In the Upanishads there is a story of a boy who asks his father how he may become enlightened. The Father says to him,"Read scripture (words of the enlightened), surround yourself with enlightened company (Those that have dedicated themselves to a life of expansion and spiritual growth) and study the Self/Spirit (Isvara Pranidhana) in the meditation on the voice of God (the Aum or the universal principal of creation,
the absolute). The very thing Jesus did every time he withdrew into isolated prayer as was mentioned in the Bible.
One does not get enlightened by reading a book or stating affirmations to be enlightened. There is no feedback when one immerses themselves in self speculation regarding ideals of enlightenment that are based on projections of the ego. Good intentions are not always inspired by wisdom or enlightenment if you are in a state of consciousness that is seeking to know enlightenment but also filled with a myriad of beliefs about enlightenment and the world that is the projection of ego.
Just as the Bible has been influence to billions of people but has not given anyone experience of Selflessness, scripture can only point the way if one can decipher the meanings and truths that are not part of the domain of the ego.
If anyone offends me, without attachment to my own views, or to my egoic mind, and opinions, I consciously choose to have the Presence of Spirit, the insight and wisdom to "turn the other cheek"--i.e, yield, surrender, without resignation, to the flow of life in the Now.
This will be an interesting experiment to see if one can change just by saying they will do something different than they are used to. To command wisdom to be a part of their experience and demeanor and to cast habit off just by saying it all will happen by making a conscious choice to make it so.
It takes something greater than habit or good intentions in the experience of ones self to erase the stresses of habit.
In my own experience of evolution I have been tempted time and time again and had to make a choice to surrender my stress and judgment to the greater experience of myself. Without it there is nothing to shift the awareness to other than a fabricated ideal. Juggling ideals and the opposite to ideals generally ages most people and leads them to build castles of definitions which shape the personality into ego. It is this ego that relegates the soul to be in the world and
of the world, rather than in the world but not of it, where spirit or consciousness is the essence of ones Self/self. Where the face of God is the immortal spirit rather than the image the ego identifies with in the mirror on the wall with all of its degrees, personal achievements, beliefs and labels.
In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali there is a saying. It is impossible to surrender to the supreme being without first having an experience of the
supreme being because ideas fabricated from the imaginings of the ego are inconsistent and illusive.
In order to realize the power of now one must have an experience of the now, the infinite potential or the absolute. When one meditates on
that it grows into the awareness of all experiences. With the assistance or reflection of similar or like minded individuals one can bounce their experiences off of one another to refine and isolate the now from illusions and projections of the ego.
For me personally, this did not come overnight or even after reading a dozen books on enlightenment, I immersed myself in the reflection of those who had themselves dedicated their lives to the
now above and beyond everything else.
It is said, "No one can solve a problem from the level in which it is created." All earthly problems are a result of the separation of man from his own spirit as he has isolated himself in his Egoic kingdom of personality and opinion, or as Jesus called it Hell.
In order to heal the world one has to "heal" themselves or
"enter the kingdom of heaven" as it was also said.
This is the Science of Yoga or the "Power of Now", or another way it was put, "Surrendering to the Christ"
