The following condensed article (Source: www.thenewcall.org) was transcribed verbatim from an email message sent by Children of the Sun Humanitarian Foundation (info@childrenofthesun.org):
Rising Above Sham Spirituality
(Part I, The Trigger)
"False messiahs and false prophets will arise, and they will perform signs
and wonders so great as to deceive, if that were possible, even the elect."
Matthew 24:24
IMITATION SPIRITUALITY
(condensed)
full article at: thenewcall.org
There are a great many spiritual teachers and groups in the world today, some possessing much insight and good intentions. However, when compared to the Path that leads to complete Redemption it becomes evident that the vast majority of spiritual groups and so-called enlightened teachers actually demonstrate a significant compromise on the Highest, on the quest for Liberation, on the Holy Truth. Conditions are often applied and many people 'go spiritual' in order to gain same benefit and greater happiness in their personal lives. They practice, therefore, what to the discerning eye and the pure heart might be termed "imitation spirituality".
The culture of imitation spirituality has come about due to a lack of true knowledge and selfless motivation. This is clearly apparent within the New Age movement, for example, where the general focus is upon profiting for self.
So many people today have their own valued ideas of how best to bring about light, love and peace on Earth, yet the majority of these individuals have yet to actually realize such virtues themselves.
New spiritual groups and teachers are appearing all the time in these days of The Quickening on Earth; self proclaimed masters, teachers and motley bands of disciples and do-gooders are a very common sight within the spiritual supermarket today. It is often found that such groups - new and traditional - tend to demonstrate a noble intention to heal themselves and this planet, yet all truly enlightened Masters, Holy Orders and Mystery Schools throughout the ages have taught that the personal self, this world and all that is in it do not represent the goal of life, and on the spiritual path neither should they be the focus. Wrong focus is the result of a lack of true Knowledge and awareness of the purpose of physical incarnation, and without such Knowledge the true spiritual Path cannot be found, let alone trodden.
To attempt - from an unenlightened perspective - to heal this world and humankind is like a blind man trying to give directions to someone who is lost.
The world may only be healed when humanity's focus and motivations are true, when the heart of humankind is open and when its mind is looking in the right direction. The solution to all ignorance-born world problems may only be apprehended by giving up all self-created notions, looking out from the separate self and upwards toward the Universal Spirit and the Divine Plan for Earth. The solution to all suffering, darkness and ignorance is necessarily a divine solution and can never be found within the separate and limited nature of the personal self or its plethora of speculative ideas, projections and delusions. Such personal, ignorant convictions never amount to anything other than more separation, the proof of which is perfectly visible in society as it exists today, and is also reflected in the many individual and disparate views and ideals held by the countless spiritual groups and teachers.
Correct Focus is Essential
The pain of the world's heart and all humankind's sufferings are resolved and ultimately permanently healed through a focus on what is already True, Whole, and Complete, and not on the individual self or the transitory world of appearances.
Only when a person's focus is turned towards the Highest, to the Truth itself, will he come into alignment and harmony with Universal Law, and so realize a true Spirituality, as he naturally becomes inspired to serve the Divine Plan. It is only through such a correct alignment and the subsequent spiritual resonance that it engenders that the world's ailing condition will begin to be remedied. Human delusion can never be resolved until the seeker has made contact with Reality, and so has aligned himself with true Life. To seek and practice anything else, anything for one's own benefit without due recognition of the whole, is imitation spirituality, and this serves nothing other than the personal ideas and whims of the separate self, leading to further confusion and suffering. For separation (from God) is synonymous with pain.
There are a great many people in these last days of a major world cycle for Earth who are focusing on all kinds of interesting things, from personal healing and self development to the channelled advice and lofty messages of those who have passed over. There exists today a worldwide marketplace for psychic counseling, innumerable methods of self-discovery, spiritual awakening, soul recovery, magic rituals, past life recall, ET mania, etc., etc. The list is endless and would take a great number of lifetimes for a person to fully explore even a small fraction of them.
Many of these activities are not wrong or dangerous in themselves, but in the absence of a right spiritual focus and a selfless attitude they are fated to merely revolve around the grasping desires of the personal self. They cultivate and refine the ego-self and so do not lead to That which is already Perfect and which liberates.
A growing number of people all around the world today are writing spiritual books and giving workshops, again often before they themselves have actually realised anything of a higher order than mere philosophical or psychic insight in the absence of alignment with Truth and Divine Purpose.
