"FAITH"
This is a chapter that is a joy and great pleasure to write. This
chapter teaches that through understanding anything is possible. The
only limitation we have is the limitation we place on ourselves,
through our mind, and lack of faith in ourselves.
Everyone has faith to some degree or another. We each have
faith that the sun will rise in the morning, and set in the evening.
Whether we realize it or not, this is a form of faith. You use your faith
everyday in every way. Everything from flipping on the light switch,
to starting your car, is a form of faith. These things don't always
start as they should, but the faith is there before we turn the key in
the ignition, or flip the switch on the wall, that they will work when
turned on.
Through my own personal experience over the years, and
experiences I have received in teaching, I have come to the
conclusion that all faith has at least one common denominator, which
is a point of belief. You have flipped the switch a thousand times,
and 899 of those times the light has worked. You have started your
car 1000 times, and 900 times it has started. If nothing else your
faith was built on repetition of the events.
As you can see, there are many different forms of faith which all
generate from some experience in your life. It starts out as a baby.
Babies are born with faith that if they cry what is needed will be
provided. This doesn't mean that they realize that the feeling in their
stomach means they are hungry and need food. What it does mean
is that they have the faith that when they cry they will be made to feel
better; whether it be with food, dry clothes or kind words and loving
assurances that they are loved. We start to build from these very
early experiences, putting our faith in our ability to accomplish things
through our will.
No one actually tells a child that if it cries it will get attention
and have its needs fulfilled. The child is born inherently knowing
what to do for the fulfillment of its needs. Problems building faith can
start as early as this, if the child's needs are not met by the parent.
The child then becomes confused, feels like it is unable to get its
needs fulfilled, and loses faith in its ability to cause a difference in its'
situation. Stop and think about it a moment. A crying baby does not
necessarily feel helpless and vulnerable, and if you listen to most
babies' cries you will be able to ascertain the difference immediately.
Most babies that are nurtured and cared for properly have a very
distinctive cry, which is more demanding than helpless. The helpless
and vulnerable cries come from babies who are not provided for
properly. You may have a problem with this, but think a moment how
much more care a child takes who has been neglected even for the
first year of its life, than a child who has been properly cared for.
This can affect the child for many years. Neglect will produce a child
who does not trust people, is constantly afraid of being abandoned,
and has a problem having faith in themselves.
Each of us is given what I like to call a point of belief in our
physical, as well as spiritual lives. To some it may be a vision, a
voice, a prayer which you felt was answered, a miracle that you
witnessed or maybe even one that happened in your life. Whatever
it may be, it is your job to find it, because I assure you it is there. If
you think hard enough, and search long enough, it will come popping
up. Most of us are given more than one point of belief, sometimes
because we were too hard headed to get some of the other ones, but
mostly because your points of belief will grow as you grow.
These points of belief have a very specific purpose. They are
our physical proof. Every time we have a doubt, or we feel that
nothing in our lives is working (and we have all had these feelings at
one time or another, probably more than we would like to admit even
to ourselves) we can pull out these points of belief, dust them off and
say okay, I have physical proof that this works, I just need to
remember the feeling I had when this happened. By doing this, you
are strengthening your faith and giving yourself the mental boost you
need to go on.
In spirituality faith and belief walk hand in hand down the path.
This is only one of the reasons that it is so important to find out your
beliefs, live them and work within them. You don't want to waste time
putting faith into a belief that is outdated, worn out, can't live up to
your expectations, or that you just plain don't believe in anymore (if
you ever truly did). We all have certain beliefs like that. Some of
these beliefs stem from old wives' tales, while others are
superstitions that have been handed down from generation to
generation.
I have found that even the most religious people have silly
superstitions that they still cling to, mainly because they simply do not
take the time to stop, investigate, and think about it. The word silly
is only a perception, usually one held by a person that doesn't
believe in the superstition, because I can assure you it is not silly to
those who believe. My grandmother, for instance, was a very
religious woman, you could say to the point of being fanatical, yet
she held on to some old superstitions, and refused to let them go.
I remember several of her stories, and will share some of them
with you, so that you can get an idea of how deep these beliefs can
lie within each of us, being dormant until the time we bring them out,
dust them off and let them run free with our faith. My grandmother
believed that if a bird flew into the house it meant that someone was
going to die. This wasn't really as bad as her mother, who believed
that if any bird got loose in the house it meant death (I would have
put a lock on that bird cage). With my grandmother it had to be a
bird that came from the outside in, not a pet.
