In Response to a Comment …

To me it seems rather disingenuous that one who writes a blog about spiritual matters seemingly disparages the very readers of the blog he writes by announcing how superfluous it is they continue to seek. Readers who, like him, seek to more fully understand and live the truth they have experienced – that they are a complete soul now and not the self image associated with the temporal body which carries the soul during this earthly lifetime – appreciate being able to read those who elucidate and verify their experience. Teachers, prophets, ministers, churches and now bloggers come and go with their various messages, but the complete soul remains, and we continue to appreciate having this truth verified.

Perhaps I’m missing something here, but even the individual in your favorite parable engaged in a search before he found the treasure that was hidden. The fact that it was hidden implies that it must be sought before it is to be found.

This is a comment that deserves a fuller response that will, hopefully, clear up any misunderstandings around yesterday’s post.

Suppose you are car shopping. You’re driving down the street and you see the most beautiful car for sale. It is everything you want. Right color, right style, right everything. Guess what? Your search is over. You are no longer a car seeker. You found the right car. So what’s left? Now you have to figure out how to buy it, a whole different kind of activity. You may have to sell your present car or borrow the money. If you really want it, you’ll figure out what you need to do to get that car.

Of course there is another option. You can leave the lot without buying it. Every day you can drive by that car, admire its beauty and hope that some day you can figure out how to own it. Here’s the important point. You know which car you want. You need look no further. You are enlightened.

With this analogy, the spiritual quest is like car shopping. This is the process all of us were engaged in before we found what we believe is Truth. We were taught that God was in the sky and we were on earth, separate from God. We could not quite buy that so we searched for something more, something that appealed to our intuitive logic. When we heard that God was within, our soul rejoiced. We found what we were looking for. That was our moment of enlightenment.

So, do we spend the rest of our life looking for what we have already found? This would be like driving by that car we love every day but never really believing we can possibly own it. Maybe in ten years or maybe next lifetime I’ll be so prosperous I’ll be able to buy this car or something better.

This is exactly how many (myself once included) approach their quest for Truth. We’ll say, I know where God is. I know my soul is complete, but I don’t have the spiritual capital to make the experience of either a reality. These are glittering concepts sitting on the car lot that I drive by every day and imagine owning. I love to read books about them and have bloggers tell of their wonders. I love to attend seminars and travel around the world hearing about God within. It feels so good when I hear someone tell me what I already know.

We all know there is a vast difference between ownership and wishful thinking. Many on the spiritual path have come to know that God is within and that their soul is accessible. But this is not their experiential reality. The car remains on the lot and they remain the passer-by. In the parable, the man’s search ended the moment he stumbled upon the treasure. Jesus was saying, the next stage is ownership. I’ve told you the treasure is within. You know this is true and you love hearing it. So now you have to come into possession of this truth. You’re enlightened. You know where to look. Now do what you need to do to own that treasure.

When Jesus said to seek, knock and you will find, I believe he meant it. Many of us have, in fact, done exactly that. We know where our contact with God is. We can accept that the soul is complete now. So our search is over. What is left is to make the soul our core identity, to build our house on this rock rather than ride with the ever-shifting wind blown sand.

I hold that anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time is spiritually enlightened. But not because you follow this blog. You have discovered for yourself where your contact with God is, and this blog reaffirms this. No one can argue you off of this understanding. What I hope to accomplish here is to encourage the shift away from the notion that you are an eternal seeker and start owning the truth of what you have actually found, what you know to be true. This is a very different process.

To say the soul is complete sets a very high bar. If I’m complete, why don’t I feel complete? The answer. I have some selling to do. Here is what I know. I am no longer a seeker of Truth. I have found what I was looking for. I know without any doubt that my soul is complete and my oneness with God can never be compromised, not even in my darkest moments of ignorance. Have I sold all of my possessions to come into full ownership of this truth? No, I’m still doing that. But the coordinates of my treasure are marked. I know exactly what I am looking for and where it is located. And I’m willing to bet the farm that you do too.