This generally perpetuates ignorance and pride because the focus is essentially ever the same. No matter how philosophically true may be the words and concepts of a preferred teaching, it will not help a person reach the goal of life - Liberation - as long as the focus is selfish, upon gaining for the ego-self, the "I", "me" and "mine" of self-grasping, as in: my healing, my path, my ascension, my truth, my life, etc.
Until a person learns in all activities of thinking and aspiring to look towards the One Life alone, to that which is True and Divine, and in so doing reawaken the inner spiritual seeking element in the heart, all that is created and focused upon will be in vain, and it will yield nothing of any real and lasting value.
No matter what is learned and understood intellectually and no matter from what eminent source it may spring, without a right focus and true, spiritual understanding it will generally be used as yet another vehicle in which the ego-self can move in circles and create more illusions.
Humility in Unity
Adherents of imitation spirituality work - consciously or subconsciously - to delay that which must come to pass because they operate outside the Law of Oneness, outside of Unity, and not in alignment with the Divine Plan for this world. They most often work from a place where they feel happy and safe, protected within their own personal comfort zones and consciousness of "I know'" Using such unrealized affirmations as 'We are all God' they try to bring their own will and agendas, disguised as Divine Alignment, to bear on others.
One of the greatest obstacles - if not the greatest obstacle - that stands in the way of real spiritual unfoldment and realization is an absence of humility, and the honest admission as to how little the separate self really and truly knows of the higher Life, its purpose, goal and ultimate inevitable result for this end of a major world cycle.
Most people shopping in the spiritual marts of trade today are so focused upon what they already know - or more accurately what they think they know - that there is little or no scope for them to discover what is actually True. That which has waited eons to enter the heart and illumine the mind of humanity in order to liberate it from delusion and suffering can find no resonance with those who already know best, and so neither can it enter into their lives. Hence the essential need for humility, an empty cup.
The answer to all man-made problems must be sought from the Divine, and if a personal focus is favored over and above an impersonal, divine orientation, then the real Solution will never be found, for there is nothing at all in the world of the ego that has the redeeming power to lift the imprisoned soul from its ignorance, pain and self-engineered separation. There is but one truly spiritual attitude and one Way that leads to Freedom: it is through an earnest and humble seeking of That which has always been True, and forever will be True, and this Truth has nothing to do with the separate self and so cannot be contained, procured or possessed by it.
Therefore, the world of imitation spirituality is in dire need of a complete reorientation of understanding, focus and consciousness.
To be the Empty Cup... no emphasis on the Personal Self
All who wish to return to Reality and so partake again of the original Freedom, must first become empty of self, open and so ready to be filled with the living light of Truth.
Now, an empty cup does not contain anything, it does not, therefore, proclaim that it knows anything, for all true Knowing is of God. Allowing the light of Reality to enter one's emptied grail is to become aware of God's Will, and it is thus that the Calling to assist in the manifestation of its Plan for these important times on Earth is registered by the Seeker, and consecrated service to that Divine Plan then becomes natural and spontaneous.
To look to or to seek for anything less than Divine Guidance in every new moment is foolishness. It perpetuates spiritual blindness and confusion, which then continues to give rise to an endless array of self-oriented pseudo-spiritual philosophies, groups and teachers, in which great numbers of unsuspecting people invest their time, energy, dedication and money. This is how the culture of imitation spirituality has grown to epidemic proportions in the world today.
Those who follow unenlightened teachers, prophets, deceptive teachings and groups contribute toward the reinforcement of the grand illusion of false spirituality as they simultaneously become more deeply bound to and by it themselves.
The true servants of Life - those who are aligned with the Divine Spirit and so also with the Plan of Salvation for these times - are mostly forced to wait and prepare in the shadows, while so many self-appointed teachers are busy in the limelight propagating their information and methods from an unenlightened idea, teaching the multitudes how to achieve what they themselves have yet to realize.
In the past, candidates for the inner teachings of the Divine Mysteries had to seek out and to prepare themselves to work with the Initiates and Masters, and unless an aspirant possessed the key that opened the door to the inner sanctum, he could not gain access to Life. Today the requirements for true spiritual work have not changed, and the kind of potencies wielded and teachings offered by holy groups are dangerous for the unprepared.
Yet we may observe everywhere today the public advertisements in magazines and on the Internet for teachings about Holy Ascension, together with an expanding abundance of teachers offering to show the way to enlightenment. In fact there are so many self-styled masters and spiritual teachers in the world presently, offering a diverse array of methods and philosophies, that one cannot help but wonder why humanity has not ascended to at least the ninth dimension already!
