express permission of the author.