Spiritual Growth - Morning Star Institute -- July 2003

July 2003 SPIRITUAL TEACHING
You Mean Spiritual Development Takes Work Part 2!

In our New Age world of instant mastership and shamanization, a great disservice has been done to the many true seekers of spiritual knowledge and power. And a great injustice has been done to the various spiritual traditions whether they are called shaman or druid. Like the late Vince Stogan, Salish Elder, once told me, “Jim, people are playing with this knowledge. In our tradition, to become a healer, you must go to the mountain and bathe, not once, not twice, many, many times until your song comes to you. You must suffer and quest for power.”

There is no way around it. To become a true healer, spiritual leader and spiritual teacher, we must work on healing our past mental, emotional and spiritual woundings. And to accomplish this, we must return to the source—our mother—the Earth. Being taught techniques, going on “shaman journeys” with your mind—a mind that employs discursive knowledge, being transmitted so-called ancient magical symbols, and conducting ceremony—hallow thou they may be, without the appropriate healing of one’s self, is as vacant as a Sun without fire and light.

You are the master of your destiny. Look into a mirror and decide from your heart what your truth is and what you need to do.

As I discussed last month, in the Japanese spiritual tradition, ‘practice of the Way’ is known as shugyo—hard training that engenders enlightenment. I feel that there are five virtues to cultivate during your shugyo: courage, forgiveness, love, compassion and wisdom.

Courage—I’ve yet to hear of anyone being able to cultivate courage by lying on a floor with a bandana over their eyes and a drum beating in their ear. Courage comes from the heart. Cultivating courage comes from entering the unknown, facing one’s fears and then going for it. It comes from getting out of one’s comfort zone and leaving behind all that is familiar.

Forgiveness—To forgive is to release. And what better place to let go than in nature. It is here where we unload the baggage of our past and present. For forgiveness is an on-going journey of heart.

Love—This is the unconditional love—divine love that is reflected in the earth of our incarnation. It is the caring and respectful spirit developed through our relationship to each other, the earth and all it’s creatures.

Compassion—our struggle to the light embodied in our suffering through hard spirit training internally and externally, which forges our sword of compassion.

Wisdom—there are facts and information available to the masses and the masses seem to prefer only the so-called facts. To seek is to hunger after knowledge, the knowledge within heaven and earth. And in the seeking comes the experience and thus—the wisdom.