The Devotional Presence
The devotional presence is an aspect of original being, consecrated by eternity: the point of the recurring cosmic idea of existence. It is the sacred offering up of personal existence in gratitude to the Most High. The natural creatures of the earth instinctively demonstrate their devotion, as in the song of the bird at dawn or the majestic roar of the lion at sunset. But only in the human being can devotion be made conscious to reach, in love, the divine principle behind the formal appearance of the world.
To be devotional in the real spiritual sense differs from being a devotee in traditional religious practices or the worship of the mind as part of the scientific fraternity. From the religious standpoint, devotion is equated with faith, which is the conviction that there is more to life than the visible sensory world would suggest. The scientific position maintains that what cannot be analysed or repeated through experimentation in a laboratory is a fabrication of the truth. Consequently, the exposure from birth to these two conflicting viewpoints polarises the natural receptivity of the mind; without this division, the human race would exist in harmony with goodwill to all of humankind. Clearly this is not the case in these times.
Living the truth, as we’ve discovered journeying through this book, is both an inner participation with the abstract levels of our reality and the practical application of right action in the outer world. Within the structures of higher mind there is a procedure that operates as a two-way conductor system between the creative stream of life continually entering existence and what is returning back through the psyche having experienced life on earth. This is the basis of the cyclic process of life and death. Supporting this vast creative movement is the realm of consciousness which preserves energetically the living experience of the individual. When a man or woman reaches a degree of self-knowledge that instigates the conscious return to reality, the devotional presence draws the intelligence back to its source.
Indications of induction into the devotional are when there are involuntary offerings of gratitude to life that interrupt the continuity of the day. There can be spontaneous tears, not of sorrow but of the joy of having discovered something inexplicable to love, and a yearning to enter the depths of the still mind more profoundly. The indirect way that the masses endeavour to connect with the inner mystery is through prayer. The error has been the assumption that prayer works only for good. Although often heartfelt and sincere, when someone prays for another to be blessed or saved, or for something to be changed for better, it creates an opposite polarity of force within the psyche. When multiplied by the billions of prayer waves continually being projected, the result is the overall chaos and injustice endemic in the world.
True devotion asks for nothing except to be allowed to love the source of life with a deeper reverence and humility. Regardless of what is happening externally, there is always something to be grateful for, even if it’s just to be able to see the sky or to have enough food for the next meal. Human beings are the wanderers of time, carried on the waves of endless karma until, through Grace, the light of the spirit signals that it’s time to come home.
Extract from e – book: Living the Truth. (click on Books tab)