Tag: Agency

The Environment’s Role in Spiritual Growth

Spiritual growth is an inward journey that involves deepening self-awareness, a connection to a higher purpose, and a pursuit of inner peace and enlightenment. Though one might perceive spiritual growth as purely internal, the environment plays an instrumental role in shaping this voyage.

**The Outer Reflects the Inner**: Spirituality isn’t limited to the realm of meditation, prayers, or religious practices. It’s also about understanding oneself to the larger world. The environment serves as a mirror, reflecting the chaos or calm we feel within. A serene setting, like a tranquil forest or a quiet beach, can provide the space needed for introspection, while a tumultuous environment might challenge and refine our spiritual resilience.

**The Playground of Experiences**: Our experiences, heavily influenced by our environment, serve as lessons that guide our spiritual evolution. Facing economic hardships might teach us humility and gratitude while being in a nurturing emotional environment can facilitate feelings of love and empathy. Each environment, with its unique challenges and blessings, offers distinct lessons for our soul’s growth.

**Environmental Genetics and The Enlightened Individual**: Modern scientific understanding acknowledges that both genes and the environment play roles in determining our characteristics. This interplay is also valid for spiritual inclinations. An individual with a genetic predisposition towards introspection and an environment that encourages self-reflection might have a smoother path toward enlightenment. Conversely, someone genetically predisposed to anxiety but raised in a supportive environment might learn to channel that anxiety into a deeper spiritual quest.

Yet, it’s crucial to remember that enlightenment isn’t a one-size-fits-all concept. The combination of genetics and environment produces a spectrum of enlightened individuals, each with unique strengths, perspectives, and wisdom to offer.

### Balancing Agency with Environmental Influences

While the environment significantly shapes us, spiritual growth also involves recognizing and exercising our agency. It’s about acknowledging environmental influences while taking proactive steps to seek experiences and environments that align with our spiritual goals.

For many, this might mean seeking spiritual communities, immersing oneself in nature, or actively creating a personal sanctuary that facilitates inner reflection and growth. For others, it might involve challenging and transforming their environments.

In conclusion, the environment isn’t just a backdrop against which the drama of life unfolds; it’s an active participant, a teacher, a mirror, and a guide on our spiritual journey. Recognizing its influence can empower us to harness its lessons, navigate its challenges, and embark on a more profound, fulfilling spiritual voyage.

Morgan O.  Smith

Yinnergy Meditation & My Book, Bodhi in the Brain…Available Now!

https://linktr.ee/morganosmith

Ego Death

A Symphony of Sense and Surrender into the Nondual Existence

The ego, a fortress of our individuality, a custodian of our senses, crumbles during a profound psychological event termed ego death. This process, which is akin to crossing the Rubicon of our minds, signifies the temporary dissolution of our self-identity, the fading of our senses, and the surfacing of a cosmic oneness often linked to deep meditative states, transcendental experiences, or psychedelic journeys.

Neurologically, ego death presents an intriguing event. Our brain’s default mode network (DMN), which curates our self-narrative and sets us apart from others, shows a marked decrease in activity. We can compare it to a maestro leaving the stage, silencing the orchestra of our everyday consciousness that incessantly plays symphonies of thoughts, memories, and future projections.

In the ensuing stillness, our senses embark on an incredible transformation. The self-nonself dichotomy wavers, and feelings of oneness and interconnectedness seep in.

The conventional five senses, along with lesser-known ones such as proprioception (spatial orientation of our body parts), and thermoception (sense of temperature), recede, rendering the self imperceptible. Even the sense of agency – the consciousness of controlling one’s actions – seems to dissolve.

In place of the sensory absence comes the phenomena of nonduality – the essence of existence, unblemished by ego-driven distortions. Here, the biological reality of our senses converges with an intense metaphysical experience.

Kundalini rising – a sensation akin to a large serpent ascending the spine, activating each energy center or ‘chakra’ – might manifest in this transformative journey. Biologically, it could be perceived as a surge in nervous energy influencing neural circuits, engendering a radical alteration in perception.

The dissolution of our sense of time – chronoception – engulfs us in a timeless realm. Our sense of spatial orientation capitulates, inducing a feeling of non-locality, a state where one’s existence feels omnipresent.

This whole process might seem like an experiential validation of ‘absolute monism’ – a philosophical school of thought propounding the universe’s oneness, discrediting any duality between the individual and the world.

Yet, ego death is not an end; it’s a transformative beginning. The insights gleaned about the interconnectedness of all life forms and the illusory separateness sculpted by our ego can significantly reshape our lives.

From a wider perspective, ego death can be seen as a philosophical odyssey leading to an experiential understanding of consciousness, the essence of selfhood, and the nature of reality. The unravelling of our senses and ego sheds light on our inherent unity, nurturing a profound sense of compassion that percolates into every aspect of our existence.

Ego death’s exploration and its impact on our senses offer an avenue to challenge our conventional ways of perceiving, question our established sense of being, and dive deeper into the mysteries of our inner and outer universe. It’s not merely a psychological event but a spiritual expedition and a philosophical exploration that propels us toward a truer understanding of existence.

Morgan O. Smith

Yinnergy Meditation & My Book, Bodhi in the Brain…Available Now!

https://linktr.ee/morganosmith