The Liberating Power of Transformation

Human beings often prefer for things to remain the same. Emotional comfort and mental reassurance are found in the continuity of environments, people, and circumstances. The lower mind forms patterns by habit, and is secure in familiarity. To perform the same tasks day by day in the same manner at the same time leads to a feeling of certainty – that all is as it should be. Thus the same routines of eating, drinking, sleeping, and working continue, often in an unconscious way.

Social, governmental, and cultural structures support the tendency toward predictability, conformance, and repetition of accepted standards. Everyone goes to school or work, beginning and ending at the same time. Certain criteria are subtly implied in every sector as to expected behaviors and actions. One is advised to always comply with, and be mindful and respectful of these standards. The conventional ways are believed by the mass mind to be the best ways to live and achieve in the world.

There also exist many human-created habit forms by which one is expected to express emotions and beliefs. We are encouraged not to say or feel or believe something outside of these permissible parameters. People mold themselves and their children to be acceptable to society by conforming to these standards. These unspoken but fixed rules guide virtually every aspect of our lives, internal and external. When it is known how to behave, think, and feel, individuals and groups feel a sense of security and safety. When these predictable routines and patterns are disrupted, people feel frightened, insecure, and even overwhelmed.

The fixed routines and habit patterns of the mass mind have unseen negative impacts, not only upon the lower mind, emotions, and body, but upon the spiritual levels of being as well. Over time they cause a deep rigidity to permeate the being. The mind becomes fixed, only able to think in the same old ways. The emotions become inflexible, unable to be expressed freely. The body also becomes solid and unyielding, creating a variety of diseases that form a core component of predictability in social and health systems. Continuing to act and behave according to the expectations of mass consciousness serves as a form of denial in which one’s compliance with the standard becomes proof that all is as it should be even when it isn’t.

Sudden, unexpected change thus catches us by surprise, and the response is one of fear, anxiety, and often, immobility. Change brings disruption to the changeless routine. The outcome of that which is outside the predicable pattern is unknown, and the unknown is feared. For example, even though we know that humans are born in physical bodies that must someday die; when someone close to us dies, panic and fear ensue. Though we may acknowledge the reality of death within the limitations of social structure, the habit mind has kept the totality of this experience deeply buried because it represents an extreme change that cannot be controlled or predicted. In addition to death, many other powerful and unpredictable events occur in the midst of our seemingly fixed routines. Illnesses, financial fluctuations, the behaviors of others – these things seem to occur outside of our control. They disrupt the routine, shock the system, wake us up.

The Universe is unpredictable. Even if we try to keep things the same, they must ultimately change. Death is a shift from one form to another. It is perhaps the biggest change that occurs in manifest life, thus it is the most feared. Tremendous amounts of energy, money, and attention are poured into medical research and treatments to fight against death. People speak of someone who "died before his time," completely ignorant of the truth that if someone dies, it is his time.

Perhaps if we did not invest so much energy and power into the structures we have created to maintain our sense of continuity and our emotional security, we would be better able to flow with the natural currents of life and death. We could come to view disease as a symptom of a life out of balance, not just a problem with one small aspect of the physical body. We could choose to view life more realistically, seeing all change as good and beneficial to growth and creation, even those changes that we do not fully understand or even appreciate in the moment in which they occur. We could release others to move in whatever way they feel called to with joy, confidence, and blessings.

The nature of the divine mind is unknowable. All we can know for certain is that change will come throughout this manifest life. Seasons pass, people come and go, our consciousness changes, our bodies change. The physical world is the ever-changing play of creation. The only unchanging reality is the Oneness, the force at once behind and also beyond form. This is why the ancient wisdom teachings remind us to attach only to spirit, and to release ourselves from all bondage to, and belief in, this impermanent world created by the illusions and errors of the limited human mind.

What does it mean to be in the flow? How can we release ourselves from the rigid structures of mass consciousness in mind, emotion, and body? Acknowledging that we are not fully free is the first step. This brings awareness of our bondage into consciousness. Then we can begin to explore the nature of our attachments. This process is an integral part of healing the lower being. When we understand how we have come to be attached to emotions, beliefs, people, circumstances, routines, and social expectations – we begin the journey to liberation.

However, understanding is only the first step. Next we must make adjustments within and without in order to integrate the new understanding into our lives. Whatever we have been attached to must be fully released. For example, if we perform a particular action in order to feel better emotionally, we give up this action and become willing to feel the discomfort. Though it is uncomfortable, we stick with our determination to become free. By this method, we experience ourselves as more powerful, stronger, and fully able to keep a commitment to the higher truth.

