RESPONSIBILITY 7

P.76-77

A passage from another book I read recently. It describes an extremely important part of the process. 

I found that the chief difficulty for most people was to realize that they had really heard “new things” that is the things that they have never heard before.

They did not formulate it for themselves, but in fact they always try to contradict this in their minds and translate what they heard into their habitual language whatever happened to be.

I know that it is not an easy thing to realize that one is hearing new things. We are so accustomed to the old tunes, and the old motives, that long ago we ceased to hope and ceased to believe that there might be anything new.

And then we hear new things, we take them for old, or think that they can be explained and interpreted by the old. It is true that it is a difficult task to realize the possibility and necessity quite new ideas, and it needs, with time, a revaluation of all usual values.

I cannot guarantee that you will have new ideas, that is, ideas you have never heard before, from the store, but if you are patient, you will very soon begin to notice them. And then I wish you not to miss them and to try not to interpret them in the old way.

As I was reminded in class, what is spoken here is very similar to Jesus analogy of putting “new wine in old wine skins.” Without realizing it, we find ourselves attempting to fit a new piece of information into our old system of knowing. This is a reflection the compulsivity of the mind. It not only wants to understand and control, it also wants to categorize, to pigeon hole everything, to create its own internal Dewey decimal system which everything must align to. It was also mentioned the mind can only create an image or belief that is really created from past information. It is very clever in disguising past ideas as new ones.

Again, what we are attempting to work with is not to destroy or devalue the intellect. It is obviously an extremely important and necessary aspect of our being, however, when we begin to deal with aspects of spirituality we must begin realize that there are many facets to our learning that cannot be completely understood by the thinking or the immortal mind.

When using the term “mystery” we do not necessarily mean the unknowable. We can know through our Spirit, through our intuition, through our imagination. We can  know an idea or belief that might not be known through thinking mind. In someways this is the stretch we are making. It is not a blind leap, but it is a leap beyond knowing with the tangible proof seeking intellect. It is the deeper realization that we can know on various levels of our being beyond our thinking mind.

The image that came to my mind was from the story of Cinderella. You might recall that her sisters would go to any lengths to try and make the shoe fit, even cutting off a toe or the back of their heel. This is what the mind does with new ideas, to try and make some fit within the old framework. No judgment here, simply be aware that this subversive process of the intellect can happen to any of us without our even realizing it.

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“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.”

I keep forgetting , I am not doing this all any myself. 

An outline of the process might look like this: 

The essential piece of growth is put in front of me, and I choose whether to widen my circle and claim it as my own or to stay stagnant where I am. Choosing stagnation is allowing my fear-based ego and personality self to dominate my life. Choosing to expand my circle pushes me beyond fear to a deeper sense of consciousness and awareness. Just as fear creates the contraction of spirit, so does my yearning for wholeness push me towards expansion.

Whether I consciously realize it or not, there are beings in my life who are guiding and directing me towards my soul's purpose. Just as a parent takes a child's hand as she learns how to walk, catches her when she stumbles, holds gently until she finds her balance, so do our teachers do for us, whether they have bodies or not.

Along with this guidance and direction there's also the sense that others have walked this journey before and therefore it is possible for us to do the same. Not only that, not simply our willingness or the awareness of others who have gone before ,but there is also this rather mysterious Energy that we call grace. It can be described and recognized in various ways. Ultimately it is the awareness of God's unconditional love.

“Now who are you anyway? What do you think you are? What can you imagine yourself to be? These are all important questions to ask yourselves. And the desires you have to be known by us is simply a reflection of the desire to be known by yourself in your true merit. You are obligated to yourself, first and foremost, to hear your own voice, your own requirements for change and choice. As you listen, you will be taught by yourself and you will move toward these things you need one at a time.”

So here we are standing in our own circle surrounded by those things those beliefs, those ideas, those points of identification that we have grown comfortable with.

We are looking beyond the boundary that we have drawn around ourselves and seeing those qualities that we are drawn and attracted to but seem to be just out of our reach.

Our self-centered fearful ego tells us, “Let us be comfortable with what we have.” Fearfully, it's says, “If you try to embrace what is outside the circle of safety, you might lose everything.” That is one force that is pulling us.

On the other side, pulling us towards growth and unity consciousness comes first our yearning for wholeness/completion; then comes our deep willingness to grow, to transform; then then there is that part of us that embraces the possibility of going beyond our self-imposed limitations; then there is those loving guiding beings, those teachers who we have attracted to ourselves who are gently holding and guiding us on the way; and finally there is grace, the unconditional love of God that continually allows us to claim our Truth and to be who we are.

“No one is waiting for you, you know, to change. You are the only one here. You are the only one who can decide this. You live your life as you claim it. You are the authority you seek. And as you don’t want to be, you find others to fill the role. We are not that role. We are teachers, and any teacher worth merit has one goal in mind: the learning of the student so the student may attend to herself.

As we gift you with the frequency we work with, we do this for one reason: so you may work with yourself and your fellows. “I am Word through my body, I am Word through my vibration, I am Word through my knowing of myself as Word” is the attunement to the frequency we work with. But how you attend to the frequency in your life will always be your claim.”

May all beings be at peace; may all beings be free of suffering; may all beings remember who they are.