Open-Secrets

Tag: Religion and Spirituality

  • Rapprochement

    Rapprochement-conflictIn Googling rapprochement, 3.3 million results are returned. In scrolling down the page, it appears that more than 90% of the returns elate to rapprochement in its use in diplomatic relations.

    A rapprochement, which comes from the French word rapprocher (“to bring together”), is a re-establishment of cordial relations, as between two countries. In the political scene of an individual country rapprochement means the bringing together of diverse political factions.

    In terms of human development, rapprochement refers to a human developmental milestone occurring around 18 months. The child moves away from and then returns to the mother for reassurance.

    The rapprochement conflict is something that recurs on the spiritual path more than most people are aware of. The rapprochement conflict usually reasserts itself anytime we are challenged with leaving the familiar for the unknown. On the spiritual path, this happens a lot.

    This rapprochement conflict is usually reenacted in our work, after the Personal Essence is experienced in a sustained manner… We find that every individual, regardless of how integrated he is on the ego level, has an unconscious rapprochement conflict. A.H. Almaas

    Maintaining a familiar sense of self is JOB #1 at ego central. Thus, venturing afar from our familiar identity can trigger insecurity and anxiety. This usually quites down when we return to the familiar and is one of the reasons why the ego likes to reify or co-opt spiritual experience – so, it becomes part of the familiar.

    When identity shifts from ego to true nature, the rapprochement conflict ends as identity is not fixated now but resides in a flow of consciousness from one unknown moment to the next.

    What do you notice about your relationship between the unknown and the familiar? Do you love wandering afar into new territory, but also feel the need to return to the familiar? Can you spell – rapprochement?

     

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  • The Unfolding Now

    Unfolding_now

    A new book by A.H. Almaas – The Unfolding Now – will be released 6/10/08. With all the interest generated in the NOW by Eckhart Tolle and Oprah, it will interesting to see if Almaas’ works become more widespread.

    I have a manuscript copy of The Unfolding Now and I think it is one of Almaas’ most useful books for people interested in presence, the now, and spiritual development.

    The Unfolding Now goes into great detail about the barriers and issues that keep us out of the now.

    I love The Unfolding Now! Almaas’ clarity never diminishes, yet each book brings an increasing simplicity and gentleness. As I worked with this latest material, I felt like I was receiving a transmission of pure compassion. His strong, true voice reminds us that beyond the endless self-improvement projects and idealized mystical states with which the spiritual path is strewn lies the simple but exquisite taste of our own being.

    Cynthia Bourgeault, author of Mystical Hope, The Wisdom Way of Knowing,
    Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening

    Almaas is a genius at revealing both the core qualities of Essence and the veils that obscure it, always in language that helps peel away those veils, always holding open the door to the unfolding presence and awareness that remains when the veils have dissolved. The Unfolding Now leads the reader through a masterful series of inquiry processes, invitations to sense and know ourselves at increasing levels of subtlety, gently walking us deeper and deeper into Truth.

    Sally Kempton (Durgananda) spiritual teacher and author of
    The Heart of Meditation: Pathways to a Deeper Experience

    “Without heart, we are not really human. And the possibility of having an authentic and deeply satisfying human life is only a pipe dream when our love is not directed to what truly fulfills the heart. To find true fulfillment, many of us at some point in life turn to the spiritual search. But what is it in spirituality that gives this fulfillment? Where does this deep satisfaction come from?

    First we need to find out why we become involved in the spiritual search in the first place. What are we looking for when we begin the journey? To experience new and remarkable states of consciousness? To travel to extraordinary realms beyond our everyday world? To be liberated from the difficulties and constraints of the world? Or are we looking to enrich and deepen the meaning of the lives we are living here on Earth? If our aim is to engage in our spiritual work so that it can impact and transform the way we live, we have to begin by seeing what we are actually doing in our lives. What are we up to? What do we really want?”

    The Unfolding Now

     

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  • Google God for Guidance

    I’m still reading Your Soul’s Compass and came across a paragraph I just have to share –

    Seeking spiritual guidance is often misunderstood as consulting a cosmic Dear Abby or a universal Google for advice on relationships, health, and illness, pathways to financial freedom, or even great car deals. While there’s guidance out there fabout everything in life, the kind that we’re most concerned with here sheds light on the spiritual journey itself. Are we going in a direction that helps us become less selfish, more compassionate, and peaceful? Or have we gone off on a tangent that keeps us tethered to old habits and perceptions, which perpetuate fear, greed and ignorance?

    That first sentence is wonderful. Many people seem to approach God, True Nature, Allah, Jehovah, Brahma… with this kind of cause and effect orientation which is clearly an anthropomorphism of the divine consciousness.

    I don’t want to get into that debate, but what do you think – can you Google God in your head or heart?

    Google-god

    I guess if that doesn’t work then…

    Dear Abby,

     

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