Self-actualization is the ability to reach that higher place of consciousness, from which all our activities and creations originate. At this stage we are far beyond satisfying our basic needs for food, shelter, and social contact. We now are at a place where our full human potential can be realized.
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We are now free to be creative and innovative, profound and wise. We no longer have to slave for our daily food and we can go beyond the day-to-day survival game. And yes, it can be lonely there. Even though modern life offers so many comfortable advantages, not many people are ready to make the effort to go beyond the search for daily satisfactions. Or they don’t know how.

The media are screaming for more attention to our outer appearances and very little attention is brought to finding contact with our souls. Not a lot of economic value is placed on understanding who you are as an eternal being, endlessly connected with the underlying order of the cosmos. When was the last time you saw a spiritual master’s enhanced and filtered selfie go viral?
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Perhaps the rarity of self-realization makes it that much more precious. Yet everyone has the potential for it. For self-realization is never measured against what others achieve, but always relates to how much more we have grown within ourselves.

Yes, when you find the deepest peace within the silence of meditation, your reality will be transformed. It takes practice, but you can go to that place again and again until no matter what is going on in the world, you don’t lose your inner peace.
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Staying in peace takes discipline and understanding about the ups and downs of emotions. You can still feel emotions deeply, so its not like you’re walking around like a zombie. It’s just that you recognize the fleeting nature of these emotions. You can be very sad, then go to anger, then to thoughts of hatred, and all these emotions are causing lots of changes in your body such as an increase in blood pressure and a release of stress hormones.

You recognize that a thought preceded these emotions. That’s what triggered them. You think of something someone said to you. You should have said such-and-such back to them. Your heart starts pounding faster. All from a thought. That person isn’t even in front of you. Now you move from them to all people and suddenly your reality is a living hell.

I meditation, you learn how to go deeper than these thoughts and their triggered emotions. You find that place that is one with the peace that lies at the structure of the cosmos and Universe. Your reality then become one of inner peace as you participate in life but do not get taken down in the undertow. You still experience all the colors of the emotions but it is in the context of deep peace.

People who deeply question life, its meaning, its purpose, the difficulty of suffering, the agony of loss—all experience the Dark Night of the Soul. It happens when we are lying awake in the middle of the night and everything seems dangerous, hurtful, painful, frightening, and pointless. We have lost our faith in anything spiritual and feel disconnected from all of life. It seems like a bitter joke and everyone dies anyway.
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This is a necessary step that brings us to our knees as we move along on our spiritual paths. It forces us, through despair and agony, to surrender to the Higher Power that is purposeful, organized, and often beyond our comprehension. We have nowhere to go but to trust in this Higher Power. We know that simply ending it all is not the solution for our Soul can never die. And when we get through to the other side of this Dark Night, it all appears light and clear to us.

It doesn’t take specialness to merit the Dark Night of the Soul. It happens to everyone who is a sincere spiritually-oriented being. And we can’t force it. It happens just at the right time for our growth and enlightenment. We just have to know that it is not the end. It is not hopeless and is a natural, though painful, part of our expansion during this human experience.

It takes work, discipline, and practice to overcome the negative bias of the human mind and the fearful projections of “lower” consciousness. Many people are not willing to put themselves through the training it requires to achieve levels of consciousness beyond the mere day-to-day survival.

Many people do not even think it is possible or even care. They are consumed with getting by with the least amount of pain and loss. They have relied on others, such as priests and authority figures to tell them that such states exist but do not think they are capable of such exalted states of being.

To find their way to their inner light and Soul seems too difficult or impractical. They think that higher consciousness would interfere with accomplishing their daily tasks as they bask in the ecstasy of inner bliss. This is a misconception and comes from visions of hermits living in caves meditating in the mountains instead of people actively engaged with life.

