Consciousness advances along two major parallel lines of development: the line of knowledge and the line of being. In steady progress, these two tracks develop simultaneously, each advancing and enriching the other. We learn something, we integrate it into our experience, and the experience, our life illustrates, demonstrates, confirms the truth of what we have learned. Comprehension and integration—not mere accumulation of data—earn advancement on the line of knowledge.

Our level of being advances when we honor our own essence, nature, substance. This growth depends upon our living what we “know,” overtly or/and subjectively. Our authenticity depends upon the awareness we carry, which in turn determines our quality of life. We often sense integrity in the simplest lives because these personalities are not splintered by conflicting roles or cultural struggles. Perhaps such people have not had to absorb any more information than they are able to integrate; or perhaps their hearts and minds have not been at, do not conflict. The line of being affirms wholeness, harmony, with whatever experience arises.

A complication in this modern era of opportunity is that so much can be known, so much information can be accessed—without becoming knowledge. When too much information comes to us without sufficient time to make it our own, our quality of being fails to, it cannot, does not keep pace. Living in a time when we are inundated with data, we must recognize that saturating our intellect is much like over-eating. The conscious mind becomes greedy for all it can capture without digesting and integrating (deriving nutrition) for its nurturing value and assimilating what it has already acquired.

In slower-moving periods the line of being-ness advances more naturally. We gather information, experiment with it, and witness to our understanding. However, if we apprentice to a mentor, we must prove ourselves before the mentor permits access to more information.

All this occurs unconsciously. With current data bombardment, unless we focus on one line of development, we may be overwhelmed with facts that distract our purpose and impede our life direction. Tests will come to validate the level of knowledge we have truly acquired; similarly, we will undergo trials that will define our quality of being.

Being-ness has to do with qualities of the inner self we bring to outer life, personality situations and the integration of levels of self in practical, honorable, and serving ways. We live in a culture that values knowledge--really information—above being. A ready example is the huge investment of intelligence, time, attention, and money that were spent in developing nuclear power before determining a solution for disposal of the nuclear waste we would create. Accumulation of knowledge has the potential to obscure our being. Too much information may confuse us or cause us to doubt important aspects of our being. The line of being advances as we apply our knowledge to daily living correctly and consistently.

It is important to remember that in the midst of daily life, being our honorable selves affirms our spirituality. We may know more or less than another, but the ethics with which we apply our knowledge defines, reveals, characterizes, exemplifies, our spirituality.

From Adventure in Meditation: Spirituality for the 21st Century, Volume 1, Lesson 8, entitled “Know What the Soul Knows,” Dr. Parrish's latest of six books, and its companion work, The New Dictionary of Spiritual Thought..

back to top