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Introduction to the second edition
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by Richard Lawrence
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As I write this, it is seven years since Dr. George King passed from this earthly plane. More than ever do we need his straightforward, practical approach to the timeless wisdom of the ancient yoga masters. He taught a path to enlightenment combining service to others with personal spiritual development, which is perfectly tailored to our modern world. I believe it is encapsulated in this book, which is why I am so delighted about this second edition.
Since Realise Your Inner Potential was published in 1998, it has become the basis for lectures and workshops in the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Africa. We anticipate it spreading to many other nations in the future. It is heart-warming to receive the many letters, e-mails and comments from those whose lives have been changed by the knowledge and spiritual exercises contained here. I know that you too can find your spiritual key in these pages. And when you do, it will not just affect the time you spend performing these practices, it will change the whole of your life.
Most systems of self-development focus on what you think and feel and tend to ignore what you do. They tend to measure the enlightenment of an individual by the level of their consciousness rather than their actions. This places too much emphasis on one half of the equation and not enough on the other. It is an imbalance which, in Chinese terms, would be described as "the yin without the yang" - a state which inevitably leads to disharmony. This imbalance needs to be rectified and no teacher has done more to achieve this, in my view, than Dr. King. He always emphasised serving others as the number one priority in these days, and as the surest path to enlightenment.
It is generally accepted nowadays that negative emotions such as guilt, fear, and grief affect your whole being, that they can lead to ill health and limit your spiritual progress. It is also recognised that the hallmarks of an enlightened person are the joy, peace and positive energy they radiate to others. But, this too has to be seen in the context of what they do. Someone who is only concerned with their own well-being and who spends their time and money exclusively on his or her stress-free, contented lifestyle may radiate a certain degree of joy, peace and positive energy for a while. Paradoxically enough, the more selfish they are, the more at peace they will feel at leading such a life - if they were less selfish they would be spurred by their conscience to do something for others as well as themselves. But this type of contentedness never lasts. Sooner or later, something will come along to disturb it, if only as a karmic reality check to encourage them to look beyond themselves.
On the other hand, a person who has decided to focus their energies on helping those less fortunate than themselves - the abused, the injured, the addicted and the oppressed - will initially experience more stress in his or her life. It is, after all, upsetting when you come into contact with and care about the suffering of others. But, such a person will soon discover something else: a deep, inner peace which no amount of self-centredness could create, for this peace is lasting. To inspire them to help others, they may have experienced some guilt about their own more fortunate lifestyle, they will certainly have felt some discomfort at the plight of others and they usually have to endure some kind of hardship to carry out their mission of mercy. Yet, they are much further down the road to true enlightenment because they have understood its very essence: that we are all one. As the poet John Donne put it: "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main."
History is full of people who have made sacrifices and yet through them have found the very thing they are looking for from life. By throwing yourself into a cause for others, your own problems often seem trivial by comparison. The British Charity MIND has shown that getting out of yourself through a creative or altruistic pursuit is one of the best ways to tackle the increasing problem of depression. People who include selfless activities in their life are generally happier than those who don't, for the simple reason that they don't spend so much time thinking about their own problems. They also get the satisfaction of improving the lot of other people in one way or another, which is a type of satisfaction which can never be taken away from you - it brings a lasting, inner feeling of joy.
Mother Teresa (1910-1997) is a good example of this, whatever your views of Catholicism may be. She devoted her life in service to others. She sacrificed material wealth, the possibility of personal emotional relationships and all forms of sensual indulgence. Most people would rule out happiness without any of those things, and yet Mother Teresa was full of joy. She devoted her life to the poor for no other reason than to serve them and by karmic law she experienced abundant happiness. She summed up her life when she said: "The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is not a mortification, a penance. It is joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are perfectly happy."
Another humanitarian giant, Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), devoted much of his life in service to humanity. He was a respected writer on theology, an accomplished organist and an authority on Bach, but he gave all this up to become a medical missionary. He took up the study of medicine not because it interested him as a subject, but because he considered it the most useful skill he could learn to help others. He worked tirelessly throughout his life, building a hospital in French Equatorial Africa in 1913 and later a leper colony there. Through his work - which to many would appear to be the ultimate sacrifice of wealth, family life and the career he originally chose—his Karma brought him lasting happiness. As he once said: "I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
We all have a unique reason for being here, which is our destiny. We are not all lucky enough to do the exact job we would have chosen in an ideal world. Even those of us who are so fortunate are required to do things that are not our favourite parts of the job. No healer - and I cannot think of a greater calling than this - actually enjoys witnessing pain and suffering. No decent teacher enjoys having to discipline unruly students. And yet both these cases are an integral part of the work and aspects which make it really worthwhile. This book will help you to realise and manifest your destiny as the outer manifestation of your inner potential.
According to mystical writings, we each have within us the same spark of perfection, which is often described as the divine or real self. Along the way, there are numerous lessons, different for each one of us thank goodness, which produce the rich variety of human experience in the world. The quicker we face up to and deal with our own limitations, the sooner we will reach our ultimate goals - just as you cannot solve a problem without facing it first, nor can you tackle and change your own limitations without first acknowledging them, at least to yourself. But never see them as permanent. They are only temporary aberrations obscuring your real, unlimited potential. In Michelangelo's words: "The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."
As the years go by, I become increasingly aware just what a privilege it is to have co-authored books with my Master. This was the last book he worked on, and I was overwhelmed by his spiritual generosity, both in entrusting me with this task and in how much he was willing to give to this project in the final months of his life.
I did not expect him to allow me to publish so much spiritual wealth in one book and make what would once have been secret so freely available. In the modern world, it is no longer necessary to break away from civilisation in order to discover one's inner potential, as the serious student (or sannyasin) was encouraged to do when yoga was first taught. It is now a matter of working in the world to help everyone to discover their inner potential and, in the process, to realise your own. The goal now is freedom from ill health, ignorance and every kind of poverty - spiritual, mental and material - for everyone.
You can realise your inner potential in every thought and action throughout your life. If you practise the exercises in this book, they will directly affect every single area of your life for the better. You will express more of your natural ability all the time. And, if you take it far enough, you will develop a newfound spiritual awareness you never dreamed possible. Spiritual development is an adventure - sometimes exciting and challenging, occasionally difficult; sometimes peaceful, joyful, blissful even. But it is always rewarding. There are times when we want to do nothing else, and other times when we want to give it a break. We all have to find our own pace - but whatever that is, it is essential to keep going and to never give up. Results can come quickly or slowly, but they will come providing you continue. We all have unlimited inner potential - it is up to each of us when and how we realise it.
May your spiritual journey be blessed with lasting success.
Richard Lawrence
July 12th, 2004 |
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