Or higher consciousness has been mystified to be like an endless psychedelic trip of colors, lights and disorientation. This false concept of higher consciousness deters people from “going there.” How are they going to get anything done if they are in a constant state of uninterrupted joy and distracting visual effects? But higher consciousness is nothing more or less that realizing that we are one with the Universe and that it is working through us.
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Because of:

• All the untrue ideas about higher consciousness
• Ignorance that it even exists
• The belief it is the special province of anointed religious figures

. . .most humans have not attained the levels of consciousness of which we are all capable.

People are afraid that if they devote their life to spiritual pursuits they will be held to a standard they cannot live up to. They think they will have to be saints or never make a mistake in compassionate judgment or ever get angry. They think they will not have a fun life either. It sound so empty and boring to sit around contemplating their inner selves and mediating. People are actually bored with peace. They don’t feel alive unless some drama is going on.

They see the exciting lives of celebrities, rock stars, famous politicians and world leaders. These are the people they admire. Most people would not like to live the life of a monk in the freezing Himalayas or a nun in a cloister. They want bright lights, entertainment, parties, stimulants, intoxicants, glitter, jewelry, and material treasures.

But who says we can’t have it all? We can be highly spiritual and manifest a life of adventure, fun, and material comfort. It is just an unexamined habit to think that to live a spiritual live we must give it all up. It is true that most people who are on a spiritual path are not really interested in accumulating material goods or devoting their lives to pursuing them. Therefore the world believes that to live a highly spiritual life, we must live a life of lack, even if the spiritual seeker feels no such loss.
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So the spiritual process, because it requires quiet, peace, and time away from the frenzy of the world, seems dull and drab to some people. But those of us who cannot help but follow this path know that it brings countless joys and revelations that the rat-race can never deliver.

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Higher consciousness is a characteristic of any living being that is in touch with the inner light that corresponds to the fundamental intelligence of the Universe as a whole. Dolphins, dogs, and other creatures may have this higher consciousness, even if they can’t put it into words or communicate it in other ways. It is an awareness of our connectedness to it all at the deepest level. It goes beyond the daily grind, survival tactics, fear, and anything that is ego-based.

Pure consciousness is that fundamental intelligence of the Universe of which higher consciousness is aware. It is the organizing principle behind all of life, the planets, the galaxies, and our souls. We can connect to it any time but we must “get out of our own way.” In other words, we cannot be running interference with never-ending streams of thought, usually based on anxiety, inability to be in the present moment, and a feeling of lack.

They are not the same, but they are related. One cannot exist without the other. If we are not aware of something, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. It just means it doesn’t exist for us. Pure consciousness keeps on being pure consciousness forever. Higher consciousness depends on who attains it, who works for it, who is able to step aside from the endless bombardments of worries and fearful thoughts.
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To the animals and other beings, higher consciousness comes naturally. They do not live fretful lives and they are connected to the Peace of the Universe (unless humans interfere, cage or abuse them). Humans, however, do need to work for this peaceful state. It takes effort to cast aside the barrage of thoughts and fears. That is why meditation, yoga, and other modalities have come to be. Sometimes higher consciousness comes spontaneously to humans, especially after “The Dark Night of the Soul.” But in general, it takes intention and effort to get there.

Socrates wasn’t a hedonist, but his student Aristippus of Cyrene, was what is known as an “ethical hedonist.” He stated that pleasure is the highest good.

Aristippus explained that hedonistic ethical egoism is the concept that everyone has the right to do everything they can to attain the greatest amount of pleasure possible to them. He also said that everyone's pleasure should far surpass their amount of pain. He came to these conclusions after sitting at Socrates’ feet and hearing his musings and stimulating questions.

Socrates never made an explicit stand against hedonism itself. He stated that knowledge is virtue (which is what brings happiness and fulfillment). He was more interested in concepts such as, “Know Thyself” and “The unexamined life is not worth living.” This could be seen as the very opposite of unthinking hedonism, in which people satisfy their every whim and desire without anything else in mind besides having fun.
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Frolicking around in an endless party doesn’t always end well, though. Ultimately, the fun will go away, and then what will we be left with if we don’t know who we truly are in the depths of our heart, inner-mind, and Soul? Gorging on food and drink, sex and riotous living is actually the opposite of what Socrates was pointing to if we want inner peace and contentment.

