If spiritual life is governed by rules, those rules must come down from the Spirit of God Himself, which liberate us from ourselves in order to be truly free persons. Any other rule imposed on us should be considered as secondary and temporary in so far as spiritual life is concerned and should give way to the rule of the Spirit as and when we are better enlightened. The very first rule of the Spirit is that it is beyond all rules and is completely free. All our rules of spiritual life should take into account this vital fact the Spirit blows freely where it will and cannot be controlled by us in any way. Jesus said to Nicodemus that everyone who was born from the Spirit was like the wind that blows where it wills. (See John, 3: 8) meaning that the Spirit cannot be predicted or restrained by our usual mode of thinking. We have a very concrete example of this freedom of the Spirit in the house of Cornelius when Peter was speaking to the crowd gathered there on whom the Spirit was poured out even before receiving baptism (See Acts, 10: 44-48). Peter was astounded that the same Holy Spirit the Apostles and the disciples received on the day of Pentecost was conferred on the gentiles too without any precondition. Baptism was ordered by Peter to be conferred on those who received the Spirit since it was clear that there was nothing standing in the way of their being completely integrated into the new community. The Church has always considered baptism as the means to receive the Spirit even by the infants and yet here we have an instance of administering baptism after the reception of the Spirit. This goes to show that the Holy Spirit is not bound by any rules and that we should rather follow the inspirations of the Spirit even in our spiritual life. There is a danger here that some unscrupulous people might take advantage of the weak and gullible members in the name of the inspiration from the Holy Spirit.
The second rule, therefore, of the Spirit is that of the discernment of Spirit that stands as a test for the true Spirit as against false and misleading imitations of the Spirit. Here again, we shall know the true Spirit from the false ones from the fruits produced as a result of the reception of the Spirit. Paul tells us very clearly about the fruits of the Spirit by informing us about what goes against the Spirit as well as what constitutes the presence of the Spirit in us in Galatians 5: 16-25. Those who are guided by the Spirit will not fulfill the desires of their lower nature, but rather will be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness and self-control. Paul insists that there is no law dealing with such things as these fruits of the Spirit. It means that even those who shout , laugh and talk in tongues are to be tested by this rule of the discernment of the Spirit without which all their exercises tend to be means for self-promotion and accumulation of wealth to their own destruction.
The third rule is that of transformation of the physical into the spiritual in our everyday life. This is achieved through the Spirit Himself provided we allow Him to change us from the corruptible to the incorruptible. All our physical activities and life itself are intrinsically ordered to end in self-destruction, which may be salvaged through the intervention of the Spirit. This rule applies even to our spiritual life nurtured by rituals and devotions that may deteriorate into traps of slavery and inauthentic life unless liberated by the unction of the Spirit. We know that our life is destined to end in death and corruption till it is redeemed by the Spirit to transform it to eternal life and glory. Everyday we are gradually moving to this final outcome by our daily routine of life that may be so ordered as to receive the soothing influence of the Holy Spirit. It is by means of this Spirit that we are able to covert the 'samsara' (this worldly) into 'nirvana' (other worldly), an important element in the Indian spiritual thought. Although we cannot help in living in this world, we have ways and means to become part of the other world already here and now. It is achieved through our spiritual life by developing a mechanism to convert the secular into the sacred with help from the Holy Spirit.
The fourth rule of the Spirit is to be of assistance in the constant fight between the spirit and the flesh. Here the spirit is our own higher nature and the flesh is our lower nature. Jesus himself acknowledged this dichotomy in the human nature where we are rendered helpless in spite of all good intentions (See Mark, 14: 38). the solution to overcome our helplessness in fighting this internal enemy proposed by Jesus is to watch and pray so that we may be spared the test (See Matthew, 26: 41). The test referred to here is the final assault the Satan is to unleash on us at the end of our lives and at the end of the world. We need to be alert and constantly pray to the Holy Spirit to fortify us in order to vanquish this external enemy working in collusion with our internal enemy that is our lower nature. In preparation for the final resistance, we are advised to engage in daily self-renewal and disentangle ourselves from the binding attractions of this world by means of detachment that will attach us to the other world. The Holy Spirit plays a very vital role in our self-renewal through detachment from the world so that we may be attuned to the demands of the other world.
