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January-March, 2006

How a Spiritual Perspective Can Change Your Experience

by Dennis Gaither, MD

We live in a world seemingly determined by events around us and experienced through our senses. We see before us many separate objects and separate bodies with a mind or will of their own. Everything our senses tell us seems to remind us, to convince us, that we are alone and separate in a world of scarcity, competition and danger.  A world in which what we have, what we have worked for, can be taken from us in an instant.

We try to buy some sense of security in this world in countless ways:  relationships (or in the avoidance of them!), through our jobs and roles, through bank accounts and insurance policies. We try to protect ourselves from a perceived threatening world in many other ways. We seek safety in isolation, personal and national weapons, keeping our guard up, and joining with others in alliances against persons or groups.

This perspective has us imbeded firmly in this world, which seems like our only “reality.” From this perspective, our sufferings and our moments of pleasure seem to come from outside of ourselves. We identify ourselves as bodies, with all of the body’s limitations, including, inevitably, its death. We feel a need to protect the body’s vulnerability and take revenge on those other bodies that we feel have harmed us in some way.

We constantly — whether consciously or not — strive to define ourselves and others in terms of the body, by what it looks like or what it does. We use terms like beautiful or ugly, fat or slim, man or woman, successful or a failure, victim and rescuer, hero and villain. We categorize ourselves and others by job, gender, status, income, family situation, sexual orientation and countless other ways.  All of these we use to define a self-concept for ourselves and others. 

We defend our self-concepts vigorously and constantly. There is no surer way to trigger anger or upset than to have our self concepts challenged or questioned.  Even a self concept that obviously causes much pain, such as that of the victim, will be defended and held onto as if it were something essential to the person.

This thought system of separation we call the ego.  From within this thought system our prospects seem bleak indeed, a life of constant struggle, one problem after another. The best we can hope for is some compromise in which we limit our lives to manage our pain as well as possible and get what enjoyment we can.  But even in our moments of pleasure there is always lurking within us the fear that it can be taken away in an instant.

According to A Course in Miracles, our tolerance for pain may be great, but it is not without limit and eventually each one of us realizes that “there must be a better way.”

This is a crucial step because, until we are willing to see that our suffering comes from within us through our thought system, we will continue to play out our ego-based self concepts, feel helpless, betrayed, angry and in pain. It is through our willingness for “a better way” and our willingness to take responsibility for our own experience that we can begin our journey to true healing — a healing of the perception that we are beings separate unto ourselves.

If this ego perspective of the world is not all there is, then what else is there? And how can we see that world instead of this world that seems so real to us?

Whatever this other perspective is, it is not one that we can see with our eyes in the usual fashion. Traditional religions speak of a spiritual perspective, but often through the filter of the ego so that we are separated into believers and non-believers, saints and sinners, the “faithful” and the “infidel.” The ego perspective of separation can use spirituality to divide and separate, justify crusades and holy wars, banishment, judgment, guilt and to sanctify sacrifice. This perspective may be useful at some stage of our spirit’s journey, but it does not bring the deepest healing that we seek. For this we must move on to a deeper experience.

Beyond this world of form there is a world of spirit. It cannot be perceived with the senses, but it can be experienced when we are willing to question and let go of all that stands in the way of it. The defining emotional state of the world of form and separation is fear, while that of Spirit is Love. Our path of healing is one of letting go of all of our blocks to the awareness of Love’s presence. “Perfect Love casts out fear.” (From A Course in Miracles.)
As we are here today we are having an experience of being in this body, in this world.  But we also have an experience of spirit, not at all confined to this body, this place, or this time. Our awareness may be limited only to our bodily experience, but we are having a spiritual experience nonetheless.

In a sense you could say that we are spiritual beings having a human experience.  And there is in each of us a part of our mind that does remember our True Nature as Spirit, our Oneness with all that is. It is called by many names, such as: Higher Power, Higher Self, Holy Spirit, Christ Consciousness, Buddha Nature, Atman. The words themselves are not important except as symbols that point toward an experience of oneness and Love that does exist within each of us, no matter how deeply it can seem to be buried at times.

It is that experience that guides us along our path, helps us release our blocks to Love’s presence — our grievances, resentments, guilts, hurts and wounds, and our perceived need to be separate and special. We have all had glimpses of that experience. Special moments with a loved one or child, with nature, in prayer or meditation, with some sacred symbol (such as a cross, an altar, Star of David, a church, mosque, synagogue) or with sacred scripture that connects us with the sacred in us.

Through those glimpses, those instants of deeper awareness, we begin to see that we are part of a larger reality. We notice the contrast between the quiet inner peace of Spirit and the noisy clamor of the ego world.  And it awakens in us a deep, long hidden desire to return Home, to reconnect with our true Essence, our Source.

As we awaken, the journey Home becomes more intentional, more directed to that one purpose. We find that we can use every situation we encounter as a way to realize our goal, to help us awaken from the dream of sickness and separation. We become more willing to take responsibility for our ego thoughts, look honestly at them and their results, and realize we have another choice.  We learn that we can offer them to our Higher Self perspective to be transformed and healed. This process of healing, we call forgiveness.

In our confusion and pain we have all said and done unloving things. This does not change the Essence of who we are, but it does greatly affect how we feel about ourselves. Our attack thoughts and actions do affect us. They lead us to feel anxious, depressed, guilty, exhausted, alone, separate and physically ill. Through the defense mechanism of dissociation we do not connect the cause of our symptoms with its effects. The belief in guilt in our minds is mostly kept unconscious and projected onto other persons or situations. This keeps the sense of guilt out of our awareness, but does not protect us from its effects. On the contrary, by keeping the guilt unconscious we guarantee that it will continue to produce effects in the form of physical and emotional symptoms. Undoing the unconscious guilt in our minds by first bringing it into our awareness, releasing the emotional energy of it and then being willing to allow a new understanding from our Higher Self perspective is an essential part of real healing.

With each forgiveness we experience a sense of peace, of healing. We see that forgiveness is really not something we are doing for someone else, but something that heals us, brings us peace and frees us from our own limited perceptions. As we forgive others, we free ourselves. As we see the innocence in others, we see it in ourselves. As we extend the peace of God to others, we experience it for ourselves. As we offer healing, we receive it. 

As we learn to see this world through the eyes of Spirit, we recognize that we are all on a journey together, despite the many forms this may take in each individual. As we forgive we feel less angry, fearful and alone. Instead we see the love, peace and joy that we extend out into the world reflected back to us. We feel more complete within ourselves, more at peace and less in need.  We recognize that our real Home lies within us and that It can never be taken away.

© 2006, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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