Book 6 - Summons to Life – Martin Israel – The search
for identity through the Spiritual
Very similar
to previous material in this course but some new insights too
He believes
the soul is underneath the ego which often displaces it. We need to find our souls.
“The main
attributes of the soul are its all-embracing nature and its freedom within a
vast range. Unlike the ego of the existential self, it is never alone or in
isolation, but is in wordless communion with all other souls and with the power
that transcends and infuses the world. The sould does not seek for itself
alone; it is never selfish. Its joy is the joy of all the creation, and it is
complete only when the world world has moved into completion.
A body
vibrant with life is a joy to behold. It speaks of a soul in command. Not
surprisingly, a soul-infused body is seen most often in little children.
Subsequent experience soon dulls the soul’s light and darkens the body and the
mind unless love is also give to the child.”
On the
subject of our identity and our need for worldly acquisition
“When we live
in the enclosure of the personal, or existential self we are bound to
circumstances. Our lives are controlled by outer events and inner bodily and
emotional disquietude. Our actions depend on the affairs that are deep within
us. There is no freedom of inner choice, only a makeshift selection of possible
responses to an overwhelming external presence that menaces us. When we live in
the consciousness of the personal self, we work only to survive, but survival
has the sole virtue of delaying death with its apparent annihilation of all we
know. This is not the life that man was destined to lead. He has fallen from
his high place in the hierarchy of nature. He has quitted his birthright, and
has sacrificed his leadership of the world in order to gain comfort through
possessions. The more insecure we are, the more we need to possess, to own, to
master intellectually and emotionally. The freer we are in security, the less
need have we for possessions, and the more aware are we of a constant
relationship with the outside world that is consecrated to a mutual concern
that unites commitment with freedom. The more I need to have, the less I am.
The less concerned I am about my attributes and the more I flow out from the
soul to the world, he richer I am. I am no longer merely myself: I embrace the
other also as it embraces me.”
The Spirit
leads us into the truth about ourselves
“The Spirit
leads us into the truth about ourselves. When we are divested of personal
craving, the spirit, which is of God, directs the whole personality Godward,
but in the early stages of our awareness, when selfishness is uppermost, the
power of the spirit is perverted into paths of self-seeking and aggrandisement.
The path of man to the recognition of his spirit is the spiritual path, and
spirituality is the movement of the personality to God. To move into spiritual
reality is man’s true end in life, for only in such reality is man authentic.
To be oneself fully and gloriously is the greatest joy you can know, for at
last you are free. This freedom is gained at a heavy price, but only when you
are free can you enjoy your own being as well as the world around you.” P.14
We need to
move from the self-centred love to the God-centred life. This journey takes a
whole lifetime.
“The love
that identifies each person as something unique and valuable in his own right
is a love that strives for the survival of that person and that works for his
own growth into fullness of being. In the early stages of life this love is
experienced from outside, and is the true intimation of love. It always comes
first to us. If we know of love and are sure we are cared for, we have a direct
proof that we matter as people, and therefore that our identity is real. Of
course, this view of identity is still superficial and simple. It is a selfish
view based on the conception that we are all-important, and that the concern of
those about us should revolve around us. Such self-centredness is the natural
awareness of the contented child. He is also in inner communion with nature
around him. This is a glorious state, but also a primitive one. It belongs more
to our animal inheritance than our human destiny. Why is it inadequate? Because
it depends entirely on the equable disposition of the outside world, and it can
be destroyed in a single moment by a change in those outside circumstances. It
is man’s work on himself that is to bring him into a communion with all things
that can never be destroyed. To know peace in chaos, joy in suffering,
immortality in death, is the destiny of a fully realised man. This work brings
us into union with Him who is the Master, the Overseer, of the worl, Whom we
know as God.” P 17
Adversity
brings us more in touch with our “true being”
“The realisation
of your true identity consists primarily in detaching yourself from those
attributes that are superficial but which you, in your blind ignorance,
consider essential to your being. In other words, the movement towards the real
is first and foremost a progressive
stripping from yourself of illusions. This stripping is never really voluntary.
