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Saturday, February 26, 2005
Below is this week's installment of A Course in Creation. If you miss a message in the series, just go to A Course in Creation. They will all be posted there.
Our Course in Creation has now built a foundation for you to create a peaceful, loving and fulfilled life. It begins with loving yourself and learning to control your own mind, so that you are moving out of the past and future into now, out of the negative of fear and doubt and into love. We have proceeded from the inner to the outer, building a framework for living in the world in a way which connects with your deeper self and deeper meaning. And now, your job is to revisit these lessons and bring them home, practice your meditations and new ways of thinking, calming your emotions, and moving yourself toward a loving and peaceful life.
And as you do this, just relax and allow the journey to take you where it will. Know that there will be challenges. Know that it may take you many years to master these lessons. But do it. The journey itself will be a wondrous and gracious experience.
And now, we will address some individual topics which span across these lessons. And today, the topic is faith, faith and its connection with planning, expectation and surrender.
As we speak of faith, I wish it to encompass not only whatever belief you may have in God or whatever forces you believe there are in the universe, but also belief in yourself and your ability to connect with this force of spirit and to also connect with your own soul self.
Your faith must rest on a belief in your immortal soul, in a higher self which goes beyond this one little life which will end, blown out like a candle in this physical life, but continuing forever on another dimension. This is simple truth. And the other truth is that you do have a higher self, a soul self, which exists in that other dimension now. It is not a state to be attained after you have ended this life and gone to heaven. The realm of spirit and true power exists outside concepts of space and time. The world of spirit is everywhere at all times. That is also a simple truth.
And you, as your soul self, your higher self, you are the author of this life, its creator and its power. And as such, you are connected to all that is, one with the greatest powers that ever were and are, the all, the great silence, God. All of this is a part of you, is what you are. There is no separation between you and all that is in this wonder of goodness and love. But in this physical life, there is that veil that you attempt to pierce, and that you can almost just see through when you meditate.
And so, believe that this power is yours. Believe that you are one with the great love which underlies all things. Have faith that you live in a benevolent universe that means you well. Have faith, also, that the world around you is heavily influenced by your thoughts, that your own thoughts, actions and emotions create a mirror, that you are in a highly creative act at all times. And that when you learn to train your mind toward positive creation, the world will begin to fill with miracles. When you are ruled by fear and doubt the world will reflect this back to you. When you are fueled by love, forgiveness and compassion, that is what you receive. Believe this as well.
And in this world of spirit, what you need is a very light touch. The spirits which are there to help you, spirits which you may picture as angels, spirit guides or simply as manifestations of your own higher self, are like wild animals in the forest. If you are quiet and peaceful and full of love, they will approach you and shower you with their bounty and love. But if you are full of fear, anger and confusion, if you try to control them or chase after them, they will scurry away to hide from you. This is true of the psychic senses. This is true of wish fulfillment. This is true of everything related to spirit.
And yet, this world is there, it is very real, and it wishes you well. So have a heart full of love and peace, and let yourself flow into this connection. Let yourself sit in the forest clearing and allow the wonders of the world to come to you and place their gifts at your feet. Believe that you can learn to do this. Meditate every day as the foundation to learn this level of peace and quiet.
But there is more than just this. More than the faith that the universe loves you, is in fact made of love. More than a deep belief that you are connected to it and can learn to accept its gifts with grace and love. Yes, there is more.
There is a reason why you are the way you are, why you have particular talents, why you have an urge and a drive toward certain things. These abilities, talents and yearnings are all there to drive you toward the fullest expression of yourself within this lifetime. Look upon this lifetime as a grand experience in which your job is to express your uniqueness. You are the only person in the entire universe who is expressed in exactly this way. You are the one. And you are called to express every bit of yourself, to break through the barriers of societal pressures, of conformity, of materialism, of fear and doubt, to break through all of this and find full expression of yourself. Just you. You, exactly as you are.
