THE SONIC SPECTRUM
For Devotees of God’s Light and Sound
© February 2012
A PATH OF BALANCE AND LOVE
By Michael Turner
Dear Friends:
For some time now, our world has been in an unsettled state. After a
respite of relative peace and prosperity in the 1990’s following the
end of the Cold War, we were plunged into a strange, unpredictable and
scary new world by the attacks of 9/11/01, and the subsequent new war
on an ephemeral enemy called “terror”. This quickly led to the United
Sates adopting new national security measures, unseen in our lifetime,
and going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Then, just as we seemed to finally acclimate to our brave new world
and return to a general sense of emotional equilibrium, the bottom
fell out of the economy, and we teetered – like a car half off a cliff
– on the precipice of not just a national depression, but the very
real possibility of a global economic meltdown. Millions of jobs were
lost and houses foreclosed upon. Families who had been middle class
suddenly faced hunger and, for some, even homelessness. Local, state
and national coffers which had held surpluses set aside for
emergencies dried up and were replaced by gaping deficits. You know
what I’m talking about. This Great Recession has affected us all.
Needless to say, this period of international conflict and financial
distress and uncertainty has left us uneasy – and even queasy at times
(almost as if we have national, collective sea sickness). This is
only natural. And it is also natural, when feeling queasy, uneasy and
threatened, to look for someone or something to blame. Fear and anger
often go hand-in-hand. It’s part of the human condition. So it is
not surprising to see some degree of anger in the public sector –
people lashing out at this or that person or group as the “other”,
responsible for our problems.
However, I do find it troubling the level to which the anger in our
country in our country is rising. We have gone past irritable
grumpiness in our disagreements in civic debate to the point where the
term “polarization” is an understatement. Some people are so
frightened and angry, they are no longer thinking clearly and
rationally. Their terrified caricatures of their opponents have a
tenuous basis in reality, if that. Making this worse, many people and
groups are using rabidly vitriolic, hateful rhetoric that demonizes
their political opponents and turns them into an “enemy”. And when
masses of people allow their fear and anger to control them and detach
them from reality-based thinking, judgment and decision-making, then
we have a problem. For people who are scared and start hating and
demonizing their brothers are capable of going one step further and
actually hurting each other. We must not succumb to this.
Fortunately, there is a solution: communing with The Word. The
Current of Shabda is a current of Pure, Divine Love. It is also a
pure harmonic which is neither sharp nor flat, positive or negative –
a state of eternal, balanced equilibrium. We can use Shabda in our
meditation as a tuning fork to bring ourselves into harmony with
ITSelf. In doing so we also begin to bring ourselves into harmony
with, and see things from the perspectives of, Soul. For Soul is a
particle of Shabda.
As we progressively align our attention with Shabda and Soul, we find
ourselves in a greater and greater state of harmony, balance and
equipoise, and are able to see things, interact with them and respond
to them, from this state. This applies to our day-to-day human lives
as much as it does to our spiritual quest. When we are bombarded by
intense input from any perspective – regardless of ideology – we are
able to calmly and dispassionately view it, make calm, rational
evaluations of its validity, and then – from a centered perspective -
decide how to proceed. Remember, if something sounds improbable,
irrational or extreme, it probably is. If something does not make
sense to rational judgment, it’s validity is probably questionable.
This is very important, and I cannot emphasize it enough – especially
to my Initiates (and all other Initiates of this Path). We need to
set an example of spiritual living and the transformative influence of
Shabda in our lives. We must love and honor our brothers and sisters,
and respect each other’s opinions. We may disagree with another’s
perspectives; but we must never hate them or make them our enemy.
The Path of Surat Shabda Meditation is not a path of ideological
extremism. It is a path of calm, common sense, rational and
compassionate spirituality and living. Veer neither to the right nor
to the left. Always stay in a state of spiritual balance, and
rational, lucid thought. If anything in life pushes your emotional
buttons, or you find yourself getting hot under the collar over a
particular issue or person (this is especially applicable in election
years), remember to take a deep breath –sing HU or the names of God
you received in Initiation – and relax into that primal harmony of
Eternal Love. Stress and agitation will depart, and you will be calm,
peaceful and at ease with the Shabad Dhun.
Thank you . . . with love,
Michael Turner
http://spiritualfreedomsatsang.org
