A Major Step to Self-Awareness is Contentment.
This is a high state of being, and is generally achieved only after rich and varied life experience and sincere contemplation. I am told that just over one in four humans reach this state in their lives, and of those, nearly all do so in their later years.
Contentment is a state of being that radiates a human being's "total okayness" with the way things are with them. It is a total and positive embracing of their present physical, mental, and spiritual condition. It is absolute self-love, self-forgiveness, and self-acceptance.
In a state of Contentment there is no need for anything to be other than what it is right now with one's body, with one's mind, with one's spirit, with one's inner experience and with one's exterior circumstance. It is a feeling of perfection and an experience of quiet inner peace. It is the absence of self-recrimination and self-criticism. It is the presence of self-worth.
Contentment is most often achieved in stages, or "minor steps." Not all of these steps must be taken. It is possible to "skip" over some of them. Yet most souls move through most of these stages.
The minor steps to Contentment will be described here in the next couple weeks. Below are the first two.
This is a high state of being, and is generally achieved only after rich and varied life experience and sincere contemplation. I am told that just over one in four humans reach this state in their lives, and of those, nearly all do so in their later years.
Contentment is a state of being that radiates a human being's "total okayness" with the way things are with them. It is a total and positive embracing of their present physical, mental, and spiritual condition. It is absolute self-love, self-forgiveness, and self-acceptance.
In a state of Contentment there is no need for anything to be other than what it is right now with one's body, with one's mind, with one's spirit, with one's inner experience and with one's exterior circumstance. It is a feeling of perfection and an experience of quiet inner peace. It is the absence of self-recrimination and self-criticism. It is the presence of self-worth.
Contentment is most often achieved in stages, or "minor steps." Not all of these steps must be taken. It is possible to "skip" over some of them. Yet most souls move through most of these stages.
The minor steps to Contentment will be described here in the next couple weeks. Below are the first two.
Abandonment
The first stage, or minor step, in the journey to Contentment is abandonment. This is the moment in the Continual Life Cycle when the mind notices in consciousness that the soul has emerged from unity with The Essence. This occurs some time between birth and the age of 3 months, when the infant becomes aware that it is no longer In Union with The All.
The mind immediately begins to seek an explanation for this, and during the first weeks of the body's physical life the young human being is enveloped in a Cultural Story that satisfies this longing of the mind. It is the Story of Separation.
Repeated exposure to this Story, through the hearing of it over and over again, and through the direct experiencing of it in the outer reality, causes the infant human to abandon its own Inner Awareness of Oneness With The Creator. This is a natural part of the Process of Self Awareness.
In that process:
The mind immediately begins to seek an explanation for this, and during the first weeks of the body's physical life the young human being is enveloped in a Cultural Story that satisfies this longing of the mind. It is the Story of Separation.
Repeated exposure to this Story, through the hearing of it over and over again, and through the direct experiencing of it in the outer reality, causes the infant human to abandon its own Inner Awareness of Oneness With The Creator. This is a natural part of the Process of Self Awareness.
In that process:
- First, the Holy Being known as the infant human becomes aware of Itself.
- Second, it becomes aware of Another.
- Third, it comes to understand that the Self of which it is now aware is Individual--a Being Unto Itself.
There exists within the consciousness of this young human a memory of a Larger Essence, a Larger Being, of which it is a part--yet it no longer experiences that it is a part of This Essence. At an unknown moment it abandons this memory in favor of the experience it is currently having. Abandonment is a step taken by 100% of all human beings.
This is not a sad moment in the evolution of the Being, but a sign of growth. It would only be sad (in human terms) if the mind of the Being never grew beyond this point.
This is not a sad moment in the evolution of the Being, but a sign of growth. It would only be sad (in human terms) if the mind of the Being never grew beyond this point.
Requirement
The second stage, or minor step, in the journey to Contentment is requirement. This is the moment when the mind begins to experience a natural yearning for an experience of The Essence from which it intuitively knows it has emerged--even as, at a human level, the infant has a natural yearning for its mother.
