By George A. Boyd © 2014
A fundamental principle of the mind is identification. It has a major role in personal and spiritual life; it governs what we will become—and when we become that&mdssh;what we will do, be, and have, once we have attained it.
At the personal level, let us say you want to become a plumber. You imagine, visualize what it will be like to become a plumber. You decide to make that happen. You go to school. You complete your apprenticeship. You become a journeyman plumber. You get your state license.
When this is accomplished, you realize, I am a plumber—and you can now be a plumber in the eyes of the community and the State. Then you can do plumbing professionally. You can have the income that plumbers make, and the satisfaction of serving people in the community.
The same thing is true in the spiritual life. Let us say you are completely blown away by a Yogi Preceptor, and you decide you want to attain that state of consciousness. You imagine what it would be like. You begin the Path to becoming a Yogi Preceptor by taking initiation. You practice a transformative meditation that transforms your cosmic consciousness progressively through the bands of the First Cosmic Initiation. After sustained practice, you break through all barriers, and finally attain the Guru Padam, where you fully become a Yogi Preceptor.
Now you are a Yogi Preceptor. You can do what Yogi Preceptors do: teach, guide, initiate, and counsel others, and embody the goal to them. You can now have what Yogi Preceptors have: spiritual powers, respect and reverence from others, and the ability to assist others to reach this same attainment.
That dream with which you identify, be it a personal goal or a spiritual one, is crucial to your life, because it creates your destiny.
Identify with nothing, and you repose in being, and float though life, monitoring the present moment.
Desire something and dream of attaining it, and you will mobilize your entire mind to assist you become it.
Be careful what you decide is worthy for you to become. Some people dream of being gang members, human traffickers, drug dealers, terrorists, thieves, murderers, rapists, and dictators—and bring evil and suffering to many, when they realize that dream.
Your mind is a dream-fulfilling mechanism. Therefore, dream noble dreams, aspire to greatness, a noble and magnanimous character, to excellence, to goodness, and to become an instrument of love and Grace, and make the world blessed because you are here.
Do not settle for mediocrity. Do not follow the crowd. The genie stands before you and asks, “Oh Master, what dream may I fulfill for you?” Choose well, for what you dream; and that with which are fully identified, you shall become.