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Enlightening articles by Guy Finley on a wide range of topics address practical life issues and deepen your spiritual understanding.
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Enlightening articles by Guy Finley on a wide range of topics address practical life issues and deepen your spiritual understanding.
Short but powerful quotes by Guy Finley will inspire you throughout your day.
Heartfelt inner-life questions from people around the world, and Guy’s enlightening answers, will shed light on your own issues.
Read Guy’s newest insights as he jots them down, spontaneous and uncensored.
Watch or listen to the specific talk we will all be discussing during this week’s Online Study Group meeting.
If you have a few minutes, and want a burst of enlightenment, watch or listen to these brief talks by Guy, filled with concentrated wisdom.
Hearing Guy interact with an interviewer is a delight. Listen as he makes deep spiritual principles easy to understand.
Be encouraged by hearing fellow members share their experiences and discoveries as they bring higher ideas into their daily lives.
The Life of Learning singers and instrumentalists perform beautiful music that will inspire and uplift you.
Join us for exclusive live broadcasts of select Guy Finley talks.
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Shop eCoursesGF: Welcome everyone to our chat tonight. As usual, before we open the room to your questions and comments, I want to pass along some special ideas about what it means to awaken to ourselves, what stands in the way of this, and what we must each do if we would be free.
A young woman once decided that her best chance of getting hired by a company doing geological survey work in the Alaskan wilderness was to earn a private license to fly twin-engine planes. A few days later she began taking lessons from a wise old bush pilot, highly respected throughout the region for his cool and collected ways of dealing with the worst possible situations.
After the mandatory ground schooling, at which she excelled, and during her fourth lesson in the sky, the flight instructor gave her what she thought was a special treat: Taking his hands off the yoke, he turned the flight controls over to her. There she was, just as she had dreamed, sitting tall in the co-pilots chair with the flight stick firmly in her hands.
She felt like she was literally on "cloud 9," that is until a scant moment later when she found herself rudely awakened from her dream sequence. She tried shaking her head to get rid of what was before her eyes, but that did not work. In the distance, through the windshield, she could see something that was rushing toward her faster than what she knew to do about it!
Seeming to appear out of nowhere, a huge snow-capped mountain lay dead ahead. Transfixed by its sheer mass, she found herself as frozen at the stick as were the iced and craggy peaks stretched out before her. And she was headed straight for them! A deep chill came into the cabin.
All along the wise old instructor was watching her closely, studying her reactions. Of course, she didnt know it, but he had turned the controls over to her for just this test now taking place. He waited until the last moment he could, and was just about to take over again, when she snapped out of her fear-induced trance. She looked away from the mountain and turned to face him.
Then, in a voice so trembling and timid that it even scared her, she broke the tense silence of the moment: "Sir," she said, "please take over the controls. Im afraid we are about to crash!" His reply stunned her. "No," he spoke quietly, "I dont think I will. After all, its your flight."
It was getting harder for her to take in a whole breath, as if she were standing in the oxygen-thin air atop the great white mountain before them. Struggling to control her voice, she dug down into herself and managed to ask one more question of her teacher: "Then what should I do? Please...tell me what to do!"
She looked over at him again, and was surprised to see virtually no worry at all upon his face. His calm demeanor helped calm her. She took a deep breath and relaxed her hands that had just about choked the life out of the control yoke. The next moment he gave her a short three-word instruction, and she knew everything would soon be all right. He simply said: "Change your altitude."
She pulled firmly back on the yoke and felt the craft respond by rising. Moments later, the icy peak passed beneath her and out of sight. She marveled at how she could have forgotten that the controls were in her hands, and that she had been unable to remember this on her own. She made a silent vow. Never again would she forget this one great lesson: She could choose her altitude.
Doesnt this short truth tale remind you of a certain kind of spiritual strength that you know belongs to you, but that you have somehow forgotten or misplaced? It ought to; after all, how many of us look out ahead of ourselves at some unwanted event that looms too large, and find ourselves feeling out of control . . . headed for what seems a sure, unavoidable collision?
Wouldnt it be nice to be able to reach down inside of ourselves, grab hold of the controls of our own consciousness, and pull ourselves up? To quietly watch, whatever that would-be mountain of a problem is, just pass by harmlessly below us even as we reach ever-higher and happier skies?