Now this may sound odd, but I can remember at least once
when I was a small child that a bird actually came flying into the
house. My grandmother had opened the screen door and the bird
literally flew in. Within three days there was a death in the family (I
was small I can't remember the exact hour but three days is pretty
accurate). There was one other time a bird flew in that I knew about,
but wasn't around to see, and again someone died. Experiences like
this tend to strengthen ones' belief, and are a definite point of belief.
This only goes to show that not all points of belief are positive or
reassuring (of course that would depend on the person and how they
relate to death, but most don't like the thought of death).
My grandmother also believed that if something, like money,
came up missing, which didn't happen very often because my
grandmother lived during the depression and was very careful with
money, the devil or demons took it. Once again as a small child I
can distinctly remember my grandmother dropping a silver dollar in
the kitchen while she was counting money. She tore that kitchen
apart, even lifting the linoleum (a dollar 38 years ago was worth a lot
more than it is now...okay the woman was cheap). The only ones in
the house when this happened was my grandmother and myself, and
I certainly would not have even thought of taking it, and I know she
was going through too much effort to have taken it herself. That
silver dollar never showed up again. She moved appliances and by
the time all was said and done was convinced that the devil had
taken her dollar. I don't know, but I did witness the fact that the silver
dollar (which if you have ever seen a silver dollar realize it is not
small or light) virtually disappeared never to be seen again.
My point to all this is that my grandmother believed these
things, and these things happened. Did she cause them to happen?
I will let you be the judge of that, however, I firmly believe that we
each create our own reality. Whatever we truly believe is our truth
and reality, like it or not. The only way to successfully change your
reality is to change your beliefs, which is where faith comes into the
picture.
As I stated before, faith and belief walk hand and hand down
the highway of life. What you believe is what you put your faith into.
Sometimes we are as careless about what we put our faith into as we
are about what we believe in. Belief comes as the first layer, and
faith is the second layer. The more we believe something, the more
we put our faith into it. You can have belief without faith, but you
can't have faith without belief. Even the simple act of turning on the
light switch starts with the belief that the light will go on, and is
followed by the faith that by flipping the switch there will be light. I
hope I haven't confused you (I think I may have confused myself...he
he). Let me explain a little further.
I believe that the sun comes up every morning in the east and
sets in the west every night. I have faith that if I go outside at sunrise
I will be able to see the sunrise, and if I go out at sunset I will be able
to witness this also. My belief strengthens my faith. If for any reason
I miss the sunrise or sunset my faith is not shaken, because I can go
back to my point of belief, which is strong through repetition, and
look for reasons that I missed these two events (such as maybe I
didn't get up early enough...it's just an example that everyone can
relate to). In other words, I am not going to panic and think the world
is ending, but go back to my original point of belief, and search out
answers without losing faith in my belief. If something has changed,
such as the hours for the sunrise and sunset, then I will readjust my
belief to coincide with my faith remaining intact and just as strong, if
not stronger than before.
Much the same holds true for your spiritual life. We all have
beliefs, and whether we realize it or not, we put our faith in those
beliefs. Some people believe in heaven and hell, and put their faith
in the fact that when they die they are going to one or the other.
There are others, who believe that we transcend when we are
advanced enough and enter nirvana. Still others believe that there
is no life after this plane, merely death and our body rotting in a
grave... There are many beliefs, and whether we are aware of it or
not, a certain amount of faith, even if it is unconscious or
unintentional, is put into these beliefs. This is why it is so important
to weed out the beliefs we don't want, or can't live with.
Faith is a very individual experience, and I wouldn't presume to
tell you how you should perceive it. However, I can tell you my
perception, which is arrived at through my personal experiences and
the experiences of others related to me through counseling and
teaching.
I have already explained what an important role faith plays in our
lives, whether we realize it or not, and this part of faith is relatively
easy, since it takes no concerted effort to accomplish. In fact, most
of the time we don't even have to think about it, just accept. A
tougher form of faith, however, is believing in miracles, which in
reality are just incidents that happen out of the normal realm of
physical everyday life. If these things happened every day, then they
would not be considered miracles. Even miracles are relatively easy,
because there is usually physical proof to look at. You may ask for
examples of these kinds of miracles; they can include anything from
the statues of saints that are found crying tears of blood in the
catholic church, to the vision of three small children who saw the
virgin Mary in a small fishing village.
