[This is a personal essay. It is not intended to be a communication from the Guardian. Glenn Goldman]
Body / Mind / Spirit
or
Living the Life / Teaching the Cause / Firmness in the Covenant
1) Living the Life:
This injunction is primarily about the body. What it comes down to is the simple concept that your body is a temple through which your soul (which is an emanation of God) shines on earth.
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, this commandment to live the life has narrowed to nothing much more than a depressing message of prohibition: Don't do this, don't do that, and definitely don't do THAT! How unfortunate...
This should be primarily a positive message. Yes, of course we should eliminate toxins as much as possible. This means not just toxic substances, but toxic habits, toxic thoughts, and toxic relationships (or if possible, heal the toxic relationships).
Toxins are those things that collapse chi / prana / orgone; in other words, they negate biological life. Anything that promotes healthy flow of chi is part of Living the Life: this includes plenty of pure foods that are closest to the power of the sun, exercise, yoga, meditation, regular cleanses including fasts, etc.
None of this means that we have to eliminate joy from our lives. I think it can be just as toxic to approach life from an attitude of depravation. We can still enjoy tasty, exciting, hearty meals, for example. But that's a far cry from the standard death-inducing American lifestyle that includes a daily intake of high fat, high processed sugar, high salt, etc.
Further, I think the healthier we get, the more our definition of joy changes. For example, I took Sophie for a walk tonight. It's spring, and I should be experiencing my usual allergies. Instead, I had the joy of experiencing beautiful, exotic, subtle fragrances of spring, unimpeded by wheezing and congestion. I could even clearly smell the ocean a hundred miles away! So this is an example of how conquering the cycle of the short-term "fixes" of food addictions opens a path to a more subtle experience of joy.
[Of course, addictions should generally be treated with love and patience. For example, eliminating material toxins too fast without proper cleansing can shock the body. When the usual intake of toxins is eliminated, the toxins that are stored in the cells get released into the blood. They then collect in organs like the liver and can actually cause serious damage if these organs are not given proper attention.]
So much of the Gospels are about Jesus healing the sick. This is because transforming bodily sickness into health is a reflection of, if not a prerequisite for, the spiritual process of redemption. A healthy body / temple in this life in which the flow of life energy is natural and unimpeded, allows us to more vigorously cultivate the spiritual body in preparation for the next life. This is because when our biological existence becomes more attuned to the Source of Life, we are closer to a direct experience of Source. Then GRATITUDE, PRAISE, and HUMILITY follow. These are qualities of mind and spirit that lift us into the condition of the Kingdom.
Wilhelm Reich wrote about the "emotional plague." He recognized it as a sickness of collective consciousness that is maintained through the congestion and blockage of life energy in our bodies. This plague infects all aspects of our being. It's very difficult for individuals to purge themselves of it, because the realm of the human spirit has a "center of gravity" toward which all are drawn. If the center of gravity is sick and dis-eased, then we're pulled toward sickness and disease. Fortunately, God provides us with an alternative center of gravity, but we must take the step of turning toward it to allow it to assist in pulling us out of the gravitational field of the emotional plague.
By taking seriously the injunction to live the life, we are removing serious blockages to our emotional, mental and spiritual development.
2) Teaching the Cause:
This is the realm of the mind. As Baha'is, we want to offer our intellects in the service of God and His Cause. The Baha'i Cause is more than the establishment of the Divine Institutions. The Cause is the establishment, and maintenance, of the Kingdom on earth, and we know that requires enlightened souls. So any movement in the direction of enlightenment is movement in the direction of the Kingdom. Of course, we all know by now that teaching is the most valuable mode of learning. We expand our own minds by finding creative ways to communicate important truths. This includes the traditional didactic (lecturing) modes of teaching, but also includes teaching by example, including (perhaps most importantly) how well we listen. Do we teach the science of God’s love by approaching the world with a receptive, open heart?
Teaching the Cause, defined in its broadest sense, is a way to reinforce the thought patterns of the Kingdom. Our thoughts impact the entire noosphere. When our thoughts are more in tune with the Divine Realm, the vibration of the planet is raised.
Teaching the firesides is a necessary element in our own mental growth as Baha'is because the firesides open a door for our minds to truly understand this moment in history like nothing else can. When we truly understand the present planetary situation, we can be truly present, eyes open, no denial. Truth is an absolute prerequisite of redemption. Once we are awake with our eyes open to the truth of our individual and collective condition, we understand how important it is to share this knowledge because Divine Unity is about the reality of interconnectedness.
