Quote for September 1st 2013

If you were one with God and recognized this oneness, you would know His power is yours.  But you will not remember this while you believe attack of any kind means anything.  It is unjustified in any form, because it has no meaning.  The only way it could be justified is if you and your brother were separate from the other, and all were separate from your Creator.  For only then would it be possible to attack a part of the creation without the whole, the Son without the Father; and to attack another without yourself, or hurt yourself without the other feeling pain.  And this belief you want.  Yet wherein lies its value, except in the desire to attack in safety?  Attack is neither safe nor dangerous.  It is impossible.  And this is so because the universe is one.  You would not choose attack on its reality if it were not essential to attack to see it separated from its maker.  And thus it seems as if love could attack and become fearful.

A Course In Miracles (ACIM) 22,VI,12

Here again the uncompromising logic of ACIM asserts itself.  It is impossible that our empirical experience of separateness and all its implications is true. Granted we experience ourselves as separate, which makes attack seem somehow justifiable and logical.  But is it really so?  Can we truly attack and hurt another without feeling some measure of pain ourselves, or witness the pain or suffering of anyone and not feel it within ourselves?  Is not this pain of empathy also part of our empirical experience?  And so our experiences seem to lead to different and diametrically opposed conclusions:  either we are all one, or we are not all one.  And each conclusion leads to logically justifiable speech and actions.  

If we believe in oneness, then the motive for our actions is to realize (make real) this truth in all that we say and do.  If however we believe in separateness, then of course, attack in all its forms become logically justifiable.  Is there a solution to this seeming irreconcilable contradiction:  oneness vs. separation?   

We have already hinted at the solution in our brief analysis.  Clearly, if the logical extension of either premise leads to a contradiction, then that premise must be false.  And as we have acknowledged, the pain of empathy we always feel at the suffering of another, completely contradicts the premise that we are separate, therefore oneness must be true.  The word 'always' is emphasized because while it is true that we feel a strong sense of empathy for the suffering of those close to us, we obviously feel some measure of empathy for anyone who suffers.  Verifying again the truth of our oneness.  Finally, if oneness is true for any part of creation, then it must be true for the whole, so the Creator and His creation are one.  Oneness is all that there is.  This perennial truth is echoed in the ancient Vedic scripture, the Chandogya Upanishad 3.14.1

Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma

All this is Brahma (oneness)

Quote for August 11th, 2013

As the teacher of God advances in his training, he learns one lesson with increasing thoroughness.  He does not make his own decisions; he asks his Teacher for His answer, and it is this he follows as his guide for action.  This becomes easier and easier, as the teacher of God learns to give up his own judgment.  The giving up of judgment, the obvious prerequisite for hearing God’s Voice, is usually a fairly slow process, not because it is difficult, but because it is apt to be perceived as personally insulting.  The World’s training is directed toward achieving a goal in direct opposition to that of our curriculum. The world trains for reliance on one’s judgment as the criterion for maturity and strength.  Our curriculum trains for the relinquishment of judgment as the necessary condition of salvation.

ACIM Manual for Teachers, 9,2

Certainly we can all agree that the wisdom and power of God, and only that, can completely solve any and all problems and bring complete fulfillment to everyone and everything in creation for all time past, present, and future.  And if this wisdom and power is available to guide us in our choices and decisions, it would be unwise to not make use of it.  But to make use of such guidance, two things are necessary.  First we must acknowledge humbly that we, in our current state of awareness, do not possess the omnipotence and omniscience of God, and therefore our choices and decisions can at best be incomplete.  This is obvious but by no means easily implemented, not because it is difficult, but because it requires we admit that we don't know what on earth we are doing; we're doing our best, but that really means our best guess.  Second, we must have a little willingness to listen, heed and completely trust God’s guidance, knowing that He has our best interests, as well as the best interests of everyone else at heart.  Ok, but how do we do that; how do we hear God's voice?  This quote tells us that “...the obvious prerequisite for hearing God’s Voice,” is “the giving up of judgment... ,” so let us look more closely at this prerequisite
.
To give up judgment is to relinquish the certainty we have about our perceptions and the conclusions they lead us to.  Fore anyone who has lived a few years, the belief that our perceptions are infallible is fairly quickly realized as completely false, or at least inaccurate in many cases.  In this observation alone, we have the obvious logic and motivation for relinquishing our judgments--they do not work.  Yet we persist in judging, claiming there is no other apparent means for navigating our human life.  This quote suggest we give up judging, i.e. relinquish the certainty we have about our perceptions and our ideas about the world and about God, thereby allowing a deeper knowledge to come to us.  

