Wednesday 24 June 2009

Joy & Pain

Recent celestial activity has been intense to say the least, and many of us have felt the change and transformation first hand. In some ways, life feels like a wrestling match at the moment – lots of pathways, choices and avenues to take; yet a deep feeling that making a choice is too difficult or testing. It is almost as though we are in the space beyond our normal, everyday rational selves. The mundane and routine choices and decisions that we all make everyday seem out of our reach, and beyond our rapidly shifting perspectives.

Life goes on of course, and it seems that we are being tested on every level. We are all great at creating our own realities. Very often these realities contain convenient truths and falsehoods that suit our lives and mean that we can avoid challenging ourselves out of our self-built comfort zones. We tend to gain great reassurance from clinging on to the beliefs that suit us, yet if we are to learn we need to regularly challenge our beliefs to make sure that we have not become complacent or taken a ‘wrong’ turn.

Our core beliefs are being tested now. The Sun has shown us how to connect to our cores. The light has been shined upon our inner worlds, our individuality, our dreams, our potential and our faith. We have seen our Selves in all our glory, without frills or dressing. Yet, it is all too easy to put those rose tinted spectacles back on and go back to the comfort of tunnel vision and convenient truths.

This is not to say that we should throw everything in our lives into the air and walk away from everything we have built. No, this is about honouring ourselves and our individuality and not being afraid to follow our dreams. It is time to stand bare and face the truth of our lives and of our Selves.

On the whole, our ability to have Faith comes from developing our own unique relationship with the Divine. There are no right or wrong paths to the Divine, this is not about religion, it is simply about each individual (each spark) and their faith. We all see that the Divine is within us and all around us, the Divine is everything. We all have the spark of the Divine within us, and within the Divine are all our collective life sparks burning brightly.

Think for a moment about energy (maybe this is the same thing?), we are all energy and therefore everything and everyone is interconnected. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, so we are all part of everything that has ever existed and are all a part of what will exist. We are all One. We are all whole.

This concept seems easier for people to accept that realising that for this concept to truly work, we need to feel whole and complete in ourselves. When we feel lack in our lives, we are not whole. When our lives are filled with fear, self-doubt and self-loathing, we are not whole. We create our own realities, and so where we see fear, lack and so on, there IS lack, fear and so on.

Of course, back in the real world, many of us have stress in our lives, we have worries. For example it is hard to believe that life is a bed of roses when struggling to pay the bills or to provide for one’s family. It is hard to believe in joy when all you see is pain. But I guess the key is to see beyond this, to believe, no matter what, that we are whole in ourselves, that life can be just as fulfilling and joyous as we want it to be. If we can intend this, and have faith that it will be so, not doubting for a moment, then maybe it will be so. It is about taking that leap into the unknown again…unless we try, we will never know.

We all understand the idea that by harming others, we harm ourselves. Maybe we should turn this on its head and by loving ourselves, we can love others. The key to joy, peace and happiness on all levels (within and without) is love. We must love ourselves if we are to make our dreams come true and to find true meaning and purpose in life.

Loving ourselves though can be the hardest thing. Many of us have self-negating inner dialogues. It is time to change these now, to be kind and gentle to ourselves and to love every part of who we are.

So it seems that the tests are getting better and stronger, and we need to know that we have the inner resolve and strength to stand firm in stormy seas.

I rarely use religious quotes, and yet the following from the Gospel of St Thomas seems apt today. There are many translations (so apologies if this is not word perfect):

‘...The Kingdom of God is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father…I am the light that shines over all things. I am everywhere. From me all came forth, and to me all return. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift a stone, and you will find me there…’.