Spiritual Commitment: Half-Measures Availed Us Nothing

[royster]

DO YOU SUPPOSE Jesus simply uttered a few words...like "I accept [fill in the blank] as my personal Savior"...and suddenly found enlightenment? Suddenly found Himself surrounded by serenity and beauty?

Our records indicate that this is not likely.

But our records were altered by King James.

Spiritual enlightenment is NOT a matter of uttering a few words, sacrificing a couple hours on Sunday "to the cause" and then continuing on the same consumptive path. Sunday isn't even the Sabbath. The "tamper-proof seal" has been tampered with.

Spiritual growth is a life-long commitment. True: many of us ♥♥♥♥♥ and moan about the obstacles and hardships we endure when we strive to be honest within ourselves, but stepping away from that process, we find no other way is satisfying for us. The mainstream...severely influenced by that self-same King James...simply holds no nutritious spiritual sustenance for us. The reason could well be that it isn't sustainable by design.

Half-measures availed us nothing. Nothing enduring, anyway. We might be full of dogma we've gathered over the course of our lives, but it serves no real usefulness when put to hard tests. And while the Congregation at church can feign some degree of righteousness, all of it is based on the disinformation King James provided...happy anniversary...400 years ago this month. Most people have accepted the bible without question, without scrutiny, and worst of all: without discernment.

Spiritual growth encompasses all that is around us: the bible was written as a base, but Nature contains all the answers. It is by being a part of Nature we begin to grow. Mainstream religion demands we be apart from Nature. Big difference, subtle influence. It is the subtle influences that sneak past our discernment when we allow the exterior to control our interior.

Cloaking ourselves with diversionary appearances does not change one thing inside us for the better: it merely hides the inner non-maintenance. No one is required to be a Christed Spirit, but many of us feel that Calling, and in setting out with the ill-directed roadmap King James provided we find ourselves not very far along.

We have been attempting to use half-measures for a full affect, and it simply will not work. It does, however, keep people in a repetitious circle, and that was its intention.

"Half measures availed us nothing" is taken directly from the preamble of Alcoholics Anonymous, but it applies across the board to all walks of life. You either immerse yourself in your spiritual nature, or you're simply bumping along. Bumping along is perfectly permissible, but it is the bumping along that so many of us found unsatisfying, and prompted us to look beyond the veil. As we find answers to our questions, and grow, we discover that the more focus we put into being better people, the more inadequate King James' wild goose chase becomes.

In confronting drug or alcohol addictions, we found, indeed, half measures didn't do the job. We also discovered that commitment over the long haul is the only thing that brings results. The world around us is rife with temporary fixes, designed to make us come back for more junk food. Facebook LOL's replace meaningful exchange, and all those postings flow down a memory hole, forgotten and unfulfilling.

Some are adept at parroting back bible verse, but unless you live those verses, and listen to the greater spiritual universe, you're simply playing back a recording. A recording designed to ensure you make no progress.

Unless you're satisfied with half measures. Half measures only work in music.

Half-measures Availed Us Nothing

[zeitgeist]

Everyone who travels a spiritual path is told at one point or another that this an 'all or nothing' enterprise.

[RonSouther]

If "commitment" means "willpower", then it's not a real spiritual journey. What's real doesn't need willpower will is really "human will 'power'". Will power is mental.

The journey has to be sourced in the heart and not the mind so travelling isn't a decision away, but a collapse away...collapse of the human will so that the heart can take over.

You see have-heartedness because the spritual journey as it's taught to us has pretty words but is based upon a scared mind that is greedy for relief, and in the context of religion, that means "salvation".

The solution to half-heartedness isn't found in logic, but from logic running it's course and failing and not being trusted anymore, and then living from the heart. Something that is truly of the heart will have the whole energy of the being and THAT is what integrity really is. Willpower is never about the heart, commitment as a decision is never about the heart....both are mental and that's why they fail. The mind is fickle because it is just a tool, input output, where the heart is steadfast.

Theologies are useless because they are logic based.

[royster]

Very insightful post, Ron, and very appreciated.

This topic has taken off elsewhere (my own website) and it's always rewarding to put your ideas out there and see what the responses are. Almost invariably, you get one or two replies that contain stuff you couldn't have come up with on your own...that's the benefit of 'sharing' as opposed to 'teaching'.

