We live in a psychologically oriented culture that spends a great deal of energy probing, analyzing, and seeking to understand human emotions, and for the most part, this is good. Yet, we spend very little energy examining human will, intentionality, or motivation. Ironically, if we were more honest about our interior motivations, what it is we really want, many of our emotional issues would naturally clear up, and the field of our choices would open and expand. We would experience real freedom! For this reason, next to the knowledge of God, nothing is more important than knowing ourselves. In simple terms, the spiritual life is about being naked before God and ourselves.
Let me put this in a concrete context. People come to me stating that they want to be enlightened or God-realized. Most often, this spiritual desire shows a healthy degree of sincerity. Yet at the same time, these aspirants also have other, competing desires: a soul mate, a comfortable life, lots of money, being well liked, and living with as little pain as possible. None of these desires are bad, but they often compete with the aspiration to be spiritually liberated. Many people are completely unaware of this interior civil war. I say all of this without judgment and to underscore the need for self-understanding when it comes to what we say we want. The spiritual life is about the ever-deepening awakening of consciousness, the consciousness of God and ourselves, always inspired by love. We pray and meditate to get to the heart of things, to the heart of God and to our own hearts. With these thoughts in mind, consider the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel:
“He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person, but the things that come out from within are what defile. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within, and they defile.”
For this reason, Sri Yukteswar teaches us that we must constantly aspire first to a steady heart, then to a devoted heart, and finally to a pure heart: “Man, continuing Godward, further lifts himself to Maharloka (the heavenly spheres and the region of the saints, in communion with God’s liberated ones)… In this way, the heart becomes purified and no longer merely reflects but manifests spiritual Light. Thus being anointed by the Spirit, it (the heart) becomes Christlike…and enters into the Kingdom of God. In this state a person is like Jesus of Nazareth.”
Divine Mother,
Help me to understand:
What is it
That I really, really want?
