Facts Change in the Light of Truth

Every notice how facts change in the light of truth.  For years it was believed that the earth was flat and that belief was considered a fact until is was discovered that the world was round.  Just imagine how the people of that time conformed their lives to the belief the earth was flat and even some were afraid to venture to far for fear of falling off the edge of the world!

How about the fact that it was considered healthier to eat margarine than butter and now we know the opposite is true.  Think of how many people replaced butter with margarine in their diets in light of that belief.

Remember when eggs were considered very bad because of high cholesterol.  A lot of people eliminated eggs from their diets because of that belief.  Now research suggest that they are not bad at all, and they are actually healthy for you.  

What I'm alluding to is this, you conform your life to facts you believe to be true and when you conform your life around beliefs that are not true you limit your possibilities.  You see, belief in a fact, true or false holds your life within the limits of that belief.  Thus, I employ you to examine the facts and beliefs that you allow to take root in your mind.

Jesus, said two very simple things many years ago, "It is done unto you as you believe", and "you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."  Now those are two facts that will never change.

You Are a Branch of the Tree of Life

Are there times in your life that you feel alone and helpless and you don't know where to turn for answers?  Here's a simple analogy to help you get through those times.

Think of a tree, imagine the most magnificent tree you've ever seen.  The branches and leaves are a part of that tree, they are an expression of the tree's beauty.  The branches and the leaves are nourished by the tree and it would foolish of them to look outside of the tree for any need.

Likewise, you are a branch of the Divine Tree of Life.  Thus, the glory and beauty of the Divine is expressed through you.  You are an intimate part of the Divine Tree of Life so, in those difficult times, just turn within to the Tree for nourishment because looking anywhere else would be foolish.

Ever Felt Like This?

Ever feel as if there is no purpose to your life and each day is just the same as yesterday?  Do you feel as if you struggle through life while others have it so easy?  Ever ask yourself why am I trying so hard and nothing seems to go right for me?  What about that empty feeling you have and nothing you do seems to satisfy it?  Ever watch the news and think that if God is real why is the world so messed up?

If you’ve ever felt any of those things above you are not alone.  Everyone struggles at times to find meaning in their lives.  If you’ve ever felt like you are on a journey and you have no idea of where it will end then read on.

Some people seem to breeze through life as if they have a guide that’s always showing them the easy way.  There is such a guide and a way of living that will bring you peace and harmony in all aspects of your life, for there is a Loving Intelligent Life Force that permeates all life.  It is the Invisible Force that animates and governs all we see from the movement of the heavenly bodies, to the changing of the seasons, to the beating of your heart.  Some call this Life Force God, some call it Spirit, and others call it Universal Life.  No matter what you call it, you must realize that it is Everywhere Present, All Knowing, and All Powerful in order to fully benefit from It in your life.  This Life Force animates, maintains, and sustains you.  It’s the intelligence that orchestrates the billions of interactions that happen in your body each day that keeps you alive..

You have unlimited access to this awesome Life Force through your consciousness.  As a matter of fact, this Life Force beacons for your recognition of it.  It stands always ready to come to your aid, but it won’t come unless invited.  It knows how to guide you easily and harmoniously in accomplishing all your task, great and small.

You exist as an expression of this great Life Force as spirit, mind, and body and in order to live a fulfilled and joyful life you must recognize and balance these three aspects of your life.  For, there is a rhythm to life that once entered and maintained in makes things flow easily and harmoniously with little stress and strain.  The object of this book is to help you find and remain in that rhythm of life.

“All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.  In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.”  John 1:3-4.

In What Do You Trust

Recently, I was sitting outside and enjoying a beautiful sunrise,  I could feel the warmth of the sun rays on my face bathing me in a spirit of peace and harmony.  All was good with the world in that moment.  Then, it occurred to me that I didn't have to put forth any effort to make the sun to rise and enjoy it's warmth.

Ever think about how the sun rises and sets without your effort and if for only one day the sun did not rise all life on earth would die.  There is an universal Loving Intelligence which governs the rising and the setting of the sun without any help from you and I.  This same Loving Intelligence created you and I out of Itself and will govern our lives just as It causes the sun to rise and set if we trust in It.

But, being human you and I think that we know best how to run our lives, so we struggle and strain to force our way in the world while there is a Loving Intelligence that patiently awaits to guide us effortlessly through life.  All we have to do is to totally trust in It, just as we trust the sun to rise each day.

