RESPONSIBILITY 6

P. 73-76

 It seems as if we ended up last week with that wonderful Rubbermaid commercial where everything gets cleared out of the attic and there's more empty space and one of the kids says “We need more stuff. And all our stuff is baggage. It might be interesting to note that the the Latin word for baggage is  “impedimenta” or freely translated “something that gets in my way.”

Now baggage can take all sorts of forms. It could be physical things that we cling to for whatever reasons, sentimental value, or scarcity thinking or even actually perceiving that I need something at this particular moment. It might be difficult to make a distinction between having and enjoying some material thing without being attached to it. We have spoken of this before, but one of the reasons why attachment to a material thing is so extraordinarily draining is that our attachment is not to the thing itself, but our idea of the thing (which always exists in the past) For example, I am attached to my new car, but my new car has ceased being new, but I am still attached to the car as it was. This happens quite unconsciously for most of us. An attachment to whatever it might be actually drains us of energy. I wonder how many things I am unconsciously attached to that are draining me of energy today?

Attachment can also take the form of ideas, beliefs, values— many, many intangible manifestations in material world. It is probably much more these that we are being call to examine. Because these can also drain us of energy, produce unconscious conflict, and produce feelings and emotions t that can sometimes be quite disturbing and confusing.

“We are all one.” Even on this material plane when we appear separate from one another because we have distinct bodies, still what we do and what we think affects all beings. The Course points out that there are no neutral thoughts. The language we use in this book is “thought, which is the manifestation of energy, either raises or lowers the vibration of the planet, of all beings.

Do you see in the midst of the confusion, chaos, and seeming negativity in your world today, how anger fear and outrage, instead of changing things for the better, actually produces a lower vibration that is even more difficult to break away from. It is as if you are thrashing around in quicksand, even though your desire is to get your self free, you are becoming more and more entangled.

One of the many results of your focus on negativity and separation is that it enhances those sensations, thoughts and old beliefs of unworthiness. You see, the trap here again is that you have a vision of perfection and somehow expect your imperfect or personality self to reach that perfection, and when it does not, you look at yourself with condemnation and disdain. And of course when you perceive yourself that way you are creating more and more perceived distance between you and the Kingdom.

“You do not hand your brother the kingdom. You witness him as being wealthy from it. You see him in his inheritance so he may align to it himself. But that will be his claim. However, you cannot deny that same man a hamburger that you would bless in Christ. The hypocrisy of this has gone on for far too long and those who attend to themselves as religious and decide the merit of another based on a scripture that they do not know or practice is a heresy. If you damn your brother, you have damned yourself. And we underline this: When you damn your brother, you damn yourself. When you feed your brother, you are fed. When you love your brother, you are loved.

“Well, I can’t love my brother, I don’t know him.” Yes, you do. When you claim “I know who I am, I know what I am, I know how I serve,” you have been given the key to know who he is as well. You are all cut from the same cloth, made of the same frequency, vibrating at different levels. As you align to your worth, you align to your responsibility as “the one who may claim himself and his fellows in the kingdom.”

Perhaps it is just part of my own story and maybe even yours that I am continually drawing back to the parable of the prodigal son. That being who became lost in his attachments and finally hit bottom, so to speak, and discovered himself sitting with the pigs in a foreign land. He came to his senses and realized he had a choice. That now he had a choice, he could go back to his father or he could stay where he was. Deciding to go back, he created a little speech for himself, but the father would hear none of it. He simply welcomed him to the kingdom; no excuses or explanations, simply “Welcome.”

In a Spiritual sense each one of us can probably identify with the prodigal. In someways he never really left the kingdom. Behind all of the props and the stories we created for ourselves, behind all the illusions, is the kingdom of God.

Because we are not alone in our search or in our discovery, when you claim your truth, you claim it for all beings. And when you deny your truth, in some ways you deny it for all beings.

“The belief that you are not worthy dictates that your fellows must not be worthy as well. And that is where you go into agreement. You can create a hell on earth very quickly this way, you know, and in some ways you have. The denial of your own gifts have caused you to create separation from the gifts that would be given to you. As you claim your inheritance, “I know who I am, I know what I am, I know how I serve,” you align to the gifts that would be gifted to you and you move into accordance with them.”

I go go back to that overly simplistic yet realistic choice we can continue to consciously make: “Does what I am thinking or getting ready to act upon, does it raise my vibration or does lower it; does it open my heart or does it close it.

The image that is being used here in the book it is to imagine yourself standing inside a circle. In the circle are of our all of those objects, ideas and beliefs and values that you have claimed as your own. You will notice there are some that add to the positive energy of your life and some that do not, and yet because you have claimed them as yours, they are part of this internal and external environment that you have created for yourself.

What we are being asked to do now is to expand the circle. Can I embrace the possibility that I can see myself in a truer way; that I can begin to claim more powerfully, “I know who I am I know what I am I know how I serve?”

“We will draw the circle again with you at the center. And on the outline of the circle you will imagine that the abilities you need to demonstrate, to move you forward, are all written out for you. “My ability to learn,” “My ability to see,” “My ability to know,” “My ability to maintain myself in my high vibration.” Imagine that these things that you need are just outside the border. Now we draw the circle once again so that they are included in your field. You are the chooser here. This is not just a symbolic act. This is a choice you make to claim yourself in dominion. “In dominion” means in authority, and “in authority” means you are responsible.”

Peace!