The Secret Protects Itself

By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff The sight of someone eating will not appease your hunger. The spiritual experiences of others cannot satisfy your yearning. -Traditional

Q: Daily, I pray, regularly give to charity, do good works and always try to be a good
person, yet spiritual experience eludes me. about having spiritual experiences" I am so frustrated. !lease, how do I go

#dditionally, I feel unless I have these, I will remain incomplete. how I yearn to draw closer to $od. I thought by following my birth religion and the !ath, spiritual experience would be natural outcomes"

A: %he answer to this &uestion, like so many others on the spiritual path cannot be
thought out or answered by ordinary reasoning 'ego(. %he answers must be experienced or perceived through another mode of consciousness) intuition or *igher +nowledge must provide a personal answer. The Secret Protects Itself. In this situation, mind &uestions so heart might respond. r stated another way) Imagination blocks you like a bolt on a door, Burn that bar. - umi Substitute for the word imagination, expectations, ordinary thoughts, emotions and comparison with others. %he task of the spiritual traveler is to learn to ask the &uestion in one mode of thought, and listen too or experience the answer in another. ,ike pre-setting the stations on your radio) Station ./ presents the in&uiry-where are my spiritual experiences" 0lick to Station .1, spiritual awareness) which answers the &uestion: spiritual experiences are natural outgrowths of a higher state of consciousness. %hey present at their own time. %his higher state of consciousness is ,ove of $od and a heart that is empty of all else. #gain, The Secret Protects Itself. 2emember while the every day consciousness 'ego( may be filled with all kinds of concerns, the traveler must learn to still them, for a time, so the heart- that burns for $odmight come forward. In this example, presetting the device for spiritual awareness, often with the help of a teacher, facilitates the change of station. 3ou must learn to listen to the &uiet whisperings of your heart to perceive these answers and have these experiences. ften this training is supplied through right study, with right /

people, and in the right place. It usually involves freeing oneself of expectations and strong emotions. Second, seeking spiritual experience is different than seeking $od. ur teacher used to say: 45hen you come to me, come to me about $od. Do not come here for anything else.6 ften this deception, in the spiritual search, about outcome is buried so deep that it re&uires continual work to offset its effect. The Secret Protects Itself. !xpectations " !motions 7ach spiritual traveler is born into a world of expectation. Daily behaviors and societal standards are presented by family, friends, co-workers, country, religion and self. vertime, these expectations form our operating system and world view. 5e want to go and do based upon what we have been taught and what we desire for self and others) expectations set standards for behavior that have attached to them a whole series of emotions. 8or example, 9oy at accomplishing our goal or sadness as we fail. %his set of personal expectation or goals, in time, can entrap and bind- yet serves an essential function for society as a whole) and is often the basis for our daily behaviors. 8or the spiritual traveler, these are the chains that must be temporarily broken- for the *igher 0onsciousness to work. 0ognitively and emotionally they are a door that blocks the inner awareness. #s indicated above, attached to expectations are emotions: both enrich our lives and help make us human. *owever, in a spiritual &uest, they fill our consciousness and must be stilled temporarily so the *igher Impulse can be perceived and heard. 7motions and expectations are :a noise: in our consciousness: blocking other things from happening. In a spiritual &uest, typical expectation sets run something like this. ;any times, spiritual travelers are unaware, because these expectations are hidden, that it is precisely these sub-conscious thoughts, along with their emotional attachments, that are blocking spiritual progress. < I have been meditating for five years and surely something should have happened by now. r I cannot meditate for more than 1 minutes and surely this inability must be holding me back. < 7veryone knows, 4we have been given enough for the 9ourney): therefore I can pick and choose what I like from different paths. %his techni&ue has worked for me in so many areas of my life 'i.e., picking a vocation, car and companion(. < 5hen performing spiritual exercises, praying, or doing good works we all have an expectation about how we will be rewarded) for example, this activity will make me a good person, I will gain in good works and I feel good helping others. 5hen the spiritual traveler has these often hidden feelings) these feelings become their reward and they do not travel further. %his mind set is a form of :spiritual greed: and must be disarmed by a neutral mental posture.

< 5hen I reach a high level of spirituality, my life will be perfect and complete. Spiritual knowledge is one aspect of a healthy life) spiritual awareness serves as a catalyst to enable other things to happen. < I love to meditate and pray) it makes me feel so peaceful and I am one with everything. r I feel so good when I work at the soup kitchen, helping the homeless. %hink about the emotional attachment. In order to maximi=e spiritual potential, the traveler must learn to recogni=e when their expectation set is operating. #lso the traveler must learn to differentiate between an emotional and a spiritual experience. 5hile expectations and emotions are an important part of healthy living, for many, because they have not been disarmed- both become an obstacle to spiritual experience. The Secret Protects Itself. > > #e are the means of reaching the goal. It is necessary that seekers should cut themsel$es away from us and think only of the goal. - Bahauddin %a&shband > >

If lo$e manifests itself within you, it has its origin in beauty. 'ou are nothing but a mirror in which beauty is reflected. Because beauty and its reflection are both from that one source, it is both treasure and treasure-house. - (ami ????????? Register for my upcoming retreat weekend atop Bangor Mountain in the beautiful !ocono ;ountains, +irkridge 2etreat 0enter on Sufism " !nlightenment, ;ay @A- Bune I, 1A/C. 8or information scroll down to program listing: http:DDkirkridge.orgDprogramsDupcoming-programsD. %hen click on !etailed Information for full program highlights. Read my 2 books: Sufism for 5estern Seekers: Path of the Spiritual Tra$eler in !$eryday )ife and %he 8erryman6s Dream. Both books are also in +indle format and available on #ma=on.com or local bookstore. %o contact author go to: www.stewartbitkoff.com.