We can learn to do this. Such a power is not just a pipe dream. The ability to take conscious control of our spiritual altitude is given to us as we awaken from those unconscious parts of ourselves that not only become transfixed before challenging events, but that are the secret creators of the very things into which we then crash! Its true.
After our dialogue, and before we close our chat tonight, I will pass along a certain spiritual secret of how it is possible for us to use even the most insurmountable conditions in our lives to rise above them. Heres a small hint of the spiritual truth that we will cover, the key to a new kind of crash-free consciousness: Our attitude determines our altitude in life.
What do you want to talk about? Lets get started with tonights chat.
Rael: Im sitting here shaking, confronted on every side -- outside and inside -- by painful forces and events I have no control over. I dont know what to do, and nothing changes. I have no clue how to change altitude.
GF: Just last night in class, I gave the entire meeting over to talking about how one realizes real freedom through working to understand the interior dynamics of attitude and altitude. If you can afford the few dollars these class tapes cost, e-mail Chris at the Foundation (from the Home Page) and tell her you want the class tape from 12/5/01. Itll be well worth it, as the new knowledge gained will give you the leg up you need.
Kraig: Letting God take the controls ought to be easy (so I think) yet the barrier to this is my perception. What exercise do you suggest to let down the perceptual barriers we create which keep us from letting go and letting God?
GF: At some point, the sincere seeker will begin to realize that whatever it may be he perceives in life as being in his way is secretly made up from the content of his own unawakened nature that projects itself -- is divided up into -- the opposites. As one sees the truth that he is the obstacle to perception and the obstacle perceived, gradually the mind that generates these opposites goes quiet. God awaits on the other side.
susan: I have been using the "Thou Art" meditation in your Lost Secrets of Prayer book but neither that nor anything else I do lately gives me any feeling of spirituality. Any suggestions as to how to rekindle the spark? Any other meditation methods you can recommend?
GF: First, and this is important: It is our intention in sitting down to pray or meditate that is the true governor of the relationship we enter into in such times of quietude. The results of our intention (our experience) should be left to our God, and we should not judge the effect of this effort that we make. Also, all things run in cycles. Just as the desert receives welcoming rains, so is it true with our inner life. Persist.
Ok: I am working for a company that when you need to use the restroom, you have to raise your hand and get permission. If you come in late (regardless of the problem), you get written up. If you are thirty seconds over on your break time or lunch you also get written up. If youre sick more than three days in thirty, you get written up, and after three per ninety days you get fired. Do you think theres something wrong with this picture? And thats only a small picture -- if youre sick at work you still have to stay. Im in a "right to work" state. Should we all quit?
GF: Of course I cant suggest to you what actions would be best taken under such draconian conditions. While what youve reported is hard to imagine (and Im in no way taking sides in this story), there are people all over that would give their eye teeth for steady employment. Under all conditions, work to stay awake and learn to use the environment you are in rather than allowing your resentment of it to use you up. New options appear the more awake we become.
Ok: I have learned to let go of almost everything, including this job. I feel great by not being attached to the things that seem to be there haunting me. I look at them as nothing, and have been for along time. Isnt this a right feeling?
GF: What is right for us at any given moment, and in some ways the nature of the only Rightness that there is, is to be awake to ourselves, to remember ourselves, and to remember our God in that moment. Whether your actions are correct is something only you can know. But such True Knowing is never in thought. False knowing always winds up asking, "Is this the right thing?"
Eric: I am 25-years-old and I have never really even been close to having a girlfriend. Now, as I do the inner work and seek to become more and more connected to God, should I actively search for a woman with great effort, or will I naturally find her when I least expect it?
GF: There is no relationship that any of us have in this life that is not governed by the content of our invisible heart. The real issue for those sincere in their search for a God-centered life is to put their wish for a pure and simple life inwardly before giving the reins over to desires for a sensuous outer life. Be patient and persist with your wish to awaken, and be assured God never fails to deliver what best suits us in our pursuit for perfection in His life.
ALEX: I want to be rid of my negative habits, but I find Im not patient when going silent. The intense feeling of "I want to be free of this now, once and for all," dominates me. Also, some things that I thought disappeared have manifested again, months later. I wish I werent such a difficult case.
GF: A great deal of what each of us must learn (and usually the hard way) is that just as fruit ripens on a vine according to an invisible relationship between earth and sun, so too are we in a relationship with a kind of darkness and the Light. This relationship, nourished by our willingness to work interiorly, is what must ripen according to its time. Stop struggling to be free!
