The reality of self-awareness

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, January 20 — Society is experiencing a grave disorientation, which complicates and even impedes the approach to reality. This disorientation is caused by some philosophical trends that have corroded the foundations of conscience by calling into question the existence of reality.

The faithful must affirm the existence of religious truth to counter modern trends denying the existence of an absolute reality. Humanity's sense of reality has created a crisis in the rapport of humanity with itself, leading many to escape by subscribing to points of view, which deny that an absolute reality exists.

Humanity's search for certainty has led to overvaluation of scientific achievement with its emphasis on hard facts and exact measurements. Scientific reasoning, I reckon, is often endowed with the right to decide the things of which we can be certain relegating other forms of consciousness to the margins of attention.

The foundation of true spiritual growth and personal development is the awakening of self-awareness. What then is self-awareness? It is that, by deep time in solitude and silence, where the authentic self can be rediscovered and allowed to realize what it already knows.

Often I have wondered, why does time and space appear to shrink while everything else is expanding. Why do superficial conversations tend to reign over deeper dialogue and why do fear, anger and melancholy appear as fast growing emotions. The root cause of these and many other associated malaise of an accelerated world is a loss of true self-awareness.

I believe every person wants both freedom and stability. Many men and women have a checklist of characteristics that they look for in a partner and relationship. When an item on the list is not met, they automatically dismiss that individual. Many modern relationships and alliances sound more like business mergers that genuine human partnerships.

A relationship is about two people caring for each other. I believe, when you find someone you can call your best friend and that person is happy and productive in life, then that is all you want. People love to figure out the quirks, likes and dislikes and decide what they really want and need in a relationship and this sounds reasonable.

It is only when true awareness is recovered, that the struggle ends and peace and humility is restored. One then sees the utter beauty of the underlying harmony, which lies behind one's illusions of chaos. One then smiles with rapturous delight that is enlightenment. Spiritual enlightenment is the ability to keep the light on, stay awake and aware and sustain the process of illumination.

There is a tidal wave of interest and enthusiasm in spiritual intelligence. It is of enduring and classic value. But only the individual can make decisions, which leads it to discover the power of individuality and the reward of independence.

At the heart of all spiritual traditions is the pursuit of enlightenment and personal enlightenment was not built into our education. Our lives would indeed be meaningful, if every now and then, we could embark on a gentle but deep exploration of the true nature of self-awareness and what it means to be enlightened.

Regardless of the circumstances or situation, one should explore and discover the deepest dimensions of spirit and spirituality, glimpse the beauty of the eternal, immutable spiritual laws of our universe and how they affect our life. One should seek to understand the causes and consequences of all emotions, meditate and reflect to restore self-mastery, write and direct one's own life-script and sustain a consistent level of contentment.

Give yourself the opportunity, a gift, almost a necessity, to step away from the treadmill of daily life and rediscover your natural rhythm. All obstacles to spiritual development and every barrier to change within individuals and organizations to boot can be traced to our faithful companion - the ego.

In a world that often seems to run on the fuel of emotion, how are we to understand the place of emotion in our life? It is certain, that a life without purpose is a life without meaning and a life without meaning is not living. We are indeed creators of meaning but only when we live our purpose. I think, once our consciousness is liberated from the ego and we have developed an awareness of the eternal laws of life, then we can accurately discern both, our inner and outer purpose.

There are eternal, immutable and invisible spiritual laws, which define how our universe works. We have an innate awareness of these laws but we loose contact with this awareness, and to our bitter chagrin, get disoriented. To get back on track is an important task ahead.