We depend on our perceptions and judgments out of habit, simply because that is what we have been taught by our parents, elders, teachers, etc., and because that is what everyone else in our environment seems to depend on.  But all it takes is a brief review of our lives and the history of our civilizations to clearly show that our judgments leave much to be desired.  It is for this reason that more and more of us are increasingly motivated to leave judging to the only One who can judge, and listen to His guidance instead.  This is the way to understand who we really are and what our function and purpose is.  This is the way to live a more peaceful, happy, and fulfilled life, and it is only this knowledge that offers the hope of lasting salvation for the world.  

Our quote says that giving up judgment is “...usually a fairly slow process, not because it is difficult, but because it is apt to be perceived as personally insulting.”  This is because we hold highest on the list of desired skills, the “ability” to make “good” judgments as opposed to “bad” ones.  Presidents, leaders, company executives, etc., are paid enormous sums of money for having this ability, or at least for appearing to have it, and this is, perhaps, the primarily ability we hope to engender in our offspring through the education system.   But our history has shown us time and time again that success in this endeavor is fleeting at best.  The conclusions and decisions of our best minds, even with the best intentions, have repeatedly proven to be incomplete, myopic, and at most to serve the best interests of only a few, and even for them, only for a little while.  How long need we repeat this painful scenario before we realize that it is hopeless, senseless, and meaningless.  How long before we acknowledge that no decision we make however well thought-out, well intentioned, well planned and executed  can ever bring complete fulfillment to all for all time.  How long before we decide to stop the sacrifice of our collective happiness at the altar to our individual, group, national or international righteousness.  How long before we choose to be happy instead of right.  How long before we turn to the path that leads to real, meaningful, and lasting solutions.  How long before we turn to God and away from our perceptions and judgments; perhaps today? 

We are here offered another way to navigate the world, through the relinquishment of our judgments.  This is the path that leads to truth, because it is not based on our perceptions and the inevitable, and incomplete conclusions these lead to.  It is based instead on the One who knows all means and ends--our Creator.  Only the One who created us can know who we really are, our function and purpose, what is real and what illusion, and only that One can lead us to salvation.  If we which to know these things, it would be folly to search elsewhere.  Where else can such truth exist if not with the Source of all-that-is?  Giving up judgment is:

• The willingness to trust not in what we perceive (the world), but in what we can know (God). 
• The willingness to lean not upon our own limited understanding of things, but to rely on the infinite wisdom and understanding of our omniscient Creator.
• The willingness to disregard logic, which often leads to insane conclusions, and instead faithfully value God’s communications to us.
• The willingness to choose the joy of God instead of the pain of the world.

This willingness to release the interpretations we hold about our perceptions and listen instead to the Voice for God in all things, opens our awareness to solutions that, unlike our half-baked solutions, are inspired, true, lasting, provide for the well-being of all in creation, and therefore serve the cosmic purpose.

Giving up judgments is not difficult once we realize that there is one close at hand who has greater knowledge and wisdom about all subjects.  In fact it is quite normal for us to do just this; we naturally depend on the opinions and judgments of “professionals” in every phase of our lives, simply because we recognize that our limited knowledge could engender potential problems that we can easily avoid by trusting in the wisdom of the professional.  If it is easy, natural and normal for us to do this with our “things” and with various aspects of our lives, can it be difficult to do it with our very lives?  Certainly not!  And with respect to our lives, undoubtedly our Creator is the ultimate and only “professional” and His infinite wisdom is close at hand, indeed as close to us as our very breath.  Again, it would be folly to trust in any other “wisdom.”  Who else could we trust with our life, if not our Creator. 

