Spirituality in 7 Words
James Burgess
The wisdom of the universe in 7 short paragraphs.
Even though Universal Truth is infinite and unknowable, we can manage to grasp the basic principles that govern our own reality. To do so requires us to determine these rules by ourselves, refusing the opinions of religious teachers and others who want to persuade, none of whom have the whole picture. Their helpful guidance may be useful, yet the last word is ours and this defines us as unique beings.
Wherever we focus our attention is where we progress. How we focus it – for example with optimism or pessimism – fundamentally changes the way we perceive what we encounter. In this way thought itself creates the substance of life. All of our life experiences add up to a complex and disguised mirror of how and to what we give attention.
The mind is but the surface of the heart; the heart is the depth of the mind. So what we hold in the heart is reflected in how the mind focuses attention, and therefore our total life experience. We can deepen the heart by the constant practice of kindness, and showing appreciation. This enables happiness and joy.
Life is change; change is life. The birth moment of every new venture contains within it the seeds of its own ending; this is good because only through death can we comprehend life. When we realize the non-permanence of reality, we develop the ability to detach ourselves from outcomes, and see the ups and downs of life with a degree of humour and circumspection. Passion, though enriching, is blind and can so often lead to sorrow.
Although it seems otherwise, all things, all beings, and all moments are interconnected. We can intuitively grasp this wisdom – that all this diversity is an expression of one unified field of being – by focussing our desire, and learning how to reconcile with the desire of others. This is what desire is – a process that teaches us to remember ourselves as part of the whole.
By following our desires, eventually we will be thwarted and so encouraged or forced to learn to see ourselves through the eyes of others. We thus discover how to behave with greater sensitivity. We come to understand that all suffering occurs because we are all in pain, all of us – and so we respond naturally with compassion, one of the essence qualities of humanity – that awakens as we develop awareness.
If there were not, at root, an absolutely trustworthy harmony in the workings of the universe, then nothing at all could continue to exist. The laws of the universe are reliable and safe, and the more we learn to trust – that this harmony is within us and all things – the more we know joy. Our abiding happiness depends upon optimism and trust.
7 Words is a way of seeing all things in life in simple terms. Although it can be applied to spiritual questions, there are no dogmas or philosophy inherently present within the system.
|
