RESPONSIBILITY 8

P. 77-79

So let's begin with that image of you standing in a circle with all of those objects— material, emotional, spiritual— all of those things you claim as yours being within the circle. And then outside of the circle, and we do not want to ignore the material things, but the primary purpose of this exercise is to examine those emotional and spiritual values or gifts that we think we are yearning for and imagine ourselves not having.

I would suggest that everyday we might do an imagery somewhat similar to this and consciously expand the circle we are standing in especially to encompass those spiritual and emotional gifts we desire and sense that we need on this aspect of our journey.

We have been told “Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you, but what happens on a deeper reality as we seek, we realize that what we have been looking for is already here.

It was suggested this morning that we could keep things very, very simple by consciously working on the truth of remembering Who We Are and I could not agree more. I would suggest, also, that remembering Who You Are also means being in the experience of Who You Are. In other words, recognizing that you are an expression, in this moment, of Divine Light and Divine Love. This is much more than a thought or remembering an idea or even remembering a truth. It is about being in the experience of that truth. Any one of us can say to ourselves, “Let's remember who we are,” and then immediately get back into our compulsions, addictions, and attachments and our general overall forgetfulness.

I believe that the work we are doing here not only involves honoring our intellect and it's continuing search, but also honors the divine within us that already knows. I recall the guides pointing out in the first book that they could have provided or created this work as simply standing in a different or a higher vibrational energy field. No need for book or words. But at the same time, they honor the truth that we are, at least, in part, living in a material world, and that we can feed the mind as well as feeding spirit and to work with ourselves without confusing the two.

The words “I am word…” and whatever follows that is a way of claiming your Divine truth in numerous ways. One is to realize then what you are claiming as your truth cannot be completely grasped or understood by the thinking mind. In other words, even though you are using your voice to claim this is true, the truth of what you are claiming goes far beyond what your mind can comprehend.

I recall, even in the first book, we were encouraged to say a phrase such as “Word I am word through my anger; word I am word.” At first glance it might appear as if I am claiming to reinforce my anger, which would not seem to be a very healthy thing. What is happening here is happening on many levels. First I am not denying my anger, I am accepting it as being a part of what is going on with me at this moment. By putting it “in the Word,” I am raising the vibration of what I am calling anger and giving myself the opportunity to see it differently. I am not getting caught up in the emotion of anger, nor am I judging it as being right or wrong. What I am noticing is that anger is a lower vibration than the one I would normally choose to live in. By raising the vibration of my anger I am giving myself the opportunity to transform it.

Again there are a number of pathways we could travel here using anger as an example, and please note it is only one of many examples we could use. First of all I could remember the words of the famous teacher who said, “It's okay to be angry at someone but never put them out of your heart.” That is one level of awareness. Another level comes about when we realize that I am never angry about something that I do not love or care about.

Let us say, for instance, I am angry at a public official. If I sit with my feeling for a moment, I will realize that a value that I hold dear seems to be threatened, and so I respond to that threat with anger. 

If a tree falls on my car I will probably be angry. I could discover all sorts of reasons for that anger, but on a deeper level I can discover that even though this is a material object, I care about it, I am grateful to it for getting me from one place to another. The anger that I feel, or the depth of the anger that I feel is usually in direct proportion to the love I feel for that person or that object.

Now when I realize this and I choose to raise the level or vibration of my anger it can be transformed into love, into acceptance, into gratitude. I still have to get my windshield fixed. That part does not go away, but the energy that I use in doing what needs to be done in the outside world can be very different and have a much higher vibration then the anger that first got me there. After a time I can even begin to be grateful for my anger that help me to wake up to a deeper truth.

And so all of what follows in this paragraph below from the book is about claiming truth and climbing the highest vibration of that truth that we can claim for ourselves.

“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.

“I am Word through my witnessing of my fellows,” “I am Word through my choices,” “I am Word through my alignment,” “I am Word through my freedom,” “I am Word through my love” will support you in claiming these things in your worth. “I am Word through all that I know to be true” will support you in realizing the truth in any and all situations you may encounter. When you claim, “I am Word through all I know to be true,” it states very simply that you have moved into resonance with truth and what is not in truth will not be in adherence to your field. It will not resonate with you as truth, so it will fall away. So many choices to make, we say, may be made in a new way once you realize you can. That your choices are made in authority and that you are responsible to your choices.”

The next section in the book addresses giving away or sharing not only what it is in your life that you no longer need but also recognizing the needs of your brothers and sisters and helping those needs to be filled. Although the book seems to focus on material realms, we are also reminded that this giving and the sharing takes place on a level of emotions and spirit as well. Along with a cup of coffee or a decent meal, my brother or sister might also need to be affirmed as a human being and as a Divine Child of God.

I am reminded of that wonderful scene out of the Acts of the Apostles. When Peter and John were going through a gateway to the temple and a crippled man was asking for alms, Peter spoke by saying “Gold and silver I have not, but what I have I give you in the name of Jesus the Christ get up and walk.” WAhat a beautiful thing.

There is another biblical instance that I'm thinking of at the moment was when a number of people brought a paralytic to Jesus with the intention that he be healed. Jesus looked at him and said, “My son, your sins are forgiven you.” I often wondered what it was like to be that man on the palate, paralyzed, and hear those words. At first I might have thought “that's not what I came here for I want to get up and walk; I really don't care whether my sins are forgiven or not.” But in the long run, what is it that I truly seek wholeness of body or peace of mind? Of course, I do not need to trade those off; it is possible to have both, but I also remember Ram Dass relating that after his stroke he was taken to John of God and he said at the moment of being in touch with those healing beings that channel their energy through John, that he knew at that moment that he was healed, but he was not cured. In other words his body was still paralyzed or dysfunctional, and yet in his mind and his heart he was perfectly okay.

It is probably been mentioned many times that this journey is not necessarily one of feeling good. Now please do not get that confused with thinking that you have to feel bad, that is definitely an old message. The truth is we are not focusing just on feelings or emotions, we are focusing on a deeper reality.

I realize I am paraphrasing here but I recall the guides saying at one point “we really could care less how you feel—this is not the object of our work. The object of our work is to help and guide you into remembering the truth of Who You Are.

And because we are all in this together there is no way that I can grow if I ignore my brother's needs. Just as we ask in the Lord's Prayer that we might be forgiven as we forgive. What that means is that this is not a black-and-white issue, it is to the degree then we are able to forgive that we receive forgiveness, and this is true for all aspects of our spiritual growth. he degree to which I can love myself is the same degree that I can love others.

“We love you each at whatever level of learning you stand in. We accept you each at whatever level of knowledge you may have attained. We understand that for some of you going on this journey is a confusing act because it means defying what you were taught and holding yourself accountable in ways you thought would never have to.”

“But the days of convenience really are over. And those of you who would claim a spiritual path while leaving your brother on the roadside to starve must wake up to your own accountability. “But they created that,” you may say. For whatever reasons you may not know. But if they created that, they have also created the opportunity for you to serve and you must say thank you to them for this gift. You know who you are. Act upon it, please. You cannot bear witness to the perfection in your fellows and not house him, not keep him fed, and not keep him loved.”