Doc: You said to "think toward a captive state, rather than from it." What do you mean by "toward" it?
GF: To think toward a negative state means that one is not identified with the thought or emotion passing through him or her, but rather recognizes that this (negativity) is an occupying force. This perception allows one to think toward the condition rather than allowing the negative condition to be the formulator of his or her thoughts.
Roy: I can see working in me mostly a reactive, habitual personality with many aspects always quick to react. Occasionally I respond (not react) to events with a conscious, willful intent based on my ideal. This "Best Self" is not the familiar "me," but seems like a distant "stranger." Is this a glimpse of a "Completed Nature," or is this distant part of me that which actually learns the spiritual lessons (since my reactive personality never seems to change at all)? Is this the Essential Nature that must be "fed" so it can evolve, instead of re-training my personality to fit a new and better mold (which never seems to work either)? Is this what you meant by "...to change how the way you see the world ... you need new Is..."?
GF: We all have a tendency to want to have "arrived" at a point in time within ourselves where "the end" is at hand of our inner work. No such time, place, or for that matter, even self, that wishes for this ending exists. Dont get caught up with trying to determine what is "best self." Watch worst self, intermediary self, and best self with the same inner scrutiny. This awareness is the gate and the ground of True Self.
Doc: How do you get over regretting the past twenty years as having been totally wasted?
GF: Start by seeing that the regret you have, the regret that even asks this question, is itself part of what is wasting your life. Wake up. Drop it. No one gets covered with mud in the spiritual life who hasnt jumped into the puddle.
mycourt: In general, I shouldnt entertain negative thoughts. But isnt the self that creates a negative thought the same self that creates a positive one? Why should I then entertain the positive thought? How do I know if it really is positive and in my best interests?
GF: Christ told His disciples, "Take no thought for the morrow," also "What man taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?" True scripture from all over the world pronounces truths. Thought belongs to the realm of practical thinking and for expressing ideas. Apart from that application, thought should be viewed upon as simply being a servant. No one keeps a servant that steals from him or her.
Digger: I dont know how to respond to friends and family when they express negative feelings towards others. I am a bad actor, so I say nothing, but that is sometimes construed as being distant or uncaring. Any help?
GF: If a person is ever going to truly transform his or her life, that person must eventually break free of any and all concern over what any other person on the earth thinks about them. This isnt to say that one deliberately acts cold or cruel in social circles, but it does mean one refuses to take part in the punishment that other sleeping human beings dole out to one another and call a family dinner!
Doc: You said "What is thinkable is sinkable." How do you make major decisions and choices?
GF: There is never a problem with a major decision or any choice that we have to make in life of a practical nature. The reason that such thinking becomes sinking for us is because we are unconsciously identified with the hoped-for outcome of these decisions and choices. As you see the truth of this, you will learn how to be direct and at the same time detached.
Doc: Youve also said that "Doubt makes you real by making you feel hopeless, and we enjoy the feeling." I hate that feeling.
GF: What you must see is that you love to have the feeling of hating things.
Randy: Your weekly lesson talks about "being our neighbor" and that the "war is within us." I find myself getting so caught-up "inside" that I dont care about my neighbor. How do you stop the hurting?
GF: Its a vicious circle, isnt it? The sleeping person is so wracked with pain and pressure that this dark nature then lashes out at someone nearby. Then when retaliation comes, that person feels justified for having poured out the original pain on the unsuspecting one next to him. Unconscious pain perpetuates unconscious pain. Thats the whole thing. If we would be different ourselves, which is the only way the world would ever become a different and better place, we must each learn what it means to suffer consciously. We must learn how not to give others what we dont want to keep within ourselves. This supreme sacrifice of self is the only way the hurting in us comes to an end, because with this practice the sleeping self is awakened and passes.
Dell: What is the role of guilt? And what is the role of self-blame for personal wrongs committed? What about confession of sins?
GF: The role of guilt belongs to the self-wrecking parts of ones self that persist in unconsciously doing what that same self then decries it has done. Self-blame is the unconscious advocate of guilt. True confession of ones sins (original Aramaic meant to "miss the mark") can be a benefit to a belabored heart. The real change comes in the moment that we see what we are, not as we think back over what weve done.
Scooter: I wish I was not only willing, but eager to enter the dark places that I currently avoid, out of fear of the inevitable pain I suppose. Any suggestions?
