Gently, gently...

Jonathan Cainer is very positive today (always).

Sagittarius (ascendant): 'Your most hopeful vision, now, reflects an accurate understanding of the situation you face. The changes that are coming up next will be good for you.'

Leo (sun sign): 'You need a chance to stop and think. You also have to get in touch with your deepest feelings and decide what these really mean. That means you simply must play for a little more time. Don't feel that there is no time because a situation is so urgent. It's much better to proceed slowly and get it right.'

I read the latter as being about my belief (or previous belief) that I have until August to 'get my spirituality sorted out.'

Also it relates to my deeper feeling that any exploring of a new faith or philosophy should be done slowly, without taking in too much teaching or information at once, so that things that resonate can filter through, trickle through, in a more organic way. If I take in too much head-on teaching at once I don't have time to integrate anything with my current understanding, and the result is anxiety and a kind of shutting down.

One small morsel I have been digesting is the importance in Advaita Vedanta of the soul or self, the fact that it is eternal and one with Brahman. That sacredness of the self makes far more sense to me, resonates far more, than the Buddhist concepts of no-soul and no-self. I realise it's terribly boring and whitebread and Western of me, but I do believe there is some essence to us and that it is sacred and intimately connected to God / Brahman / the guiding principle of the universe. While the phrase 'Higher Self' triggers my 'fundamentalist brain''s fear of all things 'New Agey', it also makes a lot of sense to me.

(Because I am trying to take in only small morsels of A.V. one at a time, I may make assumptions or use phraseology that does not accurately reflect the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, but I'm going to take that risk, because I think it's wiser to proceed the way I am as well as being more respectful towards what I already believe and understand. The idea I was exposed to as a teenager, that one is converted and receives a 'new life' in an instant, seems foolish and has not been borne out by my own life experience. If the word 'conversion' is one that is even vaguely helpful, it describes a process that necessarily takes (I suspect) many years. In fact, I think even the word is disrespectful towards the existing pool of experience and wisdom and insight that any explorer of new 'structures' or systems brings to that process).

[Cartoon by Michael Leunig], downloaded 2nd June 2010, from:
http://lambiek.net/artists/l/leunig_michael.htm