These things might be a stretch for some people, but are
relatively easy to believe when you have so many others believing.
The toughest form of faith is believing in what you can't see, touch,
feel, smell or taste, and something that no one else gives validity to.
It is easy to have faith in something if there are a group of people
having faith in the same thing. When doubts start to arise, and they
always will it is our minds spiritual as well as physical questioning of
our beliefs and faith, it is much easier to allay them by the thought
that if so many believe it is true, then it must be true. Everyone goes
through this phase in development. Hopefully we grow beyond this,
knowing that what others believe may not necessarily be right for us.
There are as many beliefs as there are perceptions of life, and none
are more right than another. Each has its purpose, and teaches us
to be tolerant and accepting of others.
The power of faith is nothing new for mankind, but has been
going on since the beginning of time. It is one of the things we are
on this planet to learn, and we will continue till we get it right. All
great philosophers and religious leaders have preached it, yet most
of the time I am afraid their words have fallen on deaf ears, or maybe
just ears that weren't ready for the truth. I think for me, at least, one
of the phrases that has stuck out and summarized the importance of
faith came from the Bible and was said by Jesus. I will not look it up
and quote it exactly, but tell you what has stuck with me all these
years. He said that if we have faith the grain of a mustard seed (and
if you have looked at any mustard seeds lately you will note that they
are very small indeed) we shall be able to look at the mountain and
say mountain be moved, and the mountain shall move. This always
intrigued me, even as a child and I never forgot the words. While
growing up I will confess that there were many times I would look at
a mountain and close my eyes saying those words, but it never
moved for me, obviously you can get a lot of faith in that little seed.
The point of this is, the power of faith that has been known
since the very beginning of time. It has been ignored and greatly
underestimated by man. In fact it is used even less in this day and
time than it was centuries ago. We all run around like ants
stockpiling 'things' and working on other 'things', yet how much time
do we take working on our faith. The funny irony of it all is, that if we
worked on our faith, we wouldn't have to work on all the other things,
because they would naturally come.
Faith is like anything else, the more we work on it, the stronger
it gets, and the more we get out of it, and our lives. You might say,
either you have faith or you don't. Let me repeat, everyone has faith,
to what degree you have it or even use it in your life is totally up to
you. I have sat back and looked at my life, and the lives of others.
The amazing common bond that I have found after observing the
lives of all my loved ones that have died, was that each of them got
in their lives what they wanted; not whimsy or daydreams, but the
things that they truly wanted. What I am trying to say here is be
careful what you want, because sooner or later if you keep wanting
it you are going to get it for better or for worse. What we think we
want is seldom something that satisfies us, and it can consume your
entire life getting it.
My mother wanted nothing more out of life than to be a
housewife. She had worked when she was young and much
preferred staying at home, being able to keep her own time schedule
and not have to leave the house, but be able to communicate with
people over the telephone. You see my mother was very overweight,
although she was a beautiful woman. My mother always felt
embarrassed by her weight and as a result did not like going out in
public. She did, however, love people and would talk for hours on
the phone. As a result of this, my mother never had to get out of the
house and go to work. She lived her life doing exactly what she had
set up for herself to do.
My father from the time I was old enough to remember had this
dream that when his uncle died he would inherit a great deal of
money. He used to call it "his ship coming in". All my life this was all
I ever heard about, "someday he would have money and be able to
do what he wanted because his ship would come in". As a result my
father never tried anything different in his life. He was offered his
own parts store to own/manage and he declined, partly because my
mother didn't want to move, but mainly because it didn't matter to him
because someday his ship was going to come in and he would be
financially secure anyway without having to put all the work and
sacrifice into his own store.
After a lifetime of waiting the day came that his uncle died (he
died of old age, so he lived a very full life and I don't want you to
think that my father ever wished him dead because this was not the
case, as my father was a patient man and had faith that sooner or
later his dream would come true) and sure enough my father
inherited the bulk of half of his uncle's estate (his wife was still alive
and got the other half). It wasn't a fortune, but it was a great deal of
money (more than my father had ever seen in his lifetime) and my
father was a happy man. He felt that he had arrived and his ship had
finally come in. Of course, my father by this time was old and unable
to travel or anything, because he was now on crutches. He died
within a few years of receiving this money, and by the time he died
my mother only had enough money left to properly bury him. He
never knew that the money was almost gone as he had a few strokes
and his mind was not registering well with reality (at least the reality
we were living in) and he died still feeling like a rich man.
