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