The wise among us has taught us that God’s wisdom is always available and easily accessible to us, all we need do is “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.*”  What can be simpler than this?  Ask, Seek, and Knock are the means to fulfillment.  Ask and remember you ask of One for whom all things are possible.  Seek and remember the One who is the source if all that is.  Knock and remember the One who always answers.  We call these prayers or propitiations for the fulfillment of our desires, and these are well and fine, but let us always remember the One who provides for our fulfillment and look to that One only, for in that One is the fulfillment and the end of all desiring.

Giving up judgments automatically brings us to a space of openness to all possibilities.  Without judgments we have no opinion, no investment and no expectation regarding the outcome of a situation.  We are free because we have given up all responsibility regarding the outcome to the One who is fully capable of handling any situation so that the best possible outcome is realized with the least amount of effort, stress. or pain.  Do as He suggests, following His guidance, letting Him lead, and we will be happily surprised to see things work out even better than we could have ever imagined.  We need only have this happen once to recognize it as a superior way of navigating the world, or recognize the obvious benefit of making it a habit, a tool in our problem-solving repertoire, indeed our magic elixir.

Our quote reminds us that:  “The world trains for reliance on one’s judgment as the criterion for maturity and strength.  Our curriculum trains for the relinquishment of judgment as the necessary condition of salvation."  By giving up judgment, we avail ourselves of the wisdom of the One who knows, and thereby guarantee fulfillment and salvation for ourselves and the world.

* Matthew 7:7

A Universal Solution to All Problems

One thing we all experience in common is problems!  They don't all appear to be the same, but they are all problems and we want to find a way to resolve them so that we may have a better life experience.  We can also agree that while there are a lot of "solutions" available on the market, none of them resolve problems completely, and permanently; some help a little, some for a while, others not at all, and some even make things worse. So clearly, our understanding about who we really are and how the world works is seriously inadequate.

         
I admit that I do not know my true Self, nor why my life is the way it is, nor how to "fix" it, but there is someone we know--God, who knows all things and how to correct our understanding of things.  A Course in Miracles (ACIM) teaches that the basis of all problems is a lack of understanding about who we really are, i.e. children of God, and that by acknowledging our divinity and taking 100% responsibility for whatever we are experiencing is the first step in completely and permanently resolving any issue. 

Taking 100% responsibility is not meant to blame anyone for what they are experiencing, but only to acknowledge that because we have so many unconscious motives, intentions, desires, resentments, wishes, etc., running around in us, no one really knows how or why we are experiencing what we are experiencing, far less how to go about "fixing" it.  We are all simply doing the best we can, but we do know that our attitude about an experience i.e., what we think about it, interpret, or conclude about it, can affect us much more than the actual experience, so we can easily improve the effect of any experience simply by changing our minds, (i.e. our attitude) about that experience.  This is a small but effective part of taking 100% responsibility for what we are experiencing, and sets the stage for creating real and lasting change. 

Now the second step is the step of petitioning Divinity for forgiveness for what we knowingly or unknowingly created, not realizing that it would later cause us problems.  We petition God to do the "fixing" because no one else can do it completely and permanently, restoring harmony and peace to all involved.  I recently came across a simple and effective technique for doing just this, which recommends that we petition God, using the following four phrases, to resolve whatever negative situation we are experiencing.   

• I Love you
• I'm sorry (for the situation I created for myself)
• Please forgive me
• Thank you

But we also have an important part to play in this step, which is to release all expectations for having the problem resolved in a particular way.  This is important, again, because we do not know what is best for us, what is in our overall best interest.  So we simply say the words and relax, letting whatever happens happen, knowing that God has our best interests at heart and wills what is best for us and everyone involved.  This second step immediately brings us great relief because we have placed the problem in the most capable Hands, which effectively releases us of its burden.