My mother had to go back to living off of social security with
help, but she didn't seem to mind because it was my father's dream
and he had been able to live it and die living it. As you can see, the
reality of my father's situation and what he died believing had no
correlation whatsoever, but it was his reality. How many of us live
each day like this; not with the reality of the situation, but with our
own narrow self-imposed reality? How many of us take the time
each day to look outside of ourselves and see objectively what is
really going on around us?
The point I am attempting to make is that as you can see my
father's faith paid off, but to what cost in his personal life. He never
knew the feeling of true success, because he never accomplished
the earning of his dream, but sat around waiting for it to happen. He
had no active participation in his life goal, but just sat around
passively having faith that someday it would unfold for him. How
many of us do the very same things with our lives without even
realizing it? Then we wake up one morning, if we are one of the
lucky few, wondering what it is all about and how we got into this
mode of living, and better yet, how to get out? You must have
already wondered these very things or you wouldn't be reading these
words. Unfortunately, many people are on the brink of
total destruction when they realize this.
Time to get off the wheel and start thinking. Basically all of the
things we talk about in this book come down to thinking. That is what
separates us from the other species on this planet. We can think,
reason and create. Let's use those basic skills everyday. Do you
really believe that if a hamster had a choice between running free, or
spinning on a wheel in his cage, that he would opt to remain and spin
on the wheel, knowing that he was getting nowhere? The hamster
deals with his environment, and uses what is given him, because he
has no options. We have options. We don't have to spin on our
wheel, but can jump off at any time and get out in the world, using it
as a school ground for growth and development. We can create our
environment, and if we don't like it we can tear it down and create
what we do like. We can cause our environment to grow as we
grow. Faith can help you consciously create the environment that
you want, and change it when you are ready for the change.
Be careful when choosing your dream. Take it out and look at
it, and see if it is really in your best interest. Sometimes we start off
with a dream in childhood, which is fine for the phase we are in at
that time. However, what we wanted as children changes as our
experience and perceptions change. The problem is, sometimes we
forget to examine what we wanted and see if it still applies.
Some people get so used to living with a certain dream that it
becomes familiar and comfortable, almost like family. Even though
the dream is really not as important now that they are adults, they
refuse to abandon it, even if they know that it isn't what they really
want any longer. They hold onto this dream because it gives them
stability in their lives, and reminds them of their childhood, which in
turn makes them feel safe and comfortable. Leaving this dream
would be like disowning a family member and turning their back on
their past. As a result the dream far outlives its usefulness, and will
not come true because the person really doesn't want it anymore, but
is afraid to replace it with what they really do want. This can cause
mass confusion, pain and lack of direction. It also causes great
feelings of failure and puts us on a cycle to fail.
In reality we haven't failed, we just have a lesson to learn and
until we do (which in this case is to replace the dream with one we
really want) then we must keep going through the lesson. Imagine
in school if you don't learn your ABC's. We don't just say "oh well"
and continue on to reading. We must keep going over and over
them until they are learned, or we will never be able to read.
You see, learning a lesson is rarely about just one
personalized part of your life, but has vast influence over all of your
life. For instance, with the ABC's not learning stops you from
learning to read, but it also stops you from learning to write your
name, type words on a computer, drive a car and the list goes on and
on. This all stemmed from not learning one lesson. If a simple
physical thing of learning ABC's can have such an impact on your life
and how you live it, can you begin to see how much impact your
dream can have on your physical and spiritual life?
When you discover the dream you truly want, then start
putting your faith into it. Dreams are just one small mustard grain
away from reality at all times. There is much more joy and
satisfaction knowing that you have actively created your dream,
actually birthing it into reality, then just sitting back and waiting for it
to happen.
There are different kinds of faith, some positive and some
negative. As in all things there has to be an opposite. I have told
you about some of the positive and now let's discuss some of the
negative, so that you can know what to look out for, and avoid.
There is a difference between believing in what you can't physically
sense and blind faith.