GF: Fear is an unconscious pain born out of the belief that its possible to avoid things that the unconscious mind projects as being apart from the one who fears. No such division exists in Reality. As the (conscious) pain grows in you from seeing that you cannot continue to avoid what you fear, you will gradually walk into this fear and find out it had no existence apart from what you had lent it. Walk on.
Eric: In the history of the world, have there ever been other people like Jesus Christ? Is it possible for every human being to attain His level? Is that supposed to be our ultimate goal?
GF: I know this can be difficult to understand, but its mandatory that we all begin to grasp a certain idea. First, the answer is that we are all intended as Christ indicated to "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven." But more than this, the living Light -- the Christ -- is our individual yet common True Self.
Doc: Despite my pleading to God to take over my life, why do I think harshly, negatively, and angrily 90% of the time?
GF: This is (as Vernon Howard use to say) bitter medicine, but it does heal. What flavor ice cream do you order at the ice cream parlor? Do you order flavors you dont like? Of course not. The reason that any of us do the things we dont want to do is because there is within us a nature that loves that flavor.
Partued: If I am not to think of myself as either good or bad, then what is to be said of my actions?
GF: The thoughts that define our actions are themselves quite apart from the actions they define. We see our actions according to the images we hold of ourselves in the moment we act. Thats why angry people rarely see themselves as acting out viscious anger. We have a feature (Higher Awareness) that doesnt have to think to understand the meaning of any action. It is already a part of it.
Partued: I am caught in between. There are things that I know are wrong, but I like them. But I also want to advance spiritually.
GF: Welcome to the Path! It is a big thing, even though it seems to make us feel small spiritually, to realize that we do indeed continue to compromise ourselves for the sake of what is most often less than nothing in meaning. Never mind the despair that attends seeing such darkness. Remember your wish for the Light and keep it before you. The Light you long for longs for you.
woody: Would you consider dreams part of the false nature, and if so, are they just to be observed rather than be used as commonly referred to as subconscious insights?
GF: You cannot classify dreams as belonging strictly to what is "false" or "true" relative to self. All dreams reflect some state of relationship in the psychic body, mentally or emotionally expressing what these parts of us have yet to resolve or wish for us to understand. Just watch all dreams with the same intent and impartiality.
ALEX: Its always been my will against lifes will. Even the simplest happenings that one would expect from people and things frustrate me. I cant seem to stay awake enough or get the understanding that God is in control of even the smallest of details in everything, even people. Maybe part of me refuses to believe that.
GF: Our false nature, our personality with all of its conditioned goals and dreams, is totally set against realizing that it has no independent existence apart from the content of itself that it continually reconfigures and examines in order to know itself. This nature is truly a dead end. As we see the truth of that fact, we gradually learn to do what is natural for the lesson learned, i.e. let go and let God.
CraigS: I just wanted to drop by to say thank you. I have been a committed student for five years now and have found so much peace in my life through these ideas and through persistence. It is unbelievable. I was quite a mess health-wise and every other way. Now I see clearly and I am eternally grateful.
GF: I too am eternally grateful for these Principles that we are all working to have work in our lives. We should each remember with gratitude those who have gone before us to help make it possible for this Living Light to become a Living Presence in our day-to-day lives.
Digger: Do you have an opinion as to whether men (in general) are genetically/instinctively violent, or is this something some people acquire in their life?
GF: To be a human being is to in some ways be similar to the very earth upon which he or she walks. The earth is in constant upheaval -- creation, destruction, and reconfiguration -- over and over again. These forces of creation are part of the powers that we are created to become conscious of and transcend. They work for the self-working person and against the sleeping self.
Rael: For years I have been journeying the paths of the inner man and have tried many approaches to what I see as the problem. For the past few years I have diligently applied my energies to what I believe are your teachings, yet sadly find myself right back where I started, in a pit of frustration and despair, and going nowhere.
GF: I know that your present condition seems to be a reinstatement of your past defeats, but allow me to suggest one idea that may show you a difference. Instead of allowing the negative state you feel right now to tell you who you are, can you see that its possible for you to know more about this very condition than the condition wants you to believe is true about yourself? Come to Southern Oregon for some talks. Work it out.
Eric: I want to know what the Bible is really saying, on all levels. Do you know of any good books that help explain whats really in there? Or will I suddenly understand, like a bolt of lightning, if or when I reach a certain level of understanding?