In a sense, we can determine that Socrates thought hedonism was self-defeating. If we are totally self-interested and seek nothing but pleasure, we are bound to fail because the appetite for pleasure is insatiable. It’s called the “paradox of hedonism.” So, although Socrates doesn’t think hedonism is bad, he just saw it as self-defeating and would never bring true happiness.

Yes. We can go about our daily lives and not notice that someone important to us is stuck in old patterns and beliefs that we have already moved beyond. If we are on a path of growth and development while they are content to stay where they are or regress, it can be a problem. We love them dearly and yet it feels frustrating to be around them.

If we try to talk to them about it, they either don’t get it or get hurt or angry—even if we approach the subject in a gentle and loving way. If we express anger because of frustration with their stuck-ness, it creates a further wedge and does not really solve the issue. If we dumb ourselves down just to get along, it also doesn’t feel good.

It can be very disruptive when we are growing, learning, and expanding into new horizons, while “the other” is mulling around in old patterns. I had a friend for over 35 years who was on my level of consciousness, adventure, and passion for life when we met. Then she got married and took on endless responsibilities of house maintenance and drudgery. She became consumed by houses, repairing them, cleaning them, and all sorts of endless activities that were not in the same creative mode that she had displayed to me for so many years in the past. They made her cranky, distracted, and anxious—testy and difficult to be around.
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I just didn’t buy into why she had to live this life of restlessness and striving while she neglected her Soul. So you can say I outgrew her. It was not a happy experience to feel as we parted. I don’t think she had any insight into why it happened. She was completely unconscious. And I had also been unconscious as it happened through the years. But when I finally woke up, it was over.

My connection to Universal Love and Divine Light has been my ultimate source of happiness since I was a small child. Many frightening things surrounded me and my parents were too ill to intervene. My caretakers at the time were corrupt, cruel, and threatening. I began my conversations with God at about the age of four and found immediate consolation. I felt the peace that was beyond my child’s brain to completely comprehend. But I felt it and it gave me great courage.
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I was able to face my emotional abusers one day at the age of five, and put an end to the oppression. As soon as I felt the courage from a Source within and outside my small, child’s body, I triumphed. I told them, in the limited vocabulary of a little girl, that their reign of terror was finished. I knew then that I was not alone. I knew I could turn to my Source and Originator, some call God, and feel the strength that was beyond my own personal power.

Being acquainted with my Source Energy gave me an underlying happiness that stayed constant through lots of turmoil. That connection has never left me. Actually, during unfortunate events this connection comes in stronger than ever for me. It is the foundation of my life’s joy and peace. And it never lets me down so I know I can trust in it.

Meditation is very simple, though people can make a big deal of it. They feel they need to surround themselves with candles, incense, beautiful music, silken clothes, and be in a completely quiet setting. Only then do they feel they can calm their minds, which is the purpose of meditation, and get in contact with their inner being that is beyond the ceaseless chattering of the mind.
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But we don’t have to make such a big deal out of meditation. We can meditate in the middle of a loud fireworks display or in a prison cell. Meditation does not require any external conditions. And we don’t need to sit in the lotus position, stand on one leg for hours, or do any other ritual to achieve the results that pure, clean meditation brings. Riding a bike, surfing, running, washing the dishes, cleaning the toilet, all these activities and more can be done in a state of meditation.
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For meditation means we are not all over the place with our mind racing between the past and the future. It is being quiet in the now, no matter what is happening around us. Other than that, there are conditions. It’s nice to have a quiet sanctuary where we can retreat and go within, undistracted by the world around us. But even there, a car alarm can go off outside, a phone can ring, someone can be shouting or playing loud music. None of these distractions, though, compare to the ceaseless churning of the mind. Just getting away from it all doesn’t stop that—an inner effort i