Most of what is "real" in this world is not registered by the five
senses. After all, when you stop and think about it, all of reality is an
illusion. If you doubt this get five different people's perception on any
major issue. You will undoubtedly get five different perceptions, then
you can decide which perception is reality. You see the answer is
that all of their perceptions are reality, their reality. Reality is a very
custom made perspective. Therefore, it only stands to reason that
it has to be an illusion, or could we possibly have large enough egos
to believe that we are the only ones right and everyone else in the
world is wrong?
There are tangible things in this world, but even those are open to
interpretation. What one person thinks is beautiful, another will find
ugly. What one person thinks smells, tastes or feels good may be
exactly the opposite of what another feels. Are you beginning to get
the overall picture? Come out of what you are going through for a
moment and look around as if you were a visitor to this earth and just
observing, rather than becoming emotionally involved. Try this for
one day honestly, (remember you have no one to impress or prove
this to but yourself) and I guarantee you will come away with a whole
new perspective about humanity.
You might ask, what is the real world? The real world is
something different to each person according to their experience.
Believing in what you can't see, touch, smell, feel or hear is a whole
other reality. When it comes to this we must look to what we feel
inside, what feels right to us, listening to what everyone has to say,
reasoning, and finally making our decisions based on our life
experience and our accumulation of the life experiences of others.
I listen to everything people have to say, take what is relevant and
feels right in my life, and discard the rest. Listening to someone else
doesn't turn you into a zombie that follows their belief, at least it
shouldn't. Being open-minded and listening only broadens your
perspective and gives you an opportunity, if nothing else, to practice
separating perspective that is relevant for you, from extraneous
garbage that you don't want.
People get caught up in their realities, and feel that if they
explain theirs' to you then you will most assuredly adopt it as they
have. This is not necessary, and most of the time absurd. I have
had numerous people tell me "you aren't listening to what I am
saying". I reply that "yes, I am listening to what you are saying; then
I repeat what they said back to them. I just don't agree with what you
are saying, and will not adopt it into my lifestyle or beliefs. However,
I find it interesting and will not tell you it is wrong, but I will tell you it
is not right for me." As you can see there is truly very little anyone
can say when approached in this matter, and it usually puts all
arguments to rest.
I feel that blind faith is not positive, because you are putting all
your trust into someone else's perspective, rather than formulating
one of your own. There are many different categories that you can
place humanity, but for the purpose of blind faith I like the analogy of
sheep and shepherds. Sheep will follow a shepherd blindly trusting
where they are being led, which most of the time is to their deaths
eventually. Therein lies one of the biggest problems with blind faith.
Not that you will be led to your physical death, but that you will be
kept away from your spiritual enlightenment because of the dogma
of another.
No one has the answers for you, including me. I have a way
that can help you find your own answers, but you must put forth the
effort and work it out for yourself. This brings us to the crux of why
blind faith is so popular. People are basically lazy (I find myself to be
lazy and have to fight it off at all times, so I know of which I speak),
and don't want to put a lot of effort into their spirituality. It is much
easier, takes less time and consumes less energy to merely go to
church once a week and have someone tell you how you should live.
Having to work on why you are living the way you are, is a whole
different ball of wax.
I was talking to someone who was very loyal to their religion,
going to church and obeying all the rules set down by his religion. I
asked this person a question about his religion, and he had no
answer. I pointed out that he had been in this religion for a very long
time, so how could it possibly be he didn't know the answer to my
question? What he answered brings us to the crux of the problem;
"I don't have to think, that is what I pay the preacher to do". Whoa,
that is a little scary, but how many of us have coasted along allowing
others to think for us, rather than finding a formula that will allow us
to think for ourselves?
When you start to look at the why's and analyze what you have
been doing with your life then you have to think, reason, and come
to your own conclusions. When you start to do this you have
graduated from the sheep status, and turned into a shepherd. You
see we don't need to lead anyone else to be a shepherd, only to take
charge of our own lives and lead ourselves. What this means is that
you have taken back the power over your life, and refuse to give it up
to anyone else. You will find that this is a full time job, and not to be
taken lightly. It all comes back to taking responsibility for yourself.
My mother used to say "if it looks too good to be true, it is". I am sure
she is not the one who came up with this saying, but it is as true in
your spiritual life as it is in your physical life. If it is too easy and you
don't to have to put any effort into your life, but just seem to float
along, beware.
