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A Twelve-Step Program for Spiritual Enlightenment by Phil Bolsta You long to live a more spiritual life and be a source of love, hope and healing energy to every soul you encounter. You yearn to quiet the negative chatter inside your mind, to tame the chaotic rumblings on the edge of your consciousness and discover a clear sense of meaning and purpose. Whether you're just starting out on your journey or are already deeply devoted to a particular path, these twelve steps can bring your understanding of basic universal principles into sharper focus, reenergize your pursuit of spiritual enlightenment, and strengthen your connection to the deep love. STEP ONE: RETHINK YOUR WORLDVIEW The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. -- Eden Phillpotts Do you view the universe as a friendly realm and God as a benevolent, loving being? Or do you see the world as a harsh, unforgiving place and God as a judgmental, punishing force? The way you look at the world, of course, influences your thoughts that, in turn, influence your actions. Following that logic, it's easy to see that shifting from a negative conceptualization of God to the realization that God is synonymous with love, truth, joy and beauty will, like dominoes falling, create more positive thoughts and actions. In other words, if your daily existence is chaotic and stressful and your self-image is in the dumps, the first step to take in transforming your life is to examine your core beliefs about God and the universe. Drilling down to the essence of what you believe, with all the honesty and courage you can muster, and then beginning the process of reinventing your relationship with God, is the key to unlocking the front door to your spiritual mansion. The voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new vistas but in having new eyes. -- Anonymous As you start your journey, it's important to remember that there are no shortcuts. You will not become a master overnight. The path to enlightenment begins by exposing yourself to new concepts that may challenge your entire belief system and leave you reeling from information overload. As soon as you force your eyes to open, to really open, you begin noticing evidence of spiritual principles at work that eventually lead you to believe that there may be something to these radical new ideas. Then, in time, as your awareness expands, all doubt is removed and the ideas you once ridiculed you now know to be true. Finally, as you live your life in complete harmony with universal laws, you become one with them. The path to enlightenment, then, consists of four steps: learning, believing, knowing, being. For a dramatic portrayal of one character's step-by-step transformation from ignorance to cosmic consciousness, see the movie, "The Matrix." STEP TWO: KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT SEPARATE FROM GOD You are literally a drop of God in a sea of God. -- Donald Schnell (Prema Baba Swamiji) The very life force within you is a divine spark, an extension of God. Though you cannot claim to be God, His divine essence is your birthright. And, just as a drop of water is not the ocean itself, still it is of the ocean and has all the characteristics of the ocean. But God is not just present in every human being. There is no thing and no place where God is not. If nothing is separate from God, it follows then that, at the deepest level, we are all connected to each other and to every atom of creation. Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity. -- Edwin Hubbel Chapin This complex web of divine energy that we call the universe is referred to in quantum physics as the unified field. Deepak Chopra describes this conscious energy field as "literally an expression of the mind of God." A wonderfully succinct definition of God was taught to Paramahansa Yogananda by his beloved guru. In six simple words, Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic, Autobiography of a Yogi, beautifully expressed the ubiquity of God and the reason why all of life unfolds so perfectly and purposefully. God, he wrote, is "that supreme intelligence which governs everything." STEP THREE: KNOW THAT YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL AND YOU ARE LOVED Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. -- Marianne Williamson Even if those seven words, "You are beautiful and you are loved," have never been spoken to you, know that they are true at the deepest, most meaningful level you can imagine. Your soul, your essence, that spark of God within you, is perfect and magnificent. You are indescribable beauty, you are boundless joy, you are pure, radiant love. That is who you are. That is your true nature. There is more love in your heart than all the pain that can ever touch you. There is more joy in your heart than all the sadness you could ever be faced with. There is more beauty in your heart than all the ugliness you could ever encounter. God loves you completely, utterly and unconditionally no matter what you've done in this life, no matter what mistakes you've made, no matter how badly you've hurt somebody else. When it is time for you to leave this earth, to leave this body and return to God, you will be welcomed with open arms and a love so overpowering and pure as to be beyond imagining. A person desperately searching for love is like a fish desperately searching for water. -- Deepak Chopra In every moment, you are bathed in loving, divine consciousness. Your challenge is simply to increase your awareness of that fact. As A Course In Miracles states, if you knew who walked beside you at all times on this path that you have chosen, you could never experience fear again. Unless and until you become a true master, however, it's important to note that walking a more spiritual path will not necessarily shield you from emotional distress. You may still feel pain and grief as intensely as before. You may still even feel depressed at times. The