This is the great tragedy of sham spirituality, that so many people in these times have bought into the imitation version of the real thing and so are being led astray, deceived by the rising number of false teachers who instruct upon matters which they themselves do not yet truly comprehend.
Part of the reason for this is due to the fact that advanced spiritual teachings have found their way into the general public and can today be purchased by anyone in the local book shops. Yet using sacred teachings for personal agendas always leads to disaster, for such teachings will always be used by the ego to cover its own fear and ignorance in an attempt to create a safe and comfortable semblance of truth for personal happiness, self aggrandizement and power. In doing this with conviction, in widely advertising the benefits for self of even the greatest and truest teachings, the delusion of imitation spirituality spreads all over the Earth, and so what in past has been a most sacred and carefully guarded treasure becomes degraded into a commonplace vogue in the marketplace: Ascension, free for all!
The Truth is repeatedly utilized in error by the ego, rehashed into an imitation spiritual philosophy to suit the needs of the separate self, where, for example, people loudly proclaim 'I AM', yet without an iota of inner, spiritual realization to back it up, and simply because they have read it somewhere and have taken the impersonal Truth personally.
That which is True is not of the world of time and space, where everything is in a perpetual state of change, decay, death and rebirth. The Eternal is evidently absent from the world of rising, glimmering, fading and dying. Just as that which is True is not of the temporal world, similarly the Truth itself cannot be revealed in the temporal world. Nothing True can ever be written or spoken in words alone. The Truth that is written and spoken is at best only a reflection of the Unborn, the un-manifest Truth of Life, which can only be experienced.
But without a pure heart and motivation - which may only be reached through the loving, selfless and intelligent quest - the all important and vital Energy of the living, vibrating Truth that may accompany only the realised words and concepts of the sage, is lost. Thus so the living energy of Truth cannot be received or passed onto another. In this way many people may read and even understand philosophically the most profound truths on Earth, yet still not receive one modicum of the living, experiential Reality, which they know all about. This is how the most exalted words and teachings of our saints and spiritual masters have been stolen and killed by way of self-grasping, and the foundation of all imitation spirituality is rotten due to the selfish motivations of those who practice it.
Until one seeks out the living Truth and its Wisdom with an honest and humble heart and with a mind that earnestly acknowledges that it knows nothing of that Truth, no true Light can ever be received, no matter how many books one reads, no matter what teaching is followed or believed in and no matter how many lifetimes one practices mystical techniques.
To Walk the Talk
If the great majority of spiritual teachers in the world today would remember the enduring fact that they may only assist others along the Way to a very limited degree until they themselves have actually attained the Goal, then there would be far more humility on Earth within the spiritual supermarket and consequently much more true Light, rather than the false, deceptive glamour-filled light of imitation spirituality.
Being with a true and therefore divinely-aligned Teacher will always give us Light, and not just in the head! If a teacher does not give us Light, particularly in our early encounters, then either the aspirant is not yet ready to receive it or the teacher has not come into divine alignment and so is not qualified to awaken others. However, if the teacher has attained some significant level of divine contact, then his personal radiatory field will prove to have an effect, and this may be experienced by the insincere, impure of heart or spiritually immature aspirant as a surfacing of unresolved fears, hatreds and resistances, a rising of inner darkness. Therefore, one way or another, the true Teacher will generally have a significant effect upon the consciousness of everyone who opens to him.
Millions of souls are presently being led astray, as was long ago prophesied would happen in these times, and as more groups and self-proclaimed spiritual teachers rise up around the planet, infecting the minds and hearts of their growing followers with unrealized philosophical systems and personal ideas, very ordinary people with little spiritual or even psychic experience are becoming self-appointed teachers.
Today we stand at the end of a major world cycle and the imminent dawn of a New World, and still the focus for the majority is on the spiritual feel-good factor, and even those who do have some innate wisdom are being drawn into the great deception.
There are relatively few who boldly acknowledge what must come to pass: the victory of ages of Truth over falsehood, yet mankind has been warned repeatedly over the millennia about the inevitable, stark reality of these times and the inescapable fate of everything and everyone that is not True. Even at this late stage of the period leading up to the Day of Reckoning and the Great Shift, only those with eyes to see and ears to hear have responded in any vital way to the Call.