It comes to us through those events we call tragedies, or at the very least,
disappointments. We would not seek the real, the unchangeable, the reliable, if
we could live happily in the world of illusion with all its glamour and false
security. But the course of life is punctuated by episodes, not infrequently of
long duration, in which those things we have held dear are taken from us. It
may be the wealth of a rich man, or the life of one who is dear to us, or our
health, or even our reputation. It may be the work that sustained us, or even a
special gift on which we relied. In some people’s lives there has been very
little experience of love. It might be thought therefore that such people would
be incapable of giving love or even of recognising it, and yet this very
dereliction can serve a purpose in directing the person’s attention to his true
condition.
It is far
worse to live an anonymous life, even on the crest of a wave of material
success and affluence, than to be aware of your true identity though in a state
of destitution. In this latter contingency you are at least down to bare
essentials, and the rock of true being is the foundation stone of a new life. The
role of suffering in the growth of personality cannot be over-emphasised, but
it all depends on the view one has about suffering and how best it should be
confronted.
It is no use
telling someone who is in severe distress that it is all useful experience for
the growth of his own soul. Years can be spent in fighting against a multitude
of misfortunes, and one’s life can ultimately expire with the mumbled cursing
of the personality against the whole cosmic process. Yet such a process may be
nearer the great discovery of his own true being than one who is shielded
against adversity by pleasant outer circumstances. The key to the disclosure of
inner reality is always the tacit admission that we of ourselves can do
nothing, that the process of our intellects comes to a humiliating halt, and
that we are creatures of darkness surrounded by an even denser obscurity. It is
the courage to admit our ignorance and impotence that is the key which opens a
new dimension of reality to us. No wonder God told Dame Julian of Norwich that
sin is necessary but that finally all will be well.” P.19
Experiences
of the awareness of the presence of God
“The
awareness of God is not the completion of the spiritual path. It is merely an
important milestone along it. We progress in life by faith that the better will
prevail against the worse and that life will triumph over death. Often our
faith is sorely taxed, but we persist, driven as much by the body’s desire to
survive as by the soul’s hidden will to meaning. At last, often when we are
strained to the limits of our endurance, or sometimes when we are in great
peace, He comes to us, and the way to meaning is revealed.
Whatever is
said about God is wrong, for He transcends all categories so that even a
compendium of every virtue wold belittle Him. Though the Godhead is beyond
human imagining, yet He comes to us as a person among persons, until He has
lifted us out of our own enclosed personality so that we may begin to have a
mature intimation of his full nature. God is known to us in the experience of
our own souls. Without that experience, He is merely an intellectural
hypothesis or a theological construction. It is His manifestation to us that
brings us closer to Him, and the validity of that experience is judged by the
degree of proximity that flows between Him and us.”
Gradually
faith becomes personal
“Faith, once
hidden and obscure, is now illuminated by hope that springs from this gift of
love. I am loved for what I am, and my sins are forgiven me. This does not mean
that the past and all its consequences cease to exist, but rather that they are
no longer facts of imprisonment and condemnation.” P 25
Against
narrow fundamentalism
“When the
experience of God’s love comes to someone at the emotional peak of a
revivalistic meeting in which sin is loudly denounced and lamented, the release
from the spiritual bondage of his special sin may easily lead the person to
believe that this forgiveness is dependent on a rigid theological position that
must be dogmatically upheld at all costs. Thus God’s grace is conditional on
our acceptance on Him in terms of a particular religious insight or tradition.
The result of this is that the vision of God may easily be transformed into an
imprisoning proposition that cuts one off from the body of mankind, and
separates one into a small class of the elect, or the “saved”. This is where an
understanding of the love of God and His providence in the world is so
important. God’s revelation of Himself to us is progressive. Indeed, in
Christian terms it is the Holy Spirit that is lead us into all truth.
This
progressive revelation by the Holy Spirit, Who is deep within us in the spirit
of the soul, leads us into an ever-deepening awareness of the divinity that
lies at the heart of all creation and was supremely revealed in the
juxtaposition of God and man in the incarnational event. But if we are ever
unwise enough to believe that we have the whole answer to God’s being, we at
once shut Him out of our lives, replacing Him with an idol, which may be theological,
ritual or intellectual, and which ultimately degenerates into a superstition.”
