Releasing issues intentionally is one of those signs of deepening spiritual maturity that sounds mysterious and sort of magical to those earlier on the spiritual path. When we’re early in our spiritual development, the idea that we can simply go inside and dissolve an issue seems like nonsense. It seems to take any and all of our energy even to notice what is going on, and in noticing, it seems like everything is an impossible hot mess. Such is the perspective of the unconscious ego, which is totally invested in these issues. Thus, the thing that may try to help is the thing causing all the mess. It’s like tracking in muddy shoes while you’re mopping the floor.
But as I’ve discussed in so many ways on this spiritual awakening blog, we can learn how to go within, and we can learn how to release deeper and more systemic issues. The deeper you go, the more an issue influences everything in you–your whole energetic system. There is a point, however, when it no longer matters how “big” or far-reaching an issue is for you to resolve it. As you continue to dissolve away the unconscious ego, you become increasingly powerful in your inner world. You lose attachment to being any particular way. This allows you to be at peace with your issues–big and small. Ironically that deep acceptance and peace are what give you the ability to intentionally release issues so instantaneously.
As I said, this seems mystical and magical to those who have not done their inner work or are only just beginning, but let’s talk about how resting in presence gives us this natural ability to simply release issues whenever we choose.
Running Towards the Pain
As you develop on the spiritual path, you see that inner pain is nothing but an indicator that something is misaligned with truth. Instead of running from it, you run towards it. You run towards it because only through union is there healing. Avoidance creates more separation, which creates additional pain. So really, running towards pain is one of the sanest things you can ever do to fully address it.
But the more deeply realized you are, the more you aren’t trying to fix it. You simply hear the call of some emotional, energetic, or physical pain, and you answer the door. You invite it in. You sit down with it over tea. You listen to its story even if that story is simply feeling sadness. Once it is done telling you its story, it disappears into you. The energy is re-united into the whole of you. So it does not leave. It is not kicked out of you. The issue is deeply and fully embraced until the you and it are so locked in that embrace that you become one. This is far different than getting rid of an unwanted visitor, and as such, you may realize that releasing issues has nothing to do with any kind of eviction. The truest releasing of issues no matter how painful is an invitation to all the parts of you to come home.
Deepening in Union With Your Divine Self
Much of the time, the spiritual path is taught to people as something they have to do, believe, and say. But the more you rest in truth, the more you see that there is nothing to do, believe, or say. You also realize that everything you do, believe, or say is spiritual; everything is embraced by the divine. So how could you ever err from that truth?
I know this is a confusing statement for those of you earlier on the path. You are still learning all the actions and beliefs that you unconsciously take and have. Ironically, that often requires some amount of energy to right the ship. I encourage you to read some of my earlier blog posts as well as my ebook to help you find the path inwards.
Everyday Spirituality: Cultivating an Awakening
However, none of what I am saying is beyond any of you wherever you are on the spiritual path. This is a key thing to understand. I am no further along than any of you. I simply allow myself to recognize the truth, and the truth moves me. The truth is always here and now, and we actually don’t need any kind of practice to “get to it.” There is no getting at all. But it is often true that many people need to have the experience of spiritual seeking for whatever reason, and spiritual healing is its own distinct path. And thus, the divine allows you to have those experiences, but at any moment, you truly can drop all of it and simply be. In that union, all wounds heal.
The more you rest in union, the more you lose any interest in being outside that embrace. Thus, a natural deepening happens even though there is no where to go. It is an amazing paradox that as you rest in the timeless space where no growth or healing is needed, growth and healing then arise and arise powerfully on their own. So again and again, you learn to open yourself to this union and accept whatever union draws out of you and into your human experience today.
Breaking the Deepest of Blocks
Your innate connection with the divine breaks the deepest of blocks. It burns away self-hatred like it is nothing but kindling. And you learn how to burn with it. You watch your attachments draw you in to issues and emotional upsets from time to time, and you feel the burning. You feel the smoke of your former self rising. It is not necessarily comfortable, but at this stage of your human development, comfort is no longer so heavily prized. You understand that comfort and discomfort are equal parts of the human experience. One is no better than the other, and when you seek out one more than the other, things get muddled. Some people even seek out pain in the no-pain, no gain philosophy as they try to fix themselves. But this is no better than only seeking comfort. Both types of experiences will come and go, and the deepest healing does not come by fixing you. Fixing yourself is a kind of ego imposition on one’s self; one part of you sees another part as broken or hurt. So the supposedly healthy part tries to make this other part be healthy. Rather, the deepest healing comes from seeing that the true you is and can never be broken.
