Reflections upon a Path to Union

The Transformation from Personality to Soul on the Spiritual Path

August 25, 2024 • Penny Frampton

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Have you ever wondered what it truly means to surrender your personality for the sake of spiritual growth? Join me, Penny Frampton, as I take you on an enlightening journey in our latest episode of "Reflections Upon a Path to Union." We'll navigate the intricate and often challenging process of becoming increasingly aware of our own thoughts, emotions, and actions, and how this awareness can lead to the gradual dissolution of the personality. This episode shines a light on the intense battles and ultimate surrender of personal desires and passions, highlighting the transformative yet grief-laden path towards soul consciousness and alignment with a higher purpose for humanity.

Discover the deep sense of contentment and fulfillment that comes from embracing your true spiritual path, especially in the context of being a modern Western yogi. We delve into the transformation from personality to soul, exploring how the higher mind serves as a conduit for the soul's purpose in the world. Reflect on the moments of grief and joy that accompany this profound journey and understand what it means to recognize your place in the cosmic order. Tune in to uncover the essence of living from a state of pure soul consciousness, where every thought and action naturally aligns with the greater good.

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These are the pages of a diary Footsteps in the Sand, revelations, epiphanies, impressions and experiences, a personal exploration into the spiritual evolution of humanity from duality to union.

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I am Penny Frampton and I am the host of the podcast Reflections Upon a Path to Union. Arcanist, esotericist, theosophist, mystic, occultist and yogi, and this is my personal journey upon the path of spiritual exploration.

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So this morning I've been reflecting upon a question posed to me by a student, and that is what is the hardest part of a spiritual life? It didn't take me long to reflect on this, because there comes a moment, or a progression of moments, steps of moments in spiritual evolution where you are becoming, through your spiritual growth, aware of who you are as a personality. You become aware of your thoughts, your actions and you become increasingly aware of them. Then, as you make a connection with soul consciousness beyond thoughts and emotions, that connection, that soul consciousness, throws a light of illumination down upon the personality, throws a light of illumination down upon the personality, and everything in your personality is thrown into bright relief and for a time there is no escaping what is thrown up for you. It's intense and you go through it all, you keep going through it all and you start to think that there is no ending in sight. But slowly and gradually, what is thrown up in the light becomes less and less. The troubles, the patterns of your personality slowly dissolve within that light.

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But that's not the hardest part, although it may seem so at the time, because now you become aware of yourself on two levels at the same time. You become aware of your personality, but you also become aware of your focus as the soul, at a level of soul consciousness, and you become aware of both at the same time. You live as both at the same time. Then you start to become aware that the personality is slowly dwindling. Then you start to become aware that the personality is slowly dwindling and initially it's quite exciting and you embrace the energies of soul consciousness as they hold so much joy, so much bliss and so much love

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But there comes a point where the personality starts to fight back. It throws up a lot of stuff and then you begin steps where you are constantly evaluating your thoughts, your emotions, your speech and your actions and you're evaluating it against or through the light of the soul consciousness. And this takes time and it's quite a battle. It goes on and it goes on and you keep using the light of the soul as an illumination upon every thought and every action that you take. And it's like what would my soul do next? In a sense, would my soul do this as a soul, or is it still part of my personality acting out? But gradually that battle dwindles too, and there is less and less of the personality and more and more of the soul consciousness.

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But then comes the hardest part of any spiritual journey, and it's after you've been through all these battles, you've been through everything. And then the hardest part is when you finally surrender the personality completely. And then there comes a period of grieving, and that's the only word that can describe it. There is a grieving for the passing of the personality, because all that you were as a personality, all your loves, your desires, your needs, your passions, are surrendered, and of course that is what makes up your personality, those desires and those passions, the depth to which you actually live your life as a human being. But at some point they are all to be surrendered, and that causes grief.

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So hard to give up what you are passionately about as a human being, to allow every one of those passions, every one of those desires to be transmuted into a greater, clearer, more brilliant form, to allow all those passions and desires to be transformed into passions and desires for the evolution of humanity, for the greater good. And I don't mean just, I do this for the greater good, coming from the point of view of the personality, because the minute you actually say, oh, I will do this action for the greater good, you are talking as the separated personality, and even that has to be surrendered. You come to a place where you just simply know, because there is no personality, that every thought and action is for the greater good, because you are the soul consciousness and that is all that you are now. That is all and everything that you have become. And there is definitely a period of grieving over this because, let's face it, life as a human being, life as a personality, let's face it, life as a human being, life as a personality, has huge passions and great joys and even incredible passionate pain, but it's all surrendered, all surrendered into the light of soul consciousness, and that is the hardest part of your spiritual journey and that is the hardest part of your spiritual journey. The personality will continue to fight and it will continue to say no, and it will continue until it comes to a point where it surrenders your whole being, your whole experience, and then the grieving slowly dissipates as the amazing experience of the soul takes over, and then you exist purely in a sense of joy and love.

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And I don't like to use the word bliss because it has connotations of blissing out, but there is a deep sense of contentment, of being in place, of being aware that you are in the right place, that you are playing your part and that you are a spark in the fire that is channeling the energies of a greater plan, a greater awareness, a greater will, and that you are in the right place and that you are undertaking your true purpose, not as a personality, but as a soul within the greater plan, the greater hierarchy of beings that is this one God manifesting and that slowly takes over from your personality, slowly takes over from your personality, and all that's left of the personality is the mind, the higher mind, and through that the soul communicates with the world and expresses its purpose within the world.

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And so that's my ruminations this morning as a yogi in a modern Western world, on the question of what is the hardest part of the spiritual path, and people have asked me to share what it's like to be a yogi in a modern Western world, and that is what it's like. There are moments of intense battle, moments of intense grief, as well as the amazing joys and contentment and sense of being in place.