Human beings who have paid attention to the spirituality beyond all religions see the cleansing power of pure self-awareness and what it does in terms of our relationship to people and to Divinity. Enlightened beings have always emphasized the need to investigate the non-verbal answer to the question as to who and what we are. In the book “Conversations With God” by Neale Donald Walsh, this aspect is brought out on many occasions. Once we are interested in the intuitive awareness related to the above investigation, life moves on to a different path and living acquires great significance. People who have gone some distance in that direction, move away from being slaves to belief systems and no longer depend on such ego-satisfying pathways. They automatically see that it is only by observing oneself in various avenues of relationship that there can be the non-verbal perception of the source of our being.Candid Relationship
Once we begin to be interested in this matter of self awareness, we notice how the habitual neurology creates an image about ourselves based on our physical and mental characteristics. Our relationship to people and other things is then governed by the self-interest of the image who we think we are. This illusion of who we are is behind all unhappiness in life. It is that image which gets hurt or flattered in relationships. Once we notice this unfortunate proclivity in us, we wake up to the background cause of problems in relationship. That helps us understand what it means to have candid relationship with people and with everything in life including the relationship with Divinity. In the absence of this – that is, when our relationship is driven by the thought-created image in us – self-centered activity to the point of destroying everything sacred in life is inevitable.
Candid relationship implies an association in which nothing is expected in return and only the joy of the association per se dominates. This can be first noticed in our relationship with two to four year old children because their ego is not yet hardened. By observing our state of mind in such relationships, we notice that the joy in such associations is governed by tenderness, a feeling of love in which nothing is expected in return. From there, we are able to bring in the same tenderness in our relationship with the grownups too. That is when we begin to understand the meaning of candid relationship.
In religious practices, the usual tendency is to depend on God for one’s ego-satisfaction and security. That is, the relationship is one of utilitarian value. Thus, even though one may “Praise the Lord”, the whole thing is directed towards getting something from God. Thus, one’s relationship with God is sullied by self-importance and the utility value arising therefrom.
Pointers from NDE
The NDE brings in an awareness that all beings belong to a harmonious whole and in that there is no separation. That experience simultaneously makes it clear that the essence in all beings is immortal and that is how the fear of life and fear of mortality disappear. These factors augment candid relationship with everything including Divinity. In that ‘Otherness’, sacredness of all manifestations is felt firsthand. Candid relationship is related to sensing the sacredness in the other. That is the source of spiritual awakening.
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