The fifth and final rule in our list is the gradual nature of the action of the Spirit in our lives without doing violence to our nature and safeguarding our personal freedom. It involves our free co-operation with the action of the Spirit that is ever so subtle and at the same time producing fruits manifested in our external actions. We may see this gradual and progressive interaction of the Spirit already in the life of Jesus. Although his very birth was the result of the action of the Holy Spirit, we see him under the influence of the Spirit at his baptism and being led by the Spirit to be tested by Satan (See Matthew, 4: 1). Jesus himself had to wait till after his resurrection from the dead to communicate his Spirit to the Apostles and disciples (See John, 7: 39). His own resurrection was by the power of the Holy Spirit whereby his existence was transported to the realm of the Spirit without negating the glorified and spiritual body Jesus was endowed with. Our life should follow the same pattern of a gradual transformation of the physical into the spiritual through the action of the Spirit. The mechanism hinted at above at the end of the third rule for converting the secular into the sacred will also help in this gradual transformation of the physical into the spiritual. It is developed through self-denial eliminating the undue claims of the Ego that is in collusion with our lower nature thereby fortifying our higher nature to be assisted by the workings of the Holy Spirit.
(The coming Posts will discuss the next section on 'Hidden Life').
The second rule, therefore, of the Spirit is that of the discernment of Spirit that stands as a test for the true Spirit as against false and misleading imitations of the Spirit. Here again, we shall know the true Spirit from the false ones from the fruits produced as a result of the reception of the Spirit. Paul tells us very clearly about the fruits of the Spirit by informing us about what goes against the Spirit as well as what constitutes the presence of the Spirit in us in Galatians 5: 16-25. Those who are guided by the Spirit will not fulfill the desires of their lower nature, but rather will be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness and self-control. Paul insists that there is no law dealing with such things as these fruits of the Spirit. It means that even those who shout , laugh and talk in tongues are to be tested by this rule of the discernment of the Spirit without which all their exercises tend to be means for self-promotion and accumulation of wealth to their own destruction.
The third rule is that of transformation of the physical into the spiritual in our everyday life. This is achieved through the Spirit Himself provided we allow Him to change us from the corruptible to the incorruptible. All our physical activities and life itself are intrinsically ordered to end in self-destruction, which may be salvaged through the intervention of the Spirit. This rule applies even to our spiritual life nurtured by rituals and devotions that may deteriorate into traps of slavery and inauthentic life unless liberated by the unction of the Spirit. We know that our life is destined to end in death and corruption till it is redeemed by the Spirit to transform it to eternal life and glory. Everyday we are gradually moving to this final outcome by our daily routine of life that may be so ordered as to receive the soothing influence of the Holy Spirit. It is by means of this Spirit that we are able to covert the 'samsara' (this worldly) into 'nirvana' (other worldly), an important element in the Indian spiritual thought. Although we cannot help in living in this world, we have ways and means to become part of the other world already here and now. It is achieved through our spiritual life by developing a mechanism to convert the secular into the sacred with help from the Holy Spirit.
The fourth rule of the Spirit is to be of assistance in the constant fight between the spirit and the flesh. Here the spirit is our own higher nature and the flesh is our lower nature. Jesus himself acknowledged this dichotomy in the human nature where we are rendered helpless in spite of all good intentions (See Mark, 14: 38). the solution to overcome our helplessness in fighting this internal enemy proposed by Jesus is to watch and pray so that we may be spared the test (See Matthew, 26: 41). The test referred to here is the final assault the Satan is to unleash on us at the end of our lives and at the end of the world. We need to be alert and constantly pray to the Holy Spirit to fortify us in order to vanquish this external enemy working in collusion with our internal enemy that is our lower nature. In preparation for the final resistance, we are advised to engage in daily self-renewal and disentangle ourselves from the binding attractions of this world by means of detachment that will attach us to the other world. The Holy Spirit plays a very vital role in our self-renewal through detachment from the world so that we may be attuned to the demands of the other world.
The fifth and final rule in our list is the gradual nature of the action of the Spirit in our lives without doing violence to our nature and safeguarding our personal freedom. It involves our free co-operation with the action of the Spirit that is ever so subtle and at the same time producing fruits manifested in our external actions. We may see this gradual and progressive interaction of the Spirit already in the life of Jesus. Although his very birth was the result of the action of the Holy Spirit, we see him under the influence of the Spirit at his baptism and being led by the Spirit to be tested by Satan (See Matthew, 4: 1). Jesus himself had to wait till after his resurrection from the dead to communicate his Spirit to the Apostles and disciples (See John, 7: 39). His own resurrection was by the power of the Holy Spirit whereby his existence was transported to the realm of the Spirit without negating the glorified and spiritual body Jesus was endowed with. Our life should follow the same pattern of a gradual transformation of the physical into the spiritual through the action of the Spirit. The mechanism hinted at above at the end of the third rule for converting the secular into the sacred will also help in this gradual transformation of the physical into the spiritual. It is developed through self-denial eliminating the undue claims of the Ego that is in collusion with our lower nature thereby fortifying our higher nature to be assisted by the workings of the Holy Spirit.
(The coming Posts will discuss the next section on 'Hidden Life').
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