Note that it is not necessary to say the phrases out loud or in any particular order, for they simply serve as a means for us to acknowledge that we are, as God's Children, creators, not "fixers" and should step aside and leave the job of fixing to one is fully capable of that function.
 
This technique is call Ho'oponopono (ho-o-pono-pono) and you can click the following links to see:

  a quick summary of Ho'oponopono 

or
  a video interview with Dr. Hew Len to learn more.  There is also a book written about this practice called Zero Limits by Joe Vitali and Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. 

Hope you find this helpful.... and please let me know if you have questions or comments.

Quote of the Week:  March 3rd, 2013

I Feel The Love Of God Within Me Now:  Simply do this:  Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself.  Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed.  Hold onto nothing.  Do not bring with you one thought the past has thought, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything.  Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.

ACIM Lesson 189,7

Let us examine this instruction in detail:  The first word expresses the full teaching in seed form, simply:  “Be”!  This is all that is needed to become aware of God, just be.  Nothing more, nothing less or other than this, just be.  This is all the instruction asks that we ‘do’, just be.  

But how can one ‘do’ being?  To be is not something one can do, it can only be something that one is; we either are or we are not.  Being or existing is primordial  it is the basis for all our doing, because we must first exist before we can do anything.  The instruction therefore hints that doing is unnecessary; there is nothing we need do to accomplish our goal, because our being-ness is first cause, and we already are.  The goal of the instruction is therefore automatically accomplished in the first word.  To become aware of God, just be, and in order to be, no doing is necessary because we already exist.  The goal is found at the point where we begin, indicating that the path to God does not require any action or movement on our part, for wherever we are it is found to be there already, which furthermore indicates God’s omnipresence.  What we seek is right here wherever we are right now; we are not separate from the goal, which would require action and movement, but instead, we find that no doing is necessary to accomplish our goal because we are not separate from it, we are already one with our goal.  But the instructions explicitly says “Simply do this:” which implies that some doing is necessary to accomplish the goal.  So what is this ‘doing’ that instruction refers to?!  

The goal is just to “be” and we realize that the state of being and the path to it requires no doing, but our instruction is telling us to “do this” in order to accomplish the goal, so it must mean that we are not currently experiencing that state of being, and what we are asked to do must be something that would allow us to experience that state.  The only action that can possibly accomplish this requirement to "do", is an action to reduce, to lessen, to subtract, and finally to stop all doing, i.e. do less and less until we end all doing.  The less we do, the more aware we become of our being-ness.  So implicit in the first word of the instruction: “be,” we find both the goal and the means to accomplish it, which is simply to reduce our doing; do less as opposed to more or other, and the awareness of our being-ness grows automatically.  The first two words of the instruction state this simply and clearly:  “Be still*”  These two words, like the first word of the instruction, express the full teaching but with greater detail, simply:  “Be still” for the state of stillness is the state of your being-ness, and to experience your being-ness, bring your awareness to stillness!  The remaining words of the instruction similarly provide still further details on how to accomplish our goal:  

“Be still, and lay aside all thoughts...all concepts...all images... .  

Empty your mind of everything... .  

Hold on to nothing... Forget this world, forget this course, 

and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.”

Clearly this is the way to come to stillness, to harmony, to peace and to God.  Interestingly, this is precisely the process expounded by Maharishi Patanjali’s Eight-limbs Yoga.**  Briefly, the process begins by first harmonizing and reducing outward activity, attachments, and distractions, by finding a relatively peaceful and quiet place and preparing ourselves for a deeper inner experience; then bringing stillness to the physical body by sitting or laying down in a comfortable posture; then bringing stillness to the breath by letting it flow naturally, gently becoming softer; then turning the senses inward away from outer stimuli by closing the eyes and not minding the other senses;  then quieting the mind by focusing on a singular thing, a word, a sound, a mental picture, a paradox (koan,) the breath, etc.; then transcending by releasing the single chosen object of focus, and finally arriving at the state of complete stillness.    