The Being now understands that it is separate from the experience it wishes to have. The young mind begins searching for a response to this awareness. There must be something that it can do. It has learned to please its earthly mother by doing certain things in a certain way. Maybe, the young human reasons, it can please its Unseen Creator in the same way--by doing certain things.
This totally understandable, if completely inaccurate, childish assessment is then confirmed by the infant's adult mentors as they demonstrate for the Being, through actions and words, more and more of the Human Cultural Story of Separation.
At some point the young Being is made aware that there is, indeed, something it can do--in fact, a requirement to do certain things--in order to be allowed to return to union with that Essence that it once experienced.
(The Essence is called by many names, depending upon where on the Earth the Being is born. For the purposes of this discussion the word "God" will be used.)
The young Being will begin to assimilate ideas, gained entirely from its environment, that it is not good enough, that it is not worthy, to return to God by simply remaining in its natural state. The Being then seeks every manner or means possible to become worthy. It wishes to do what is necessary in order to return to God and to have an experience of God once again. It now completely understands that it is separate from God and fully accepts that there is a requirement it must meet to bring an end to this condition. Requirement is a step taken by approximately eight in ten of all human beings.
This is not a sad moment in the evolution of the Being, but a sign of growth, for the Being has understood that its "home" is with God, and it wishes to do something to return there. It would only be sad (in human terms) if the mind of the Being never grew beyond this point.
(It should be noted that all very young human beings imagine that there might be something they can do to experience being One with The Essence again, but not all are told that there is a requirement they must meet in order to do so. Some never hear this idea, and so avoid embracing it as their truth. A tiny portion of young humans are actually told that there is nothing they have to do to return to The Essence. Still others--perhaps the smallest percentage of all--are brought up in a sub-culture which tells them that they are this Essence to which they wish to return. By far the largest number of developing Beings--as noted above, perhaps as many as eight out of ten--are raised in an environment that speaks repeatedly of a requirement that must be met to return to God.)
Next week in this space: Resentment, Argument, and Discernment--the final minor steps in reaching Contentment.
With Love,
Neale
The Being now understands that it is separate from the experience it wishes to have. The young mind begins searching for a response to this awareness. There must be something that it can do. It has learned to please its earthly mother by doing certain things in a certain way. Maybe, the young human reasons, it can please its Unseen Creator in the same way--by doing certain things.
This totally understandable, if completely inaccurate, childish assessment is then confirmed by the infant's adult mentors as they demonstrate for the Being, through actions and words, more and more of the Human Cultural Story of Separation.
At some point the young Being is made aware that there is, indeed, something it can do--in fact, a requirement to do certain things--in order to be allowed to return to union with that Essence that it once experienced.
(The Essence is called by many names, depending upon where on the Earth the Being is born. For the purposes of this discussion the word "God" will be used.)
The young Being will begin to assimilate ideas, gained entirely from its environment, that it is not good enough, that it is not worthy, to return to God by simply remaining in its natural state. The Being then seeks every manner or means possible to become worthy. It wishes to do what is necessary in order to return to God and to have an experience of God once again. It now completely understands that it is separate from God and fully accepts that there is a requirement it must meet to bring an end to this condition. Requirement is a step taken by approximately eight in ten of all human beings.
This is not a sad moment in the evolution of the Being, but a sign of growth, for the Being has understood that its "home" is with God, and it wishes to do something to return there. It would only be sad (in human terms) if the mind of the Being never grew beyond this point.
(It should be noted that all very young human beings imagine that there might be something they can do to experience being One with The Essence again, but not all are told that there is a requirement they must meet in order to do so. Some never hear this idea, and so avoid embracing it as their truth. A tiny portion of young humans are actually told that there is nothing they have to do to return to The Essence. Still others--perhaps the smallest percentage of all--are brought up in a sub-culture which tells them that they are this Essence to which they wish to return. By far the largest number of developing Beings--as noted above, perhaps as many as eight out of ten--are raised in an environment that speaks repeatedly of a requirement that must be met to return to God.)
Next week in this space: Resentment, Argument, and Discernment--the final minor steps in reaching Contentment.
With Love,
Neale
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