Logic #17 Self sacrifice leads to liberation

The self or one's individual identity is the cause of suffering. By nature, this self is divorced from God or Truth, so the only way one can find peace, is paradoxically to completely let go of the self, in such a way that it utterly ceases to exist. We cannot alter this nature of self. It's nature is what makes it self, so there is nothing we can do to stop self from being wholly an obstacle to liberation. This self that we call ourselves is inherently self-centered, focused on regenerating itself in a myriad of ways, depending on the state of our consciousness. Truly it is a projection of mind that we see and experience as what we call reality. Because it is self regenerating, we must remove our attention wholly away from it for it to cease to exist. As long as it is the object of our attention, or of the attention of the mind, it will continue to be reborn moment to moment. The only way to rid of it, is with the clear and conscientious intention of getting rid of it entirely, born from a will that genuinely desires to be rid of it completely. If a shred of our awareness wants to keep it alive, it will continue to deceive us and it will continue to undermine any effort to undo it. When we can clearly see that it is undesirable, and we clearly see what is, and we have made peace with the consequence of getting rid of it, then we can apply ourselves to doing so. Until so, it will remain a hidden burden in our lives, that will prevent us from finding true peace. If our efforts are not pure, I do not think we will progress on the path to peace, it will keep us in a behind a veil of darkness, within a sphere of existence in the universe that only the pure of heart may pass. We will become increasing dissatisfied with existence, and I believe increasing troubled. The way of our liberation, the way we sacrifice our self, is not wholly up to us. I believe at this point when we are faced with the inevitable need to let it go, we can only go forward by giving our self, life and limb, to God. Limb by limb, piece by piece. There is nothing we can gain for ourselves, because things are not what they appear and what we believe is ours is not truly ours, as is the same for the power we claim we possess. The gaining of personal power is I believe at it's root evil. This does not mean our intentions are purely evil if this is what we seek. The desire to possess power for oneself and action taken to do so harms other life. It's essence is harmful, violent and a violation of the natural order of things. This action and desire is misled. It will not bring us what we believe it does, it will only perpetuate out continual feeling of dissatisfaction. We can pursue this path endlessly, continually expanding our horizons on what we believe will satisfy our thirst, yet as long as we seek it for ourselves, we will remain thirsty, regardless of how clever we become. When we gain real intelligence, we recognize that this behavior is foolish, that it is troublesome, and that we should learn to avoid it completely. We recognize that power comes from a higher source and that everything we have is temporarily given to us by this and that it is not ours to keep for ourselves. We learn that our desire to possess things is the root of our thirst and this is who we used to believe we were, that this was our self. It still is, yet we no longer desire to perpetuate it, we hope instead to be rid of it. If we are lucky, we will learn how this thirst is subtle and that it penetrates to the furthest corners of our imagination, that to be rid of it, we must sacrifice our entire sense of self, because every idea we have about our self perpetuates it's existence. To be rid of it, we cannot hold onto any of it, we have to die to it completely, we must completely give up who we are. There is no going back, there is no alternative, it is one way or the other. If we accept this task of self-sacrifice, when in fact we do sacrifice our self in this way, in wholehearted rejection of it, part of it will perish in the fire of our courageous spirit, and our spirit that is bound within this twisted form will find an ounce of freedom. We will then be more free to use our will to apply yourself to the sacrifice of our self for the sake of our imprisoned spirit, yet only if we do so in earnest will our actions bear fruit. There are many many ways we can pretend to do thus, and deceive ourselves. It is purity of heart that leads us to the place in ourselves where this is actually possible. Thus only those who are ready may undertake this task, and those who are not will have no success regardless of appearances. 

It is God we leads us in this pursuit, it is He who we become. He is not ourselves, nor is he anyone at all. He is transcendent. The way in which we are led is of no consequence. It is that He leads us that is spiritual. It is essential that we learn of Him and that we learn His way, rather than to learn of the countless ways he has gone before. How can we be purified without God? There are many ways we can discover Him, but we must be inspired by him to use these tools correctly. He must be present. Otherwise we are serving ourselves, and continuing in antiquated selfishness. This is why it is said that He has a plan. He does. He has a way and we are most well when we recognize and follow it. When we go with Him we have peace. When we do not, we suffer. If we are ignorant of our suffering, then the further from Him we must be and in a deeper darkness must we reside. Ignoring God is foolishness. It is like shutting of the light and crossing a busy street and expecting not to be hurt. Without Him we cannot see, we do not know. With Him there is sense and reason. Discovering the ways in which we deceive ourselves and ignore Him is the way that we walk with Him to greater light and the eventual liberation of our spirit. We must have Him with us to understand this, to know that it is true. I believe that as we walk this path on Earth, we also walk it in the subtle astral plane. The subtleties of the path are attributed to the subtle nature of this dimension of existence, which is mental, not physical. The physical dimension of the universe of which Earth is apart exist within the astral dimension, within mind. Thus the subtle nature of mind governs the physical nature of Earth. It is God's light that shines within the astral plane that teaches us how to maneuver in it effectively. Thus we must look within our physical nature, within our bodies, to find God, within the subtle nature of our mind and heart. This is where God's light comes from. It is seen by looking within our heart and mind. If we are open to it, it descends from God through our open mind and heart and fills our body. The degree to which we are aware of Him is the degree to which our body and being is full of light, the degree to which we are ignorant of Him is the degree to which our body and being are enveloped in darkness. When you put it this way, it is obviously in our best interest to take an interest in the Divine that shines from within.