If someone tells you that all you have to do is read the bible,
go to church once and week, tithe, and do what the preacher tells
you, then you are a sheep and you need to find out why. I am not
advocating that church, tithing or reading the bible are wrong, only
that if these are the only things you do for your spiritual growth, then
you aren't truly growing. There are answers to everything, but don't
look to others for these answers for they are all within you. Don't
look to anyone else for the answers, because all you will get is their
answers, look within yourself for your answers.
The whole purpose of my writing this book is not to get you to
follow my instructions, but to get you to look for answers within
yourself. I don't have your answers, you do, so go find them.
Anyone who tells you not to look for the answers is holding you back
for their own reasons. Anything worth having is worth working for,
and as far as I am concerned there is not a greater task with any
greater rewards then connecting with your higher self and working
towards consciously creating your own reality.
Do not put your faith in any person or their teachings. When
you put your faith into certain people or certain teachings you close
yourself off from learning from others and their teachings. Put your
faith in yourself and the ability to discern what is right or wrong for
you. Put your faith in your beliefs, making sure that you have gone
through your beliefs and still want them, if not, change them to what
you do want.
Let's now talk about having faith in what you can't see. This is
not blind faith. Just because I can't see something with my physical
eyes does not mean that my spirit can't see or feel it. When we start
to listen to that still small voice within, feeling in our gut or whatever
else you might want to call it, we start to grow. The more we listen,
the more we hear, and the more we grow. I have more faith in what
my physical senses cannot detect then I do in that light switch that I
can physically see and turn on.
Faith is not built overnight, and it is a definite building process.
Do not mistake trust for faith. I do not put my faith in people, objects
or other's doctrine. I put my faith in myself, my higher self that is,
God, (which I feel that we are all a part of rather than some unknown
entity) and my beliefs. What you put your faith in is up to you, but
make sure you understand exactly what faith is before you give it out
freely, because there is great power in faith. Many people have
fallen, never to recover, because they put faith in other people, or in
the beliefs' of others. They adopted these beliefs as their own, only
to find out down the road that nothing was as it seemed, and they
had been disillusioned and misguided. I can recount case after case
through history of people who were misguided throughout their lives,
and did terrible things to themselves and others, all because they put
their faith in others.
There are some very charismatic people out there, but so was
Napoleon and Hitler. Why do you think that people followed them
and were willing to give up their lives for these people. They put
blind faith in their dogma, and followed just as blindly. Books have
been written about this, groups have been formed to 'save' people
from this, but better yet, you can just open your newspaper and find
examples each and everyday. Look for the tele-evangelists that
have been followed by millions, only to be arrested and convicted of
different crimes, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that they at the
very least did not live what they preached. This also tells you a lot
about their faith, or lack thereof.
Anything can happen, the only limitation you have is yourself
and your lack of faith in yourself. Put your faith in yourself, as that is
the only person that truly counts in the end. Put your faith in your
beliefs and live by them, not by the words or beliefs of others. Put
your faith into your dreams and strengthen them, causing them to
happen more swiftly, and allowing you to feel like an active
participant in your life and its outcome, rather than feeling like a
victim of destiny.
Some people have told me that they have no faith in
themselves. Some people feel that it is egotistical, at the very least,
and blasphemous at the most, to have faith in themselves. If we do
not have faith in ourselves, then we have faith in nothing. Let me
repeat that so that it will sink in; If we do not have faith in ourselves,
then we have faith in nothing. The same holds true for love, respect,
trust... We are our own yardstick. What measurement can we draw
upon if not ourselves. Think about this and understand it, as it is
very important on all three planes. Look for the faith that you
possess. Go back to the very root, and then you will find out how
much faith you do have in yourself. Take this amount of faith, no
matter how small, and build with it.
You might ask how to build?:
l) The first step is acknowledging the existence of your faith.
2) The second step is acknowledging how important you are,
and how much your opinion on anything and everything counts.
3)The third step is understanding that you create your own
reality, and as such it is within your power at anytime to change that
reality.
4) The fourth step is taking total responsibility for yourself and
your actions, or lack thereof.
5)The fifth step is finding out what your beliefs are and
questioning them, removing what you don't want and adding what
you do want. Make sure you have beliefs that you can live with.
Nothing ties a person down and stops their chance of growing on this
level more than hypocrisy.
When you have found beliefs that feel are right for you and that
you can have faith in, don't become complacent. You have not
arrived, but only started the journey. There is much more to learn
and discover. It is a never ending lesson. You will know when you
have learned all there is, because you will no longer be on this plane
of existence, but will have transcended. Keep searching, keep
listening, and keep being open to your experiences by analyzing
each for the lesson involved.
