Much of what is written in the religion forum centers around a common issue: the sense of not being some place we’re supposed to be. Some call it not being ’aligned’ with their spiritual selves, others are concerned with being ’in the grace of God’. All share a common attribute; they all are seekers, looking for ‘alignment’ or ‘grace’. It certainly is understandable why anyone should do this. We look at our personal shortcomings, our faults and weaknesses, and we know that we could or should do better and there is obviously something missing in us, or we wouldn’t have this sense of being less than what we should be. We ask ourselves, what should I do? How do I become more Christ-like, more Buddha-like, more spiritually aligned or connected to God? There is this ‘problem’ with me, and I need to find a solution.
I would ask, is it possible that looking for a solution to this problem is the problem itself?
“I know that I’m not aligned with that which is, and I would like to be aligned with that which is, but the reason I seek to be aligned is because I know I’m not aligned and everything would be better if….â€
Is there any possibility that there is no way to transform ourselves? Is it possible that we cannot be anyone but who we are? Can we be more than what we think and feel in this moment? Our ego would suggest that all this is possible. That we can and should seek and find our alignment, our grace of God. But perhaps there is another answer, another perspective.
Our consciousness is a precious gift of life, but all to often, we treat it as would a spoiled child. OK, I have that, but what have you done for me lately? And we go off seeking more, something new or better. But why? A child knows what is good and what is bad without being told. It is their nature unaltered by culture. They see and feel directly and their hearts and minds are ‘aligned’ with the consciousness they possess. At some point in our lives, we all were this child. We all have been aligned with the universe, we have all been in the grace of God. We have all lost this through our enculturation and the growth of ego, but is it really lost? Could it possibly still be there?
Perhaps life is accepting our consciousness, our sentience, and simply living in being, not as being. There is a chance that we are an experiencing entity, an entity with the capacity to know that this is right, go this way, or this is wrong, try something else, and that this alone is our being. It is this understanding that might free us from our ego-driven seeking of something beyond ourselves.
I hear of the need to practice with discipline, to cultivate our alignment or grace with God, but I have to ask, isn’t this just ego talking? If we accept ourselves as capable of acting out of our empathetic nature, if we have faith in our capacity to learn from our doing both good and bad, and then choosing good, what more is there to cultivate? In this sense, is not simply being conscious cultivation itself? I would ask, is there a reason to build an unnecessary wall between ourselves and that which is? What drives us to ‘need’ to see ourselves as unaligned or not in grace? Is not the sense of needing to become aligned with all that is an illusion that we build only to attempt to tear down? Where is our faith in living, and learning from our experience?
OK. There are a lot of questions and even more speculation here. Your comments are invited