COMMUNITIES OF KINDRED SOULS

 
There are many reasons why people join spiritual groups. Often, people look for answers, advice or solace in times of crisis. Others simply look for spiritual growth and enlightenment. I belonged in the first group when I began my search, and progressed to the second group after I outgrew the first. I didn’t have any expectations when I started and just went with the flow. In time, I realized an emerging pattern that happened in most of these groups. You begin with an open mind and end up with a closed one.

I began my search because of a spiritual crisis in my life. I couldn’t find the answers from my religion, and so I looked for them in the other faiths. My introduction to these groups began with a common adage: Keep an Open Mind. It was a reasonable enough expectation, I thought, as there may be certain principles or practices that I may not be aware of or may find strange. In extreme cases, they may even be contrary to and prohibited by the belief system I grew up in. As I progressed in my studies and practices, I was prohibited to do certain things in order to move on to the next level. If I found these prohibitions reasonable, I would comply in order to progress. The higher the level I reached, the more demands and prohibitions were imposed. This went on until I realized an ironic twist in my spiritual development. I began with an open mind and was now approaching a closed one. In fact, I suddenly realized that I was a product of a similar conditioning and indoctrination by my childhood religion. Feeling indignant at being controlled and not having any freedom of choice, I knew instinctively that it was time to move on. This pattern would repeat itself in subsequent groups. What surprised me more was why people stay in these groups at the expense of abdicating control over their lives.

People stay in a spiritual community because the group satisfies an important inner need in their lives even if it means giving up control and surrendering to another. Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Motivation provides a helpful structure to explain behavior in this regard. According to Maslow, human beings are motivated by a hierarchy of five unsatisfied needs, and that certain lower needs need to be satisfied before higher needs can be addressed. General basic physiological, safety, love, and esteem needs have to be fulfilled first in that order before achieving growth and eventually self-actualization .

There was a spiritual community that settled in the wilderness of Canada. The leader of the group provided for everybody’s needs. Not only did he give the community spiritual sustenance, he provided for food, looked after their safety, nurtured love, and recognized the elders of the community. The community prospered and grew. One day the leader suddenly died, and the community expected the son to assume all the father’s responsibilities. The son refused to accept the father’s legacy and announced that each member of the community must do their share to work for the survival of all. In time, many left the community because they no longer had someone to fulfill their needs.

Man’s basic need is to survive and to provide for his food, shelter and clothing. He will use any means to achieve this even at the cost of surrendering his soul. Missionaries are successful in proselytizing because they provide food and other basic necessities in poverty stricken areas. Their ability to satisfy the physiological needs of the hungry will assure them of a continuous stream of ready converts.

With his basic needs addressed, man now seeks to meet his concerns for personal safety, financial security, health and well-being and a safety net for unforeseen circumstances. A spiritual group that provides income and other material benefits for its members in terms of employment or business opportunities will always attract loyal followers. Faced with a choice between a group that provides both spiritual and material sustenance against one that only offers spirituality, people whose security needs are wanting will surely choose the former over the latter.

With physiological and safety needs fulfilled, man needs to belong and to be accepted by others. They need to love and be loved. This need is so strong that, given the right kind of peer pressure, it overcomes the two lower needs. The devotional fervor of a group can transform it into a fanatical machine capable of doing almost anything for the leader. The kind that cult groups are made of. One can easily discern that a group without nurturing love will soon be extinct. Fellowship among kindred souls is just as important as lessons from spiritual treatises.

The next need involves the human desire to be accepted and valued by others. This normal need for recognition has led to people joining groups that are perceived to be more popular or more prestigious whether or not the teachings are the same. It has led to the formation of hierarchies and ranks with symbolic or actual powers and authorities within the group. People will argue that these are all unnecessary for people in genuine spiritual work. Unfortunately, in this mundane existence these glamour constructs are effective motivational and marketing tools if proselytizing is the group’s ballgame.

After satisfying and mastering all his needs, man finally reaches and realizes his full potential. That could mean a number of things, but simply put it means becoming everything that one is capable of becoming. A self-actualized man on the spiritual path need not depend on any group to satisfy any of his lower needs. His only need is enlightenment. And when he finds it, he achieves transcendence.

Provide food, shelter, clothing and you will bring the poor and hungry at your doorsteps. The group who provides a regular income stream for their leaders and followers will gain a loyal cadre of workers. The community that provides emotional support and solace will nurture dedicated devotion among its followers. A spiritual teacher who can bestow the title of master on his astute leaders will have an army of workers throughout the world. A master who has nothing but wisdom to offer and simply points the way will have a handful of advanced souls for students within the threshold of enlightenment.