But just who are you and what are you meant to do? Ah, well, that is what you are to find out. Follow the urges, follow the impulses. Overcome your fears. Overcome it all and try things out, let life be a great experiment to discover yourself and then express yourself. And what you will find is not that there is some conclusion to this, some place where you say, ah, so this is it, this is who I am and what I am meant to do. No, no. It is a journey, and this journey will take you through layer after layer of being. You will uncover talents you have no idea of now, all hidden beneath the layers which you are to peel back in your discovery process. And this is to be a public process. Get out and try things. Fall on your face. Start climbing that mountain, then fall down and slide back to the bottom. This is the process. For in the climb and in the fall, you will learn who you are, what you care about and what truly matters to you. You will peel back another layer with every success as well as every failure.
And now, the type of faith I wish you to have is this. I wish for you to believe that these impulses and yearnings are there for a reason, but not a reason you will ever uncover and understand. I wish for you to stop trying to make a plan for yourself. I wish for you to accept that only your next step will be revealed to you and that it will require much of you to take it. Accept that you will be called upon, if you are brave enough to listen to the call, to abandon things which make you feel safe, to step out bravely and bare, naked before the world, and do something outrageous, daring, risky, yet which calls to you in your heart at some deep level. And accept that this will happen to you over and over again.
And the belief I wish for you to have is the belief that within you, in your heart of rightness, that feeling in your center core, you know what is best for you. This feeling of peace deep inside will lead you to the right decision, even though it is not at all clear how that could possibly be true. Trust this. Trust that this center knows what to do.
For your body is a tuning fork. You are connected to your higher self through your body and when you learn to set aside fear and doubt and listen to the calm knowing in your center and in your mind, underneath the chatter, you will know which way to turn. Learn to follow this.
Will you also need to do practical things to put food on the table and a roof over your head? Of course. But it is not necessary to abandon the dream, to deny the pull inside. If you will follow it, ways will open before you, means will make themselves apparent, people will appear with solutions, the world will come to your aid, just enough, just in time.
The universe is not going to lay out an easy path for you. You are not likely to suddenly win the lottery so that you can pursue your dreams without taking any risks. There is a truth in your heart and it demands that you recognize it in spite of opposition, in spite of challenges. This is what the challenges are for. This is what the obstacles are there for, so that you might rise above and over them, so that you might go deep into your heart, find your truth and hold it out like a banner in your life.
And the faith I wish you to have is this: your higher self has already created your dream for you. It already exists. Remember, your higher self, your soul self, exists outside time and space. And the dream is already fully realized and waiting for you to step into it. It is waiting for you to set aside your plans and your manipulations, your attempts to control your life, your attempts to make everything safe and secure and known. It is there waiting for you, this big dream, this seemingly impossible dream, it is there already manifest. And so, when you manifest something, it is not an act of control. It is an act of faith. An act of stepping into the world of being and intention which already exists for you.
And when you are beginning to enter this field, you will feel its power. You may have dreams which pull you. You may be able to feel the vibration of this field of intention like chills in your body. You may be able to feel the flow as you slide down into it.
But staying there is a choice you make. Following this flow is a choice. You can pull yourself out of it very easily, by simply trying to take control, by developing great plans and expectations which you think will move you toward a better place. When you step in and take control, you are taking control away from the wonder and glory of the universe and putting it into your own fearful hands.
And so, faith is ultimately surrender. It is surrender to what is, to the higher knowledge and ability that surrounds you. It is a release of any expectation that you know how things will work out. Yes, there may be a vision of an end state, but when this is so, let it be a simple vision, a picture which exists of how things will be, not a plan to get there.
For you can develop many plans, and you have undoubtedly done this many times, but you lack the power to bring them to fruition. But when you surrender to the universe, to your higher self and the plans which she may have for you, then all of the power is yours. All of the power is in the flow, in the wild and exciting unfolding of the wonders which surround you in every moment.
Faith is that deep knowing in your heart, in your center, in your mind, which says: I know that all is and will be well. And in that knowing is also a firm belief in yourself, that if you will but allow yourself to go below the drama of everyday life and all of its so-called problems, you will find the action to take for which you are fully capable and that will have the best outcome. Have faith that you can overcome the obstacles, climb the mountains, walk through the valleys. Have faith that your higher self means you well and that the journey you are asked to undertake is worthwhile and full of wonder and beauty.