This deep understanding of reality and truth is the reason you lose any fears of burning up. Parts of life will come and go, and many people will not understand how you live, especially at times when you are burning away. But it no longer matters. The mature spiritual being understands that all relationships come and go. If a relationship is rooted in truth, then it is more likely to stay, but that is not expected or needed. The beauty of true union is that you are at peace with how life is, and you know that with each inner block or issue you sit with, more of your natural flow is unblocked and released. That energy is what really moves and nourishes you. And this simple understanding allows you to continue deeper into these inner spaces as the space between inner and outer continues to dissolve.
Dissolving You Means Dissolving Into Everything
The world around us is a fiction. It appears separate, but it is not. Just like being on ice covering the ocean and seeing lots of ice sculptures, you are living in a world of water. The water may be in various shapes, but it is still all water. This metaphor is a way to say that we are living in a world of consciousness; it is a forgetful world. But it still is consciousness.
As you dissolve any beliefs and attachment towards this truth of union, you may find that your energetic boundaries soften and disappear. You start to feel more alive and feel more of everything. Every love and every pain is becoming part of your tapestry of human experience. The tree outside is you. The lawnmower outside if you. The keyboard in front of you is you. The amazing expansiveness of this connection may at times bowl you over, but that too may be part of healing a mind that still doesn’t believe things like this are possible. To the mind, much of the truth of life is beyond its capacity to know, and allowing the mind to fully open without gumming it up with beliefs is part of this deepening spiritual maturity.
And yet, this dissolving profoundly embraces our human experience. It doesn’t shut it out, negate it, or any way limit us. Rather, dissolving into oneness with everything means that we can be anyone. We can melt into the ocean, and then we can reform into a new fluid structure. We are no longer inhibited in how we live.
All it Takes Is a Look
Thus, at this stage of development, some issues really do dissolve with an intentional look. You feel the pull inside. You know how to go inside. You go. You see. That seeing is pure light. It is the light of your awareness that is unafraid to see darkness. The dark cannot exist in this pure seeing. So it evaporates. Some issues literally melt away that fast.
Others still won’t, but that doesn’t change the quality of your seeing. You can continue to see them as you go about your day too. Having dedicated time to focus inwards may be useful, but it may not matter. You can see these issues inside yourself and reflected in others as you go to work, feed your kids, do your homework, research retirement accounts, and more. Your awareness is that powerful that it can burn through and maintain that steady gaze without the same level of physical focus. It’s because you have no need to avoid this pain anymore. It is part of life, and so you look, you see, it breaks. It rejoins you in the flow.
That’s it. It’s that simple.
When Your Spiritual Awakening No Longer Matters
The Spiritual Awakening Glimpse
For some of you, you had a glimpse of this ability during your spiritual awakening. You watched your issue evaporate only to have them come back and storm the castle in the hours, days, or months that followed. This is normal. It’s because most people aren’t done with their issues. They don’t want to be ego-less. So a spiritual awakening comes, and then they put on the old clothes again. The work begins.
But the work is not supposed to be endless. Sometimes I hear people say the work is never really done. Yes it is. It is the ego that does not want the work to be done. That’s why it creates beliefs that inner work is hard or takes decades. Certain parts of our human experience grow and change throughout our lives, but there is a point of inner rest that is always with us. How long it takes us to accept that space and that spacious love within is up to us. We don’t have to wait. We actually don’t have to work. Union dissolves all and sets that which was broken. We simply learn to allow that amazing intelligence to heal us and to grow us. We learn to get out of the way.
Whatever process arises out of that surrender is sacred. From that sacred arising, we grow consciously and we run towards union any time we realize that we’ve strayed again. We run straight at our walls and blocks knowing that they are us and they will dissolve when we meet them with the fullness of our seeing and our love. As such, we intentionally dissolve and release countless issues as we return to our natural divine state in union with all of life.