Being out of alignment with the universe

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….”

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

The Doctrine of the Mean says,

What Heaven confers is called “nature.”

Accordance with this nature is called the Tao.

Cultivating the Tao is called “education.”

That which is called Tao cannot be separated from for an instant. What can be separated from is not the Tao. Therefore the Superior Man is cautious in the place where he is not seen, and apprehensive in the place where he is not heard. Nothing is more visible than the hidden, and nothing is more apparent than the subtle. Therefore the Superior Man is cautious when he is alone. When joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure have not yet arisen, it is called chung (equilibrium, centrality, mean). When they arise to their appropriate levels, it is called “harmony.” Chung is the great root of all-under-heaven. “Harmony” is the penetration of the Tao through all-under-heaven. When the mean and harmony are actualized, Heaven and Earth are in their proper positions, and the myriad things are nourished.

Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind rest at peace.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
The way of nature is unchanging.
Knowing constancy is insight.
Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.
Knowing constancy, the mind is open.
With an open mind, you will be openhearted.
Being openhearted, you will act royally.
Being royal, you will attain the divine.
Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.

• Chapter 16, Tao Te Ching

A

Hi JT,

Misalignment or being “unbalanced” is identified by the language we use. It is a feeling of being off-centre, being “next to ones self”, being dizzy or giddy. However, these happenings are compared with other experiences that tell us that we are off-centre in comparison to earlier ones. I think it has something to do with our development from children to adults, and that the transition itself is difficult enough, but that we invariably never attain the same balance (in the spiritual sense) that we had before. That sets us off looking for reasons.

I think that it is this “alignment” and the “grace” experienced by children that prepares us for adult life. If we have it passed on to us in a way that we can accept, realignment in adult life can be achieved. If we reject the thought, or it is indistinguishable, or we are unfortunate enough to not meet a spiritual person, then the transition becomes extremely difficult and may even not be achieved. This is the value of tradition – being something that is passed on from generation to generation, giving us identity and balance.

There is however another possibility. If the transition and realignment is accompanied by high moral standards, there guilt can be a driving force in later years. It is also a source of hypocrisy, which a natural transition in the “traditions of the Fathers” should deter. This is why Jesus in his struggles with the people who were theologically closer to him (the Pharisees) continually accused them of hypocrisy. It is the new wine that tears old skins, a high morality that blames people for the lack of grace that only burdens people, but doesn’t help them realign.

He said that the Torah is enough. It is a basic faith that we need, which can be as small as you like, but it can work wonders. We need to find what it is that gives us the spiritual balance that assists us along the narrow path that leads to happiness and salvation. Those who find this alignment will not make it difficult for others to follow, but help them. This is a far cry from power orientated religion.

A good question, but I think that this isn’t the real issue. We will indeed never be anyone else and even rebirth won’t change that. But we are more than the sum of our thoughts and feelings. We are flowing through time and space and the only way to change that is to stop it. But the issue of faith is that we flow on, aligned or not. The fascinating thing is that our soul is collecting all along, and our soul needs this balance more than our external person. What we think and feel in this moment becomes a facet of experience, which in turn influences our flow through time and space.

The difference between the child and the adult is the transition. The child who is encouraged in his natural spirituality and has a tradition that helps him like a bannister on a flight of stairs is well off. But many of us move from confusion to confusion. We stumble up and down, and are left asking what adulthood is good for, other than sex, rock&roll, beer and food. If a high morality is in there, its hypocrisy confuses us even further. There are a million things that could bury our conciousness and perhaps now and then people can uncover it – but for many people, their lives have past by the time they discover where they have hidden their conciousness, and guilt gnaws.

In the Jewish understanding, the Zadek, the Righteous, will always strive to better himself – in fact, that is what differentiates him from the wicked. I heard a Rabbi say that doing good things is something that both the righteous and the wicked do, even the wicked do good things. But what the wicked doesn’t do is attempt to better himself. From this perspective, it is less ego-driven than Torah-driven for a righteous person to seek something better.

I think that “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” is what the Rabbi was saying. If you go beyond that, there is this “higher morality” in place which will cause you to become hypocritical.

Shalom

My “ego” is the main manifestation of my “freewill”, my “self control” and my “self image”. “Ego” is a tool that can be used or abused. We can force ourselves in a more unhealthy “unnatural” direction, or we can push ourselves in a more healthy “unnatural” direction.

But this word: “natural”, is meaningless. Perhaps, most popular, easiest, most accepted, and most inclined – perhaps this is “natural” action, but – what is “supernatural” or “unnatural” action, if it is all physically real?

Are we “out of alignment”? That’s a rather metaphysical idiosyncracy. But, perhaps, just maybe, we are simply “aligning” or moving towards a different direction in life; the transition is most uncomfortable and tiersome when it has just begun.

.

Afternoon ,

Tentative , you said ;

I dont think I have lost it myself , perhaps for a while , but I got it back , are,nt you really saying you have lost it yourself ?

You,ve already answered your own questions here , dont you realize this or are you talking as a teacher for the benifit of others ?

.

Dol,

I think that enculturation pretty much guarantees the loss of ‘Way’ - for all but the most primitive small societies. And yes, my questions have only personal answers. I’m no teacher, I have nothing to teach anyone. I wouldn’t know what to teach and even if I thought I did, it wouldn’t be for anyone but myself.

The questions are just me entertaining myself. If you see anything of value, good for you. If you see nothing of value, good for you.

.

Dont think your being a bit falsely humble there do you ? Someone with nothing at all to teach , that would be a first , considering that everyones life is distinctively different

.