And if you are in a place where you have not the slightest idea what to do next, wonderful. Let the fog surrounding you fill with spirit. Fill your heart with faith in the universe and the help which is there for you and with belief in yourself. Begin to sense it and act on it.
You will not see a plan or a map. You will not know how your life will unfold. As you look back on your life, is it not true that the plans you laid out so carefully were foiled by unexpected circumstances? Is it not also true that the best and most wondrous things that happened to you came as great surprises, in wild and unexpected glories?
Free yourself of fear and doubt. Fill yourself with love. Fill yourself with faith, in the universe and its loving nature and in yourself. And then open. Open up to what life holds, to the great wonders which surround you.
Know that you are never too old, too poor, too limited in any way for this to happen. Know that the glory of life is there for everyone, and this wonderful experience we call life is a great glory of experience, challenge, fun and love. Do not shrink in fear before it. Open to the glory. Open to the love. You are love. You are one with a vast and loving universe. Every possibility lies before you, sparkling like diamonds in grains of sand. You are surrounded by possibility and you have within you the ability to choose. To choose peace, to choose love, to choose action which moves you in the direction you wish to go. Every thought is a choice. Every word, every action, every emotion. They are all choices which you make.
And if you have trouble believing all of this, then pretend. Yes, just pretend to believe. Put fear and doubt away, put positive thoughts in their place, do loving acts. Do it anyway, even though you don’t really believe. Make it an experiment. Let the universe prove it to you. It will.
It is all right to let belief follow proof. The proof will be there. Just clear your mind and act as if everything I have said here is true. It is enough. It will happen. It will begin to unfold. You have nothing to lose but your fear and unhappiness. Give it a try.
***
I wanted to share my personal journey of this last week, since it relates so closely to what Quado has said about faith.
There I was last Saturday, happily pulling together singing material for a CD of spiritual and uplifting songs, when I suddenly felt so foolish for pursuing this dream of singing as I approach the age of sixty. A great wave of regret washed over me, as I thought of the times I had cut my other CDs. I had loved making the CDs, but as I started to get out there and sing, and things didn’t work out as I had planned, I had quit and retreated into more ‘sensible’ and ‘practical’ things.
And here I was again, still drawn to the same old dream, but another seven years had somehow slipped by. And I had thought I was too old back then! And now I could just hear that big clock in the sky, tick tock, tick tock.
Luckily, Hillary and Les (a singing duo known as Stucco Rainbow), had asked me to come to their gig and sing some backup harmonies and one solo song. I didn’t want to let them down, so I went. As I started to sing the harmonies, my heart began to open and heal. Then as I stepped out to sing my love ballad, the world went quiet, I was filled with spirit from head to toe, and I felt the glory and wonder of doing what I love, what I am meant to do.
The next day, I felt drawn to buy a book, Next Time I Dance, by Tama J. Kieves. It was a wonderful companion all week and exactly what I needed for refueling. I recommend it highly to anyone who is still reaching, yearning and wondering how it could ever happen.
And today’s Quado message on faith was the perfect end to my week’s journey. Quado said: “Your higher self has already created your dream for you… And the dream is already fully realized and waiting for you to step into it. It is waiting for you to set aside your plans and your manipulations, your attempts to control your life, your attempts to make everything safe and secure and known. It is there waiting for you, this big dream, this seemingly impossible dream, it is there already manifest.”
And I can see it, this dream of my higher self. Several times over the years I have done a guided visualization to discovering direction and purpose, and the vision is always the same: me, on a stage, singing, before thousands of people. Yes, it’s a big dream.
On the evening of March 18th, I will be singing at the Church of Today in San Diego, just a few songs before and after Maureen Moss’ talk. I hope you Southern Californians will come join me as I begin climbing that mountain once again. (Call 858.689.6500 for details.)
***
Again, I highly recommend Next Time I Dance, by Tama J. Kieves.
And, of course, I hope you are meditating every day, even for a few minutes. I love the Quado meditations and have found them very powerful, but any meditation will help make you calm and centered. It’s also a great way to open yourself to that dream.
Have a glorious week. I’m so grateful to have you on this journey with me.
Love & peace, Carrie |
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