OK, but does this then mean that we should become like statues, completely without any activity whenever we want to experience God and our essential nature?  Certainly not!  But just as one wishing to see his reflection clearly in a pool of water would first allow the surface of the water to be still, without ripples.  Once one’s image is clearly seen, one can continue with normal activity or with whatever activity is appropriate, depending on the knowledge one gained from a clear reflection of one’s self.  Similarly, after having clearly experienced our essential nature or beingness through the process of increasing stillness, we return to activity, but now all our actions are influenced by the knowledge we gained through the experience of our Higher Self.  No longer will we be acting from a false sense of self, but from a deeper knowledge and understanding about who we really are.  

Now this experience needs to be repeated as often as needed until, in time, it becomes so grounded in our awareness that it is permanently superimposed on all our perceptions, allowing us to be aware of God and our essential beingness in everything we perceive.  Just as all the perceptions of someone wearing rose-colored glasses are colored by roses; they see everything, but everything is tinted with the superimposed color of roses.  Only when this perception becomes permanent can we truly say that we are Self-aware.  God consciousness is the permanent conscious awareness of God in everything we think, and feel, and say, and do.  It is the persistent present moment awareness of the light of divinity in every breath we take, and in every move we make.  It is the constant reminder of the reality of God in our awareness, and so we need not practice stillness to be reminded of who we are and who God is, for this awareness is now permanent and never leaves our awareness.   

* This instruction is also given in the Bible as:  “Be still and know that I am God” -- Psalm 46:10
**The Limbs of Yoga listed in their classical sequence:  Yama, Nyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi, indicate the progressive reduction of activity, and the increase of stillness and harmony.  Yamas are the five rules for harmonizing our external relationships and environment.  Nyamas are the five rules for harmonizing our physiology and psychology.  Asanas are techniques for harmonizing our limbs.  Pranayamas are techniques for harmonizing our breathing.  Pratyaharas are techniques for harmonizing and directing our senses inward.  Dharanas are techniques for harmonizing or focusing the mind.  Dhyana is the art of transcending the mind, and Samadhi is the experience of our divinity.

Quote of the Week:  February 24th, 2013

I Choose The Joy of God instead of Pain.  It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. Nothing external to your mind can hurt or injure you in any way. There is no cause beyond yourself that can reach down and bring oppression. No one but yourself affects you. There is nothing in the world that has the power to make you ill or sad, or weak or frail. But it is you who have the power to dominate all things you see by merely recognizing what you are. As you perceive the harmlessness in them, they will accept your holy will as theirs. And what was seen as fearful now becomes a source of innocence and holiness.

ACIM Lesson 190,5

This quote says it all, clearly and uncompromisingly!  “It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain.”  Here we see, perhaps for the first time, our thoughts as the ultimate source and cause of all the various effects we usually attribute to things outside ourselves or beyond our control.  For a few of us, this idea is a constant work-in-progress, to some it is radical and difficult to wrap our minds around, and to others it seems incredulously impossible, because it goes against all that our senses tell us to be true.  Our senses tell us that pain comes from outside us, from things in our environment like:  other people, animals, micro organisms, high and low edges, moving objects large and small, and of course from sharp and pointy objects, and these are just a few of the many external things that cause us pain.  So how could it be rational, far less true, that it is our thoughts and only our thoughts that cause us pain?  Good question; let us examine this statement more deeply to see if it is true or false.

Let us first consider the parameters for ascertaining the truth about something according to the four means of valid knowledge expounded by the immortal philosophy of Nyaya*: Perception, Inference, Comparison, and Verbal testimony. 