When change comes into our lives, whether or not we knew it was coming, we can welcome it and embrace it. By attributing everything that occurs to the will of the divine, we will ultimately come into Self-realization. We begin to see and understand that the spirit that is the true self brings all circumstances into our lives. Whether we perceive these things as good or bad, we can still choose to consciously attribute them to this higher self. By doing this, we shift consciousness and free the habit mind from its rigid limitations. Every time we are successful in bringing this reality into consciousness, we strengthen our connection to the divine.

In ancient times, change was called motion. There were considered to be four basic types of motion, or change. These four types of motion are: change of position, generation and dissolution, alternation, and increase and decrease. Virtually all of the changes we experience in manifest life can be attributed to one or more of these basic types of motion. Change of position is a fairly obvious type of motion or change. Here one thing moves from where it was to a different position. This can be equated to moving furniture within your house, or moving to another state or country. Yet there is also a subtle change of position that takes place in consciousness as we expand ourselves into spiritual awareness. Where before the consciousness was firmly in the "place" of the material world, it changes position, as it were, to the "place" of spirit. Where once our focus was without, it now becomes within. Thus an invisible, yet definite, change of position occurs.

The second type of motion, or change, is generation and dissolution. These are the basic functions of birth and death. Why are they considered as one type of change? They are considered as one motion because every birth into human form is a type of death for the spirit, and every death is a birth for that same spirit. In the beginning, the spirit is fully free, floating through the firmaments of ethereal space or unified into the consciousness of the limitless light. As it enters into its physical form, the spirit’s unlimited freedom dies. When the physical form dies, the spirit is freed, and so experiences birth into the realms of the limitless once again. All beginnings are the end of what existed before. All endings are the movement toward new beginnings.

The third type of motion, alternation, is a subtle variation of the second type. It is seen in the endless cycle of nature. Even in mundane social routines this type of motion is seen where life alternates between working and not working, sleeping and waking, eating and not eating, etc. This type of change is natural, and also occurs both within and without. If fact, our perception of within and without is one of the manifestations of the motion of alternation. In the human mind, we are not continuously conscious, even at the higher states of spiritual attainment. There are always times of silence during the process of receiving revelation and guidance from within. It is important to be aware of this truth during the quiet times in the cycle of spiritual growth.

The last type of change is increase and decrease. Again, the idea is somewhat related to the third type, yet it is distinguished by its association with more or less. In this type of motion, change can be subtle or drastic, great or small. The movement is rapid or slow, and things vary between these two extremes. In spiritual development, a particular vibratory influence may be very great for a time; and then as one grows and changes, that vibration decreases and a new and higher vibration begins to increase.

When the spirit leaves the physical body, the body ceases all motion. However, over time, the physical form will move again. It will dissolve. Even in the death-state of matter, motion and change continue. For a time after death, the spirit also continues to move and change, as it wends its way back into the Light of the Absolute Oneness. Even this Limitless Light moves endlessly, spiraling outward and downward to sustain manifest creation.

Ultimately, all movement ceases with the return to the vast Nothingness from which all Light, all creation, began. This level of being, or more correctly, not being, is not only the ultimate unity; it is a state of total cessation of movement – a vast, dark, silent stillness. This is the only unchangeable, permanent Truth. This is the origin and destination of every single thing presently in creation. The only way to truly cease all change is to return to this primal beginning, this dark womb of the Great Mother of creation.

To flow, to change, and to move: these are the great gifts of physical manifestation and signs of life. When we entrench ourselves in false and rigid structures, we are dead in the midst of life. Change is vibrancy. It is awakening. It is heartening. It reminds us that we are alive, and that the divine spirit is real and gloriously unpredictable. This awareness allows us to fully experience the miracles that occur every moment; for a miracle is the unexpected expression of the reality of the divine. By its unpredictability, it amazes and delights those who witness its manifestation. When we shake out our minds, loosen up our consciousness, do something – anything – out of the ordinary, we declare and affirm our oneness with this miracle called Life.

Embrace change and you embrace life. Embrace life and you embrace the divine. Do one thing differently. Throw away one old rigid routine, habit, or thought. Declare your true spiritual nature by flinging yourself consciously, freely, and joyously into the never-ending river of motion that is the expression of divine life, divine love, and divine light. Don’t wait, for change is immanent. It is happening now. It waits for no one. Go with it and you are liberated. Let the chance pass you by, it may not come again in this lifetime.