Dol,

Think about it. To teach says the I would have knowledge of something you lack. Given the subject of the thread, that would be nothing but arrogance. If you find anything here from which to take your own instruction, wonderful! But I have nothing to teach. I don’t know you, or anyone else here. That isn’t false humility, it is reality.

You can not think of yourself as aligned or unaligned. It doesn’t work that way. That is an illusion and a misconception. You are what you choose to be and in truth guess the best advice I could give you would be to read my quote at the botom of this page. If you want to “be” then “be”. there is no but or cant to it.

Ignor what others say is right or wrong moral or imoral, ethical or unethical. Those are presumptions made by society and man, the only thing that is wrong is to deny yourself the freedom to be as you are and want. This is the physical realm and here is the only place those thing’s matter. You are striveing to be above this realm and place. Sit back relax and take a deep breath then close your eye’s and with all of your self say “you are” what ever you wish to be. And then go out and be exactly that.

tentative

This is another situation in which I am tempted to ask "Why is religion different?" Every other human endeavor I can think of requires dedication and striving to achieve, and discipline and self-sacrifice to excel. Everything important is hard, or so it seems. It seems a natural enough tendency to think that spirituality would be no different.

If you,ve nothing to teach then perhaps dont write so many posts about subjects like the dao and other spiritual paths

.

Hi Ucc,

Somehow, I can’t get a clear picture of what excelling at spirituality would look like.

Seems to me that spirituality just is. Wasn’t that what Jesus was asking? Let go the superficial manifestions and live in one’s spirit? Isn’t grace something that can’t be earned? How does one excel at accepting grace?

Dol,

Perhaps you’ve misunderstood something. I’m not here to teach anyone anything. I’m here for my own amusement. As for what I choose to post, I’ll retain my right to make those decisions for myself. But thanks for your observations.

Well, why don’t you try that one out on the next alcoholic you meet? Or maybe on the single mum on welfare who is going out of her mind? Or basically on anyone who feels that there must be something more to life than the big hole that they find themselves in today.

To tell someone who is needy that there is no answer to their neediness is cruel, especially when it is clear from your comments that you are not even sure about what you think about anything. What if you are wrong? What if there is a source of power out there than can change the lives of those who really need their lives changed?

And what of those of us who have experience of transforming our own lives?

A

Ned,

Excuse me if I’m a bit short, but you missed the point of the question, and for you to declare that “…it is obvious from your comments that you aren’t even sure about what you think about anything.” is nothing but sheer arrogance on your part. You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me other than a hand full of words on your screen. Check your assumptions.

My questions were to simply point out that to “transform” yourself, you would have to know what it is needing to be transformed. We aren’t a ‘plan of action’ to be performed, we are a process of emoting and thinking. A process.

You implied that I am saying to the those who are “needy that there is no answer to their neediness” and that I’m being cruel. That is your judgement and is completely wrong. Would you like to know what is truly cruel? Tell them that the reason that they think “that there is more to life than the big hole that they find themselves in today.” is because they are forever coming from original sin and that their only way out is to accept “salvation” from a Christian God. That is cruelty.

We are born capable of emoting, thinking, and from that learning. There is NOTHING wrong with our human nature until we give over authority to those who would tell us ‘something is wrong with you’. Can lives be changed from a “source of power out there”. No. Not as long as we buy the line that the power resides outside of ourselves. We’ve been given all that we need to fulfill our lives. We think. We emote. We learn. If we’re ‘in a big hole’ we allow it to remain that way because we don’t use what is within our human capacity.

And now, back to what I think about anything. I don’t need you or a collection of ‘holy texts’ to tell me my short-comings. Nor do I need instructions from you or ‘holy texts’ to tell me what I need to do to grow past them. I was born with the capacity to experience life as it is, and to learn and find understanding from those experiences.

I think and feel what I think and feel. Do you?

LA asks:

I would suggest that there is no one who isn’t brain dead that hasn’t experienced the transforming our their own lives. It is our nature is it not? Introspection is a marvelous tool. The capacity to look at an experience, look at all the variables (that we can see) and from that, comes understanding and an opportunity to act in different (transformed?) ways. What my questions suggest, is that we easily fall into the trap of going past our experiences and begin projecting into a ‘future’ that won’t exist until it is of the moment. Learn from our experiences? Please do. Change our actions to be in line with our new understanding? I’m on your side! But to suggest that we can cultivate or prepare for the future puts us in the awkward position of always ‘going somewhere’, and transformation becomes an arrival point out there somewhere. It is an attempt to step out of being and trying to look back in. Yes! Be aware, be as attuned to each experience as possible, but let it happen in being, not as being.

hmmm…

If you want to know the future, look at the present. If you want to know the past, look at the present.

• Sakyamuni Buddha

A

My assumptions are based on your previous comments…

If you have nothing of value to teach, are simply talking out loud for your own entertainment, and admit that sometimes your use language means nothing, then I’m not quite sure why you’re offended by my comment.

OK, so we disagree. I think your position is cruel. You think my postion is cruel. However, I see a distinction. I genuinely believe that my position will offer hope to those in need, therefore I am motivated to intevene and help as best I can. Even if I am wrong, my motivation is one of compassion and desire to fix that which is broken.

In contrast, you admit that your position offers no hope to those in need since you deny the ability for any substantative transformation other than maybe telling the alcoholic, or depressed individual to just “try harder”, “the answers are within you”. Under these circumstances it would seem the best road would be to keep quiet and not share your “wisdom” with others. Or do you disagree?

I disagree. You have an inflated ego if you think that the answers to everything are found within yourself. You may be clever and you may be educated but you are also driven by pride and belief in your own self-sufficiency. You need holy texts and instruction to make any progress from this navel gazing.