Keeping A Clean Heart & Mind

Ka’at Ibi: Keeping A Clean Heart & Mind

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to maintain and improve my mental and spiritual cleanliness or purity. Also being honest to know when I am not doing this.

Here in the modern system we may hear talk of purity but it is usually about a physical state, like what one may be doing to their bodies, putting in their bodies, or if the body is clean. While this is very important to us, we really don’t hear about making an effort to be pure in the mind and the spirit. In fact we are indoctrinated from a very young age into thoughts and behaviors that keep us spiritually impure. We are trained to have our attention turned out towards others rather than assessing ourselves for misbehavior and impurities. We are also told that if there is a good enough reason then we can misbehave or be impure.

Traditionally we understand that purity pertains to the body, mind, and spirit.  It is a commandment that was given to us by the Neterw. It is listed as one of the ten requirements of a Kem, “to maintain purity of body, mind, and spirit.” Mental and spiritual impurities are as close as a bad thought about something or someone.

I found that the mental and spiritual impurities that I am healing from are based on ideas and attitudes that through the teachings, experiences, and intellectual and spiritual honesty I became aware of. These are attitudes that are readily accepted and justified in modern society. I’m talking about the attitudes of “me against you”, or the idea of being am right, that thinking I have a right to get angry and stay angry, or the notion of competition or be known as the first to do this, that, or another, or even having to appear to be this or that way, being opinionated and judgmental of others. These are overt attitudes and misbehavior that cause division and in no way works toward harmony,  they only satisfy the ego and the habit of taking a stand with our perspectives.

Maakherw told us that, “Life is not a combat since there is no presumed enemy. The other, in spite of his absurdities, is only looking for the same peace in the soul; if life is a combat, it is a combat with ourselves in order to find the enemy inside ourselves, the enemy that inhabits us and forbids us to celebrate an already perfect harmony with others.”

This is very difficult coming from a society that was built on division and oppression and the amount of time spent in it already being conditioned. These are not conditions that I will ever fully be rid of and it is not a quick process. It is corruption and evil that is dynamic and can cover territories quickly. We know that purity is the opposite, it is fragile and hard to maintain. Undoing what I  have been exposed to takes time and effort every day. I have to diligently examine myself and work to increase my purity.

The Ancestors have warned us about the issues that can come about because of mental and spiritual impurities that do not work towards what they want to see of us, and furthermore doesn’t support the notion of us building the world we want to see.

Impurity and corruption we are told is waiting for us. Impurity can come in very subtle ways. It is not always an overt action with obvious results. It can be as subtle as how and what you are communicating to another. It can be a thought, or even inaction. We have to be aware of this and very consciously pay mind to what we are thinking and doing and check it against whether or not it is in conflict with the commandment “thou shall not be impure.”

We are told that we need to  “tax our energies in this life to bring us to energetic perfection. If we do not do this, we shall spend cycles of reincarnations searching for the best way to present ourselves to existence.”

That is how important our purity towards our life and the existence is. We need to take an honest look at how we are thinking and behaving each day and apply the seriousness to our challenges. Your becoming is dependent upon it. Not once have I been told or read anything since being here at the Earth Center that indicates that at some point the battle for my purity becomes easier. It is probably safe to say that as I continue to make my paradigm shift it will become harder. We must stay humble and honest about where we all are in this.