GF: First, your wish is a True and good one. It is possible for us to know the real interior meaning of scripture. Did you know that we just released a brand new three-tape cassette album entitled "Secret Teachings of the Sacred Testaments"? This will help you help yourself fulfill your wish. The aim, of course, is to read ones own heart, for it is from ones own center that scripture comes.
Bluesea: I like to know when you know that you have truly forgiven someone? Although I forgive someone and myself, the pain still comes back at times.
GF: You will know that real forgiveness has come into you concerning an offending other when you never again give any thought whatsoever to the one who hurt you in a negative or belittling way. Such forgiveness really does exist. Do your inner work and learn all that you can about your own heart and what lives within it presently. As you see what is True about you, forgiveness for others follows.
Bluesea: Can you truly forgive someone and yet still feel the old pain come back sometimes?
GF: Once forgiveness has been found within us for another, this marks the end of all forms of contemplating past conflicts and their pains.
DaveG: I drive an hour to and from work each day. For the past few years you have been my companion on the commute. Now I feel like youre with me on an even more profound commute. Thanks...your tapes are so valuable to me.
GF: Over the years that I have been teaching, I have found that there is family, and then there is Family. I have met people I have never met before that I am closer to in thirty seconds than I am with my own brother for the last fifty years...a Divine Mystery, but what a welcome one.
Dell: Please comment on "To change your future, change yourself."
GF: Your nature is your future. From the center of you comes all that you see outside of you by the laws of attraction, gravity, and a host of other timeless principles. Perhaps the oldest axiom on the spiritual path explains it best: "The inner determines the outer."
ALEX: I know very well that money is not going to make me happy or fulfill me, but Im concerned about the law of attraction. Its very easy to be unconsciously holding attention on poverty. But if Im trying to come awake and remember God, is it wrong to also want to consciously ask to be pulled out of my financial straits? How do I balance asking for my practical needs along with my need for inner growth?
GF: There is no inherent, necessary division between a person hoping to perfect his or her life in God and providing for ones self. In fact, these two processes that are part of living on planet Earth can compliment one another if a person is working with True Principles. Why cant you work at your job while you remember that its God that you want? Wheres the contradiction? In Reality, there is none.
kyle: I am 22 years of age, studying at college. I am also Christian. I am finding it very hard to be true to my self and to my beliefs at this age. There are not many people at my age who are spiritually aware, and I find myself wondering, "Is it me that has this thing all wrong?" Please advise.
GF: Who was more alone than Christ? And yet, who had the best company? Enduring what the Light within us asks us to endure for Its sake is always at the expense of the accompanying darkness that wants to drag us into its considerations of how alone we are and all of the fearful things attending such heartaches. Cling to the Light. Live for the Light. Hope for the Light. Stay in the Light as best you can. It will give you a life.
Scooter: Nothing "burns me up" like someone inflicting physical pain on me. I guess Ive got a lot of physically painful lessons coming. Is this accurate?
GF: Unless youre a boxer, then no one should be inflicting physical pain on you. If you live in a circumstance in which someone is abusing you, the lesson isnt to learn how to live with that! The lesson is, youre in a wrong relationship with someone or others because theres a part of yourself that is secretly realizing some value in being hurt.
jaybird: You have said "Daring any dark state to do its worst is the same as asking God to defend you." Can you elaborate on what you mean by daring a dark state to do its worst, and how doing so brings about help from God?
GF: As a rule, when dark states come over us, we wind up serving them out of fear that if we dont do as the pressure pushes us to do, our pain will somehow grow. Making deals with the darkness merely strengthens the hand of darkness that punishes us. Refusing to make deals like this takes us into the fires within ourselves that we fear. But the truth is, these fires are made of our fears. Putting them together cancels both. The Light appears!
IGETIT: As Krishnamurti said, we do not really need anything to "see" -- meaning books, takes, chats. So will they be some sort of escape for us?
GF: Anything can become an escape for someone looking for an escape. To say that a true book or tape constitutes an escape is throwing the baby out with the bath water. Thank God for True books. They have food, encouragement, and rudimentary guidance for those who seek the Higher Good.
MikeD: Recently I have been bugged by thoughts on reincarnation. Isnt our God vast enough to allow our individual soul identity?
GF: I know how alluring such topics as reincarnation are, but try to realize theres absolutely no profit in merely thinking towards what turn out to be little more than empty, haunting, and taunting thoughts. Stop reincarnating the thought nature that loves to think about what might become of it. Let this nature die each moment it appears in order to consider its own perpetuation. Thats the Work.