P 26
The dynamics
of true salvation – a gradual process
“True
salvation is to be seen as the healing of the whole person. This means an
integration of the personality so that the body, reasoning mind, and emotional
nature are working under the conscious direction of the soul, which is itself
illuminated by the Spirit, Who is God immanent. This salvation is a slow but
progressive process. It is punctuated by many episodes of failure and apparent
regression, which in turn are the portals of entry for God’s mysterious grace
which reveals new aspects of the divine love to us. Thus the first experience
of God’s personal presence is followed by a penetration of the darkness that is
both of the world and in our unconscious minds.” P 27
Journey of
the abundant life involves integration between subconscious and conscious self
“The abundant
life depends first on a progressive recognition of the material in the
unconscious and then its active integration in the conscious life of the
person. The pain experienced in this journey of self-discovery is often very
great but when it is almost too great too great to bear, the love of God breaks
into our consciousness, showing us more of the divine reality. It is in this
way that the personality is resurrected” p 28
Stillness and
meditation leads to love of others
“It is only
when we know the love of God that comes in the stillness that we can flow out
in that stillness to another person. When we know that peace and can bequeath
it to another, we are beginning to love that person very deeply.” P.33
Marriages can
be crippling affairs that do not allow the individuality to breath
“Unfortunately,
not all lovers experience this fullness of relationship. Many become so
attached to one another that each life is lost in the other, and there is no
growth into maturity. They are certainly in love with each other, but also
chained in an attachment that leaves neither free. A selfishness extends from one
person to encompass the two in close union, and the rest of the world is of no
account to them. In due course one of the partners must die, and then the other
is left disconsolate.” P 37
Romantic
disappointment often leads to the divine earch.
“Even the romantic
love of youth is a gateway to the divine. But it is the frustration, the
disappointment, of this personal attraction, that first makes many people open
to the unfailing love of God. He comes to us when we are broken, and He mends
the personality within us. The gratitude we evince and the depth of
understanding with which we are now endowed help us to feel into the sufferings
of others. Thus does compassion develop.” P 41
Relationships
and especially marriages are places where the personality is tested
“It is
uncommon to find husband and wife relating to each other in such a way that
each is completely free and realising his (or her) full potentialities as a
person. It is much more frequent for one to submerge the drive for growth in
order to accommodate between the other. The same applies in the family where
there is tension between parents and children, or in working life where here is
disharmony between different grades of employees or between employer and
employee.
None of this
is necessarily bad, nor is the judgement all in favour of the one against the
other. The sharp distinction between black and white is an attitude of
immaturity. The purpose of living is to penetrate ever more deeply into the
lives and characters of other people, not in order to judge or change them but
to learn more about oneself. You learn half this lesson during periods of
solitude when you are thrown back on our own resources, and the other half when
you are responding to various assaults of the outside world, which in practice
means confrontations with other people. And the final goal is to be able to
love those people and the whole created universe around you.” P 44
He who knows
God does not need the approbation of men
“He who knows
God in the height of his being no longer needs the propitiation and approbation
of men. Instead he has their love, for he no longer demands it but rather flows
out in love to them. It may take years of patient endeavour in constant prayer
to reach this state of unconditional forgiveness, but when it is attained, we
are changed. We have known God face to face. A new view of reality is cleared
in front of us.” P.47
“When we
consecrate our souls to God, He tests them in the purifying fire of experience.
It is very often that the aspirant, after his first glimpse of God, is cast
down in the mire of tragedy. All the stable connections from which he
previously drew strength are withdrawn, and even his health may fail. The
radiant light that drew him towards the greater world of reality dims, and all
that is left is his own faith. This is the test of sincerity in the spiritual
path, that we persist in our dedication to God when He appears to withdraw all
his visible comforts from us. And do not imagine that this dark night of the
soul, when all around us is the mist of obscurity, is merely an evanescent
phase. It may go on indefinitely, or it may be punctuated by brief phases of
bliss that are, in their turn, enveloped in a greater darkness. The measure of
this darkness is the inability of the intellect to penetrate it. It is a void
of blackness, and it is devoid even of emotional content.
In some
instances the darkness can be related to unfavourable outer circumstances such
as marital disharmony, ill health, or financial difficulties. But these are
largely coincidental. It is tempting to blame one's inner dereliction on outer
difficulties, but in fact these merely provide an excuse for leaving the great
quest. We have to penetrate far deeper than the trivialities of worldly living
if we are to transcend the darkness of the soul. There is, however, one bright
spark of hope that remains during the test of aptitude, and this is a dim
realisation of the fact that we have moved from the world of triviality and
social usage to a numinous realm of unseen potentiality. What it embraces we
cannot directly know at this stage, but in an inscrutable way it harmonises
with the pulse of faith that is the inner manifestation of the soul's action.