difference is, with a solid spiritual foundation in place that makes sense to you and makes you feel that at long last you have returned home, you will be able to recover faster. STEP FOUR: ALWAYS CHOOSE THE PATH OF MOST LOVE Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. -- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin At the root of your every thought, every word and every action is either love or fear. That's it. You have no other choices. If you choose love, you will feel a sense of inner peace and a deep knowingness that you have chosen correctly, even if the feeling lasts only a moment. If you choose fear, which expresses itself as anger, intimidation, self-hatred, or any other emotion that is not grounded in love, you will make any situation you are faced with that much more difficult to resolve. You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love. -- Henry Drummond If you choose love, you are being proactive. You are charting a new course, creating a different outcome, transcending the circumstances at hand. If you choose fear, you are being reactive. You are acting out old scripts, falling prey to bad habits, holding fast to patterns of behavior that no longer serve you. If you choose love, you will be living a life of choice because you're making good things happen. If you choose fear, you will be living a life of chance because you're letting anything happen. Love or fear. You'll either get better or get bitter. Love can also heal a damaged relationship or to release a negative experience you've been holding onto. Simply bathe the person or situation in love and ask that the conflict be resolved for the higher good of everyone involved. Even if you consider the 'sins of others' to be unforgivable, you are only damaging yourself if you allow anger into your heart. As writer Malachy McCourt observed, "Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die." Love is a wonderful place to live, and the sooner you realize that the better off you'll be. After all, at the end of your life, it will not have mattered how you have lived, but only how you have loved. Your progress will be measured not by how many possessions you were able to accumulate but by how much love is in your heart. Why wait until then to begin living that truth? STEP FIVE: FOLLOW YOUR GUIDANCE As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe We all hear the inner voice of our conscience speaking to us whenever we need to make a decision. That voice is probably not speaking to you in actual words but rather in the language of the heart. It may manifest itself as a trusted internal sense of what is right and wrong. You may feel a sense of urgency to take some specific action. It may express itself as an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of your stomach. We all have experienced feelings like this because we are all intuitive. Some of us are more tuned in than others, of course, but the challenge is not necessarily to try to develop your intuition further but to have the courage to act on the information you are already receiving. Alas for those who never sing and die with all their music in them. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes Think of intuition as angels whispering in your ear. In every moment, you are being guided with infinite wisdom and deep love. Stop and think about that for a minute because it's one of the most powerful statements you will ever read. If God is guiding you with infinite wisdom, then that means nothing is random or accidental. If you look at your life through God's eyes, you will see, for example, that the flat tire that ruined your whole day redirected you towards meeting a future lifelong friend you wouldn't have met had your tire not blown out. Now add on top of this wisdom a love for you so deep, so total, so all-encompassing that it takes your very breath away. When you fully accept and recognize the magnificence of God's promise to you, you will understand that your life is unfolding precisely as it should in order to serve your highest good and the highest good of all concerned. STEP SIX: CREATE YOUR OWN REALITY The quality of one's life depends on the quality of attention. Whatever you pay attention to will grow more important in your life. There is no limit to the kinds of changes that awareness can produce. -- Deepak Chopra This concept of creating your own reality may strike some people as new-age nonsense, but all it really means is this: you will attract to your life the people, situations and events that reinforce the way you perceive the world. For example, one person may believe the world is a menacing, unfriendly place, that the only way to succeed in life is by climbing over the backs of other people, and that every day is just going to be filled with more bad breaks and hard knocks. Another person, however, trusts that the universe is benevolent and orderly, that most people are compassionate and good-hearted, and that every day brings with it wonderful new opportunities to be kind and loving to others. We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. -- Anais Nin Both of these people will have experiences that "prove" that their way of interacting with the world is the correct one. How? The universal law of attraction, which simply states that whatever you focus your thoughts and energy on will attract more of the same. For example, if you maintain a loving, positive attitude, you act as a magnet to draw even more loving, positive energy back to you. Think about it. Have you ever wanted something so much that you thought about it constantly for days or weeks at a time? Maybe it was a new bike when you were a kid. Perhaps it was a different job or a desperately needed vacation. Whatever it was, the pieces fell almost magically in place until you got what you wanted. Start paying more attention to that. Your thoughts are not just gossamer wisps of nothingness floating around in your head. They are a powerful, creative force that set