As a reminder to this forums' community: I am an alcoholic in successful recovery...three solid years, March 8 is my sobriety date...and all aspects of A.A. have been deeply beneficial, not just for my sobriety, but my spiritual growth. "Half-measures availed us nothing" becomes clearly obvious when you keep failing at the same goal. It's failing that eventually prompts us to look deeper, and in looking deeper, we find the thought processes that have mislead us. In this time of Shift and Ascension, half-measures become even more dangerous for those who think they want to grow spiritually: there are hundreds of thousands of traps out there, the worst being of our own creation.

Thanks again for your contribution to the thread. I took a quick look at your website and will spend some more time there when time allows...thus giving you feedback as I can.

[RonSouther]

Originally Posted by royster

Thanks again for your contribution to the thread. I took a quick look at your website and will spend some more time there when time allows...thus giving you feedback as I can.

Thanks for sharing your story and congrats on your ongoing recovery! I am familiar with your struggles as I watched my mom recover as well.

I also learned too many of her coping patterns that only recently have I been able to let go of.

[royster]

Recovery is a daily commitment, but one you begin to enjoy when the benfits start becoming clear. Any recovery is a prime example of how focused we need to be in any persuit. However, it can be rightly said that sometimes your guides will take you off-path to show you reflections you cannot see from other vantage points. These off-path excursions provide something to compare everything else to. I am not referring to relapse, although relapse IS a part of recovery for many, myself included.

Angels and Lightworkers hold in their hearts actual vows to the Light and its path. I know. It may be best for some to start with merely committing themselves to accept eternity as a reality: it's amazing how superficial many of our intentions can be.

Midnite and Alphamind conduct a very insightful exchange at my forum:
http://halfpast.oceanfalls.org/index...sg5871#msg5871

[Luciddd]

Indeed at one point you will hit the "no return" border, where most likely you will have to go all in. Or return to the mundane ways.

[royster]

Originally Posted by Luciddd

Indeed at one point you will hit the "no return" border, where most likely you will have to go all in. Or return to the mundane ways.

Yes, in-deedy. If we run tepid, we are "neither hot nor cold".

"Availed us nothing" means exactly that: we've put a mere toss in that direction, and expect good returns for minimal input. It reminds me of those people who expect to just lay down and get "fixed". That doesn't happen, because even the greatest healers on earth cannot purge you of the thought-processes you've developed, or your impacted energies: that is our responsibility. We can fully address them (takes gobs of time and commitment) and resolve the issues/ grow from them, or just keep buying luggage containers and storage bins to keep our pains in.

It's important to remember that our follies are not a waste of time: we NEED to be free to go make huge mistakes, and learn from them. "The Cat In The Hat" says we can find things "by looking for them where they are not".

The pipe-dream of "winning the lottery" is a fantasy for lazy people. Being lazy can be fun, but it isn't a career for most of us. Like a component of "infinity breath", rest in proper amounts maintains a balance, but full-out sloth makes us a mere parasite. God knows, we have enough of those (in the form of energy vampires, politicians and my first wife).

or just keep buying luggage containers and storage bins to keep our pains in.

There are those who have made a life out of wearing their problems for all to see, in hopes of receiving pity. Yes, some people bump by on the sympathy vote, but they won't develop enduring friendships, because they are energy takers, not givers, and few find the extra energy it requires to keep these sympathy-seekers afloat. Thus, we see a cycle they've created for themselves, and wonder why they can't break the cycle.

[ChrisGinsburg]

Originally Posted by royster

You either immerse yourself in your spiritual nature, or you're simply bumping along.

Are you ever not immersed in your nature?

Could spirituality actually be removed and seen to be another way of separating that which is not separate?

[VinceG]

You are only going to be as spiritual as your ability to consciously apply yourself will allow you to. Most people struggle to maintain their full attention on anything. Minds wander. Desires take hold. Spirituality falls to the wayside.

I don't think, though, that there is a way to live life that doesn't eventually end with spiritual reflection. Literally everything in this world is the stuff of spirit. Even our desires and egos.

For me, I'm long past the point where it's useful for me to delineate spiritual and non-spiritual experience. Which, strangely enough, means that the word has all but lost its meaning to me. Everything I do is spiritual in nature, everything everybody else does is spiritual in nature too. So why bother with the label?

[ChrisGinsburg]

Originally Posted by VinceG

I don't think, though, that there is a way to live life that doesn't eventually end with spiritual reflection. Literally everything in this world is the stuff of spirit. Even our desires and egos.

