Project Knowing Infinite Self ~ Step Four

The Courage to Accept Spirit as Your Inner Guide

This step is all about moving *effortlessly* from intellect/logic to feelings ... to spiritual guidance from within us.

Notice the word "effortlessly"...? Yeah, my ego snorts, too (oh! but how it loves to exert and achieve and gloat!).

I like how Stu puts it here:

The process is not so difficult. When you have to make a decision, rather than make it intellectually - Shall I? Shan't I? Will I? Won't I? mentally churning through your options - try to rely only on your subtle feelings. Open your heart to what spirit is telling you. In any given situation, it doesn't matter so much what is logical; what matters most is asking what feels right. Once you have decided what feels right, move down that path gingerly; watch for any inconsistencies and problems, and adjust your actions accordingly.

If an idea is right, it will be empowered by your Infinite Self projecting energy outwards, and things will flow. IF it isn't right, you may have to adapt a little or make a slight turn. But if that doesn't work and nothing flows, take it as a sign that the idea is wrong, that you do not have enough energy to pull it off, or that the time isn't right.

Argh, how many times in my life have I been given the opposite instruction/suggestion/mandate...? To IGNORE how I feel, and to do the most logical thing. To put mind over heart (& I'll be saying a bit more about mind and heart...). To trust in externals, rather than eternal-internals.

This resonates with me:

Trust your feelings; ask, and watch the signs all around you. You'll know how hard to try, when it's right to push a little harder, and when it's best to pull back. It's in the constant asking of questions that you logically don't know the answer to that you empower your inner guidance. If you follow along, avoiding the ego's protests as much as possible, you soon find out that your inner guidance is always right. Gradually you develop enough confidence in the prompting of spirit to allow it to become your only guide in life.

Practice constantly.

In the beginning, it doesn't matter if you are "wrong" or "right". all that matters is that you get used to bypassing the intellect and the accepted view... by going against the common logic, you are, in effect, asking permission to access a deeper, higher awareness. By asking [your Infinite Self], and acting on its answers, you empower it. You become more courageous.

So, if this is the Real Self ... and if we have to re-learn how to connect with it ... how did we "lose" our awareness/connection in the first place? What manner of conspiracy is going on...?

Lack of awareness has its roots in childhood. We require our children to endure the tick-tock influence of the education system [and, as a long-time homeschooler, may I say that "doing school at home" has the same effect!] -- a system whose only reality is based in ego, personality, status and logic. By the age of seven or eight, the inner knowing, which is gifted to you naturally when you are born, is usually squashed out of a child. We are trained to ignore the easy way of knowing things via our interconnection with all things, and replace it with a laborious method of learning by rote, intellect, and mind-numbing conformity and logic.

You need facts and figures as part of your education, but that should not become a high altar to the intellect upon which you sacrifice the subtle nature of your all-knowing. In order to win acceptance from others [namely parents] and from our schoolteachers, we tend to conform and we become averse to risk. Gradually our metaphysical knowledge is lost, and in eating the apple of logic from the tree of tick-tock, we fall from heaven and lose our angelic nature. We are banished from the Garden of Eden to a much harder existence, with only the knowledge of the ego (duality) to guide us.

Ohhhh, what we do to ourselves and each other ... and yet, it's the very given we all have to start from ... and we rely upon our minds, our logic ... our egos, until we exhaust ourselves ... until we finally wake up to realize that in doing so, we are not happy ... we are not fulfilled ... we are not at peace ... we are not living our soul's purpose. So what's the solution?

As you start to trust your inner guidance, it leads you graciously, step--by-step. It will take you to the next person, the next place, the highest spot -- it knows. How does it know? Because it is everywhere and everything is a feeling, so it is all-knowing. As you concentrate and begin to rely upon it, it becomes stronger. A door opens inside of you. Click!

This dovetails with Abraham-Hicks ... trust that inner guidance system ... how? By trusting your feelings ... if it's a good feeling, it's your True Self.. if it's a bad feeling, it's the ego. Love/joy/hope/trust is of the spirit ... Fear/lack/anxiety/depression is of the ego. Simple. It's just that we've been taught to heed and honor fear ... fear, you may notice, is the fuel of the conditioned/conforming/conventional life. Fear says, "stay safe! don't rock the boat! please others! do what's expected of you! avoid conflict! self-protect! hide! attack! exclude! separate!" Love says, "Trust. You are immortal. All is well. Risk. Be vulnerable. Listen to your heart. Go all out for joy. All is One."

Some may say, "Well, trusting is frightening!"

Yeah. Of course it is. We are, after all, on a sacred quest.

But ... it's only the ego that is frightened! The real Self is eternal and immortal, at peace, infused with well-being, secure, assured, and "existing in a perfect dimension of exquisite beauty." In fact, we can address this frightened egoic part of us like we would a small child ... "Hey there, little ego. I can tell that you're terrified of letting go. I know you're scared of the future, or at least what you imagine is going to happen in the future, and you really, really want to feel safe. But you don't need to worry about me. I'm eternal. I have all abundance. I'm infinite. I know that there are wonderful things ahead for me, because my Infinite Self has seen it, and feels it. And I can feel it now, too ... in fact, now is enough. So don't worry, little scared one ... I'll be just fine."

All is well, and getting weller.

This sacred and holy journey - the journey way from the ego toward the Infinite Self - is a journey through a fog. You're only going to be able to see a few steps in front of you. The courage of accepting spirit as your guide does not require great fortitude. It's just being courageous enough to step away from the handrail of life ... and walk a little way into the unknown... come to expect the unexpected.

Stay centered in the eternal present. Working on trusting and exercising the muscle of your [inner, extra-sensory] perception, it grows quickly.

Ah, tomorrow looks timely for me: "Accepting Negativity as a Learning Experience."

Can't wait ... (hold on -- that was my ego's response!)

Bring it on! (there, that was my spirit's response!)

Shalom & Namaste ~
Dena


P.S. Just got this from Wayne Dyer: "You may be guided to leave a job, a city or even a relationship - all of which may sound terrifying [to the ego] at the moment. Nevertheless, if the signals keep coming and they resonate internally with you [with the spirit], take the step - and while doing so, know that you're being guided [by the Infinite Self] to a life of inspiration."

P.P.S. For those who like a bit of scientific research to back up the fluff, check this out. Scroll down a bit to read the article.