| | | FAITH, DEVOTION, BHAKTI (Seekers’ Lesson 1)
Erle Frayne D. Argonza
Magandang araw sa inyo! (Good day to you all!)
For this moment’s reflection, I’d focus on the faith element in the Path. A Seeker is someone else who should have filled up shis (his/her) ‘glass of faith’ and need not over-focus on faith-centered works. Just like when one needs medication, the moment that the ailment had healed, one must take off from the medication right away or else face deleterious consequences of overdose and over-exposure to the medication.
So is it with faith. Faith is the central affective (emotions, feelings) element in the soul, it makes one a ‘believer’ at the minimum, and is definitely needed to ascend the heights. But faith alone isn’t enough. There are the cognitive, intuitive, nirvanic and higher elements in the Self that must also be given attention. Let us presume that the Seeker has the faith element well built up, and will need not demonstrate overtly that s/he believes in God and the transcendent reality.
There are two things to note here by the Seeker. It concerns devotion: the ‘externalization’ of faith. One, constantly check out on your devotion to your ‘significant Others’. And, two, practice some form of Bhakti. Devotion to the ‘significant Other’ (loved one, boss, fellow, etc) and devotion to God Almighty are very much intertwined. To say that one can show utmost devotion to God while showing bitterness, apathy and sociopathy to fellows is non-sense. They must co-condition each other. Failing to observe this synergy, one will flounder in the path.
Devotion to the ‘Significant Others’
Based on the observation of sociologists, the complex web of social relations we call ‘society’ cannot be possible without devotion manifested at the micro-level: the level of ‘in-groups’. In these groups we perform roles of great diversity, roles that shift as we move on from one situation to another. We encounter our ‘significant others’ in these groups, and they comprise the base of our ‘lifeworld’ (lebenswelt).
During the early heydays of the founding of sociology, the intellectual giants Weber, Durkheim, Simmel, Mannheim, Cooley, G.H. Mead, Sorokin and Schutz went down to brass tacks right away, designed the methods that will uncover the veils of reality at the micro-level, see what forces make society possible at that level, and assess the human condition within the templates of that reality. Their finding was a homogenous one: devotion is the most singular, powerful force that cements social bonds, and the social bonds in return produce norms that, in return, make institutions and society possible.
So, Noble Seeker, it all boils down to devotion. With high devotion, social order; with low to negative devotion, social chaos. Systems of representations form a rubric from out of devotion...Read the whole post...
- Tags:
- ascension,
- cosmic,
- devotion,
- esoteric,
- metaphysics,
- seekers,
- spiritual,
- wisdom,
- yoga
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