In other words, it is impossible to go back to where we were before the call to
God inflamed the soul. If there is a great temptation to relapse to old ways
and ends, the call has been spurious, and one has to retrace one's steps very
carefully. But this state of affairs is unknown to those dedicated to the
search for true life. The very darkness is a rest to the weary mind, and in it
our earthly desires can find a welcome oblivion.” P.55 and 56
A growth into
God is a growth away from submergence in the sufferings germane to one's own
life or even of the world as a whole. This does not mean that we are lifted out
of situations of suffering by a magical technique (some current schools of
thought describe their practitioners as being "above" the pain of the
world, though in fact an acquaintance with these people soon shows their
personal inadequacy). The acceptance of suffering, neither in supine
resignation nor in rebellious antipathy, is the measure of one's growth into
God. If our proof of God depends on His success in alleviating pain and
promoting worldly success, we know little of Him. We are, in fact, more likely
to be in contact with suspect lower forces. The real evidence of God is the
ability of the soul to rest in Him, no matter how terrible the outer
circumstances appear. He is the darkness of the intellect and the dullness of
the emotions, but He is also the light of the soul. When He is seen, the mind
and emotions are still, quiet, and at rest, for a new organ of perception
acclaims Him. The soul is revealed in its glory, and its organs of apprehension
are active.
As the new
revelation of divine grace is accepted and understood, so there is a subtle
change in our consciousness, and a new way of life opens. The suffering of the
present time, to use St. Paul's expression, is not to be compared with the
glory that is to be revealed in us-and is being revealed every day as we move
fearlessly into the unknown yet foreseen danger, not counting the cost but
dedicating everything we have to Him Who gives us everything. If the farewell
discourses of Jesus, written in the fourteenth to the seventeenth chapters of
the Gospel according to St. John, are real in the light of His suffering on the
cross, such suffering is seen to be the inevitable precursor of glorification.
There is no glorification of the personality so that it is transfigured by the
light of God, except through the refining fire of suffering.
The suffering
that leads the soul to a heightened awareness of God is a part of the journey
of the person to the light. This suffering is never actively sought nor is it
exulted over. It has little relationship with the self-induced suffering that
follows a selfish, ignorant, or reckless action. Such suffering, which is an
inevitable sequel to a wrong action, may also lead on to a greater
understanding of God's grace if one accepts it as a new adventure in living.
But this type of travail is at the foot-hills of the mountain of
transfiguration. It is only the start of the spiritual ascent, and its
consummation is that experience of forgiveness that has already been touched on
in connection with love. The suffering that is part of the spiritual life
itself is an immersion of the soul into the darkness of the world, where it
feels in its very core the hopelessness and dereliction of unredeemed
mankind-and indeed all created things. These are all striving, even in their
ignorance, for the inner perfection that is the person's intuitive knowledge of
God, but they do not know where they are going. Yet even in the darkness of
their ignorance God is in control, and He will lead them to enlightenment. It
is the service of the aspirant, in partaking of this darkness and even in being
one with it, to lead benighted mankind out of its isolated ignorance into the
greater community of God. In the world's history it was the incarnate Christ
who performed this function in His own time, and through the power of the Holy
Spirit He continues in the lives of all those, of every religious denomination
and of none, who dedicate themselves to the loving service of their fellow-men.
These are the real Christians, whether or not they accept the name.
Any
superficial approach to suffering which looks for its root in a wrong action in
the past is quite inadequate. The most spiritual people it has been my
privilege to know have had hard lives punctuated by much personal tribulation.
And in every case this suffering, by being accepted, has raised them to that
glory that was seen fully in the resurrected Christ.” P 53-56
Prosperity
gospel theology is terrible!
“Nothing is
calculated to diminish the stature of human personality more than a servile
submission of our will to the presumed will of God, in the assurance that all
will go well for provide we do as God wishes. Surely it is the divine will that
man should grow into that fullness of being which was seen perfectly in the
witness of Christ, in His life, ministry, passion and resurrection. Thus there
can be only one real prayer of petition, that we may be led through the power
of the Holy Spirit into every deeper communion with God. In other words, there
is only one fully realised prayer: union of God and man so that there is a
union in man of the human and divine natures as was made manifest in the
incarnate Christ.” P. 75
“I would not
seek thee had I not found thee” Pascal