Digger: What is the best way to share what I learn? By example, by teaching, or some other way? I sense that it is best not to worry about it.
GF: Just so: As you continue to grow inwardly, life itself will see to it that what you have been given will find ways and places for you to give this away.
fs: It just seems near impossible to stay in the "now." Any suggestions?
GF: The mental nature cannot enter the now, let alone remain in it. Only awareness of the moment can be truly present. This order of awareness arises from a new kind of energy that appears in the mind as the mind grows quiet.
Jason: Why do some people have the "eyes to see and ears to hear" while others do not?
GF: These questions - as they concern others - have no answers. Fulfill the promise inherent in being able to "see" what is True, and as your eyes grow accustomed to the developing Light, perhaps within it you will find an answer to your question.
ALEX: I am having trouble determining the difference between when Im being uncompassionate, and when to make the decision not to involve myself with people and their repetitive negative habits. I cant seem to tell if Im getting trigger-happy in cutting myself off from people, or perhaps my insight is just getting quicker.
GF: You will have to learn to work in the opposites. Try it one way for several days, and then the other for a few more days. Gradually you will be able to see with greater and greater discernment which is which.
Faust: Ive found the root of my "blues"; Im a strict vegan, so Ive been eating nothing but soy products, and too much soy causes hypothyroidism, which leads to inexplicable bouts of depression. I quit soy and have found (for lack of a better term) "inner peace." Now that Ive dealt with that poison, my thinking is once again clear and my walk on the higher path is foremost in my life again. I feel like Im starting my spiritual walk all over again.
GF: The inner work requires balance and discipline in all areas of our lives. If you find that some things cause disturbances in one system or another, best to leave off of these choices until you can see with clarity what works and what does not.
Scooter: When I dare darkness to do its worst, and it "turns up the heat," how is it reflecting what "I" am? Whats going on inwardly?
GF: All that we see within us is a form or stage of ourselves that must be seen to be transcended. We cannot experience anything we are not.
Scooter: When I think of transformation, I think of higher levels of understanding. Can/does transformation occur within us at deeper levels than we presently perceive/understand?
GF: Oh yes, this is a certainty. And yet, everything that takes place takes place within our consciousness.
montana: How can I identify people who are not healthy for my spirit? And when identified, do I not associate with them?
GF: Generally speaking (and that is all we accomplish in this limited forum), people who are chronically negative -- full of complaints or blame -- are toxic, not only to themselves, but to anyone asleep enough to associate with them.
Faust: You asked a brilliant rhetorical question during your interview with Ian Punnett a while ago when you said: "What do we want to be in relationship with?" So with this in mind, allow me to ask you something from an educational standpoint: How do you study? I wish to be "in relation with" my schoolwork more, but the more I try, the less Im able to understand. Do you have a "study method"?
GF: When we love a subject, our study of it is not a difficulty, but (for the most part) a delight. If we must study something, for "school" reasons that is not natural to our type or native to our heart, then a discipline becomes necessary.
montana: I was listening to one of your radio shows and you mentioned something about perpetual poverty. I was not 100% clear on what you meant by this.
GF: Since I dont know the context of the words you have quoted, I am afraid it is impossible to comment. Most likely I was referring to ones un-regenerated nature.
Faust: The other day when I went to my car at school there were three guys sitting on the hood of my car. I felt afraid, and had Security run them away. My inability to handle the situation prompted me to buy a police baton, yet in my heart I dont feel the possession of the weapon is the true answer. Is my response normal, or overly amplified? How should I handle this fear from a spiritual standpoint?
GF: Calling the guards is appropriate. The rest is the negative effect of an over-active imagination...that is unless you are secretly Bruce Lee.
James1: Is there any value in recalling the past to help determine where we are now? As I do the work, I seem to be reminded of old events. Its as if the event was replayed so I could learn what I missed the first time.
GF: Generally speaking, there is no value in reliving what has past. These thoughts arise by themselves mechanically and draw us into mechanical associations with them.
James1: Is TV itself destructive to the Work? I know much programming today is garbage. Ive heard that witnessing events/stories in the format of a TV broadcast weakens the mind and encourages complacency, as it simulates being part of or doing something.
GF: The problem is that the person asleep to him or herself takes in tons of negative, or otherwise useless impressions. There are ways to watch (anything) and use the time for self observation instead of being absorbed in the images through unconscious identification.
