8. The Benefit of a Physical Incarnation. 2014 © Matt Sharpe
Many times when speaking to people, I have found that they are almost completely unaware of what a blessing their physical life actually is, regardless of the amount of hardship they may face. From this I gained the idea to write on the subject, to point out some of the benefits that people may not realize are available. This way an individual can begin taking full advantage of these opportunities.
Often it is said that life is a blessing, and people may repeat that over and over, but never really gain any degree of understanding as to the reality and full meaning of that statement, the freedoms that living humans possess that the more subtle forms of those who have already translated do not have access to.
In the first place, there is the fact that Soul, the Eternal and True Self, wears many lesser forms in these lower planes. In Eckankar we name five, but in reality there can often be thousands, and in some ways, far more. In descending order each of us is Soul, having a Mental form (the Etheric, or intuitive form is the same form as the Mental body), the Causal form, which is the lowest level of the Mental and corresponds with memory, then the Astral body which is the emotional, and finally the Physical body. Soul operates all of these forms, at varying states of consciousness at the various levels they exist. The limited consciousness we have while in the human state is but a sliver of the true whole available to us, which necessitates the steady learning, experience and climbing up through these various states until reaching the awareness of Soul.
Depending on what one has done, experienced, studied, and or developed through in a Physical incarnation, once the physical life comes to an end that individual can often become very limited by comparison to any average living human, because if they have not developed and expanded their state of consciousness at all, they will exit the Physical body and be thereby limited to the Astral form, which can only travel through time and space within its own area or plane, but having said that, there is a bit of room to descend to a degree back to the Physical plane, just not to the degree they possessed formerly, and only being able to be seen or heard by those with a generally greater degree of awareness, a psychic awareness.
The same conditions apply to the other inner bodies, the Causal is only able to operate within its own frame of reference and or vibration, that being the Causal plane, and while it can go lower to a certain extent, conditions for the beings on the Astral plane appear very very much as they do here on earth, trying to look within, it isn’t always so easy for every individual to be aware of the finer realm of being. And again there are those there who have a more expanded state of being that would also be considered psychic when compared to the masses of that plane.
Likewise the Mental body is limited in the same way, and is equally limited from moving any higher, which is to say, beyond the Etheric plane, that of direct intuition, without having a teacher who is able to give them the experience needed to develop that area of their awareness. The goal being to develop awareness beyond the lower states of duality and to develop into a true Self-Realization, the point of view of Soul.
So, knowing the usual limitations of the inner forms, we now come to the explanation of how the Physical form can give one any greater degree of freedom, and make no mistake, it certainly requires a bit of work.
In the Physical form one has the option of investigating and studying the various spiritual paths and religions that have come into being over the centuries, and while these seem to be greatly varied, and indeed are to one extent or another, but of course the source of them all is one and the same. Where each has gone or developed after the founding can in some cases cause a degree of limitation to come into being, but the Spiritual Current does always exist, so it becomes a matter of one investigating until they find one that works for them, and this is a more recent development as in the past, in many cultures and time periods, religious or spiritual freedom was not necessarily given to or guaranteed for all. And it must be said that every religion is valid and serves a purpose to a particular state of consciousness that its members happen to be in according to their spiritual development to that point.
When one begins their way on a path that has a strong and direct way of inner experience and guidance, the stages of awareness can be explored and developed, and this of course, is what enables one to expand. This ability is perhaps the greatest and most important factor in a spiritual path, because when developing, one can expand themselves in such a way that their state of consciousness continually climbs through the differing levels and planes, using them as a sort of ladder. It is, because of this factor, that achieving a state of balance is so necessary. This applies not only to experiences or habits that one might take in the physical realm, but equally to all of the inner states on the various lower planes, and overall an utter balance between the inner life and the outer life.
Along with this comes the re-balancing of the karmic state, in most cases beginning with a speed up of the burn off rate of the karma, and this can seem to be very harsh, depending on the karma in need of working through, however, if time and effort are spent in achieving it this is found to be well worth the effort required. In this way a living human has an opportunity that not all spirits within have available, that of course depending on the choices that individual makes.
