I wrote this in an attempt to understand a lecture given by
Depok Chopra. All the ideas and analogies are his.
A Spiritual Law is that law which allows the sequential unfoldment
from that which is unmanifest into that which is manifest. It is the spontaneous
flow of intelligence... energy and information. It exists in everything and
is the animating force of life, through which everything in existence is created.
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success are:
1. The Law of Pure Potentiality
2. The Law of Giving
3. The Law of Karma
4. The Law of Least Effort
5. The Law of Intention and Desire
6. The Law of Detachment
7. The Law of Dharma
1. The Law of Pure Potentiality:
In my essential state I am spirit. That is my internal reference
point and the ultimate ground of being. In Bohm's Holographic Universe it is
the implicate order from which everything emerges...the unified field. Experience
of it is pure joy -- bliss. It is the source of everything, and we must purposefully
be aware of it and spend time with it to experience it. Potentially we are one
with it.
Generation of the creative process in the stillness of the mind.
Organization in the dynamism of the stillness of spirit which creates the mind.
Delivery and doing is in the body and the world.
Know the self as that mind...pure consciousness. If I align
with that power then I am aligned with the Source of everything in the universe.
But how do we do that? How do we get there? We do that through the experience
of silence. I am pure spirit...to get in touch with that I must take time daily
to:
A) Commune with nature and silently witness the intelligence
in every little thing
B) Take time for silence and meditation
C) Cease from judging...experience the silence and get in touch with pure potentiality.
To paraphrase an ancient mystic:
I was not aware the day the lotus bloomed... there was sadness... it was unheeded.
Then I began to experience a fragrance...like the summer trying to heed itself.
Suddenly, I noticed that the lotus was blooming within my own heart.
The observer, the process of observation, and the observed are
all one. There are poles of opposites...light and dark. Life moves through this.
Accept it and spontaneously experience it without judgment and fighting.
There is an affirmation which goes:
Today I will judge nothing that occurs and therefore I will create silence in
my mind and therefore I will communicate with the cosmic mind that is running
the universe. It whispers to us in the silent spaces between thoughts. It orchestrates
infinite diversity. Whatever I can imagine I can create. I will realize my goals...materially,
emotionally, and spiritually.
2. The Law of Giving (and Receiving):
This frail vessel...empty again and again...fill it...still
pour...still room to fill.
The universe runs on dynamic exchange. Dynamic systems are those
systems that constantly move and change, live and breath, and have flux of energy.
Giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy. We must be
willing to give that which we seek. That, in turn, will keep abundance and energy
flowing through our lives. Christ said give and it shall be given unto you.
It is a matter of circulation. If we stop the flow we interfere with intelligence
and cause stagnation, decay, coagulation and death of energy. The human body
is a devise which captures energy, circulates it, and gives it back to the universe.
We must also be aware of the intention behind giving. Give with
a joyful attitude...a joyful frame of mind. This will become its own journey
full of joy, exuberance, and immediate gratification. I say to myself, "Wherever
I go, whoever I meet, I will give a gift and receive."
Of course, the most precious gifts are those of caring, affection, attention,
appreciation, and love. Affection is touching in a caring way. Touching has
the capacity to cause the release of healing biochemicals in the body of both
the one touching and the one being touched. It is a physiological response.
Attention is listening with our whole being. It circulates energy in your life.
3. The Law of Karma:
Karma is a Sanskrit word that means action...choice making.
Every moment there are infinite choices available. We make them consciously
or unconsciously. Every moment one choice is the most karmicly correct, appropriate,
and evolutionary. It is the one that will bring joy and fulfillment to oneself
and others who are affected by it. Every choice generates a force of energy
that returns to us in like kind. If we chose that which is joy and happiness
and fulfillment for others, it will be joy and happiness and fulfillment for
ourselves. Help someone...be helped.
How do we actualize this law? Nature gives us a computing system...a
system of intelligence...intuition...which is the finest level of feeling within
ourselves. We can use that system to link to the spaces between thoughts where
there is infinite correlation, infinite possibility. We have the ability to
take an infinity of possibilities and simultaneously create events that will
fulfill our desires.
Our bodies can think, kill germs, monitor the movement of the
stars while incorporating that into our biochemical processes, and play music
all at the same time. This is not a linear process, and every cell within the
body has this ability. We can access it by listening to messages from the body...comfort/discomfort...pleasure/disgust.
We can be tuned in to the messages and have a heightened sense of awareness.
We can tune in to the finest level of feeling.
Cultivate body awareness and listen to what the body is saying.
Ask the body...do you feel comfort or discomfort? The heart is an organ of wisdom
and intelligence. Bring your choice from a level of subconsciousness to consciousness.
Observe your choice without labeling it...just witness it...bring it to consciousness.
Then foresee all the consequences of that choice and ask yourself, "Will
this bring fulfillness and happiness to me and those affected?" Then ask
the body, and "listen to how it feels."
The heart is wise and sober, not sentimental. In one of Castaneda's
books Don Juan says that we do not need sentimentality on the path to realization.
He says to beware of those who weep with it for they have realized nothing.
What we need is sobriety. Witness the consequences and ask the body and listen.
Ask the heart for guidance and listen. Say to yourself, "As I listen I
will create all things I desire in my life."
Karma is the software of the soul. It is physical/subtle/ causal.
There is an endless cycle of karma...action, memory, desire, action again. Every
thought is karmicly generated. We cannot try to have a positive attitude, but
our attitude will change if our choices are appropriate. The choices will produce
a change in thought. Every thought is a memory or a desire... an interpretation
or a choice. We are infinite choice makers and interpreters. If we use conscious
choice making from a deep level then we can create what we want. Karma and giving
are intimately related. Giving is karma...creating potentiality for space/time
events in the future.
There is the age old question of whether the universe is preordained
(deterministic) or whether we have freedom of choice. When we are unaware, then
we are determined ... Pavlovian...at the mercy of our reactions to what anyone
else does or says. But if we are aware (and spirituality is a progression into
that domain of awareness that is more aware...aware of awareness itself) then
evolution is the nature of life. Karma is the ultimate affirmation of freedom.
Swami Vivikananda has said, "Karma is the eternal assertion of human freedom.
Our thoughts, words, and deeds are the threads of the net that we throw around
ourselves."
Seven Spiritual Laws 