the course and tone of your life. If you truly want to live a more positive, loving life, you must train yourself to have more positive, loving thoughts. A very effective way to do that is through the regular use of affirmations. STEP SEVEN: ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE God gives every bird its food but He does not throw it into the nest. -- J. G. Holland You set an amazing process in motion by simply asking God for whatever it is you want. A prayer never goes unanswered. For optimal results, however, your request must be made in harmony with basic universal principles. To begin with, it's crucial to cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Ask for what you want by thanking God for already bringing it into your life. For example, instead of pleading, "God, please show me how to control my weight," say, "God, thank you for showing me how to control my weight." The distinction is a powerful one. It's a question of having the carrot stick always positioned just beyond your reach versus taking firm control over your life right here and right now. Being ungrateful for what you get never gets you more. -- H. Glasow Genuinely and consistently expressing gratitude for the blessings in your life will attract to you more of what you are grateful for and will help you develop a prosperity consciousness that will naturally attract even greater abundance into your life. It's also important to remember that the universe responds to the essence of your request rather than to the specifics of it, which means that what you're asking for might show up in a form very different from what you expected. Your job is to have as much clarity as you can about the 'what' and let God take care of the 'how' and the 'when,' for you will only be given what you can afford to receive in relation to your present circumstances and the level of your consciousness. For example, if you're asking for a new car, perhaps what you are truly in need of is safe, reliable transportation. If you see a car as the only solution, you probably won't even realize that your request has been granted the following week when the city announces a new bus route that runs right past your home. STEP EIGHT: DETACH FROM OUTCOMES Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. -- Art Linkletter Unfortunately, many people associate the word "detachment" with apathy, coldness and an uncaring attitude. Actually, detachment simply means to care deeply from an objective place. The popular quote, "Success is a journey, not a destination," expresses this idea perfectly by emphasizing the importance of the process, not the outcome. Your job is simply to follow your guidance and proceed along whatever path feels right to you. It's perfectly fine to keep your eyes on the prize as long as you understand that when you get to the end of the process, there may be a different prize waiting for you around the corner that will serve you better. Leap and the net will appear. -- Les Brown Giving yourself completely to this process requires surrender, another word that is often misunderstood. Many people fear that surrendering their will to divine will means giving up control over their life. Actually, assuming you are in control of your life is, at best, an amusing concept and, at worst, an indication that you are not yet familiar with basic spiritual principles. Trying to maintain absolute control over your life is like swimming upstream. Your progress will be slow and it won't come without a struggle. As soon as you surrender your will to God, you begin swimming with the current and life gets much easier. Surrendering your will to divine will, however, in no way means you're sacrificing your free will. You are still completely free to make any choice you feel guided to make. You are simply trusting that God has a better plan for your life than you do. STEP NINE: LEARN TO WANT WHAT YOU HAVE We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them. -- Charles C. West Instead of worrying about having what you want, you'll be far happier, centered and peaceful if you focus your attention on wanting what you have. In other words, continue to follow your guidance and be proactive but trust that whatever shows up in your life is there for a reason. Remember, you are divinely guided in every moment with infinite wisdom and deep love, which means that your life is unfolding exactly as it should. And because we create our own reality and are not separate from that supreme intelligence which governs everything, you are, on a deep level, a co-creator of everything that comes into your life. The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. -- Richard Bach Learning to want what you have requires a major shift in understanding, perception and attitude. A daunting challenge, indeed, which makes Roger Delano's triumph over paralysis even more extraordinarily impressive. At the age of 51, Delano contracted a rare condition called transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spine. He was told by a doctor that he would never walk again yet, nine days later, he was able to walk out of the hospital under his own power. Delano wrote about his reaction to his diagnosis in "Self-Realization," the quarterly journal of Self-Realization Fellowship, the organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920: "I knew that everything that was happening to me was up to God, that He was the only healer. I felt safe, knowing I was surrounded by the overarching mantle of His perfect care. Whatever God brought to me, I wanted. Even if I retained all of the mobility of a flower pot, it didn't matter. 