The absolute surest way is to take tutelage under a bona fide Living Master who is able to work with the student inwardly, and also take their karmic state and arrange it into a workable pattern so as to burn it off completely, thereby ensuring an expansion of consciousness. A true Master will act as a channel for the Spiritual Force that descends from the Godhead ITSELF, in Eckankar we know this as the Voice of God, the Audible Life Stream, the ECK. IT descends all the way to the outer edge of the lowest vibratory realm before returning to ITS point of origin, and it is this returning “wave” that Soul can catch and ride back to Its point of origin.
A great many of the folks wandering about the earth have absolutely no clue of this, and for that reason have not discovered the way of returning home, but this same way has been discovered by every Shaman or Saint that has ever lived, regardless of time, location or culture. So, the benefits of having a physical incarnation can become very apparent, as compared to one that has never discovered this active principle of being freed from Samsara, and hasn’t ever discovered the way of traversing this road. One such as that, upon death, will “ascend” from the dead Physical form in their Astral body, but as I stated before, might be a bit trapped or limited in the areas they are able to roam. Of course, it is worth mentioning, that these Souls are not necessarily cut off from the instruction and learning, but they are at a bit of a disadvantage for having not discovered it while living on the Physical plane, and will often have no choice but to earn the right by their inward learning, to be again re-born into the Physical life so as to discover the way home while living in the Physical. The primary necessity is to re-discover the awareness as Soul, but to do the work from the worm’s eye point of view, from the very lowest level and to work back up towards the conscious Realization of God.
The Physical has definite attributes associated with it that are beneficial to a much quicker rise through the planes than is usually possible if the journey is begun without physical embodiment. For this reason, many times the Souls that die, leave the Physical incarnation and immediately see what they couldn’t just moments before, and often they scream, cry and protest because they had forgotten that they even could go to earth and make a much quicker progress through the varying states of experience that are necessary.
Other benefits that one may include in this are not only the aforementioned burn off of karma, but also going through the various emotional states and problems that some may have, as well as a whole host of issues in the varying areas of the mental states and the things to be found within the sub-conscious mind, until one lets go the chains that had previously held them tight to various problems and unpleasantries, until they reach true Self-Realization, become a Saint or Sant, upon which the real adventure and terms of service truly begin. At this stage one has a degree of freedom that could hardly have been conceived of before, they become literally a Law unto themselves, as well as a true chela, and servant, of all Life. But this is merely the true starting place, the beginning of awareness beyond duality and illusion.
One factor that often goes unmentioned is the fact that the Physical self literally makes the choices. The import of this statement cannot be stressed enough, for while we go through life with varying emotional and mental states that at times can drive us to decisions, thoughts, words and actions that can be extreme and unwarranted, our inner selves on the various planes must abide by them. This is an utter requirement as it is always the human self that can make choices from its “blind” state of being. It is this that tends to ultimately strengthen the individual as they progress. Often, in the case of less positive decisions, those inner selves can become quite angered with the human self, to the point where the Astral self will come along and literally swat the Physical self for having made such a rash and unwise decision, as well as for not seeing the outcome one is required to live through, due to that choice. And it never fails when this is the case, that the human self becomes aware of just how bad of a mistake it was as the payment for it comes due. And this makes the purpose of this method considerably more obvious. The “hard-knocks” tend to make the learning be accelerated, as well as the “stretching”, or expansion of the awareness.
So often the human self isn’t the quickest in achieving the understanding of situations and will make choices that he will later come to regret. Whenever the Astral self is forced into a karmic state that it knows better than to choose, it might try to communicate that fact to the outer self. This is largely due to an individual not having awareness on both levels, not being aware that he possesses other aspects of awareness at varying inner levels that can express a difference of opinion on the matter at hand. In many cases, the individual doesn’t realize that it is their own fault. What I speak of is karmic, and the lesson of it must be learned directly by him. This happens for no reason other than that that individual literally chose to make such an experience necessary for their development and the unfoldment of their consciousness.
When physically embodied, the Soul can make the fastest and most direct procession through expanding states of consciousness, without having to be limited in any way. The only limitation possible, is that that one places upon themselves. Spiritual growth is often a painful process, but if one is willing to have the necessary patience and perseverance to see it through, they will always come out on the other side of those painful steps of growth. And upon looking back, will not regret the steps taken in the least, as it is those that have created the new state of awareness and brought it into being.
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