As the world awakens and the population gains more and more access and insight to subtler energies of the changing climate, more and more are embarking on the spiritual path. One of the things I see most prevalent in the spiritual community is either a lack of or inability to comprehend spiritual concept outside the finite boundaries if language. It is so important that we as a population learn to move and translate to ourselves what we are speaking and hearing. The reason being that without the ability to translate we are denying ourselves the opportunity to learn (even within the expanses of our own path).
Granted it is not uncommon for an individual to make reasonable attempts to apply new-found knowledge to their current experience and past conditioning. That's pretty natural. However, there is often a level of self imposed restriction that is enacted when this becomes a home grown dogma. Expanding one's horizons and availability to higher energies and experiences becomes a pipe dream when one cannot escape the bonds of their bubble. Whether it be a contemporary / science-like lexicon, Christian rhetoric, or even a more Pagan language, reservation and repeat resistance to semantics is ultimately crippling the process of expanded awareness.
The trouble is two-fold. While yes, these self-imposed limitations and restrictions do inhibit a personal awakening, it can also make a budding student prey for the opportunists and crap-head profiteers looking to cash in. Think about it, how relieved is anyone to find a service or a teacher who goes out of their way to speak in a way they can comprehend with ease and comfort? Yes that is wonderful. But one must admit there are more than a select few out there looking to make a buck copy-and-pasting out the names of the archangels and extra terrestrials. Playing right into that trigger and nostalgic preference, the unsuspecting seeker may fall victim to an unnecessary life lesson about herd mentality and popularity contests. The responsibility falls on the seeker to be independently motivated and disciplined in their efforts if they are to avoid a con. This may seem elementary to the trained, but it is actually a much more difficult thing to avoid if you are brand new. Experienced practitioners should not approach this subject from a place of condescension, but sympathy. Imagine starting down this path on a fresh start after having your first eye-opener. You're still reeling and excited for the experience, but your whole world just opened up to seemingly endless potentiality. Suddenly, there's a safe zone. That man/woman over there is making a serious effort to stay within the confines of one's religious/spiritual upbringing. This must be a safe place. Now before I go any further I would like to turn to the PC and mention "yes, many of them are. I am not trying to make a sweeping generalized attack". Okay, that's done.
The challenge arises when those who are not in any place to teach and instruct are hoisted into the position of doing so. They are hoisted on a pedestal no less. Now some of these people are trying to teach and offer services immediately following their own initial awakening. Not to put down people who are new, but a lot of them will have a limit of knowledge, wisdom, and experience to offer. Many of them will be repeating word-for-word teachings that had recently opened their personal awareness. Going beyond that is too advanced. So nobody does. It can often breed paralysis (since now this teacher has a following and a practice that is taking up so much time and effort to maintain they are unable to further their own efforts routines the way someone who has cemented and grounded their path has). Suddenly the world shrinks. The Law of Attraction and personal development exercises are toted as "the all". Or perhaps it is an order or a temple looking to only go so far as the theories and formulas of the magicians/authors of yore. Where is the emphasis on personal responsibility for expertise and execution of these workings? What about a practice of integrative mysticism anyway (oh so that's why it's called that)?
Ultimately everybody is going to go through their next eye opening experience. They will go through another, and another, and another. These improve and expand on the teachings of the past. Sometimes they eliminate them. The problem with a lack of capacity for diverse spiritual vocabulary is that it increases the span between these moments of increased empowerment and proficiency. Integration is ideal, but integration is not an easy thing to do when there is perhaps such a short and ultimately superficial difference in experience between the way-shower and the seeker. Please note, experience is not measured in time, it is measured in action, performance, mastery, and proficiency.
The advantage in opening up our capacity for language is that it opens up the capacity to learn without the dependence on semantics for comprehension. One person says "energy work". Another says "manifestation". Another says "magic". Another might say "quantum" something or other. One person works with crystals, another with candles, and another with "nothing". Knee jerk reactions rooted in limited conditioning would inhibit the listener from receiving enlightening information because it would prompt a premature rejection. An individual needs the ability to hear and read the wisdom behind the lore and terminology. It does no good for anyone to reject or close themselves to the next level because it's not wrapped in the "correct" wrapping paper. That's just setting up a popularity contest and a dress code. How blocked and stagnate is the individual who will not hear the wisdom of the universe unless it is delivered in an accustomed and familiar lexicon? How long will one wait for the next "upgrade" to their personal power if it won't come from their comfort zone? A long time. Sometimes forever.
The answer is simple. We must as a community let go of the conditioning and over identification with "grouping" and trying to create the next religion. It's a self damning procedure. Many people don't know they are doing it because they are caught somewhere between "dreaming" and "awake". They're certainly not asleep. But they are not really getting out of bed any time soon either (so long as that condition remains). Multilingual seekers and practitioners are the real masters of their own growth, the pace of that growth, and the efficacy of the work being done. As a community we must let go of the bias and prejudice of language. For if the universe wishes you to learn a truth shown through angels, alchemy, aliens, magic, spells, or the Tao, it will. If one refuses to listen, one can't say the universe isn't trying. Will we?
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