A Yoga of the Heart

   Spiritual practice -- separate from the actual facts of one's life -- simply does not work.

For spiritual practice, I suggest a "pilgrimage into one's heart": of course, a living human being cannot long be separate from one's heart. In the intimacy of heart surgery, it is for awhile, possible -- but only with the aid of medical staff and the appropriate technology. But in terms of the "construction" of a spiritual life, practice is either heart-centered or it is subject to heart-failure...

How does one take a "pilgrimage into one's heart"? So let me answer with another question: would you pay for a massage from a therapist who had no hands? In other words, two hands are needed for a quality massage, so too, employing two hands is necessary for the pilgrimage that I suggest...

The first hand is simple enough -- for a task as challenging as any other: stilling the mind and elevating one's consciousness. The human brain does not "generate" its own consciousness. Rather, it is a "receptor" of the One Universal Consciousness. While the human brain naturally receives its share of the Universal input, it has to be trained to differentiate between life-enhancing thoughts and life-separation thoughts. By itself, the mind flits about like a hummingbird: now here, now there... So here's the "technique": sit down in any comfortable position. Mentally bow to the Divine Beloved -- however one "conceives" of that Being. Now take up a two-syllable holy word or phrase, such as "Amma" (Mother), "Abba" (Loving Daddy), Allah (Holy One), Jesus (Yeshua bar Allaha), One Love (Divine Consciousness), or any other that pleases one's heart. Mentally repeat the first syllable with the incoming breath, and the second with the outgoing breath. This is called "meditation". As other thoughts enter the mind: no big deal, just gently return to the chosen Holy Word or phrase... Repeat twice a day for twenty minutes...

Now the second hand: meditation must be accompanied with a vigorous intention to cultivate compassion in one's outlook and daily life: from relationships to one's work, from one's buying and selling to the votes one casts: "no separation" is fundamental to all spiritual practice! One simply cannot cultivate a genuine spiritual practice if the "second hand" of one's practice does not embrace everyone, everything, and the entirety of this precious blue Planet. Minimally, one must strive to reduce the pain and suffering of as many "others" as one can. This means that contemplation must take the "next step" of love-in-action... 

The pretence of separation -- or that one can "retreat" from the world to live in a distant, untouchable "commune of bliss", free from the internet and social media, free from the "news" and the guilt of having become a bystander, and free from the obligation to "give-a-shit" about a world in pain -- is just another disgusting illusion. As Dostoevsky wrote: "Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams". Love requires that we give our lives as "rent" just for having had the incredible opportunity to LIVE! What a wonderful thing: to live! As mystic-activists, we step to the forefront of the next step in human evolution: we can now begin to significantly co-create the New Creation, the Garden of Infinite Delight, right here on our home Planet: Earth... Certainly a better way to live than many that pass for "life"... (Oh, and "yoga" actually means to "bring into" or "remember" our Already-Existent-Union-With-The-Divine Beloved... for that, there is no "better" way than that of the heart)...