As you learn new things take those beliefs out and clean house
again. Beliefs are constantly changing, as our degree of knowledge
changes. If we keep our faith in ourselves then it is easy to put faith
into any new belief that we adopt. If we put faith only in the belief,
then we have stifled ourselves and it will be much harder to get rid
of that belief or expand on it, even if we realize that it has become
wrong for us.
One of the most important pieces of advice I can give you at this
stage is, be tolerant and patient with others. As you are going
through these changes it is only normal and natural for you to want
to share what is happening to you. This is good, but it is negative
when you want to drag those people along with you who aren't going
through the same changes. It becomes confusing, because you
can't understand why they can't see what has become so obvious to
you. Have patience. Remember this is a very personal journey and
most of us aren't in the same place at the same time. When
someone hears words of wisdom that they aren't ready for, it means
nothing to them. Many times this is a defense mechanism installed
in each of us so that we don't get further confused by skipping steps.
However, your words if given with love and patience, tempered with
understanding and acceptance of wherever the other person is at the
time, can plant a seed that will grow when they are ready.
When we are children, and our parents instill their beliefs in us,
we directly link the respect and love for our parents to their beliefs.
Those beliefs, you will find, are much harder to change then any
others, even if we never truly believed in them to begin with, but only
went along with them because our parents forced us to. You will find
that these beliefs will be the ones to come back and haunt you in
later life. However, if we take them out, brush them off, look at them
unemotionally, and make them stand on their own merit, rather than
connected with the love and respect for our parents, you will find it
much easier to discard what you don't want. Always remember that
just because someone else may have spent their entire life with
these beliefs, doesn't make them right for you. Obviously there was
something they needed to learn from the experience, which is not
your experience.
The importance of your beliefs and why we are discussing them
in the faith chapter, comes from the perspective that what you
believe in is in essence what you are, whether you realize it or not.
Creating your own reality consciously (rather than subconsciously)
cannot be done unless you put faith in your beliefs. Putting faith in
beliefs that you really don't want can lead to a confusing, erratic, and
painful existence, one which I see many people going through
everyday. It is time to come out of the pain and take the time and
energy to change what you don't like, keep what you do, and know
the difference.
It only matters to you what your beliefs are, because it is only
your life that it affects. Put faith into those beliefs, and make your
dreams a reality.
HOMEWORK;
Spend this week taking a good look at your beliefs. Take out
your journal and make a list. On one side of the paper list all of your
beliefs leaving ten lines between each belief. On the column on the
other side of each belief write your reasons for accepting this belief.
Go back to the root of when you started accepting this belief and
why.
When you have finished this list, make sure you don't leave
anything out, you will be able to look at your life and make a direct
correlation about where you are now and what beliefs have gotten
you to this point.
Keep the beliefs that work for you, and consciously get rid of the
rest. Only keep the beliefs that you can live with and live up to. In
other words, if you feel that killing to eat is wrong, but you just can't
give up meat, then you aren't ready to become vegetarian, so don't.
When the time is right for a belief it will be easy to embrace and live
by. Picking beliefs that we can't live by only sets us up for failure,
frustration, confusion, guilt and a lowering of self-esteem. These are
not positive things and no belief structure can grow within this
framework, except the belief that you are a failure.
Next, take out your dreams and inspect them. Discard the ones
you have outgrown, and question the ones you haven't. It is time to
make these dreams a reality. Therefore, make sure what you started
out with is still what you want. Once you have found the dream you
want, make it as detailed as you can in your imagination. If your
dream is to make a difference in this world and ease suffering and
you want to start a shelter for the suffering, then imagine every
aspect of the building, the furnishings, even down to the people who
will come there for help. This is an example, and I am sure you can
adjust it for whatever your dream is.
Make a list of the dreams you have, along with the details it
takes to make them a reality. Each day for the next week take these
two lists out. For your beliefs close your eyes and repeat each belief
in your mind slowly five times. For your list of dreams; close your
eyes and imagine these dreams a reality, one at a time. Make sure
that you picture every minute detail as you want it to be.
What you are doing here is building faith in your beliefs and
dreams. It starts by repetition, the more you say it over and over, the
more the mind accepts it. You have started...