A person can have a perfect diet, recite prayers and sutras, practice daily yoga and meditation, be free of all addictions, yet if they do not have the knowledge of the firesides, they will either be like an island unto themselves or part of an archipelago (cluster or chain of islands). They will not have the integrative power of the knowledge of God’s plan. Teaching the firesides is about raising planetary consciousness to the Gospel that the Kingdom is at hand. When a critical mass of people understands that at the core of the Kingdom is the power of the Covenant (which is, after all, the central theme of the firesides), the Kingdom will blossom as a rose.
Yet we all carry with us powerful mental inhibition processes that keep us separate and alienated from the Divine Unity of the Kingdom. Cleansing the body, flushing internal organs, can definitely release mental and emotional blockages temporarily. But no matter how pure and healthy our bodies are, if we are unable or unwilling to fully let go of the toxic mental patterns that are programmed into us, we will fall back into the emotional plague.
Mental patterns are strongly influenced by our emotions, which are developmentally pre-verbal. We are unable to be conscious of the content of our emotional complexes until later stages of maturity, and often then, we remain unconscious of their powerful influence. John Bradshaw explains how important the emotion of healthy shame is to spiritual development. Healthy shame helps us to understand that we are not God, by reminding us of our limitations as humans. Shame starts to emerge during the 2-3 year old stage. Unfortunately, childhood in a toxic emotional environment leads to toxic manifestations of shame. Bradshaw defines toxic shame as "the shame that binds you...[It] is experienced as a pervasive sense that I am flawed and defective as a human being. Toxic shame is no longer an emotion that signals our limits, it is a state of being, a core identity. Toxic shame gives you a sense of worthlessness, a sense of failing and falling short as a human being. Toxic shame is a rupture of the self from the self."
[He goes on to say that for some, the pervasive sense that one is flawed and defective is deeply buried under an exaggerated or grandiose sense of specialness. This is the realm of narcissistic thinking.]
I believe that Bradshaw discovered the functional principle through which Reich's "emotional plague" is maintained. Toxic shame can be thought of as the gravitational force of the emotional plague. All of our toxic shame-based thoughts and mental idols keep us bound.
Think of idol worship. It is the bowing down (either literally or figuratively) to some personal embodied force that is bigger, stronger, sexier, smarter, more beautiful, more talented, more fertile, more powerful than we are. They make us feel small and inferior on the one hand, but privileged in a sycophantic way to be in their presence. We want to identify with the idol because we are ashamed of our perceived inferiority. Our culture is every bit as idol-worshipping as was Rome's. The difference is that our idols are not so much images in temples; they are images on billboards and television, religious figures and gurus, the rich and famous.
The extent to which we still struggle with toxic shame is the extent to which a healthy relationship to God is blocked. Healthy shame is not about making ourselves small, shrinking violets. Healthy shame is not a lack of confidence. Healthy shame is not withdrawal and fear. It is inner peace and comfort in our own skins knowing that we are all forever imperfect before God, yet blessed through our striving toward God. It is reflected through our way of being in the world and in the way in which we teach the Cause.
3) Firmness in the Covenant:
This is the realm of Spirit. A healthy body and mind promote healthy spiritual inquiry, which ultimately makes way for the direct, conscious experience of God’s loving presence. God’s presence on earth is the Tree of Life in the midst of the Kingdom. In the Kitab'i'Ahd, Baha'u'llah says, "A mighty force, a consummate power lieth concealed in the world of being." This force is the Covenant. The Covenant is our connection to the knowledge of God, although many are still ignorant of this truth.
The Holy Spirit that comes through the Covenant raises the vibration level of the planet. It is that alternative center of gravity I spoke of earlier, drawing us toward God's kingdom. We don't have instruments to measure this reality. We can't see, taste, smell, touch, or hear this force. We can't probe it with our scientific instruments. It is concealed. Yet it is real. We can see its effects throughout history, and in our own lives. It is our salvation from the death spiral of the emotional plague that grips the world today.
Firmness in the Covenant starts with healthy shame, which leads to an understanding of our need for salvation from the bondage of the emotional plague. Once we come to terms with the idea that the force of our limited human will alone cannot save us from our collective self-imposed exile from the kingdom, we can truly start to experience the benefits of healthy shame. The Baha’i prayers contain repeated messages to reinforce healthy shame.
When we find peace with our limitations before God, we truly find peace. We can then proceed to cultivate our faith. We can start to plumb the depths of the Covenant for divine secrets that ennoble and vivify the human spirit. Once we have the basics down about the history of the Covenant, we are led toward the Living Reality of the Covenant. It becomes palpable, discernible, something that we can turn toward, tune into and resonate with, thus demonstrating God's Power and God's Might through our lives.
Then, we will truly become lights unto the world.