Keeping Our Balance

We are so much more than our physical bodies but we often fail to recognize this fact because these bodies are the ones we most clearly perceive with our five external senses. Our body that grounds us into the physical world and dominates our perceptions when we are alive. It is the slowest vibrational body with the most solid definition. It is the most limited body and yet we must possess a physical body in order to develop spiritually and ultimately realize enlightenment.

We are however a combination of four different bodies. One is physical and three are energetic. The latter three are identified as the mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. These four bodies are individual sheaths composed of four distinct vibrations of matter that surround each life stream, providing the vehicles for the personal entity’s journey through time and space. The mental, emotional and spiritual bodies are located only in subtle matter – that is matter that has a vibratory frequency that lies beyond our physical sensory perceptions. They are composed of fields of energy moving around and through our physical bodies. The sum of these various energetic layers is also known collectively as our aura.

We are however a combination of four different bodies.

Our mental body is the energy field in which we store all of our core beliefs about ourselves, about others and the universe. It assists us to process information, solve problems and generate higher abstract thought. This is where mundane thoughts, analytical reason, logic and everyday memories are produced. Whereas positive feelings like love tend to make ourselves accept and connect with other things and people, the mind always keeps us separate.

This happens because it compares and contrasts the current situation with memories from previous experiences, trying to find a pattern or a label with which to classify the situation. And so the thoughts of our lower mind always lie in the past and always create separation. When we clear our negative thoughts and limiting understandings we shift our external perceptions, allowing for greater clarity and love to infuse our being. And then when the mental body is fully cleared, we can link to our heart centre (or chakra) and begin to follow our higher self rather than our ego.

Our emotional body is the centre of our feelings and emotions - love and hate, attraction and repulsion. With the mind it gives us desire and imagination. It is the location for sensual enjoyment and aesthetic appreciation. When we sleep we interpret astral perceptions received by our astral senses as dreams. The emotional body holds all the memories and experiences we have ever encountered. We often refer to its sum total as our ‘emotional baggage.’ In Jungian typology the emotional body corresponds to our feeling faculty. In popular speech the emotional body is referred to as the ‘heart’ and the mental body as the ‘head.’ These labels correspond to the location of the different energy centres predominant in each of these two bodies.

Our spiritual body is our soul link to the universe. When this body is purified from limiting beliefs and perceptions we can more fully connect to the Divine Will and to unity consciousness. This body organizes and vitalizes the physical body and acts as a bridge between the physical, mental and emotional energies, by way of the chakra centres and the median connections. This is the body that acupuncture, healing, homoeopathy, yoga and meditation directly acts upon. Often identified as our body double the spiritual body holds the blueprint for our ascended or glorified body – the one we will inhabit when we have evolved into full consciousness or enlightenment.

Often our three non-physical bodies are described by clairvoyants as being of a blueish or violet colour, consisting of a matrix or network of lines of energetic force. The emotional body is known to be composed of ever-changing swirls of colour. Because of the vibratory nature of light from which all creation is expressed, certain colours represent the predominant emotional characteristics of each individual person. An angry or aggressive person will have a great deal of dirty red in their aura, an intellectual person will project a large quantity of yellow, a loving emotional person will manifest green and pink and a spiritual person will display blue or violet.

Balancing the Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Bodies

For many years we’ve been led to believe that having a high intelligence quotient (or IQ as it is called) was our passport to achieving a successful life. Yet the standard IQ test only measured raw intelligence of a particular kind: reasoning skills, reading, writing, analysing facts and data. Many schools relied on these IQ test results to stream students into specific learning groups and to assess their probable performance abilities.

Organizations such as Mensa were formed to bring together individuals with very high IQs. Founded in England during 1946 by Roland Berrill and Dr Lance Ware, Mensa today has over 100,000 international members. Despite the fact that all of its members have a very high IQ, not all of them are successful or are high achievers. Surprisingly a number of Mensa members have been school drop outs or are found in very ordinary and mundane occupations. It’s also interesting to note that the abilities accessed through the IQ test are those associated exclusively with the left brain activity of logic. Over time, research and experience has proved that intellectual intelligence alone does not predict academic or professional success as had originally been thought. There is another important element involved - that of emotional intelligence.

If IQ determines how intelligent you are EQ determines how you use that blessing.

