Spiritual Balance

Rama believed that spiritual balance is the ability to be happy in spite of circumstances. It is the answer to obsession that sometimes accompanies spiritual practice, occult practice or philosophical understandings, the assertion that one is right. The assertion that the way that you're practicing spirituality is better than how someone else is practicing. Spiritual balance is the way you handle opposition both inside and outside of yourself. It is tai chi, the center of things where all things come together. Pure and simple balance is happiness; happiness in spiritual practice; happiness in working and playing; happiness in all circumstances.

How can you be happy in a world like this? Well, the world has always been this way. There's always something going on. Dogs have fleas. We're born to die. Everyone we love suffers. Life is a horror show, a continuing tragedy. Spiritual Balance is the ability remain happy in spite of all this. It's the ability not to be hostile when your neighbor is being hostile and not to get caught up in the trivia.

The lack of spiritual balance is to become so hassled by the details of life and trying to get all the details of climbing up the spiritual mountain straightened out that you never really do. You wanted to have a great run today, but there were so many details that you had to do first. And by the time that it came for running you didn't have the time or energy. That is the lack of spiritual balance.

Balance is the ability to be straight with yourself, to get above it all and choose what the purpose of life should be. It's true that life doesn't really have a purpose, the cosmos just is. But the purpose of life for us, is something that we chose. By choosing the outcome we choose what life will become for us. We become what we focus on. So we choose happiness. You can choose other purposes, but why?

Buddhism

Buddhism is the practice of finding the parts within ourselves that are happy and beautiful. Buddhism is fulfillment. Blowing your ego, your self importance out the door. Letting go of the things that hurt you.

Esoteric Buddhism is to attach your awareness to the planes of light. The planes of light exist. Just beyond this dimension. They are the one perfect creation that is inside of your mind. Nirvana, infinity, eternity, all heavens and hells, everything is inside of your mind. Not the brain, the mind, our awareness, our consciousness.

Spiritual balance is the principle that allows the mind to be still. You can't expect the world to slow down and everything to fix itself. If you're waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect place, the perfect person, there's no such thing. This is the perfect moment.

Life is what you make it. But you have to do something. You've got to get control of your mind and get your power up. You have to do something and not just sit around in the waiting room of life.

Of all the things in the enlightenment cycle balance is the most difficult thing because its overlooked. We think it's not important. In martial arts we learn that if we can't keep our balance then our opponent can exploit that and take us down or out maneuver us. The same is true of the world. If we are not balanced then our illusions, our attachments and fears will take us out. We get caught up in ideas and philosophies, things that won't matter a bit when we are dead but now they sure seem important and we forget to be balanced and happy.

Meditation

Happiness is found principally in meditation. But you have to exert some effort to connect with it. When we meditate the heaviness, the responsibility of being human goes away and you can play in the brightness. Light transforms. The inner light is the most powerful thing that there is.

Sometimes it's hard to see. We see what we see. If the fog roles in and it stays for a while we forget that there's anything to see. The wall of fog a hundred yards away is the perimeter of our vision. We deal with what we can see. The fog prevents us from seeing what is right there. Nobody can make you happy.

The fog is maya, illusion, symbolically represented. Most people get so caught up in life that they forget what life is about. What makes us happy is to have a spiritual experience. Where we leap beyond what we know and into the beyond. We go beyond the transient frustrations and beyond the sorrow of the heart, the pain of the body, the despair and disillusionment of the mind.

Compassion

Compassion is a form of balance. As we travel along the path we learn many things about ourselves. We find things that we don't like or that we aren't proud of. Compassion is to accept our own failings. We also look at the actions of others and find fault. Compassion helps us to see that others are struggling with faults just as we are. Compassion alows us to accept the failings of others as well.

Love

Love is also a form of balance. To love unconditionally is to extend yourself beyond the sense of self. Unconditional love is not attached love. Attached love is conditional on something from the other person. We love them and they love us in the way that we want. This type of love is problematic because other people often don't do what we want. And this leads to suffering. Unconditional love, the love of a mother for their child, accepts whatever the other person does. You can love a surprisingly large number of people and things.

When we love unconditionally we go beyond our limited sense of self. But we must be careful that we are not abused. If we allow others to abuse us then they hurt themselves. If we face chronic abuse, then we need to move our love elsewhere. Do not give up loving. Love is a beautiful part of Buddhism.

Perfection

Do something. Shut the television off and learn something. Be a student of life. Don't be a sniveler. Don't deny yourself the possibility of the miracle of happiness and enlightenment. Get yourself under control. Do things that show you how beautiful this world is. Spiritual balance is a personal decision. We decide to be happy. Money doesn't make you happy. Health is nice you only miss it if its not there. Fame doesn't make you happy. It's a decision that you make every day. Find a spiritual teacher. You learn happiness from someone who knows it. The shortcut to spiritual balance is meditation. Go do something. Hopefully it will involve yoga, meditation and Buddhism.