Is one group better than the others? Are any of these groups wrong? No. They are all right because all roads eventually lead towards the same direction. People will find a group suitable for their needs given the circumstances at a particular point in time. Sometimes, they join several groups at the same time, as they cannot find a single one that can satisfy all their needs. When they are ready to move on, another teacher appears and another group joined. We only have eternity to find what we ultimately seek.

DO PETS HAVE KARMA?

 
In one darshan, a student shared his grief about the death of his beloved pet dog. He was so distraught that his pet was accidentally ran over by a speeding automobile. He wondered if pets like humans are also subject to karma. It was a simple enough question but it required a deeper understanding of karma to answer it.

Karma is a Sanskrit word that succinctly encapsulates the Law of Cause and Effect in one word. In physics, it is expressed as “for every action there is a corresponding reaction.” Steven Covey calls it the Law of the Harvest after the biblical adage: “You reap what you sow.” Confucius calls it the Golden Rule: “Do unto others what you want others to do unto to you” or conversely “Do not do unto to others what you wouldn’t want others to do unto you.” It is simply Divine Justice where a person’s actions are adjudicated and retribution exacted by the Lords of Karma. No one gets away from it; unless, one knows the rules.

There are two sides to karma. There is good karma when one is rewarded for good deeds, and there is negative karma when one is punished for the bad deeds. Traditionally, good karma is referred to as grace or good fortune, and bad karma is referred to as sin or misfortune. According to common practice and beliefs, an act becomes a sin or a crime if it conforms to 3 conditions: (1) it must be a grievous act, (2) it must be committed with full knowledge, and (3) it must be committed with deliberate intent. Without all three conditions present, an act is not subject to karmic retribution. Using these criteria, do animals suffer from negative karma?

Because of the level of their soul development, animals do not possess a developed will. They have a primitive form of will, which we call instinct. Since their behavior is ruled by their instinct, their ability to make choices is therefore impaired. As such they find themselves more as victims of chance and circumstances rather than one of deliberate karmic retribution. No. Animals do not suffer from karma.

Man is a different story altogether. He has the capacity to discern and make choices and as such is held fully accountable for his behavior. The motive of the act is more often the crux of the matter when it pertains to humans. Soldiers, legal enforcers and executioners, for instance, do not suffer the consequences of killing other people because it is their role as instruments of the state to protect its people from external harm and aggression.

In the Mysteries, there is a fourth condition that affects the mechanism of karma. It involves the act’s emotional-mental or kama manas dimensions. It must be committed to satisfy an inner desire. The act must be performed in a detached manner in order to be free from its karmic consequences.

There is a classic story about a samurai warrior to illustrate this point. On the command of his daimyo, a samurai warrior set about to hunt, capture and slay an escaped fugitive. After successfully entrapping and immobilizing his prey on the ground, the hunter unsheathed his sword ready to decapitate the fallen foe until the latter unexpectedly spat at the samurai’s face. The samurai was consumed with anger and shame at this act of defiance but quickly becomes aware of his reaction. He returned his sword to its scabbard, bowed to the fugitive and departed leaving his prey unharmed.

This story contains all the four conditions that could make the act of killing subject to or exempt from negative karma. The act of killing in this story is clearly a grievous act. It is to be done with full knowledge and intent by the samurai. However, since it is to be executed in a detached manner in compliance to his duty for the benefit of the State, the negative karmic consequences of the act is conceptually neutralized. The situation changed completely after the fugitive spat at the samurai. Being angered and humiliated, the samurai’s intent changed into a desire for revenge to appease his personal ego. Had he proceeded to slay the fugitive, he would have committed an act deserving negative karma.

Many people claim that it is easy to get away from karma. All you have to achieve is detachment. Unfortunately, attaining complete detachment is not exactly easy to achieve. It may take many years, even many lifetimes. But as always, the first small steps are easier to do. Begin with the Golden Rule.

IN SEARCH OF THE UNICORN

 
My fascination for the unicorn began when I met my teacher, Mang Mike. On one off-guarded moment, I asked him if unicorns really existed. He smiled and said yes. When I asked him where I could find one, he just smiled. It was his sweet smile, which meant that I had to look and find one for myself. Thus my quest to find the unicorn began.

My starting point was Mang Mike’s version of the legend of the unicorn.

There lived a wild beast in the forest that the village people feared and dreaded. The beast was black and appeared to look like a menacing steed. To put an end to this terror, the village offered a handsome reward to capture and tame the beast. No one dared to accept the offer, until a young virtuous maiden stepped forward to take the challenge. She entered the forest and followed the tracks that led to her goal. The beast stood still as the maiden drew her hand and touched its brow. The steed turned white and assumed a noble bearing. On its brow, an alicorn appeared. From that day onwards, the beast was known as the noble Unicorn.