Perception has to do with the senses and we gain knowledge of something by perceiving it.  From the level of perception then, it seems that the statement is false, for what our senses tell us is that pain comes from outside.  But here we must first validate the integrity and infallibility of the senses; do they always report truly, or are they prone to error both in their perception and in their reporting?  Certainly it is empirically true that our senses are limited and often inaccurate.  Limited in that they each can only perceive from one perspective or through one particular mode or aspect; the eyes see but do not hear, and therefore no single sense is capable of giving us complete knowledge.  And even when taken together, their combined perspective though greater than any single perspective, is still relative, providing only a portion of what is available to be known.  Animals for instance, have much keener perceptions than humans, so clearly, even when taken together, our senses are quite limited in what they can perceive.  Furthermore, the ability of the senses to report to us what they do perceive is limited by physical, emotional, environmental and other conditions.  We perceive better when we are rested and alert; we see more in the light than in the darkness; we hear more when it is quiet; we smell better when we are closer to the sent, etc., all proving the limitations and fallibilities of our senses.  And if you are still not convinced that this is so, there is yet another limitation of the senses, which is the fact that they all operate within the relative field of existence, and totally ignore the spiritual field or more precisely the absolute field existence, i.e. the perspective of God, who alone is capable of knowing both the relative and the absolute together.

So, understanding the inherent limitations in the perceptions of our senses and in their ability to report what they do perceive, it is quite evident that we cannot depend on them for complete, valid, and therefore true knowledge.  Inference and Comparison are likewise limited and suspect, because they depend entirely on perception.  Certainly when taken together, perception, inference, and comparison can and do provide greater valid knowledge than any one of them can, but again they are limited by their relativity.  The only area left open for the possibility of true knowledge (i.e. valid and complete) is that of Verbal Testimony.  

Verbal testimony provides knowledge not based on our direct perceptions, inferences or comparisons, it comes to us based solely on our faith and belief in the one from whom the knowledge comes.  And so the only limitation to this knowledge rests with our ability to have faith and to believe.  This by the way is the highest standard we accord to knowledge; if it comes from a trusted source, we believe it, and act accordingly, deriving whatever benefits that knowledge can bring.  If we do not trust the source, we disbelieve it and dismiss it as false, thereby denying ourselves any possibility of ever receiving its benefits.  The validity of a statement should rest first on its own merits, and its source questioned only if its merits cannot be verified by perception, inference, and comparison.  If the statement requires faith then it is vitally important that we verify the integrity, qualifications and authority of the source.  Since the source of our quote is the highest source we can imagine--our Creator, all that we need to receive the benefits of this knowledge is our belief and faith in the integrity, qualifications and authority of our Creator**.  

If one becomes lost driving through an unfamiliar town, how does one decide how to find directions?  Certainly you can ask help randomly of anyone you encounter, but if possible it would be wiser to seek information from a reliable source, whose integrity, qualifications and authority are the highest, in this case, we would consult our GPS device, failing that Google maps, failing that ask a taxi driver, police officer, or other authority figure.  Basically, we would go to the highest source available for help.  This is the same reasoning we use whenever we need help, we go to the highest source available.  God’s integrity, qualifications and authority are:  His status as Creator; His knowledge (omniscient,) His power (omnipotent), and His availability (omnipresent), all of which are unmatched in creation.  And as Creator, God naturally cares for His creations, because they are His, and more importantly, because His creations are part of Himself.  All God’s creations are unified in Himself; this is the inevitable result of His omnipresence, He is in everyone and everything, and there is nothing outside of Him.  We are one with Him*** and with each other and can never be separate.  He is our eternal essence and source.  This is the truth, and all else to the contrary is illusion.

Now, with this understanding of our divinity, we can evaluate the truth of the quote.  As divine beings, we can make illusions as we see fit, as easily as we make dreams, and can the bodies we create in dreams truly feel pain?  Can they be “ill or sad or weak or frail”?  Is there anything in our dream created world capable of harming our dream created bodies?  Certainly not, for all that exists in our dream world is illusory.   And is it not now clear that it is our thoughts alone that can cause "pain" or for that matter, "joy" to our dream bodies. The truth of the entire quote becomes clear as we re-cognize and re-member our true identity as creators, at-one with our Creator.  At-onement or atonement is the correction for our mistaken belief that we are separate from our Source and from each other.  Atonement reminds us of our status as Children of God, invulnerable and eternal.

