Two Motivations
by Michael Mamas

Why do you meditate, go to the temple, and do acts of service? It is commonly done for spiritual growth, eradication of bad karma, or other forms of personal gain such as health, wealth, happiness, etc. That is understandable and a good thing. Some may even wonder why else anyone would possibly do such a thing.

However, that is not why I created Mount Soma. It is not why I meditate or go to the temple. It is not my motivation.

To know your motivations is not as easy as you may think. You must look deeply into your heart to know your motivations. It is also natural to project your motivations onto others… to think what motivates you is what motivates them. Such projection is so instinctual, so spontaneous, so automatic, as to go unnoticed. Your projections are not something you usually think about, question, or are even aware of. They are so fundamental to how you function that they cannot be identified without a great deal of disarming introspection and self-honesty.

Beyond personal gain lies the motivation involving kindness, compassion, love, service to the world, to humanity, and to the universe. I am speaking here of a level that transcends even the good feelings you may experience through acts of kindness, etc. It is not about what you get in exchange for your actions. This is what nonattachment to the fruit of your actions is all about. Your actions come from being overtaken by the Divine flow underlying all of life. The flow then occurs through your persona, but transcends the persona. The motivation does not involve the persona. In that sense, you cease to exist. Only the Divine exists.

The Divine overtakes the small persona. You realize that you are not the persona. You are one with God… the Divine Flow. To really live life in that way is not an attitude or philosophy. It is a level of consciousness. However, it is of great value to reflect on this. Doing so will help clear the way for your future growth.

So the next time you meditate, go to the temple, or perform some form of service, take a moment to reflect upon your motivation… not as a self-judgment tool, but as a means of inspiration and aspiration. Divine motivation is not an attitude, philosophy, or belief system… though religions of attitude, philosophy, and beliefs are built around it. Such things are qualities of the persona. Divine motivation lies beyond the persona.

What you long for lies beyond the persona. It is called liberation. It is called emancipation. It is called evolution. It is called enlightenment.

It is a state of physiology.

© Michael Mamas, 8/12

ALL ARTICLES