Mang Mike explained that the beast is the symbol of the savage man, and the virtuous maiden is the symbol of the soul, the higher self. Unless man is touched by the soul, he will never be awakened to his true Divine nature. The Unicorn is the symbol of the awakened man. With this in mind, my search for the unicorn led me to places where he had a significant presence – London, Paris and New York City.

You will find the unicorn practically everywhere in London specially where the government offices are located. This is because the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom contains a Unicorn on the right and a Lion on the left supporting the shield between them. Historically at odds with each other, the English Lion and the Scottish Unicorn finally found themselves united under a single monarch King James VI of Scotland in 1603. The unicorn has been a part of the official seal of Scotland since the late 1300s under King Robert III. The Scottish Unicorn is in an upright position with a crown worn around its neck and a broken chain loosely floating around its body. The crown symbolizes the Scot nobility and the broken chain as the Scot’s spirit to be free preferring death over subjugation. What I found interesting is the position of the alicorn. It originates from the crown of the unicorn. This position was more prominently depicted in a wooden relief of the Scottish Unicorn I found in Westminster Abbey. I wondered if there was any significance to this.

The Musée de Cluny in Paris houses one of the greatest works of art of the Middle Ages, six fifteenth century tapestries of the Lady and the Unicorn. The Lion again appeared juxtaposed to the Unicorn. Five tapestries were interpreted to symbolize the five senses, and the center tapestry, the most beautiful of them all, was the synthesis of the five. This particular centerpiece was entitled A mon seoul Desir or "My own sole desire" after the words inscribed on the panel itself. It was interpreted as the lady's desire to be free of the passions provoked by ill-controlled senses to ensure right behavior. In all the tapestries, the Lion was on the left and the Unicorn was on the right displaying similar if not opposing attitudes towards the Lady's behavior. This led me to interpret the Lion as the symbol of the dark forces and the Unicorn as the symbol of the light. The Lady represented mankind performing a balancing act between the two while being subject to the taunting of the senses. Ultimately, she chooses to stay at the center; detaching herself from earthly possessions as a means to spiritual liberation. Oddly, the unicorn’s alicorn was again on its crown.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has quite a collection of Medieval Art housed at The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park. Among these are the famous Unicorn Tapestries, a series of seven tapestries depicting the Hunt of the Unicorn. The theme of the tapestries runs parallel to my own quest and may perhaps contain the clues I have been looking for. The story begins with a party of men commencing their hunt. They find the unicorn and a chase begins. A struggle ensues but the unicorn escapes. Unable to capture the unicorn, the hunters prepare a trap using maidens from the court to ensnare the beast. He finally succumbs to the charms of the maidens and is rendered defenseless. The unicorn is killed, resurrects on the third day and is held in captivity in the garden. The Unicorn Tapestries draw much of its symbolism from Christian beliefs with allusions to the unicorn as the symbolic Christ. Since the soul is the Christ within, could we possibly be unicorns?

The insights drawn from the preceding unicorn encounters only began to make sense as I advanced in my spiritual practices. One day after performing certain practices as a group, we were told by our teacher to look at each others' brows. We were shocked to see a thin stream of light projecting from our foreheads. We began to scan each others' alicorns comparing lengths and thickness and validating that what we were seeing was not an illusion. It was only then I realized that man had the capacity to become unicorns. But what did it take to reach this stage.

Like the Hunt for the Unicorn tapestries, it begins with the search. Beset with an inner dissatisfaction with his life, a seeker looks for answers to existential questions. He begins a journey of self-discovery to satisfy an inner longing to find meaning in his life. In this journey, he is confronted with the world of duality and, like in the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, he confronts the world of senses and works towards balance and right behavior. While undergoing purification, he finally experiences glimpses of the spiritual reality around him like sporadic sightings of the unicorn and searches for other means and practices to hasten his development. But his quest continues to be frustrated until he is finally touched by the virtuous maiden - a resurrection process of dying to one’s lower self and being reborn as an awakened soul, your true self. He resurrects and achieves the alicorn of enlightenment but ironically, however, remains captive in the garden of earthly life.

But according to Highland myths, the unicorn, like a true Scotsman, would rather die than lose his freedom. How can the unicorn be held captive? The answer came to me in a dream. I dreamed that I was riding a satiny black stallion when suddenly it turned white and began to fly. I asked Mang Mike if unicorns could fly. He answered that winged unicorns exist. It is the symbol of a liberated soul, a Buddha, one that is no longer subject to the wheel of death and rebirth. And so the Scottish Unicorn finally made sense to me, the broken chain around it is another symbol of the liberated soul. The royal crown around its neck and the alicorn above it, are fitting symbols of a winged unicorn’s uninterrupted link to the cosmic consciousness.

So do unicorns exist? Take a good look at the person sitting next to you. If he or she has a noble demeanor, and exhibits a peculiar stream of light from the forehead, you have more likely encountered a unicorn.