Life - Distraction or Expression
LIFE as a DISTRACTION
We have heard it said many times in many mystical paths, life is a distraction from the realization of God. From a certain perspective this is true because it is easy for an individual to find life filled with many attachments and aversions: things we love and things we strongly dislike. These things, according to the law of Pratyaya (the mirror nature of consciousness) absorb our attention and thereby distract us from the deeper perception of our unlimited being. In Buddhism these are known as the 3 poisons: attachment, aversion and delusion.
But it is an unavoidable part of evolution to be deeply involved in life and at first this involvement naturally creates attachments and aversions. Attachments and aversions are a part of motivated desire - without desire there would be no life, nor evolution of the divine expression through life.
LIFE as an EXPRESSIONYet there is another more mature perspective where we see everything in life as a divine expression rather than as a distraction. Seeing that behind everything, even attachment and aversion, there is a divine quality expressing itself as either a more limited or unlimited expression - but it is all the divine being working things out through its expression.
Recognize the Divine desire, however constrained and distorted, in every act of every being.
- Pir Zia, 7 Leading Names, Mureed
From this perspective we clearly see in every expression there is something to be learned. It is not an intellectual exercise but a way of seeing. We do not have to "remember God' for we see God is before us every moment. Everything is a dynamic, creative expression of Divine Consciousness and there is no distraction as we observe life from this perspective, just the divine dance of life unfolding all around us.
· The whole of nature is a secret book, yet it is an open book to the seer.
· There is always truth everywhere. The eye must look, and at whatever it looks, the seer will see.
– Hazrat Inayat Khan
To make this perspective more and more concrete requires sight that is free from ego, subtle and comprehending of that which is seen. Four blessings to help us attune to this perception are:
Ya Wajid – Ya Wahid: To perceive the One Reality in the unity of manifestation.
Ya Batin – Ya Basir: To see that which transpires behind that which appears.
We have heard it said many times in many mystical paths, life is a distraction from the realization of God. From a certain perspective this is true because it is easy for an individual to find life filled with many attachments and aversions: things we love and things we strongly dislike. These things, according to the law of Pratyaya (the mirror nature of consciousness) absorb our attention and thereby distract us from the deeper perception of our unlimited being. In Buddhism these are known as the 3 poisons: attachment, aversion and delusion.
But it is an unavoidable part of evolution to be deeply involved in life and at first this involvement naturally creates attachments and aversions. Attachments and aversions are a part of motivated desire - without desire there would be no life, nor evolution of the divine expression through life.
The hidden desire of the Creator is the secret of the whole creation.
- Hazrat Inayat KhanLIFE as an EXPRESSIONYet there is another more mature perspective where we see everything in life as a divine expression rather than as a distraction. Seeing that behind everything, even attachment and aversion, there is a divine quality expressing itself as either a more limited or unlimited expression - but it is all the divine being working things out through its expression.
Recognize the Divine desire, however constrained and distorted, in every act of every being.
- Pir Zia, 7 Leading Names, Mureed
From this perspective we clearly see in every expression there is something to be learned. It is not an intellectual exercise but a way of seeing. We do not have to "remember God' for we see God is before us every moment. Everything is a dynamic, creative expression of Divine Consciousness and there is no distraction as we observe life from this perspective, just the divine dance of life unfolding all around us.
· The whole of nature is a secret book, yet it is an open book to the seer.
· There is always truth everywhere. The eye must look, and at whatever it looks, the seer will see.
– Hazrat Inayat Khan
To make this perspective more and more concrete requires sight that is free from ego, subtle and comprehending of that which is seen. Four blessings to help us attune to this perception are:
Ya Wajid – Ya Wahid: To perceive the One Reality in the unity of manifestation.
Ya Batin – Ya Basir: To see that which transpires behind that which appears.
Note: definitions for the individual divine qualities can be found on-line in many places using a search engine.