For me, I'm long past the point where it's useful for me to delineate spiritual and non-spiritual experience. Which, strangely enough, means that the word has all but lost its meaning to me. Everything I do is spiritual in nature, everything everybody else does is spiritual in nature too. So why bother with the label?

Yes, this was essentially what I was getting at. Well said.

[VinceG]

Originally Posted by ChrisGinsburg

Yes, this was essentially what I was getting at. Well said.

Tact is a useful skill.

[taylor]

Chris, you ruined my life.

Just saying.

I do agree with your OP royster.

Rather than swapping some quotes from Jesus and Nisargadatta which I have on the top of my head, let me give you something unexpected instead. "In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit." - Ayn Rand

I also really like this essay, though don't entirely support it.

Ayn Rand - The Cult of Moral Grayness - YouTube

[RonSouther]

There's a "mirror" issue here...

[Midnite]

I have cleaned up a number of posts in this thread because it's just OT considering what the OP is trying to establish in terms of future discussion.

We just got Roy back and his threads are already becoming swamped. No more derailing of Roy's threads

[Midnite]

Originally Posted by VinceG

You are only going to be as spiritual as your ability to consciously apply yourself will allow you to. Most people struggle to maintain their full attention on anything. Minds wander. Desires take hold. Spirituality falls to the wayside.

I don't think, though, that there is a way to live life that doesn't eventually end with spiritual reflection. Literally everything in this world is the stuff of spirit. Even our desires and egos.

For me, I'm long past the point where it's useful for me to delineate spiritual and non-spiritual experience. Which, strangely enough, means that the word has all but lost its meaning to me. Everything I do is spiritual in nature, everything everybody else does is spiritual in nature too. So why bother with the label?

I think part of the 'label' is to distinguish between that of a perceived 'normal' life where spirituality was never really delved into, and those who chose to pursue spirituality further. This difference in spiritual path is what constitutes the use of such a label. Everything will inevitably result in something spiritual, however how we choose to acknowledge such a fact is the difference between a Half-measure, and those who fully commit.

Something which greatly interests me are those that pose no interest in spirituality altogether, and yet stumble across life changing scenarios at some point in time causing a drastic change in beliefs. For example: man found to be the only survivor of plane crash, starts believing in God. Or parents lose only child in car accident, no longer believes in God. Many seem to go through such circumstances on much more subtle levels and get thrown about like a ping-pong ball in China's Grand Finale Ping-Pong play-offs.

What is the difference between believing in God, and not believing in God?
Spiritual Commitment.

[RonSouther]

Originally Posted by Midnite

What is the difference between believing in God, and not believing in God?
Spiritual Commitment.

There is no difference. One is a belief for, and one is a belief against, using the two stories, one of the plane crash survivor and the other of the loss of a loved one.

One is believing there must be a God and the other is believing the must not be a God.

Both are believers so both have realized nothing. Both are simply trying to console their minds that can't come up with the truth.

Spiritual Commitment is really an oxymoron because if we are spiritual beings (this is where Chris was heading), then how can spirituality be separate from ourselves?

The real question isn't how to be committed spiritually, but what is blocking our spiritual nature from expressing itself.

So spirituality isn't a direct practice, but it's a daily seeking of that which is false in us that keeps us creating problems for ourselves, requiring our minds to constantly be occupied with finding ways out of our self-destructive ways vs. contemplating life or expressing our creativity in a positive way.

Spirituality is our essence, not our practice. What we keep practicing are "spiritual" beliefs that feel true but are not producing fruit. If we aren't committed to those beliefs it's because deep inside us is a consciousness that is seeing something wrong with our beliefs.

To assume beliefs are correct and the lack of commitment to them is wrong is simply not see that logic (the source of beliefs) can never replace experience.

If the belief can't be experienced, then the person is living a fiction and will suffer from the consequences of it. If I believe my website will be successful, that's a belief I can go test, now, and if I'm smart, I will be looking for the results of my beliefs. That's a proper use of beliefs because I'm not going to be identified with them. I won't be imposing them on the world, trying to make my beliefs true. I will be flexible and make adjustments, learning and growing.

Or, if I take on a belief about God, how the heck am I going to test that belief? Where's God to observe? And if I can observe God, then what do I need to believe about Him?

Belief systems are such a detriment to joy in life and discovery because the repetition, the practice, of the beliefs becomes automated by the mind and the mind will then fight with anything outside that mental habit, then you're stuck, not growing, just repeating, waiting for the new injection of the morphine of hope, and really just waiting to die.

