Spiritual Entrapment

“This isn’t a journey about becoming something. This is about unbecoming who we are not.”
-Adyashanti

Today I had this come up during meditation, “Are we liberated by or trapped in our spiritual practices?” I think the question is related to yesterday’s blog and podcast on allowing our practice to become rote. When practice becomes rote it eliminates effectiveness, and we cease to benefit from the growth. That is the time when I believe we are trapped. There are many other ways, I think, that we become trapped.

One major trap is in thinking we have all the answers. Perhaps we do, but the answers are only for ourselves. They may or may not work for anyone else — it all depends on the receptivity and acceptance of the other. We become trapped in telling others how to be rather than being the light that shines a path. Others may choose to walk that path, or not. Whatever their decision, bless them on their way. We cannot force anyone else to awaken to their magnificence. All we can do is know it for ourselves (and for me that means there are no exceptions — either everyone is the magnificence of Divinity or no one is). When I know it myself, I become a mirror to others. They may begin to see themselves in me.

Another trap is allowing our practice to become meaningless. This, too, is in alignment with aspects of practice becoming rote. As soon as a practice becomes meaningless to me I move on! I discard it and open up to something new. If I am just going through the motions, then there is no value left in the practice.

Along the lines of meaninglessness is the potential for us to begin thinking that our very existence is meaningless. Why does this happen? It can happen when we disassociate the absolute and the relative. While we experience the absolute from the relative perspective (that is we experience Infinite Spirit as physical form) there is no separation between the two. God in man is man as God. There can be no separation between the two because if there were separation, the Infinite would cease to be infinite. If there is something separate from infinity, then by definition each thing is finite.

Maybe that is too deep to consider. If so this is the simple expression that I use: I AM God, you ARE God, All that exists IS GOD! Our work is to let go of the tendencies we have to believe otherwise. To know this truth means we can step boldly forth with the knowledge that our very existence matters, we matter, our lives have meaning. We are necessary to the expression and experience of infinite life. We must be, or we wouldn’t exist.

How do we find freedom in this? Well, practical application of spiritual practices is the one thing that I have found to be most effective. If something ceases to feel effective (note that I am interested in the FEELING of it, not the BEING of it) then I chose to lovingly bless it for the benefit it has brought to my life and I then let it go. It is a sort of “Kon Mari” method of practice. If a particular spiritual practice doesn’t spark joy, let it go. We become liberated in the moment we do this.

The magnificence of Spirit is that it is infinite. So there are infinite ways of experiencing our Spiritual nature. What works for one doesn’t work for all.

Today, review your practices and see what works. Be honest with yourself if there is something that has lost its effectiveness. Can you liberate yourself and your practice by letting go of the thing that is keeping you trapped?

Remember you are worth the work. You are the one who is experiencing Infinite Spirit in only the way you can.