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84 SPIRIT AND THE MIND
sacrificed for the good of others, love expands and becomes one with everything. “The way to immortality,” says Sai Baba, “is by eliminating immorality.”
PEACE AND EQUANIMITY
In order for the subtle spiritual qualities of peace, expansion, light and love to be experienced, the mind must be stilled from the agitations of the outer world. While spiritual energy is purified and intensified by moral practices, body postures and breath control exercises help align the energies which sustain us and prepare the inner dimension for higher spiritual visions.3
The focus of attention must be brought inward, away from the coarse agitating energies of the outer world and into the vast, peaceful and subtler spiritual realm where one can glimpse a personal vision of the miracle of existence. If consciousness is allowed to dwell in contemplation here, a new sense of equanimity and oneness intensifies the yearning for mergence with the divine. The inner experience of divinity allows for a vision of holiness in the outer world as well. As this process deepens, the yearning becomes so intense that one finally bursts beyond all limitations. The small “individual” self merges in supreme triumph and transcendence into the oneness of divinity.
THERAPY
These dynamics are timeless and universal. They are the fundamental truths that form the basis of all the world religions. And I believe they must become the fundamental truths of psychology as well. Techniques and practices for teaching them— such as described in Appendices III and IV—must be developed in a way that is at least as effective as those, which address mental psychological growth.
The process of spiritual growth must lose its undeserved stigma of being a sterile, constricting, sermonizing, even punitive “lesson,” as if in a dry, lifeless Sunday school classroom. We must come to understand that the process of spiritual evolution by means of devotion, detachment, renunciation, compassion, selfless service, meditation, prayer and morality is every bit as intriguing and exciting—every bit as innovative, creative, challenging and sophisticated—as the process of psychological growth, through such techniques as free association, verbalization, guided imagery, relaxation techniques, desensitization, emoting, catharsis and dream


































































































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