Obstacles to Grace
Welcome back to the Practical Mysticism blog. Today’s topic is Obstacles to Grace. The way I define living from Grace is that it is the effect of living as and from your True Nature or True Spiritual Identity. Living from Grace gives rise to effortless, harmonious, inspiring experience. In a state of Grace the mind is still, and Joy, Gratitude, and Generosity shine forth from within. All bodily needs are met, the crooked places are made straight, and Life is a flowing, ever-present-moment experience. (For a deeper presentation and detailed content about living from Grace, see posts 8-10.)
The state of Grace is attained through right identification of Self as Spirit, and the releasing of all erroneous beliefs, concepts and assumptions. Mystical practice is a two-sided coin of choosing the True and releasing the false.
The content in this post/video builds on the content presented in previous posts. To garner the most benefit from the “Obstacles to Grace” series of posts, you may want to first view Practical Mysticism posts 5 through 7 about the Understanding, Acceptance, & Application of mystical principles, and Practical Mysticism posts 8-10 which address the topics of Dominion and Grace through the application of these principles. These can be found both in written and video formats on this site.
Shorter More Frequent Posts
As a side note…based on inner guidance, I’ve decided to create shorter posts so they can be shared more frequently. Until now, I have created much longer posts, and from start to finish they were taking about a month to get published. I would compose the post in written form, edit it multiple times, create and then insert graphics, post it in written blog format on my website, time the sections of the written post, create a video with timed images, add the audio script, edit it, denoise it, then post it to YouTube. Whew! I’ll actually still engage in the same process but instead of one long written or video post, I’ll make multiple smaller posts. In alignment with this decision, the discussion of the items on the upcoming list of 10 reasons for lack of application of metaphysical and mystical principles will be broken down into multiple posts. Thank you for listening to the explanation of this inwardly guided decision which I trust will be for the highest good of all.
Main Obstacle to Grace
Through many years of working with and observing others, as well as by observing my own journey, I have identified the main obstacle to living from Grace as the lack of application of metaphysical and mystical principles. I have categorized this lack of application into roughly ten categories which I have listed below:
Obstacles to Grace = Lack of application:
Lack of understanding of metaphysics and principles
Lack of acceptance, doubt
Falling asleep in conditioning of material consciousness/dualistic mind
Lack of awareness
Lack of zeal and/or commitment
Complacency, coasting, suffering/dissatisfaction not intense enough to foster motivation, laziness
Close-mindedness
Lack of inner listening and/or trusting
Fear, especially of the “Unknown”
Pride, “I know,” sense of threat to identity
Though there is some overlap among the listed reasons for lack of application, I thought it would be helpful to look at some of the reasons from slightly different angles of discussion. Furthermore, the repetition of ideas is helpful, and even necessary, for the efficacy of understanding and application.
Obstacles to Grace = Lack of Application
Now I’ll list the 10 obstacles to Grace again and then briefly flesh out each one in more detail. The following 10 obstacles to Grace can also be defined as reasons which cause us to hold back from the application of the metaphysical and mystical principles:
Obstacles to Grace = Lack of application
Lack of understanding of metaphysics and principles
Lack of acceptance, doubt
Falling asleep in conditioning of material consciousness/dualistic mind
Lack of awareness
Lack of zeal and/or commitment
Complacency, coasting, suffering/dissatisfaction not intense enough to foster motivation, laziness
Close-mindedness
Lack of inner listening and/or trusting
Fear, especially of the “Unknown”
Pride, “I know,” sense of threat to identity
1. Lack of understanding of metaphysics and principles:
The first reason—lack of understanding of metaphysics and principles—is pretty self explanatory. It’s quite difficult, if not impossible, to apply the metaphysics and principles if you don’t understand them. The foundation of application is understanding, particularly the understanding of the metaphysics and nature of Self, Source, mind and world. I’ve already presented a lot of information about the metaphysics and principles in previous posts, so rather than reiterate them here, I refer you to any of the past 10 posts, and in particular to posts 5-7 Understanding, Acceptance, and Application, and posts 8-10 on Grace and Dominion.
2. Lack of acceptance, doubt
Even if the principles and metaphysics are understood, they may be doubted or rejected due to their radical nature and departure from commonly held beliefs and assumptions. The overwhelming majority of people do not consciously operate from Grace, nor do they have any knowledge of metaphysical principles. Mass consciousness operates at the level of the polarized mind, identifying self as a body and world as matter. All of the related strategies for living are based on these identifications. So it can feel very risky to adopt and apply principles that are scarcely known by the world. It can feel difficult to trust the metaphysics and principles because those who follow them are in a very tiny minority and we’re more accustomed to following the herd. The efficacy of the application of the principles must be proven in one’s own experience, and this can only occur through application. In order to be applied, the principles must at first be at least provisionally accepted. If there is resistance to acceptance and application, I have found it helpful to think of the process as a fun experiment; to perhaps approach it like a curious scientist. Following acceptance and application of the principles, Spirit will convince you of Its Invisible Presence and Grace.
3. Falling asleep in the conditioning of material consciousness/dualistic mind
Perhaps while we’re being exposed to metaphysical truths through reading, listening or counseling, the principles are well in our awareness in those moments. However, once we move back into our daily lives it is easy to “fall back asleep” into our former modes of thinking, reacting, and behaving. The past conditioning of the lower mind—the mind that rules the mass consciousness—is very strong and seems to run on auto-pilot. However, it is in the midst of our daily lives where the rubber must hit the road in the application of these principles. Transformation to Grace—Living as and from our True Nature—cannot occur by occasional listening or reading. Grace makes Itself known by the combination of withdrawal of reliance on the belief systems and modus operandi of the dualistic mind, and complete dependence on and trust in Spirit.
4. Lack of awareness
Lack of awareness ties into number 3. Falling asleep in conditioning of material consciousness/dualistic mind. Falling asleep into former conditioning is common and nearly unavoidable in this process. It’s the lack of awareness that one has fallen asleep in the old conditioning that causes delay in the experience of Grace. This process requires a very high level of awareness; a continual watching of one’s thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors. By remaining aware of thoughts and beliefs, particularly about identity, we can change them. By being aware of emotions, we can trace them back to the belief that has triggered the emotion so the belief can be let go. By observing our own behavior, and being aware of the motivation for the behavior, we can uncover what belief system and what identity we are subscribing to, and in what we are investing our dependence and trust.
Today we’ve looked at four of the ten obstacles to application which are in turn obstacles to Grace. Let’s list the 10 obstacles here once again, and then next time we’ll pick up with number 5.
Obstacles to Grace = Lack of application
Lack of understanding of metaphysics and principles
Lack of acceptance, doubt
Falling asleep in conditioning of material consciousness/dualistic mind
Lack of awareness
Lack of zeal and/or commitment
Complacency, coasting, suffering/dissatisfaction not intense enough to foster motivation, laziness
Close-mindedness
Lack of inner listening and/or trusting
Fear, especially of the “Unknown”
Pride, “I know,” sense of threat to identity
Have you been able to identify any of the 10 obstacles as relevant in your own journey? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
If you’d like one-to-one assistance with this material, please reach out to me using the contact form on the left sidebar.
May the peace, joy, freedom, and inspiration of Grace be your ever-present experience.
The audio presentation of this blog post can be found below and on the Practical Mysticism YouTube channel:
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