Consider the miracle of a flower. What is it that causes a plant to flower? Does sunshine cause a plant to flower? Does lots of water? Or is it good soil? Maybe all of these together? Or is there really something more subtle in the nature of the flower itself that causes it to flower? Is it something in the DNA of the plant? Does that mean the whole process of evolution over tons of time is involved?
What other factors might cause the flowering? Does gravity play a part? The season and the temperature? The quality of the light? (Some plants will not flower under glass or artificial light.) What about animals that eat the fruit and spread the plant? Or the birds or bees that pollinate the flower? Do they cause the subsequent flowering of the newly established plants? Are there even subtler influences?
What about presence and love? The intention and attention of a gardener? And is the existence of the world of the form itself necessary for a plant to flower? And what about consciousness? Is there an ultimate force that directs the creation and unfolding of all expressions of form that is behind the appearance of a rose or a daisy?
What if it is a combination of all of the things mentioned? And also what if they have to all be in the right proportion? Is that proportion different for every species of plant? Some plants need lots of water or light to flower. Others will die with too much water or light. There is a unique formula that is involved with the appearance of the simplest apple blossom and the most complex orchid.
Considering all of these influences
When you consider all of these influences and even more that were not mentioned or can’t even be known or imagined, then it truly is a miracle when a flower happens.
It is impossible to say what causes it to happen with any certainty or completeness. Yet, it’s an act of incredible grace whenever all of these diverse, subtle, and gross influences come together in just the right way for an iris or a bird of paradise to open its unique petals to the sky.
Ultimately, if you trace all the factors back to all their causes, you find that everything that exists is somehow intimately connected to the cactus flower or dandelion in your front yard.
We need a vague and powerful word like “grace” to name this amazing interplay of forces and intelligence. Obviously, to reduce it to a formula doesn’t come close to capturing or describing the vast richness of variables and forces at play.
Recommended: 7 Reasons Why Your Spiritual Awakening Has Come To A Sudden Stop
There is no formula complex enough to capture the whole mystery of a magnolia blossom…
Spiritual awakening is a kind of flowering of consciousness
When consciousness expands and opens into a new expression, we call that a spiritual awakening. And while there are as many kinds of awakenings as there are flowers, they are all equally mysterious.
What is it that causes a child to start to awaken to the nature of words and language? What causes the awakening of sexuality in a teenager? How does one suddenly know they are falling in love? Or even more profoundly, how does one explain the birth of unconditional or divine love?
What are the causes of the most profound spiritual awakenings?
Finally, what are the causes of the most profound spiritual awakenings, where consciousness suddenly recognizes its ultimate true nature?
Why does that type of flowering appear in one consciousness today and another one tomorrow? If the formula for a simple petunia is a vastly complex interplay of earthly, human, and even cosmic forces, then imagine how complex the formula is for the unfolding of a human consciousness into full spiritual enlightenment as one’s true nature.
The good news is that we cannot and do not need to know the totality of the formula involved to grow some petunias, and we cannot and do not need to know the formula for spiritual enlightenment.
Yet, we can be curious about all of the factors involved and even play with them to see what effects, if any, they may have in our individual experience of consciousness unfolding.
Sometimes the mysteriousness and unpredictability of the whole process of awakening lead us to shrug our shoulders and say it is all up to grace or to God.
And, of course, that is true; and yet, does that mean there’s no place in this unfolding for our own actions? Is there a place for spiritual practice?
What about meditation, self-inquiry, or study of spiritual texts? And how about devotional practices or the transmission of presence from being with a great teacher or master?
We can easily become disillusioned with any or all of these activities because the results they produce are so unpredictable and varied, and it can seem simpler to avoid the question of their role altogether.
Ask any gardener if it works every time to water and weed and fertilize a plant? Or does a plant sometimes fail to flower no matter how well it is cared for? But does that mean you never water or fertilize your plants?
At other times we can be overly convinced that our practice or inquiry will lead to the desired results, often because it seemed to work at least once for us, or for someone we know.
The only problem with spiritual practices is that they occasionally work! Then we think that we have the formula and that every time we sit down to meditate or ask, “Who am I?” we will have that same experience of expansion or awakening again. That is like thinking you will always have a bumper crop of marigolds every time you plant them.
There is a middle way between denying the importance or role of spiritual practice and having unrealistic expectations that self-inquiry, meditation, or devotional practice is going to, by itself, cause an awakening.
We can experiment and play with these processes, just as a gardener will experiment with different fertilizers or watering patterns to see what happens. It ultimately is all up to grace, and yet, what if grace works through us as well as on us? What if spiritual practice is as much a part of the mystery of existence as anything else?