Be Still

This morning I awoke with that anxious feeling.  My mind was full of chatter, "what am I doing in life?, where am I going with my life?, am I good enough?...."  Then I picked up one of my favorite books on meditation, went outside, and set in one of my favorite quiet places to read.  As I read I became conscious of my union with God and the more I focused on that unity the quieter the mind chatter became and the less anxious I felt.

Finally, I came to a place of complete quietness and my anxiety, and the mind chatter ceased.  Then I could hear the voice of God reassure me that all was okay and His grace was always sufficient for me.  Just as this revelation came to me I saw a robin land from above and pickup a worm for it's breakfast and I knew if God provided for a bird, He surly had provisions for me.

I was completely at peace now, filled with the consciousness of God's love and protection which can only be found in that quiet place within, which says "be still and know that I am God."  So, when you are filled with anxiety and your mind is racing with all kinds of fear, just go to that quiet place, meditate on your unity with God and be still.

The Answer is in Letting Go

Do you often you find yourself struggling to maintain something in your life whether it be your income, your health, or a relationship.  This means you are trying to do things through your own human effort.  You grit our teeth and try to plow right through the situation.  There is an easier way to live, it's called letting go and letting God.

Even Jesus, the Master Teacher said, "of myself I can do nothing, it is the Father in me that does the work."  You see Jesus knew just as all great spiritual masters know, the Power that created the Universe, and causes the sun to rise and set also created you and I.  This Loving Intelligence we call God will maintain and sustain us if we but let It do so.

Have you ever struggled with an issue for so long that it wore you down and you threw up you hands and gave up, and shortly thereafter the problem was magically solved.  That's because you gave up on solving the problem through your own human effort and you let it go and the moment you let go, God revealed the perfect answer.

You see God is your loving Father who will govern, guard, and guide you in all you do when you let go of the need to do things your way.  So, when you find yourself struggling with the problems of life, just let go and let God.

Truth Heals All

Many people struggle with a feeling that something in their lives needs fixing and they go here and there looking for the solution when all they need do is look inside themselves for the answer.  For, all healing is nothing more than the realization of your unity with God.  Seek this union in your prayers and all things in your life will be made whole, and you will lose that feeling of something needing to be fixed in your life.

One of my favorite mantras is, there is nothing to be healed, only Truth be revealed.

The Spiritual Law of Unconditional Love

The spiritual law of Unconditional Love says that there is a Loving Divine Presence at the center of your life that created you for a purpose, and loves you beyond human comprehension.   You were born with a gift, something that you can do in a special way that no one else can do.  When you trust in the Divine completely to unfold this talent in your life you will be supported and your every need will be met easily and harmoniously.

This Law supersedes all the other spiritual laws for it rests in the energy of Unconditional Love which is the highest energy there is.  Nothing is greater than the Divine’s unconditional love for Its creation and you are the Divine’s creation.  When you become conscious of this truth you know that all things are possible, for you realize that there is nothing that Divine Love cannot overcome.

The Divine wants you to be healthy, happy, and fulfilled, and in order to realize this in your life you must come to an understanding that you are the Divine expressing Itself as you.  You are united with the Divine and all of creation and nothing can dissolve this union and when you are conscious of this all things take their proper place in your life.  The Divine is always working for good on your behalf but you must be open to receive this goodness in your life; this is the point of trust.  If you could come to a place of complete trust in the Divine for your every need, your life would flow easily and harmoniously with very little stress and strain.  You would have no thought of how your needs would be met tomorrow and you could live fully each day completely pouring yourself into your life’s purpose.  How good would it feel not worry about the future and know that all your future needs would be met?  How much anxiety and stress would be alleviated from your life if you could live each day fully knowing that you would always have enough for all your tomorrows?  Trusting in the Divine’s unconditional love for you is where you will find this.

The Divine created you to express Itself in and through your life.  It knows how and will provide for your every need but, in order to do so, you must trust in the Divine completely.  The problem is most people don’t trust in the Divine to meet their daily needs.  Instead of letting their Divine gift unfold in their lives they seek things they think will satisfy their needs and once accomplished they are not fulfilled.  That unfulfilled feeling is always your soul seeking its true purpose.

Through the Law of Cause and Effect mentioned previously the Divine has given you the power to create anything in your life that you desire.   Thus, using this law intelligently to create what you want in life is the beginning of taking charge of your life.  However, most people are not fulfilled by the things they manifest in their lives because they think that material things can satisfy their desires.