* Gautama is the author of the Nyaya system of reasoning, which presents sixteen points to test the validity of the procedure of gaining (true or valid) knowledge.  Nyaya is the first of the six systems of Indian philosophy, the others being Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Karma Mimansa, and Vedanta.

** This also is the source of Jesus’s ability to heal and perform miracles; his faith and belief were almost perfect.  “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).

***  “At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” --John 14:20

Quote of the Week:  February 17th, 2013

Salvation of the World Depends On Me.  Do as God's Voice directs. And if It asks a thing of you which seems impossible, remember Who it is that asks, and who would make denial. Then consider this; which is more likely to be right? The Voice that speaks for the Creator of all things, Who knows all things exactly as they are, or a distorted image of yourself, confused, bewildered, inconsistent and unsure of everything? Let not its voice direct you. Hear instead a certain Voice, which tells you of a function given you by your Creator Who remembers you, and urges that you now remember Him. 

ACIM Lesson 186, 12

“Do as God’s Voice directs.”  As simple as this statement is, we in our illusion about who we are, find this the most difficult instruction to follow.  Why is this?  Some claim the primary reason is that God speaks only to his messengers   certain religious leaders, the pious or gifted, and perhaps some extremely “special” individuals, but certainly not to the average person.  Others claim that God’s word has already been given in the form of the various religious texts and traditions of the world, all we need do is simply follow what these texts say.  Yet the inherent problem with this is our inability to agree on which text is the “right” one to follow, and even if we could agree on one text, we would still have great difficulty interpreting and applying its “rules” correctly to the various situations we encounter.  So if we cannot hear God’s Voice or agree on what His Word says or means, how could we possibly do as it directs?  

Another reason some claim for not doing what God’s Voice directs, is that even though we may hear God’s Voice, sometimes, and more often than not, we have doubts that it is indeed His Voice, and therefore neither trust nor comply with what it says.  Yet, even when we hear and acknowledge God’s Voice within us, we still ignore its directives because they seems so impossible, outrageous, illogical, and at times, even dangerous to our apparent five-senses-understanding of things.  The foundation for all these and similar arguments is simply doubt, and therefore the single remedy for all of them is simply trust!

Doubt implies a lack of knowledge, for when knowledge is present, doubt disappears.  We doubt many things, but our ultimate doubt lies in our understanding about who/what God is; what our relationship to Him is; and what our function and purpose is.  This is where trust comes in, because what we do know and have no doubt about is that:  We did not create ourselves.  Therefore Someone or Something must have created us, and that Someone or Something is the One we refer to as our Creator, God, Allah, Brahman, and by thousands of other names.  Furthermore, only that One really knows our true nature, who we really are, and what our function and purpose is.  Trust is the only thing that allows us to “lean not unto our own (limited) understandings...,” but to depend on His communications to us, for only that will guarantee a solution that is complete in every way, for everyone, and for all time.  God’s communications, unlike ours, are infallible  and He communicates to all His children all the time, so the only question is who among His children is listening to His communications, and more importantly who among these actually trusts enough to follow through and carry out His directives.

Certainly developing trust is a fairly easy task, even though it does require a bit of faith in the beginning, it is something we do all the time.  We trust that the floor will be there when we roll out of bed; we trust that the water will flow from the faucet when we open it; we trust that our car will start when we turn the key, etc.  We trust all the time, and even in these simple cases when things don’t work exactly the way we expect, we trust that there is something we can do or someone we can turn to for help to remedy the situation, because we understand inherently that there is more than one way to accomplish things in our five-senses world.

Trust in God is developed in a similar manner, by trusting first in the little suggestions He gives us all the time, like turn right here; pick this apple as opposed to that one; avoid this situation  or face that one, etc..  Then as we grow in trust it becomes easier to forgive this person, overlook that little hurt, or to address these same situations with kindness and humility, understanding that we are all children of God, developing our godliness as best we can.  And as our trust grows further, we can achieve the highest trust, to truly forgive everyone everything, knowing that all is well and wisely set by God Himself.  Indeed, this is how we can completely reverse of our belief system, from one that is centered around our five-senses, to one that is God-centered.