"Our Daily Blog" #13

Overcoming the Forces of Mental and Spiritual Paralysis Pt. 2

By Wayne Sebamurti Gentry

(To read part one, click here.)

Suffering from a condition of mental and spiritual paralysis, instead of engaging in spiritual practices such as meditation, we do nothing. Rather than study the sacred writings, the wisdom and teachings of the sages and mystics, we study nothing. Instead of observing the beauty and wonder of nature, we observe nothing. Instead of practicing virtuous behavior like compassion, love, tolerance, and forgiveness, our behavior is dominated by the vices of anger, lust, greed, attachment, vanity and sloth. Too much TV, too much sex, too much social entertainment, too much food, too much thinking, and so on and so forth, lead to over stimulation and conditions of mental and spiritual paralysis. The only way to become liberated from these afflicting conditions is to regain control of our attention.

The practice of meditation is the preeminent means by which our attention can be disciplined. However, Meditation is generally not engaged in while a person is in the throes of mental and spiritual paralysis. To solve this dilemma, we need to meditate in order to change our habits and reorient our minds to spiritual perspectives, values, images, interests and practices. To give us a “push” into this holistic process of changing our habits, it would behoove us to engage in a profound consideration of our own death and dying. Such considerations can bring, to the forefront of our mind, the requisite amount of seriousness needed to take action toward salvaging our attention from the clutches of worldly sensations.

The consideration of your mortality will, undoubtedly, sober you up! Your "options" are to meditate, study, consider, and prepare for death now, or enter the “after- death” experiences unprepared. Your life doesn’t end at the time of your death. Death is merely a transition in, not an end to, life. Birth and death, like dead and alive, living and and dying are, in fact, opposites. However, Life has no opposite and therefore, life has no end!

Our sojourn here on earth has a specific purpose. We are here on this earth to evolve our consciousness, not to indulge our bodies and minds. Stop permitting yourself to be over-stimulated by your own thoughts and/or the thoughts of others (especially the media). Become the Master of your own attention and cease being a slave to the objects of your senses. The choice is yours.

Below, please enjoy an episode of Omni-U Presents: The H3O Art of Life television show, featuring Omni-U board member, faculty member and today's blog writer, Wayne Sebamurti

Gentry.