Real lasting satisfaction in your life can only come in fulfilling the purpose for which you were created.  As I mentioned earlier, the Divine made you to express Itself in and through your life.  You have a Divine seed planted within you that is begging to born and this is your life’s purpose.  You can only bring this seed to fruition through Trusting the Divine and letting It govern, guard, and guide you daily. 

How do I know my life’s purpose you ask?  You can only find your life’s purpose in surrender of personal will to Divine will.  This is done by earnestly seeking Divine guidance in your life daily.

Heaven is not some place in the sky you go to when you die. Heaven is a state of consciousness of your unity with the Divine.  When you are in this state of consciousness you can materialize heavenly things right here on earth.  In your unity with the Divine you have access to all that you will ever need in life.  For the much sought after Kingdom of God is a state of consciousness of the Presence of God and when realized all your needs are met easily and harmoniously.

Practicing the Law of Non-Attachment

In my last post I spoke of the Spiritual Law of Non-Attachment.  You put the Law of Non-Attachment to work in your life by realizing that you are the creator of all your life experiences via your belief system (consciousness).  Therefore, the only way to change your experience is by changing your consciousness. When you rigidly onto to anything in your life you keep your consciousness at the level of the thing, and you stifle your growth.

The only lasting security in your life is your connection with your Inner-Self, which is where your life merges with the Divine.  This is the place of unlimited possibility and from this place you create everything that is necessary in your life.  So, you see there can never be any lasting security in material things because they are always changing.  Your connection with the Divine is eternal and is always ready to meet you at your place of need, and that is where your security is.

Daily practice the following in your quiet time.

• Give thanks for all you have and release all you have to the Divine, knowing that if something is lost in your life a way is always opened for something greater.

• Know that the Divine always provides for your every need, but It can only give you what you are conscious of receiving.

•  Know that there is unlimited possibility in uncertainty and non-attachment and this is where your security lies.

The Spiritual Law of Detachment

The Law of Detachment says not to be attached to the material things in your life, be it person, place or thing.  For you give your power to whatever it is you are attached to.  When you are attached to anything you spend your efforts trying to hold onto the thing you are attached to.  You place your trust and security in a thing and not in your Inner-Self which is the only place lasting security can be found.

Real security is in your connection with your Inner-Self which knows how to manifest and provide for your every need.  As previously stated in the Law of Cause and Effect, the things that surround your life are manifestations of your thoughts and beliefs.  Thus as you change your thought patterns and beliefs the things in your life change accordingly.  Therefore, things are temporal, corresponding to your level of consciousness of the Divine’s limitless substance and supply.

The Divine is always ready, willing and able to meet your every need in life, but It can only give you what you are ready to receive.  Thus, when you become attached to something, you keep your consciousness at the level of the thing you are attached to and you stifle your growth.  You see, when you place your security in a person, place, or thing you limit your access to Divine substance and supply because you hold your consciousness in a static place.

For example, some people are attached to money and they spend most of their time and effort trying to keep it and to accumulate more of it.  But no matter how much money they accumulate they are not secure because they are always afraid of losing it.  They place their faith in the amount of money they have in their financial investments and spend their time worrying about every fluctuation in the financial markets.  They become a prisoner of their attachment to money.

Another example is people who are attached to a luxurious lifestyle.  These are the people who live in the huge beautiful homes, drive the luxury cars, and send their children to the best private schools.   They have accumulated everything that should make for a happy life, but most of them not.  They are unhappy in their marriages, unhappy in their careers, or unhappy with the business they have created and they are unwilling to change anything for fear of losing the lifestyle they have created.  They are prisoners of a false sense of security and have traded their happiness for the symbols of material success.

I’m not advocating that you should not enjoy having money, and the luxuries of life.  I’m saying that you can have the money, the lifestyle, and happiness too if you practice the Law of Detachment.  Happiness is found in the right relationship to things in your life.  The Divine wants you to have a happy, healthy, and fulfilled life.  However, you can never find these qualities in material things, for these qualities come from an inner knowing that you have access to a Divine Power that fulfills and meets your every need.

I believe you are born with a special gift inside of you.  There is something that you can do better than anyone else in the world and when you reach inside yourself and give that special gift to the world you are happy and fulfilled.  The security you are looking for is contained in the giving of your gift and you cannot release your talents while being attached to temporal things because you will spend all your energy trying to keep things as they are.

