Harmlessness

How do we practice harmlessness? This is a talk and meditation that delves into a topic that crosses many different spiritual practices. In Buddhism, it is a part of the Dharma. It is also followed by Christians and many on the spiritual path. It can be a very difficult practice, and one that reaps great rewards.

Transcript

Aloha,

I'm Reverend Cindy Palus and I wanted to talk today about a principle and a way of life that I have been finding so important and I've been following it and trying to practice this key element of living a spiritual path for most of my life.

It's a practice of the path of harmlessness.

This is such an important key that it truly can lead to our path to initiation.

I first read about harmlessness in the Alice Bailey books as translated by the Tibetan in the Treatise on White Magic.

And you might be wondering,

What's that?

Well,

You know,

As people more and more try to practice a manifestation and magic,

What would happen is what would happen if you wanted something and you used your energy and your power to acquire that would hurt somebody else.

So of course you can't do that.

And we don't even know how far that reaches,

Right?

So the practice of harmless,

Harmlessness comes in there.

Harmlessness is a very,

Very powerful key and it includes in harmlessness right thought,

Right thought because it's based on intelligent love,

Right speech governed by self-control and right action,

Founding there on the understanding of the true laws.

And how powerful and difficult is that to control your thoughts,

To control your speech and your actions.

It's also discussed by Gary Zukav.

You know Gary Zukav,

He wrote the beautiful books on the soul.

He says an authentically empowered person is humble and is understanding in response to the beauty of each soul.

It's the harmlessness of one who treasures,

Honors and reveres life in all its forms.

Sri Maharaj talks about it in the yoga practice.

Live your life without hurting anybody.

Harmlessness is the most powerful form of yoga and it will take you speedily to your goal.

He calls it natural yoga.

It's the art of living in peace and harmony and friendliness and love.

The fruit of it is happiness uncaused and endless joy.

So Buddha talks about it as well.

Buddha talks about it in the practice of Buddhism.

It's the essence of a way of life.

It's devotion to non-harming.

It's part of the Dharma.

It's all too easy to harm others and ourselves with our thoughts,

Our self-concepts and our emotional reactions.

And it's quite difficult to overcome the causes that these mental activities have.

This is the practice of Dharma to help minimize such harm.

Of course in Buddhism is the concept of karma.

So when you do harm,

That harm can come back to you of course.

That's the cause and effect,

Right?

Buddha said,

Solitude is happiness for one is content who has learned the Dharma and clearly sees.

Non-affliction is happiness in the world,

Harmlessness towards all living beings.

And of course in Buddhism,

It's thou shalt not kill is also practiced and it's one of the major keys there.

But that goes very deeply when you look into that practice in Buddhism.

It's not just killing an animal or killing a mosquito or killing that.

It's also killing any energy of love or killing another by what you say and do the acts of bringing real harm.

So obviously harmlessness is important.

And what the effects of it is so important is the need to us have awareness.

Us have control over our mind and awareness of what we say and how it might hurt another person.

Of what we even think that might hurt another person because we know that words have power and that thoughts have power as well.

The Dharma is characterized through non-harming and that path of harmlessness that the Buddha suggested.

So the Dharma also is something outside of oneself.

It's an external power working through our lives.

And in Christianity,

The same thing and turning our will over to God's will and to turning the other cheek to not hitting the other person back where they hit you and that can be metaphorically as well,

Right?

To take negative vibrations and energy and completely let them go,

To completely reverse them.

Not necessarily reversing them to send back harm to other but to just release them.

That takes a lot of spiritual knowledge,

Right?

It's a process that's so very deep,

This devotion to harmlessness and non-harming.

Of course,

The doctors have this principle,

First do no harm,

The Hippocratic Oath.

And how deep is that?

Because you know you're taking another person's life into your hands.

And so how deep does that practice of not harming the person you're operating on come to?

So obviously it includes an intent not to harm.

And beyond the intent,

Some faith and willingness to,

With that intent,

Allow some further energy flow to come through us to help us,

To help us in that action.

