You only have one "problem"

Stages of consciousness at some point are replaced by awareness itself, and then stages of growth seem to fall away, at least ones related to “fixing form”. This is my conclusion after reading a variety of blog posts recently, all of which seem to point to recognition of awareness, but some of which also seem to point to fixing thoughts, and creating better conditions in life through thought fixing, which seems like an oxymoron from my perspective. After reading a lot on here from a variety of spiritual pathways, I am concluding as I did years ago about diets, there is no one-size-fits-all spiritual awakening.
In my younger years as a person hell-bent on healing my body using nutrition, I became obsessed with learning about the latest diet and tweaking my own over and over again. Oh, this is the one, this will “fix” me, this will heal my gut, balance my hormones, take the weight off, cure me of my allergies. Then, after years of reading, researching, implementing, experiencing small but unfulfilling wins, going back to the drawing board, and repeating, I had two ahas. One, there is no one-size-fits-all diet, and two, nutrition is only a small piece of the puzzle. I find myself doing the same thing with spirituality.

I read, researched, implemented practices (sometimes with vigor and discipline, other times half-hearted effort), only to realize I would have some small wonderful experience and then back to the drawing board. So I’ve recently reached a point of recognizing that the ego mind is the seeker, and any identification I make with this voice telling me I have to “become” something is the very “problem” in the first place. Aand yet, try as it does to persuade me to jump back on the bandwagon. Most recently, in the form of shaming me for not “facing my demons” that are causing my health issues.

I’ve read so many books and blog posts and heard of many others that talk about how trauma is stored in the body and nervous system, and that if we only face those blocked energies and allow them to release, then the gold at the end of the rainbow is perfect health. I’ve also been fascinated with the work of Dr Joe Dispenza, who has helped thousands of people heal from debilitating and even fatal diseases. What occurred to me this morning, though, is that he isn’t actually helping to heal people’s bodies. He’s helping people to disidentify with form. And here’s where it gets really interesting for me.

In a flash, we can experience the wholeness we already are by stepping completely outside of the bubbles of thought forms into the void, the gap, brahman, or whatever other name you want to give it. We leave behind any story we are attached to, up to and including the story of our personality, our mind-body. And it’s not just Dr. Joe that has shown this to be true; there are many others. And I’ve written on this topic before. Here’s the thing, though. When our ego decides that the way forward is to “heal” ourselves, we are still attached to identity. My path is supposed to look like …. this and not… that. We demonize some experiences and praise others. We say or at least I have, being spiritual means that I will not have any health issues, and yet let’s look at that.
Eckhart Tolle, who has spent many years of his life in a state of acceptance, was diagnosed with cancer. Wayne Dyer, who himself experienced a spontaneous healing, also died of cancer. Jesus was crucified on a cross, and while that’s not a health problem, it certainly doesn’t point to a life of ease. All of these men chose a life of identifying with the formless, and all of them experienced incredible challenges with their bodies. So what if escaping the challenges of the body is not necessarily a one-size-fits-all goal to achieve?
The path to peace isn’t about the body having a life of ease, nor is it about intentionally creating suffering for the body; it’s about experiencing itself without judgment. For a long while, I was on a high horse talking about how we can heal ourselves naturally and how the modern system of medicine is lying to us about what our bodies are capable of, but what if that, too, is part of the play? With the understanding that EVERY thought, feeling, and action is channeled at some point because life itself is the conductor, then it all belongs on the stage. It’s all serving a purpose. Some would say that the purpose is awakening, and while I agree that without that, life is much heavier, to say that is the entire point feels pointless. In essence, it’s saying that formlessness came into form so that it could remember it was formlessness and nothing more.
It’s from that point of view that I have spent far too much time feeling as if life itself was pointless. What’s interesting is that after my daughter passed, I came to recognize on a deep level the fragility and preciousness of life, and then in an endeavor to “seek enlightenment,” I dove into the depths of spirituality for answers, only to find that there was nothing more to find.
We are having an experience, and each of us will have our own perspective and path to waking up to the formlessness that we are, and from that place come to understand that life is built with challenges that don’t fit neatly into one person’s perspective of the “perfect path to awakening” any more than there is a one-size-fits-all diet. So, yes, while it is true that our bodies, when released from the stories of form, may instantly be restored to perfect health, it is also true that there is a conductor of the chaos we call life, who may direct our paths in an alternate way because some of us are playing a different tune.
Years ago, when I really started to embrace diving deep into spirituality, I listened to a series by August Gold called 12 Weeks to a Way of Life that Works. In the opening session, she declared,

" You have only one problem (not a health problem, money problem, relationship problem, etc.) and that one ‘problem’ is a belief in separation from source.”

What she didn’t say was that eradicating that belief would cause you to be a millionaire with a perfect body, and all relationships would be a dream come true. The mind is what makes it a problem. Awareness only sees an experience as form.

Thanks for reading. Until we meet again.