'I' was still the same, the vehicle of expression had changed, that's all. A flower pot can still hold a beautiful flower." STEP TEN: SEE EVERY MOMENT AS A GIFT The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude. -- William James When you start to recognize and embrace the divine guidance in your life, you cannot help but begin to look at every moment as a gift. Rather than question why something has happened to you, you will be grateful for the opportunity you are presented with to further define who you are and who you choose to be. Dr. Bernie Siegel, author of, Love, Medicine & Miracles, recalls that whenever he was upset about something that happened in school, his mother's gentle response would always be, "God is redirecting you, something good will come of this." Similarly, Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Sprit, urges her readers to look at every event in their lives with "symbolic sight" to perceive the deeper meaning of life experiences. However you choose to describe it, stepping back and looking at your life through God's eyes will give you a richer appreciation for divine intervention and expand your awareness of how you can reinvent yourself and the way in which you interact with others. Remember, the greatest gift you can give others is the example of your own life working. You may be the only Bible somebody else reads. -- Mark Twain In his powerful book, Teach Only Love, Gerald Jampolsky, M.D. writes that in every single encounter we have with another human being, they are either offering love to us or in need of love from us. Imagine looking at the world through such a lens! Imagine shifting your perspective and recognizing that every time you meet or talk with a fellow human being, you have an opportunity to give love to that person, love which they so desperately need. What a gift you can be to the world! STEP ELEVEN: CONCENTRATE ON BEING, NOT DOING Often, people attempt to live their life backward. They try to have more things or more money in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want. -- Shakti Gawain Who you are as a human being has nothing to do with what you do for a living or the material things you have. The more you chase after and identify with what you do or what you have, the farther away you will be from enlightenment and peace of mind. So how do you become who you want to be? You can start by describing the qualities you would like your ideal self to express. Perhaps that list includes such traits as loving, kind, generous, honest and reliable. Then begin to monitor yourself and train yourself to stop thinking, saying or doing anything that is not in harmony with how you envision your idealized self. Although it is possible to change some character traits overnight, chances are it will take heaping portions of time, effort and discipline to reinvent yourself. Set modest goals and don't judge yourself too harshly when you take a step backward. Just try to be a little more positive, a little more loving, every day. You will find that the harder you work at it, the easier it gets. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes As you find yourself moving into who you truly want to be, you will begin to feel more centered, more in the flow, more in sync with the rhythms of life. You will begin to take notice when you bump into an old friend you've been thinking about all day or when you get an unexpected check in the mail that's exactly the amount you needed to get your car repaired. Psychologist Carl Jung coined the term "synchronicity" to explain these meaningful coincidences, this evidence of the sacred in everyday life. Focusing on being rather than doing or having will also improve the quality of your relationships, including romantic ones. Instead of trying to find the right person to share your life with, start trying to be the right person and your odds of finding your soul mate will increase dramatically. After all, as psychotherapist and author Nathaniel Branden noted, "Love is for people who know who they are." STEP TWELVE: RECOGNIZE THAT EXTERNAL SECURITY IS AN ILLUSION Self-knowledge is an anchor that makes unpredictability tolerable. -- Deepak Chopra While it certainly is nice to have money in the bank, a nice house and a new car, if you're faced with a major health issue or if a natural disaster strikes or if a business deal goes bad through no fault of your own, all of these material things can be swept away in an instant. Nothing outside of yourself can truly offer you security. True security is achieved only when you know deep in your heart that you will have the courage, strength and resourcefulness to rise above any challenge that life places before you, knowing that you are not alone, that you have never been alone, and that you are loved beyond measure. When you can, as Paramahansa Yogananda wrote, "stand unshaken midst the crash of breaking worlds," then nothing can touch you where you live and nothing of any importance or value can ever be taken from you. When you have come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, Faith is knowing that one of two things will happen: There will either be something solid to stand on or you will be taught how to fly. -- Anonymous By the time you have reached this point, you will have gradually and naturally let go of all attachments to material things. That does not mean you can't continue to enjoy the pleasures of material abundance, it simply means that your priorities are in order and that the only thing that truly matters to you is how much love you can add to the world. And now, my friend, it is time for you to go forth and make a difference in this world. May you be bathed in divine light and love and may angels guide your every step as you embark on this wondrous new journey of self-discovery and enlightenment. Phil Bolsta is a writer, speaker and massage therapist in Plymouth. He teaches a free monthly class at Pathways in the Uptown area of Minneapolis called, "You Are Beautiful and You Are Loved," in which he demonstrates how affirmations can bring you peace, heal your life, and strengthen your connection to the deep love. For more information on class times, call Pathways at (612) 822-9061. Phil can be reached at (763) 553-7703 or at PhilBolsta@mediaone.net. Copyright © 2001 Phil Bolsta |
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