Re Sebai Maa Reply #4985 to Reading Assignment Level 1 Lesson 1 Elizabeth White #4659
Udja Sebai Maa,
DUA again for you feedback and thoughtful insights regarding this and my other Level 1 Lesson 1 posts.
I wanted to update some particular points you highlighted for me to review , listen to, and look further into, which I will do in the relevant forums.
In this feedback for the Reading assignment, you noted “in this lesson the topic of initiation came up” and you directed me to several posts, which have helped broaden my understanding of different aspects of intitiation.
In one of the posts Seba Dja wrote “Initiation is a ‘contract’ with your higher self to strive to attain Nehaast. Initiation through a preceptor is a formal manifestation of that (contract) relative to a teacher and teaching.”
This made me think of the ‘contracts’ we have with other souls, for example when we decide to come to particular parents, or for particular experiences with others during a lifetime.
We give so much attention to these relationships and here we have a ‘Higher part of us which‘ oversees’ to ensure we move through all of this to a greater attainment..that of enlightenment..Nehaast..and we sometimes have to make a conscious effort to devote a portion of our day to commune with this part of us.
It would be the wisest thing to accept this as the norm for our daily lives.
At the same time I was reading a section in Egyptian Yoga Vol 1- “Common features of Mystical Experience: The goal of Mystical Philosophy’ and you wrote that “ Common features which seem to characterize the mystical experience have been noted in the philosophical and religious scriptures of many countries. “..and that “ they may occur spontaneously once in a lifetime, or several times, and may remain as a permanent feature of one’s own consciousness”
This led me to think that this is the ‘language’ the High Self uses, and that just as Elisabeth Kubler- Ross did research on the near death/dying experiences of people and found the similarities of experience that created a whole body of knowledge, there is a body of knowledge of how the High Self guides and initiates these experiences.
In this post you also commented that re question” How should a beginning aspirant think about the different levels of aspirants”, you were thinking more in personal terms like how should I think personally about this issue as it applies to myself”
From a personal viewpoint I think the issue of being a beginning aspirant also relates to the concept of a ‘contract’ with my Higher Self, which knows the true meaning of why I am here..knows the fullness of who I Am and knows the necessary steps to get there stage by stage
That is where I think the point that “ Initiation through a preceptor is a formal manifestation of that (contract) relative to a teacher and teaching..” is important, because I have come to trust various ways in which I am alerted to directions I should take in my life, and so far it has proved true even when at the onset I would question.
Therefore to be a beginning aspirant means to me, to do the integral practices that allow me to grow in awareness of the guidance of my inner teacher – High Self, and to be receptive to the ‘teacher and the teaching’ that I have been directed to.
Hytp
