QUESTION: Why is grounding so necessary for spiritual work? Isn’t this a form of extra dependence, rather than a step closer to liberation?
There is an erroneous belief that circulates among spiritual communities stemming from an egoic distortion of the teaching, “you are not your body”.
When ego is still in play and to avoid what it thinks is death, ego hijacks this teaching for its own gain, creating a denial of the body, leading to a disembodied split.
With the mind and body separated, ego can remain in play for as long as it can maintain a division between one’s inner and outer realities.
No matter how “enlightened” one thinks they are, if their experience of life causes the body to contract, close and withdraw, this reveals that ego is still very much in play.
A spiritual awakening happens in the mind.
Liberation, however, happens when the mind has been put into the body (“grounding”).
Putting the awakened mind into the body means removing the experiential conflict that prevents one from openly engaging with all of life.
When the body has been spiritualised in this way, any division between mind & body, inner & outer is seen for what it is…illusory.
Pre-transformation, one grounds in the body.
Post-transformation, one grounds through the body.
Grounding through the body is to ground oneself in the groundless place. It means to adopt the shape of whatever is spontaneously unfolding in the present moment without denial or resistance.
If anger pays a visit, one becomes anger. If sorrow stops by, one becomes sorrow. If jealousy rears its head, one becomes jealousy. If joy bounces through, one becomes joy.
Problems in life only arise when we try to cling to whatever is happening.
Grounding in the groundless place is to become life itself in all its chaos and grace.
The freedom that is discovered in the mind must become the same freedom in the body, otherwise, there will always be conflict.
When we stop thinking of ourselves as existing within the body and instead use the body for its intended purpose – as a vehicle to know oneself – the true essence of the teaching “you are not your body”, is revealed.
Until then, attempting to deny the body before it has been spiritualised is a foolhardy approach that only serves to amplify ego’s delusion.
A denial of the body is a denial of life.
Without grounding, liberation simply can’t happen.