A Helping Hand

Hello,

True spiritual unfoldment is a most painful process and I would like to extend a helping hand to anyone currently going through a very dark period of pain, whether you know it or not this will eventually lead to a peace like you have never experienced before and is more valuable than anything else in this world. I've had flashes of this peace but still (as I'm sure even you who are much more advanced than me) feel periods of very keen pain. In these times it can seem we have no one who can share our feelings but I wish to tell you there are those who have walked this path before you and are actually giving you unseen help and guidance. None of us is that much farther on the path than anyone else and so we can all share our feelings and receive support. with this thread I hope to give anyone a hand up that I can and perhaps receive one myself, as I am currently in a very trying time. We easily forget that all progress in the end is seen to be beneficial but I hope this may remind some of our brothers who currently feel trapped with no one around. This is your period of trial and your ultimate victory is assured, but you must win the battle for yourself. Whether it takes one day or a billion years you will come to your own friend, there can be no other way.

With that being said, I would like to share a story. It is a personal story even though it is in the third person and I believe it will resonate with many of you, I hope it gives support and shows you that you are not alone. Here we go:

"When he was a little boy he would contemplate the idea of heaven. He thought of himself ascending to a land high in the clouds and living for all eternity with the possibility of endless diversion before him. This was, at least the church said so, his fate if he were good. Such a destiny repulsed him just as much as their conception of hell. There was no relief to be found in it, no reprieve from the stresses of earthly life. After all, soon all pleasures would become like ash in the mouth and an unbearable tedium would set in. To him, such a fate was the ultimate punishment for there can be no escape from eternity. And so, he did his best to shut his mind from this idea which seemed to be forever taunting him. He could not see how others were unaffected by this inescapable fate and sometimes life itself seemed like the cruelest of all torturers. As he grew, these visions became less and less frequent and for a time were lost all together. This span was one of the darkest in his life and a foreign pessimism came to dominate him.
But, just as the peace is most felt after the raging storm, soon the light would come again and burn like never before, never again would it leave him for now it was HIS, through painful trial he had attained it and come to cherish it. O, if only he had known what was in store for him, what it all meant, how slight would those dark times have been to him, ow easily and happily would he have passed through them. But he did not know, and in his darkest hour it seemed there was no one to communicate it to him. No one who could possibly share the horror he was enduring. What little he had in common with his peers, they were like babes to him, concerning themselves with this and that and always unaware of the pain and separateness of the world apparent only to him. But, though he could never explain why, he was not envious of their blissful ignorance. To him, falling back into their ranks was worse even than the mountain he knew it was his destiny to climb that seemed to lead to a peak of ultimate isolation. Where was the help? Where was god who he was promised would never leave him? Nowhere, he thought, just as he seemed to be."


This may seem depressing but remember it is only the first half of the story, for in reality, there can be no such place as nowhere, no place outside of the ALL. you may not understand these words yet, I don't think anyone can claim to fully, but the realization will come to you in time and it is the ultimate one. Discuss?

 

anyone? just post what you feel, I'm not here to be holier than thou or impose a certain view.

Anyway, after reconsidering my ideas of heaven I had as a kid from the viewpoint of being older I realized how much sense reincarnation made. Great as these heavens are they cannot be eternal, can you imagine how cruel a fate that would be? They are just as transient as our current life is. Light will always come from darkness

 

I believe until they outgrow it. Theres nothing wrong with getting the most out of these experiences for now but eventually they will grow to see their ephemerality and become dissatisfied with all outside experiences. This one of the hardest times but it is also right before they discover what will truly fulfill them. Though, if we truly live in eternity, there is no need to hasten this progress, though there is no harm in hastening it either Quite hard to live up to these ideals but I think it is at least invigorating to try

 

Well, I guess I have to learn the lesson of winning the battle on my own too. I just wish I knew how much farther there still is to go. Anyone able to check the secret brotherhood's tabs on how close I am to receiving a teacher lol? I will say to the doubters that there is a very exact path that has been lit for us by our elder brothers on the path for feeling the immanence of God in yourself and all things if you seek it, but (Not that you are God, which is one of the most tempting delusions that many fall into but of God) this knowledge is only (except to the very spiritually gifted) comprehendible after a rigorous course of introspection and mental training.


Edit: After reading my posts I sound a little silly, not what I said but the helplessness I felt when writing them. Good night everyone.

 

That's a good idea, I guess I'll tell my story.

I'm in an engineering program at a pretty selective college but have come to realize I made a huge mistake in signing up for it. I just don't wanna devote so much of my time to chasing and maintaining a high-end lifestyle, which to me seems more like a burden than a gift. I wish I were just at some community college right now studying maybe religion or journalism and preparing for a sustainable lifestyle. I've come to find it a little amusing how these so called brilliant people chase and burden themselves with earthly gifts, like hamsters on the wheel. I'm tired of doing the homework, I'm tired of going to class. I don't think its laziness, maybe apathy because I can no longer see the goal.
I would be out of here right now but the only thing stopping me is the $8000+ my mom spent on this semester alone. If I want to transfer to some other school (and it will definitely be some little local school) I have to wait out the semester. Never has 4 months seemed so long. Even still, what is the point? The only future career path that I'm able to actually desire for is as a pastor (just because it's practically the only religious one that pays a liveable amount)

Most of all I'm tired of hearing people's reactions when I tell them what I'm planning. They say how I'm throwing away my future and wasting my gifts. Really? I just wanna say, who're you to say whats a good future and whats not. No matter what they say about just wanting the best for me I cannot help but think they are just trying to live through me. I've never felt a sickness like this before. I dropped my engineering classes, my math classes, and my science classes and replaced it with yoga and religion. so sue me. Its amazing the look of intense longing people get when I tell them this, as if I'm throwing a gold bar down in the trash. Well, I'll let them chase it. It's not for me


I don't get it. I cry so easily these days, it's like I've ignored this immense feeling of pain for so long and now it's rushing on me all at once.

 

Thanks man, you've made me feel a lot better and it's good to know theres at least someone else out there who gets it. As I learn to rely on myself more and more strangely I feel less alone and less limited. I feel like the way to my dreams has finally been opened up and my possibilities are endless. I could be an archaeologist like I always wanted or a writer and I'll probably keep my spiritual aspect on the side, a way of empowering me rather than the end in itself. It makes me so sad that people here choose their career path just because the promise of a future job.
I think being able to dream, bravely and without fear, is the most valuable quality anyone can hold. Because what we hold in our mind tends to translate into the physical world. I'm also learning to here the inner voice of help and guidance that comes from all places. I guess there really are millions who have going through what I'm going through and want to help me. "When Spirit Talks, Spirit Hears"
O Yea, I'm also very happy because this weekend I'm going home to see my girl and gonna smoke for the first time in a month and I can just leave all this far behind.