Maybe we can hold the question of what role inquiry, devotion, effort, surrender, transmission, meditation, gratitude, intention, silencing the mind, study of spiritual books, involvement with a teacher or master, ripeness of the student, karma, grace, and luck play in our enlightenment with an openness and curiosity, instead of a need to define their roles once and for all.
The flowering of consciousness in your own existence is as unique as every flower, and ultimately we are all here to discover how it is going to happen uniquely this time around.
Recommended: The 10 Stages of Awakening That Everybody Has to Go Through
What is your consciousness like right now? How open is the flower of your awareness? Is it still budding or has it blossomed? Just as every flower fades and another comes along, what about now? And now? What happens this time when you meditate? What happens now when you inquire “Who am I?”
How does it feel right now to open your heart with gratitude even if nothing much is happening? What impact does reading this article or any other piece of writing have on you? Every stage of a plant’s existence is valuable and even necessary for its flowering.
Your experience is always adding to the richness of the unfolding of consciousness in this moment. May you enjoy the garden of your true nature, including when spiritual awakenings are blooming, and when spiritual enlightenment seems far away.
(From the free ebook: That Is That: Essays About True Nature available here.)
Hello! I just would like to give a huge thumbs up for the great info you have here on this post. I will be coming back to your blog for more soon.
Thanks for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research on this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more clear from this post. I am very glad to see such wonderful info being shared freely out there.
I do believe all the ideas you’ve presented on your post. They are very convincing and will definitely work. Nonetheless, the posts are very quick for starters. May just you please prolong them a bit from next time? Thanks for the post.
qiyezp.com
그런 다음 Wang Shouren은 갑자기 무언가를 이해하고 공포에 질려 스승을 바라 보았습니다 …
Loving the information on this web site, you have done outstanding job on the blog posts.
Just wanna input on few general things, The website style is perfect, the articles is very excellent : D.
qiyezp.com
그러나 그는 어안이 벙벙한 척만 할 뿐이었다. “폐하께서 구두 명령을 내리셨습니다.”
I needed to send you the little bit of remark in order to thank you very much as before for these lovely solutions you have featured in this article. This is pretty open-handed with you to present extensively all that many individuals would’ve offered as an ebook to generate some dough for themselves, precisely given that you might have tried it in the event you desired. These suggestions as well acted as the easy way to understand that other people have the identical dream really like mine to find out good deal more with regard to this problem. I’m certain there are millions of more enjoyable occasions ahead for individuals that read through your blog post.
ttbslot.com
상자를 여는 순간 모두의 시선을 사로잡기에 충분했다.
qiyezp.com
그때 류진은 아무리 봐도 쳐다도 안 봤다.
This really answered my drawback, thanks!
Hello my loved one! I want to say that this article is awesome, great written and include almost all important infos. I would like to see extra posts like this.
Its wonderful as your other articles : D, thanks for putting up. “To be at peace with ourselves we need to know ourselves.” by Caitlin Matthews.
Terrific work! This is the kind of info that should be shared across the web. Disgrace on Google for now not positioning this publish higher! Come on over and discuss with my website . Thank you =)
What i do not understood is actually how you are not actually much more well-liked than you might be right now. You’re very intelligent. You realize therefore significantly relating to this subject, produced me personally consider it from numerous varied angles. Its like women and men aren’t fascinated unless it is one thing to accomplish with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs outstanding. Always maintain it up!
I keep listening to the news broadcast talk about getting free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the best site to get one. Could you advise me please, where could i acquire some?
Merely a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw outstanding design.
Howdy, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just curious if you get a lot of spam responses? If so how do you prevent it, any plugin or anything you can advise? I get so much lately it’s driving me crazy so any support is very much appreciated.
Hi, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, great blog!
Those are yours alright! . We at least need to get these people stealing images to start blogging! They probably just did a image search and grabbed them. They look good though!
thephotoretouch.com
Ouyang Zhi는 고통에 울기 시작했고 그의 몸은 무의식적으로 경련을 일으켰습니다.
Do you have a spam problem on this website; I also am a blogger, and I was wondering your situation; we have created some nice procedures and we are looking to exchange strategies with others, why not shoot me an email if interested.
It?¦s in point of fact a great and useful piece of info. I?¦m glad that you just shared this useful information with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
Some really choice articles on this internet site, saved to fav.
I like this weblog so much, saved to favorites. “Respect for the fragility and importance of an individual life is still the mark of an educated man.” by Norman Cousins.
https://ddnews.co.kr/blog/2021/08/23/카카오톡-pc버전-다운로드/
https://ddnews.co.kr/blog/2021/08/23/카카오톡-pc버전-다운로드/
Today feels like a day filled with endless opportunities, and your post is the perfect motivation.
Dead pent content, appreciate it for selective information.
https://ddnews.co.kr/blog/2021/08/23/카카오톡-pc버전-다운로드/