Throughout the ages humanity has been cautioned about the false leaders, teachers and groups that would rise up in these last days of an age, but so very few have taken heed of those warnings. These are the 'end times', and there is only one way to safely and wisely navigate through the darkness and multitudinous distractions of this period in order to attain Liberation from falsehood in the valley of the shadow of death, and that is by humbly seeking the Truth and surrendering to and serving God's Will, free of all personal sentimentalities and philosophical ideas and preferences.
Already the Sword is beginning to show itself in the world today, and the prophesied 'Great Separation' is now taking place on many levels all around the planet.
Part of true Knowing is knowing that we do not know. But until the heart awakens to Truth, most people do not really know how little they really know.
If we are engaged in selfish activity, however subtle or 'spiritual', then we will not see past our own selfish reflection in the mirror of Truth that is approaching our world today. If we try to build further knowledge upon our own existing ignorance and ideas, then nothing True will be constructed, and neither will our ivory towers survive what is to come.
There are relatively very few true, uncompromising spiritual Seekers in this world who have cultivated the art of spiritual listening. Fear and pride has long found a home in the hearts of the majority of souls on Earth, and consequently a great number of people have adorned themselves with their own ideas and methods of attaining Liberation.
Thy Will be Done
But the Way to find the Truth and to be liberated by it is to completely and unconditionally give up all ideas and beliefs of the self in deference to that Truth: "Not my will but THY WILL be done."
If the ego feels good and proud in its knowledge, psychic power, spiritual attainment or influence over others, then imitation spirituality is being practiced, and the true Path is still yet to be found.
The further along the true Path one progresses, the greater the suffering. Therefore to walk the spiritual path in order to find personal happiness is as absurd as it is impossible, and always results in imitation spirituality.
Going the Way of Sanctification entails a unique form of suffering, but this does not mean that if we seek the Truth we will know only misery and suffering. It means that regardless of what arises in our lives as a result of our courting greater Light, we shall remain true, selfless and empty, even if at times what is revealed to us may be hard to bear. As we move closer to the Truth and the Goal of our lives, our vision will expand and we will see this world for the travesty that it really is, yet still our focus will become ever more impersonally loving, in a way that cannot be fully understood by those who have yet to be initiated into the Divine Mysteries, which are not of this world.
It is not until the earnest Seeker finds the true Path himself that he sees how few actually tread it, and so often he finds himself quite alone on his journey as a physical being.
Yet imitation spirituality assures us that it is all about 'love and light and joy and happiness', and that if a spiritual path does not make us happy then we are on a false path! Yet this kind of path is for the selfish self; it is trodden with the self in mind in order to profit the self, and as such is a lie, just one of the many facets of self-seeking fake spirituality.
It is easy to create a self-made bubble of distortion and glamour around ourselves and choose to see what we want to see, to believe only what is most pleasant for us personally, but such a subjective focus only leads to greater error and attachment, and the deeper and the longer this investment is made in self by self, the more difficult it becomes to surrender one's comfortable and familiar illusions. The plain Truth must be seen in its own light, not in a light that pleases us most; things must be seen just as they are before we may begin to truly progress spiritually.
Imitation spirituality is marketed and sold to the masses in attractive packaging that appeals to the personal self: "heal your life", "find greater happiness", "empower yourself", "create your own reality", etc., etc. Yet crystals, tinctures, ointments and head knowledge never led a single soul to the Truth, and neither will any unrealized teaching or practice made for self-gain.
- One cannot live in two worlds or serve two masters; neither can the earnest spiritual aspirant afford to be attached to the things of this life while trying to reach the next.
- Everything must be given up to the Truth.
- No one can enter a new spiritual world while still clinging to the old, it is impossible.
- In order to walk the true Spiritual Path, all that need be sought is how best to give one's separate and illusionary nature in sacrifice to the Greater Good and for the benefit of all.
- No matter how good one feels and no matter how the self attires itself, it will at some point have to give up all its ideas, opinions, desires and fears in order to allow the One Life to do its work of self-redemption within.
Therefore a lover of Truth seeks to stand aside, to remove self from Reality, and to unite with other hearts for the same Divine Purpose.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
This article, which has been slightly condensed, is from a document entitled "RARE INSIGHTS". It is the third installment in the trilogy of books released by a group of anonymous individuals who traveled the world extensively in the pursuit of Truth.
The website is: www.thenewcall.org
We feel it would be of great benefit for all to read these extraordinarily well written documents to assist everyone in stepping out of the delusions of the New Age and the mass market hysteria of personal ascension and healing.
Replies