DebbiE: You had said some things to me about how to respond to my five-year-old when he becomes destructive because he doesnt get his way. One of them was to speak in a serious tone. Im getting too angry, and I know its fear and my expectations of him, but its becoming a vicious circle. Help!
GF: You must not fear your own anger. Do what is needed and dont be afraid of what happens to you or within you as you try to do what is right for the sake of righteousness. Sure, you might lose it, but the shock will be healing. Only the lessons learned on the battlefield lead us to inner peace!
GF: It is almost time to say good night, but first I want to pass along some new ideas intended to spiritually empower you to consciously change your altitude in life. What is meant by this idea of the altitude of ones life refers to where it is within ourselves -- with what parts of ourselves -- we meet the moments of our life. Where do we stand in relationship to what life brings to us?
If this idea sounds strange to you, then most likely you missed reading my opening words. When time permits, go back and read these initial remarks as they help to set up the truths about to be revealed.
The only way we can learn to truly rise above the events in our lives is by first awakening to, and then realizing, the actual nature of our relationship with these events. What does this mean, to realize our actual relationship with the events in our life? Please read the following few ideas very closely:
Events, all of the myriad events in our lives, are created to serve us. They are not intended to dominate or otherwise diminish us, as so many of them seem to have the power to do. Is there some verifiable proof of this statement? By all means!
All of us have been laid low by, or have actually crashed into certain events that, after repeated run-ins with these mountain-like moments, have revealed to us that the real problem before us was not the event itself, but the way in which we had perceived it.
Once we were shaken loose from our hardened ideas about why this moment was to be avoided at all costs, then we usually found ourselves flying high above the very condition that we so feared would drag us down. The point, for now, is that our new altitude in life is a direct effect of a change in our attitude towards the event.
Up until now, any transformation of an unwanted event into a self-elevating experience has had to be gained the hard way: where our resistance and reluctance to the lesson at hand is slowly, painfully channeled into what becomes a realization that allows us to let go and grow. Then, as if by magic, we rise above what was wrecking us moments before.
But we can, and must, learn how to take these transformational steps consciously. This is the real interior Work. This is how we begin to realize Gods Life and the Goodness that it holds in store for us. This is also why we must have New Knowledge about the true nature of our life. Such new, yet Timeless ideas are the seeds of a new kind of perception that we must cultivate.
Here is one such new idea that will help you to change your attitude toward all the various moments of your life. Working with it will lead you to a new altitude in yourself that cannot be compromised by any challenging event:
Our God-given place in the great scheme of creation is above all other things, and this includes the events in our lives. Awakening to this, our own elevated nature that presently slumbers within us empowers us to use all that we encounter to learn this Priceless Lesson about our true position. We rise above life in this way in proportion to our realization of this truth.
In other words, and we must each prove this to ourselves, nothing can happen to us in this life of ours that is not created, potentially, to be for the Good of us. Most of us know this truth inherently, but not consciously -- so that we trust this truth in theory, but not in practice. And this is what must change within us if we want to rise above the events of our lives.
We must work in every moment to be aware of our attitude towards our life as it unfolds. And when we find a negative attitude in ourselves, we must not be it. We must not say I to it. We must not see our life through its lying eyes, or else all we will see is the dark world that it needs us to see in order to remain in charge of our choices.
Instead, even in the face of our worst moments, we must remember the truths we have learned. We must be aware that whatever it is that we see before us is always a direct reflection of an attitude that is secretly active within us. Then, with this knowledge in hand, we change our attitude by remembering the Good of God. We recall our rightful place within His Life.
If we will just do the inner work needed to take these small steps in the moments of our lives that call for them, then the day will come when every moment of our life will be wanted. We will know the birth of a new attitude within us, and for its awakening we will be lifted to a whole new altitude. And there, in these native heights, we will know we have reached our Home.
Its time to sign off for now. I urge you to spend some time pondering the lessons we covered tonight. Seen or not, our attitude determines our altitude in life. The low life comes by default. Gravity guarantees we will reach the bottom. To go Higher, we must (first) be Higher. Do your spiritual Work. If you will do your part, God will see to it that you rise. See you Jan. 3rd, 2002!
Guy's Monthly Chatroom Classroom - December 2001
Posted by Guy Finley in 459 Galice Road, Merlin, OR 97532 on , and updated on .
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