Emotional intelligence (EQ) measures a person’s ability to understand, empathize and work with others. EQ is also related to an individual’s ability to manage under stress. Because these aspects of life experience demand the use of intuition, innovation and imagination they relate more directly to activities associated with right brain functioning. Also no IQ test has ever been devised that can test for creativity. Creativity enables one to perceive analogous relationships - those connections between widely differing objects or ideas - and then to synthesize something totally new from them. Genuine creativity will manifest a completely original idea or chain of thought which could lead to a new and unique application. IQ seldom changes but EQ can be altered through self-discipline or profound experience. Nonetheless they both function in tandem and are vitally important to personal development and success.

If IQ determines how intelligent you are EQ determines how you use that blessing. Individuals with high EQs are better equipped to make use of their creative talents. Frequently these are the ones selected for advancement within their chosen work because they also possess the ability to inspire others to action and to greater confidence. People with high IQs and low EQs find relating to their peers difficult, are ineffective in handling stress constructively and are often unable to maintain healthy emotional connections. By developing a greater EQ you can more easily access innate intelligence and amplify your empathy, thus leading to better relationships and career advancement. Those too who are not afraid to think outside of the box will more freely embrace their uniqueness and the exceptional qualities of others. And so the experts tell us that a heightened EQ will bring greater happiness because this state of mind allows us to focus on feelings as well as facts. A strong EQ makes us more able to access the benefits of our IQ since both are required to build a successful career, forge strong relationships and enjoy creative pursuits.

A new balanced spirituality is also appearing on the planet today. It is drawn from the teachings of St. Benedict, the Father of western monasticism, and is known as the Via Media or Middle Way. And from the east we have been gifted with the Buddhist teachings of the Middle Path. Both forms of spirituality are inclusive of the opposites without being controlled by one or the other. They value both positive and negative experiences, the higher and the lower. This new spirituality is a challenge to the consciousness of people who are caught either in the old religious dichotomies, or in reactions to the old style religions. The traditional religious dichotomies describe reality in terms of right and wrong, good and evil, with specific belief systems clearly defining which is which. Those who take the opposite stance of discrediting these views maintain that there are no such objective standards, or at least not in the way they have been traditionally defined.The new balanced spirituality avoids judging the opposites. Instead it finds value in all expressions of life. Its understanding is that whatever exists is part of the whole, and therefore meaningful in terms of potential learning for us humans. Much of what people see as wrong or evil is a great challenge to our selfishness and ignorance, urging us toward compassion and understanding. It is not a matter of identifying what is wrong and trying to eradicate it, but of discovering what the lessons are and learning from them. The so-called negative side of life exists as a means of teaching us what we would not otherwise be challenged to learn. And when we finally learn what we are challenged to learn, the negative no longer needs to be present for its purpose has been served. Through our learning we then become capable of expanding our consciousness while being of greater service to others.

... the middle path values all things, all people and all experiences as a useful and even a necessary part of the wholeness and the balance of life.

When we think about a see-saw we note that its fulcrum, or central support of balance allows for very little up and down movement. The extremes at the two ends furthest from the middle point, experience the greatest swings of highs and lows. If we can remain in our spiritual centre or middle point of balance we will align ourselves to the middle way. We can then acknowledge all things, experiences and events, without being caught up and emotionally involved in the dramas at the end points. And so the middle path values all things, all people and all experiences as a useful and even a necessary part of the wholeness and the balance of life. On this path we are not inclined to de-value any experience, any person or any reality. Instead we appreciate all that we are and experience ourselves as a manifestation of universal beauty, goodness and love.

About the Writer

Mary Mageau is a spiritual teacher and author. Her classes in meditation and spiritual awakening have been offered through the Queensland University of the Third Age and The Pine Rivers Community Education Program. She has also contributed articles to spiritual and metaphysical journals, web sites and leading magazines in Australia and New Zealand. Her two books published by Boolarong Press include: Insights – For an Awakening Humanity and A Little Book of Living Spiritually. Grevillea Records has recorded and produced her audio CD entitled, Journey Into Meditation. Mary has also written two free e-books that can be downloaded by clicking on the link below. www.thecominggoldenage.com/Preparing_For_Ascension.htm Enquiries: km3highnote@bigpond.com