Dharma is the Process

Once I have agreed to consciously engage in my dharma, then it follows that not only will I experience life life more fully, my conscious awareness of the meaning of my life’s journey also grows. In the Bagvadgita, the Hindu manual for life, Dharma is considered a duty meant for one's soul rather than one’s body; however, following one’s Dharma often engages both mind and body. In the Judea-Christian cosmology, we ask a similar question, “What is mine to do”? The common ground in these philosophies is that the answer is only learned from God or Spirit. The way we do this is by looking inside the Soul.

In Science of Mind, meditation, prayer and affirmation are common ways to do this. In addition to these, the arts provide paths to the soul in a different way. Whether an artist consciously or unconsciously wants to, the outward expression of the art in form (painting, music, written word, etc.) opens this soul-awareness state and the artist is creating from and in it.

For example, my son and I recently had a remarkable discussion regarding the trumpet. We have had these for years, as we have both played the trumpet most of our lives. Basically, he said if you want to play in jam sessions, bands or orchestras, you must practice daily in a disciplined manner. In other words, by choosing this regimen, experiences like playing in a group will become available to the degree of awareness and/or readiness to accept them.

I know that if I do this, it will result in becoming a good trumpet player or not. If I do not practice, the odds change with regard to the result. A band or orchestra will hire me or not. I cannot “create” a result; I can only do what I must in order to get the result I desire. This is the work that I do when I look inside and Spirit tells me what is mine to do.

I choose to focus on doing the work (practicing) rather than focusing on the results (this band will hire me if …, etc.). I do not yet know what the results are because they have not yet happened. I choose to accept the work that Spirit has assigned me to do. At this point, a goal/result is merely an outline of something in the future. It is a perception of a belief in something that may or may not happen. When I play the trumpet, I am practicing the Presence in a way that differs from meditation, prayer and affirmations, but one that leads me to the place of the Soul. At this moment, I am doing what is mine to do according to the conscious or unconscious direction of Spirit. It is my Dharma unfolding and directing me.

Practicing the presence in this way brings me closer to Unity with the Divine because it allows my gifts to flow when Spirit plays the music through my consciousness, senses, mind and body, through the trumpet and out. Even when no one else is present, when Spirit plays through me, I receive my “song” immediately. Because it is Spirit as me, not separate from Spirit, It is using me and “playing me”. I am simply allowing this by using my Spirit-supplied breathing mechanism powered by my muscular and bodily coordination in the right way.

When you are in a room with a trumpeting trumpeter, you know what the sound means as your body connects through the vibrations it receives. The trumpet output manifests as audible energy connecting vibrationally to those who hear it as music. This output is the stuff of life, the creative process in action, the shaping of vibrations into something memorable, exquisite and life changing.

When I play the trumpet, my essence is transmitting from that deepest, highest, most mysterious place inside me to that thing we call God/Ain Soph/The Universe. It is denser than just a sound or a series of sounds as trumpet music. It is not visible, tastable, touchable, in any way; however, you know and are fully aware of it because you know that you know that you know. But before you can blink an eye, it has already passed through you.