You may have often heard it said that your Spirit is "within you." This is an absolute truth, but what does it mean exactly? By within you, does it mean that your Spirit is somewhere inside your body? Well, yes and no. If the mental image which comes to mind when you think of your Spirit being within you is like unto that of any of your internal bodily organs such as your kidneys or intestines or even your heart, then no. From a literal sense, your Spirit is not actually anywhere inside you materially; yet you have to go within yourself to find it. I know this sounds like a bad riddle, but unraveling this paradox is the key which unlocks the first of many doors you'll have to open along your journey to discover your Spirit. The apparent contradiction of this paradox is reconciled by putting the word "within" in its proper context.
To go within yourself means to shut yourself off from the bombardment of external stimuli. Perceiving your Spirit through all the "noise" which continually beats upon your physical senses is just shy of impossible when you have only a vague idea as to what exactly it is you're supposed to be looking for in the first place - an intangible something called your Spirit. The evidence of Spirit is verily all around you, but the only place it can be touch is within you. And as a matter of course, all outward evidence of the Spirit's existence will go unnoticed by your consciousness until such contact is made. The more you connect with your Spirit, the more cognizant you will be of its illumination centered not only within you, but in everything around you.
Imagine a person who is blind, deaf and unable to smell, taste or tactilely feel anything. Such a person is locked within themselves wouldn't you say? They are not locked within any particular place inside their body such as their kidneys or bones. However, lacking the capacity to interact with outside stimuli forces such a person's focus to turn in on itself and explore those things which are generally unseen, unheard and not sensed through any physical organ. That which your physical organs can sense is considered external. So going within yourself, exploring what is internal, means exploring those things about you which are unseen, unheard and not sensible by means of any physical organ. This is not to suggest that you have to subject yourself to total sensory deprivation in order to go within yourself and discover your Spirit, such a course of action would not only be extreme, but wholly unnecessary. Simply withdrawing your attention from the information you are receiving through your physical senses is all that's required to go within yourself. Why madden yourself with the impossible task of trying to block every source of external stimulation when you can quite simply cultivate the art of just ignoring such stimuli? Whether you realize it or not, you are actually quite adept at doing this. Every time you drift off to sleep, you are going within yourself.
Still, consciously withdrawing your attention from external stimuli while you're in a "waking state" takes practice, but such effort will be rewarded countless times over. It is part of some practices of meditation. There have been multitudes of meditative techniques crafted over the centuries which are available for you in your efforts to make use of. The best meditation technique is the one that's right for you. Whichever meditative technique best helps you withdraw your attention from those things happening outside yourself, is the meditative technique you should use. The natural result of withdrawing your attention from those things outside yourself is that your focus turns to those things within.
You can examine every corner of this Earth from now until eternity and you will never come across your Spirit. It is only when your focus turns in on itself that a whole new world opens up to you. And it is here, on this internal landscape, that your journey to discover your Spirit can now begin. "Eden" is within you. It was the ego which was cast out from this garden of paradise; your Spirit never left.
Evette Gardner is an author of 21 Days to a Changed Life and other spirituality topic eBooks. She currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts. You can read more of her articles on her web site.
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