And even in the practice of Aloha,

Which we do here in Hawaii,

The Aloha is something that we extend trying again to share love and no harm.

And as we practice living with this presence of spirit,

In time that Aloha spirit can even go out before us if it's our intention.

And if this spirit can help clear the way to causing no harm,

What a wonderful way that you can live,

Right?

What a beautiful way that you can indeed find yourself being in the center of the place where you're not working for your own ego,

But you're serving in the purpose of serving the highest good without harm.

I mean,

In the Buddhist practices,

I mean,

That can include the problems that come up if you have addictions,

Compulsions,

Obsessions,

Attachments,

Clinging and craving,

Which again comes into that principle I've talked about before with the detachment.

Because if we are addicted and obsessed,

We can sometimes not be aware of the harm that's not only creating for ourselves,

But for other people around us as well.

So then we learn that caring,

That kindness,

That empathy,

That wisdom that comes as we walk on that path of harmlessness.

So let's take a moment and ponder this.

Let's set our intention to go into a peaceful,

Calm state of mind.

And let's just clear the mind as we breathe.

Just breathing in,

Slowly breathing in,

Breathing in slowly,

Holding your breath and pause and breathing slowly out.

Being grateful in each breath,

Breathing in slowly and breathing out.

Just breathing in and breathing out.

And each single breath,

Bring in that gratitude for your opportunity to be here now,

To be present now.

Breathing in that wonderful light and breathing out that gratitude and that light as it surrounds you and protects you and releases you.

Breathing in and sweeping your mind with each and every breath.

Clear your mind of any thoughts and see your mind completely clear and swept free.

Experience that open,

Clear space of your mind.

Breathing in,

Pausing and breathing out,

Allowing that spirit to be present in every single aspect of your body and your mind and your soul.

And allow yourself to go deeply into your heart,

Letting your mind be still and letting your heart be the center of your attention and your focus.

Breathing deeply into the heart,

Holding your breath and allowing yourself to go into your heart of all hearts there.

Breathing in and breathing out slowly,

Going deeper and deeper and deeper into that place in your soul,

That entrance place to connect you with all of life.

And now dwell there in the silence of your soul.

Just go to that sacred silence within your soul now and pause and be still and know that presence,

That energy that does no harm,

That beautiful energy that is from the source that does no harm.

Allow yourself now to experience that precious energy,

That precious gift of harmlessness.

Feel it.

Feel it and recognize that pure light of harmlessness there right now within you and the deepest heart of your being,

That harmlessness that you were born with,

That harmlessness that was just your existence and pure being.

And let go of anything that may have ever caused any kinds of parts that may be wanting to express itself and doing anything that could be harmful.

This may take some acts of forgiveness.

It may take some letting go.

It may take being clear and letting your ego go and totally turning your will over to the higher power of that God within to serve.

As the doctors tried to serve doing no harm,

Breathe that in,

Embrace it.

Align with that energy in your practice and let yourself embody this beautiful pure energy of harmlessness.

Feel that energy coming through you.

Where is that energy coming from?

Where is that source of harmlessness?

Go to that place inside,

That beautiful space within,

Deeper and deeper to the place of harmlessness.

Feel how peaceful that place is where you are in total peace and you feel the energy of harmlessness.

Dwell here for a few breaths.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And now allow yourself to align and let your body,

Mind and soul align with that wonderful peace and presence of harmlessness.

If there's any messages or directions that come to you from here in this space,

Remember any words,

Any thoughts that come that are there to help you and guide you.

And now slowly come out of meditation,

Slowly remember everything in that feeling that you now can absorb and become and embody.

Breathe it in,

Hold it and breathe it out and become it and say thank you God and so it is.

May God direct you and guide you and bring you the grace and the way to find that path of harmlessness in your life.

God bless you always.

Reviews

Thank you!

Thank you for this practice, perhaps the most difficult of all... could you teach us some tools to help keep us from hurting others and protect ourselves? I would love to hear more. Blessings Sue x

I love this philosophy and aim to create such a state in my life too. Thank you for your wisdom. 🙏