As crazy as this may sound, the only security you will find in life is in uncertainty and non-attachment.   When you are certain that a thing is your salvation, you lock your consciousness at that level and you live your life within the limited boundaries you have created for yourself.  On the other hand, there is unlimited possibility in uncertainty and non-attachment, for the Divine in you is saying all that I have is yours and you can have all that you are conscious of receiving.

Using the Law of Cause and Effect for Your Benefit

SPIRIT (Photo credit: MarianOne)

In my previous post I talked about the spiritual law of Cause and Effect.  In this post I will explain how to use this law for your benefit.

The first thing you must do to use the Law of Cause and Effect to create the things in your life that you desire is very sobering.  You have to realize that you are responsible for every condition in your life be it labeled good or bad.  The conditions and circumstances that presently surround you are a sum total of your inner thoughts and beliefs.  Thus, you are never a victim of anything that appears in your life, because you have called whatever it is into your life via your inner thoughts and beliefs.

I know the above statements are hard to digest, but they must be in order to use the Law of Cause and Effect intelligently in your life.  God has given you the power to create the world that you live in by giving you the capacity to think.  Contained within a thought is the energy to create the things thought of.  You are always thinking and thus always creating and giving life to your thoughts.  The problem is that most people are not conscious of this truth and think random thoughts and create random conditions in their lives and believe they are the victims of random circumstances and conditions.  The irony is they created the conditions themselves and then they try to change the conditions at the level of their appearance and thus, create more of the condition.

Think of it like this, you are the writer, producer, and director of a play called Your Life.  You write the script, you set the scenes, and cast all the characters in this play through your thoughts and beliefs.  Every person in the play of life is only reading from the script that you wrote for them.  Every situation that happens in your life is from the script you have already written in your mind.  The good news is if you don’t like the play you can re-write the script at any time.

Nothing happens randomly in your life.  Everything that you experience you have written as a part of your script in your thoughts and beliefs.  Therefore, it is pointless to try to fight against circumstances that you created, just as it is pointless trying to make your reflection in a mirror smile while you are frowning.  The experiences of your life are only a reflection of your inner thoughts and beliefs.

Meditation and Self-contemplation

In order to use the Law of Cause and Effect to create harmony in your life you have to learn to quiet your mind and control your thoughts.  Your mind is constantly bombarded with thoughts.  While you cannot stop thinking you can control the thoughts, for you are the thinker and gate keeper of the thoughts you allow to enter your mind.

You learn to control your thoughts through the regular practice of sitting in silence.  Some people call this meditation, I call it self-contemplation.  This is the most proven way to access your spiritual energy which is your true identity.  Your spiritual energy will always reveal truth in your life showing you errors in your thoughts and beliefs which materialize as inharmonious conditions in your life.

Sitting in silence can be very difficult at first, because your mind is filled with chatter and you are constantly jumping from one thought to another.  Thoughts are like little children competing for your attention, they say “look at me, look at me” and you have to train yourself to only pay attention to the thoughts you want in your mind.   Don’t get discouraged.  The mental practice of silence is just like physical exercise, you get stronger and better at it the more you do it.  Here are some techniques for learning to control your thoughts.

• Go to a quiet place where you will not be interrupted for about 30 minutes.  Sit upright in a comfortable chair.  Close your eyes, take deep controlled breathes, and slowly count backwards from 100 to zero.  The counting will cause your mind to focus on the numbers and shut out any other distracting thoughts.

•  Go to a quiet place where you will not be interrupted for about 30 minutes.  Sit upright in a comfortable chair.  Close your eyes, take deep controlled breathes, and think about your favorite outdoor spot.  It could be the beach, the mountains, or watching a beautiful sunset.  Imagine that you are physically at your favorite place. Visualize hearing the birds singing, feeling the sun on your skin, hearing the sound of the waves crashing on-shore.   The object is to training your mind to focus on one thought at a time.

• Take a relaxing walk in nature.  Listen to the birds singing, marvel at the beauty of the trees, flowers, and plant life.  Again, the object is to train your mind to focus on one thought.

• My favorite technique for quieting my mine is to read some inspirational passage and then to contemplate it’s meaning.

You will find that once you become efficient at quieting your mind, things start to be revealed to you.  It could be the solution to some situation that you’ve been struggling with, or the vision doing some project that would be very fulfilling.  The things revealed to you in these times of silence comes from the core of your existence, from your unity with the Divine and you can trust that it is right for you.