The passage that we were reading in study group had a lot to do with identification with the body, identification with the mind, and identification with universal consciousness.
The teaching goes that in reality who we are is the universal consciousness, God. We mistakenly identify with out limited bodies and minds and therefore, see ourselves as limited and mortal and incomplete. If we are able to recognize who we really are, then we will see that we are unlimited, immortal, and all of everything. That realization is what the term "self realized" refers to.
I realized that I shift between my identifications at different times. On an intellectual level, I understand the idea that I am the universal consciousness. When I rest in that awareness, there is no fear, no pain, and no longing. I have everything, I am everything.
At those times the whole world is like a big play going on around me and I can enjoy the drama for what it is, be entertained by it, but not bothered by it.
At other times I am strongly identified with my body. Those are the times when I feel desperate for a husband and children. Those are the times I feel depressed and lonely and worthless and unloved. And this is no big surprise. After all, it is a biological drive to want children. There is nothing more body-identified than that!
But that is all part of the game in this life. Whether I get it or not, doesn't actually amount to any importance. Perhaps that is not my part to play. As a game we used to play in Middle School would say, In two hundred years it won't make any difference whether I got married or had children.
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ReplyDeleteI'll look that up, thank you :)
ReplyDeleteVery cool new blog! I've added it to the list of blogs on the right side.
ReplyDeleteWanting children is a very natural thing for a woman, I think. I've always wanted to mother a girl, ever since I was a girl :-) And when I grew up, I decided that even if I was single for some reason, I would adopt a girl and raise her!
ReplyDeleteThat's a wonderful idea, SM. I will hold on to that plan just in case I find myself still alone in a few years time. By the way, do you know yet if your child is going to be a girl? You don't have to answer here, but you should send me an email! :D
ReplyDeleteI've thought a lot about this entry since I first read it. Having children can be a body-identified experience or a spiritually-identified experience or both.
ReplyDeleteI know that I have always believed that one of the purposes of my life was to have children and raise them in a particular way.
For me, even the conception of my children was a spiritual experience. I won't go into exactly what I mean by that here, but I will tell you that I knew at the moment of conception that I had in fact conceived with both of my children.
I think that just allowing it to happen rather than being bent on it happening might be the key. The same goes for finding a life partner. Sometimes when you stop looking, that partner appears.
It used to bother me when people said to stop trying to hard, stop looking. I never wanted to let an opportunity pass me by. But now I'm ready to surrender to the universe and stop trying to control the outcome!
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