By: Jim Ryan
Source: The Daily Guardian 
Dated: June 14th, 2025

The purpose of spirituality is to restore the original state of awareness, to reawaken the spiritual identity of the soul. Further, it is to re-link the soul with the personality and nature of God, and thereby rekindle the highest of all relationships; the relationship of the soul with the Supreme Soul.

The first step the soul must take, is to free itself from the prison of its inert and passive acceptance of the state of consciousness that prevails at present. I believe that the only way this can be achieved, is through silence. It is through silence that a change of consciousness can be reached. Attempting to ‘think through’, make sense of our present predicament, is tremendously difficult. When we are low in mood, trapped in fears, or guilt, full of social and spiritual rejection and alienation, the mind becomes stuck in a mental and spiritual quagmire, and a sort of dullness settles in. It is through silence that the mind can let go, enabling it, in a very subtle way, to break free from all its previous spiritual inertia and reconnect to what is real.

Silence allows the pure self, to percolate through and bring awareness and understanding. We then become ready to take the next step of spiritual realisation; the re-entry of the Supreme Being, God, into our life. God is such an important player in our returning to spiritual consciousness, that it is worth considering His role in all this. With so many different belief systems, the whole idea of God can be contentious. However, God is remembered, and called upon, in one way or another, across all strata of faith; used as a lucky charm, or an ‘idea’ to beg for help, from pleading for our team to score a goal, to winning the lottery, or often as in these days, relegated to a bit player in films or stories. We make jokes about him, curse him for not helping with what is happening, pleading, praying or negotiating some exchange deal.

There are two major reasons why many fail to have a profound realisation or experience of God. Firstly, the belief that God does not exist, and secondly that God is everywhere. The first is built on the argument that if God existed, how could He have allowed the world to be the way it is, and why does He not intervene and stop the pain and suffering? The second is the belief that He pervades all things, is omnipresent in all things and in each one of us. However, if He is a vast, all-permeating energy, all knowing and full of awareness, possessed of an unchanging love for all, then could He really kill another being, or be part of the destruction of the animal kingdom and the natural world; could He ever forget He is God, and forget the implications of His actions?

Yet, if we look at the widespread practice of repeating mantras, the saying of prayers, the recitation of powerful verses directed at ‘God’ – we can see that these practices have been shown to have a very powerful effect, all over the world. This would suggest that these incantations are memories within the subconscious mind of the soul, that recall a time when the mind was deeply connected with God. As a result of many lifetimes, the soul has fallen into a state of forgetfulness and yet the memory of this still lies deep within the subconscious mind.

I believe the most effective way to connect with God is to become aware of who I really am, a non-physical, infinitesimal point of spiritual light, and to experience the Supreme Being as exactly the same. To experience this, the mind has to align with the same wavelength as that of God. It can then travel away from its present chaos into a subtle spiritual dimension that provides a platform for release from our old mental blocks, helping us to revive the long-forgotten powers of the soul; of the wisdom we keep within ourselves. 

Thus, in stepping out into the sunlight of God’s great radiance, we can experience His pure and powerful energy filling the soul with spiritual strength and awareness. For this to be effective, we need, through meditation, to experience, integrate, and embed it as part of our natural spiritual nature. 

Meditation is about creating an energy wave of pure consciousness that triggers in others their own subconscious memories and experiences of the self, and the Supreme. It is in this way we can help our fellow human beings to return to awareness, to reawaken their consciousness.

Jim Ryan has a background in education.
He is an author and a Brahma Kumaris Rajyoga teacher,
based at the Global Retreat Centre, Oxford, UK.