Being Inhabited

"I am as free as God. At the same time, I am nothing unless I am God's Will. All of this is in my Conscience." J.G. Bennett [1]

Once we have practiced sensing enough to be able to readily sense our whole body, while also having an open heart and a clear mind, the next step toward presence can be called inhabiting our entire being, body, heart, and mind, actively and intentionally. This means bringing our attention, our will, into our body, placing ourselves within our body, being here in our body. It answers the question of who, who is here, who is present? I am. In this action, I inhabit my body, heart, and mind, fully and wholly. We practice inhabiting all of this, while being the one who is doing so. In that way, we practice being our I. This is real and complete presence. This practice of total presence leads to a true change of being.

As always with the spiritual path, there are yet further steps, including a step which is both simple and transformative. Once it is understood and tasted, it takes the question of who to a deeper level.

In the central core of our presence, in the inside of our inside, we open the back door behind all that and let go of being the one who is present. We let go of being the one who is inhabiting our body, heart, and mind. We relax our very self, letting ourselves evaporate into nothingness, emptiness, into the All, the will of the All, the fabric of the Sacred. Yet the active inhabiting of our body, heart, and mind continues. Presence continues. But now, it is not our personal individuality who is inhabiting our being, who is present. We are being inhabited by the greater will, which is not separate from us. It is the greater will that is present, in, through, and as us. In this, through that open inmost door, our active will embraces the higher active will.

Another approach that can help us in this transition is to open into everything we see around us, into the will behind it all, the will of each and every animal, plant, and thing to be what it is, the will in everyone to be themselves. We open into that all-encompassing, omnipresent will that is also in us, that is who we are. We are That. This radical widening of our identity makes our self so large that there is no trace of smallness or separateness left; we come back into oneness with the big Self that is the Divine All in all. In this way, our receptive will embraces the higher receptive will.

This may seem out of reach for us, but it is not. We already are that. All of our inner work, of completing our soul, of integrating and purifying our will, gradually removes the veils that prevent this realization, this direct seeing of reality. And this is not reserved for the meditation cushion or for a cloistered environment. We can be in this oneness while going about our daily activities. For that, our harmonizing will embraces the higher harmonizing will.

As with all the major religions, all three fundamental modes of will, the active, the receptive, and the harmonizing, when followed into Oneness, lead to same place, the Divine will, the non-separateness that is Love.

For this week, see if you can get a taste of returning to the One Will.

[1] J.G. Bennett, talk on Cosmic Consciousness, November 20, 1972

Follow @innerfrontier

About Inner Frontier Send us email