True faith has nothing to do with the investment in an exoteric religion or external diety. One can perform rituals, pray, chant mantras, and affirmations until they are blue in the face. But these outward symbolic acts mean nothing if we aren't turning inward and trusting in the Eternal Intelligence resident within. Faith is an active and guiding intelligence. Should we listen to and follow that Inner Voice, we will be spared much suffering in the long run.
Faith and gnosis go hand-in-hand. Gnosis means to know. Once upon a time I called myself agnostic without even being fully aware of what that word actually meant. I thought it simply meant that I believed in a higher spiritual power, but wasn't religious. If gnosis and gnosticism mean knowledge, then agnosticism is a lack of knowledge (ignorance).
Know Thyself
Does this mean that we totally disregard and turn away from the external world and its beautiful symbols? Certainly not. The outer is the inner. One simple correction or adjustment must be made, however, if we wish to be truly faithful and self-knowing. And that is realizing that the outer arises from the inner. The outer world is like the mirror of the internal spiritual reality, providing us with creative feedback. We can only become conscious or self-aware through the appearance of physical manifestation.
Without this apparent external projection, the universal spirit would have no knowledge of its own potentials. While all would remain united and undifferentiated, all would also remain unconscious. So the universal spirit becomes the dog, the flower, the grain of sand, the man, the planet, the galaxy—to become aware and eternally awaken to self-exploration. But this omniscient spirit is not limited to or by any of these boundaries or containers. The boundaries, themselves, are illusory.
The dove is a well-known symbol for the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. I've used this as a symbol of faithfulness and knowledge and their association with the element of air (or volatility). We connect this element with the mind and with thought. Thoughts and words are like birds that take flight: They're up in the air or in the cloud. Birds are symbolic messengers. Likewise, our many forms of communication travel through the air-waves. Additionally, like-minded people are said to be "birds of a feather that flock together".
Pneuma or prana are two different words describing the vital, life-giving principle of the breath. This is precisely what the Holy Spirit represents, the Cosmic Aleph. We fix, anchor, or ground this volatile spirit (this blind force, faith being blind) through proper discrimination. This can only be established once we firmly recognize the true relationship of cause (inner) and effect (outer). When this happens, a harmonious relationship between the objective, the subjective, and the universal modes of consciousness is founded. Another way of putting this would be to say: The cooperation between the individual and the super-consciousness.
This concludes today's article of 30 Days, 30 Posts challenge. Tomorrow's article will feature the topic of the Future. Yesterday's article was on Gratitude.
Sometimes I feel like I'm a movie-maker for the universe. Like I'm streaming experiences and those experiences are being recorded and uploaded on the Uni-Tube. I do know that although it may seem like I'm out here alone, there's a very clear sense of connection. It's like the universe is serving as the executive producer as I direct my energies and allow the action to transpire as it may.
Loved this post @heathersilvey. Thank you for sharing your lovely words of wisdom.
Thanks for the feedback l∞per, friend! Mental camera focusing in like a laser! Can't help but picture Cyclops from X-Men. All events, situations, and interactions are just passing through and with our mental cameras, we observe the transformation (the picture show) unfold.
I know just the feeling. There's this "me" and then there's this "we". And although the "we" is the greater extension of "me", I sometimes can't help but feel like I am all alone. But then I hear it, the Voice that whispers, "You're not alone." Because Alone/All-One.
A few years ago while I was on some sort of messenger application, the other usernames/avatars wouldn't show up. In place of their name, they all read Just You.