That mental habit that is rejecting something not agreeing with it IS the closed-mindedness in us. Where we haven't made a habit of a belief or an idea, we remain open to change.

[raykilleen]

Someone please refer me to a religion or philosophy not filled with endless dogma.

[RonSouther]

Originally Posted by raykilleen

Someone please refer me to a religion or philosophy not filled with endless dogma.

Zen (the religionless religion)

Osho (someone that can explain "religionless religion")

There are things which cannot be sought directly. The more valuable a thing is, the more indirectly you have to go into it. In fact you have to do something else that simply prepares the situation around you – in which things like enlightenment, truth, can happen.

You cannot go seeking and searching for truth. Where will you go? Kabul? Kulu-Manali? Kathmandu? Goa?…and then back home. All seekers of truth go this route and come back home looking more foolish than before. They have not found anything.

Where will you go to seek the truth? You don’t know the way, there is no map, there is no direction available. Nobody knows what, where, when it is possible to realize truth.

The real seeker of truth never seeks truth. On the contrary, he tries to clean himself of all that is untrue, unauthentic, insincere – and when his heart is ready, purified, the guest comes. You cannot find the guest, you cannot go after him. He comes to you; you just have to be prepared. You have to be in a right attitude.
.

[raykilleen]

Originally Posted by RonSouther

Zen (the religionless religion)

Osho (someone that can explain "religionless religion")

Oh please Osho is a quack, and even Zen, Yoga must dissolve in the end.

[RonSouther]

Originally Posted by raykilleen

Oh please Osho is a quack, and even Zen, Yoga must dissolve in the end.

Then you're stuck with dogmas...

and,

Yoga as in standing on your head? Yep...that's a joke...

[cheesedip1]

Originally Posted by taylor

"In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit." - Ayn Rand

.

Ayn Rand - The Cult of Moral Grayness - YouTube

Ah....love this quote. I remember reading "Atlas Shrugged" a couple years ago. Pretty good book...I haven't seen the movie, though.

[taylor]

Originally Posted by raykilleen

Oh please Osho is a quack, and even Zen, Yoga must dissolve in the end.

Sounds like Zen to me.

[taylor]

Originally Posted by cheesedip1

Ah....love this quote. I remember reading "Atlas Shrugged" a couple years ago. Pretty good book...I haven't seen the movie, though.

I avoid her fiction because it's way too long lol. I've just read much of her non-fiction and the fiction quoted in For The New Intellectual. She's a mixed bag for me as she's dogmatically a naive realist and totally discounts mysticism which is my primary focus. However, there's still tremendous value in her works if you can sift the wheat from the chaff.

[RonSouther]

Zen is absurd....the anti-mind

[raykilleen]

Originally Posted by RonSouther

Then you're stuck with dogmas...

and,

Yoga as in standing on your head? Yep...that's a joke...

Asana is standing on your head, my 37 year practice of yoga (bhagavad gita/patanjali’s sutras) seems to have allowed space for spontaneous awakening. I made my original comment; “Someone please refer me to a religion or philosophy not filled with endless dogma.” because none exist, Zen and Yoga are not religions or philosophies.

[raykilleen]

Originally Posted by taylor

Sounds like Zen to me.

Yes, not a philosophy or religion

[royster]

It's our belief systems that we fight, and that keep us in those circles. It is seeking the Godhead that gives us instructions out, back, and onward. So what we're really fighting has nothing to do with God: we're fighting the belief structure we've built over the past several years/decades. It is composed of the social engineering we were born into. It is rife with all the traps and obscurities we all have posted about in self-help forums. I say this from personal experience and admit it freely: I have a well-structured belief system, until it is exposed to the honest Light. It is then I see my defects, deficits and dysfunctions...all of which I chose as building materials. "Belief Structures: A Divine Instruction" was written about this.
Essays By r. andrew Stokes ~ Menu

[raykilleen]

Zen and Yoga are simply methods determined from thousands of years trial and error, designed to take advantage of the expanding human consciousness, help deprogram the human mind, strip away maya and reveal Truth, that from which one has never been separated to begin with, allowing direct experience Advaita, unlike the philosophy (borrowed knowledge) of non-dualism which is pointless without conformation, whatever the method or scientific technology (skillful techniques and comprehensive methodology) any means one has used must dissolve in the end, acknowledge “I AM”, answer the question “WHO AM I” and when you experience the answer even the question will dissipate to reveal one's true inner nature.

[royster]

raykilleen, it's always so refreshing to read a clean offering such as yours. Thank you!