If you wake up one day and find there is a chasm between you and your God, you can be sure that you are the one who has moved.
Meister Eckhart
God goes with me wherever I go.
‚A Course In Miracles‘, February 10th
Sooner or later, we all have to confront the God Archetype.
Carl Gustav Jung
Some do, indeed, embrace the concept of God. As I see it, atheism is simply the flip side of this equation. Sitting on the fence is called agnosticism.
Patrick Little
For most of my life, I fell prey to the very widespread illusion that the cause of all my problems is ‚out there‘. In practical terms, it unfolds roughly as follows: Whenever I experienced `irritation´ in the world `out there´ (when my plans fell through, when I didn’t get my way, regretted the past, feared the future, or when I adjudged that I was being treated unjustly of unfairly, etc.), I reacted by exerting more force to `kick the world into shape´.
Despite my heroic efforts, this rarely worked. Sometimes I bagged some minor short-term gains, but these were achieved at a horrifically high price. The people I intimidated, manipulated or used, overtly or covertly, in order to get my way, grew resentful and waited for their chance to get me back. My riding roughshod over other people and the ethical standards to which I, myself, aspired, weighed heavily on my conscience. As a result, it required dulling in order to achieve any moments of peace. Over time, this dulling, this `zoning out´ became the norm.
I found myself in a nose dive, a downward spiral. I hit bottom when the house of cards, which I had been diligently building since my adolescence, collapsed. This happened – you guessed it – in my early forties. I was worn down, discouraged and spiritually bankrupt.
I had seemingly run out of options; outwardly going through the motions, but inwardly dying.I got sober in 2003. In recovery, I discovered and have gradually adopted a new design for living, part of which includes a very different approach to those `irritations´ from the outside world. I had to concede to my innermost self that writing the script of the movie of life did not rest with me.
My role was more that of a unique character with an inimitable role; the direction of this movie, however, was to come from an entity given various names throughout the ages in the countless cultures around the world; Allah, Gaia, Jehovah, Shiva, The Great Spirit, Wankan Tanka, Yahweh, and yes, some call it God.
Here I must confess that the term `God´ used to have very deep-seated, negative connotations for me, given that I grew up in Catholic Ireland in the sixties and seventies. I am reminded of a story I heard at a Twelve Step meeting in Berlin some years back.
The narrator was an American gentleman, around sixty, who described an experience from his first AA meeting in Atlanta thirty years previous. On hearing the word `God´ he had closed up and he was about to make a bolt for the door immediately after the meeting, when an older guy intercepted him and began to strike up a conversation with him. Our narrator was not shy in stating that he thought it was all good up to the point when `God´ was mentioned. He could have no truck with God.
The older guy asked him to describe God. The younger man said that the God he knew was `an old man with a long beard and a booming deep voice. He watched everything we did and kept track of all our deeds, and even our thoughts, good and bad, in a long list. When we died, these lists would be reviewed and we would be sent to either heaven or hell´. Our friend was sure he was going to hell.
The old guy fixed him with a warm smile and suggested simply: `Well why don’t you fire that motherfucker and replace him with a loving god of your own understanding?´ That was the beginning of a new chapter in the young man’s life…
Alienation describes a state of separation from the Source. It suggests the illusion that we are not only separate from our Creator but also from each other and Mother Nature or, if you prefer, Creation. In this state of `separation´ we fall prey to the illusion that we `must do it all on our own´and even that `we (humans) have a right to rape and pillage the planet for our own ends´ (no pun intended), the type of behaviour that has got our species, and our beautiful Blue Planet, into the precarious situation in which we now find ourselves.
The progeny of alienation include shame, guilt, apathy, grief, fear, desire, anger, and pride. These make up the lower, life-negating levels of David Hawkins´ so-called `Map of Consciousness´, first published in his 2002 book `Power Vs. Force´. Interestingly, the next higher level is `Courage´.
It does, indeed, take a lot of courage to relinquish the old way of life even when it has proven itself untenable. It is interesting to note that the root of the word `courage´ is the Latin word `cor´, i.e. `heart´. Courage is more a product of the heart than of the mind. The lower levels of consciousness listed above are, without exception, products of the mind.
Today, whenever irritation presents itself, I take it as a signpost to go within to see what inner work beckons. I may not see this immediately but, with practice, the recognition becomes easier. This `descending within´ initiates the process of co-creation.
Invariably, I discover that my connection to the Source had, unbeknownst to me, become impaired or even blocked. There is a resentment, a fear or some other manifestation of self (ego) which makes it impossible to hear the direction from or realise the unconditional love of the Self (that inner Divine Power, I now associate with my concept of God).
The improvement of this impaired connection is the first thing that needs attention. As I go through this process, my burdens get lighter and possible solutions begin to emerge. These may include the willingness to accept that my plans and those of the Universe are not as closely aligned as I had initially supposed. Then I can make peace with the idea that `I don´t always get what I want, and I always get what I need´.
The connection can deteriorate in the blink of an eye. An hour of blissful morning meditation may be followed by a fit of road rage on the way into work. This is part of the Human Condition. The more I maintain and grow my conscious contact with the Source throughout the day, the less likely I am to get blind sided. And the more I practice, the easier it gets. Now I can really relate to Emmet Fox’s statement: `Our true element is the Presence of God´.
The fact that public dialogue, even when intelligent and well-intentioned, often succeeds in exchanging wonderful ideas while completely dodging the issue of the role of the Divine in our worldly affairs, is an indication of the strength of denial in our collectively addicted society. I feel encouraged by my own experience to `show up´ on and draw attention to this topic.
Meditation and silence have now become key elements in my day. To quote Meister Eckhart once more: `To the quiet mind, all things are possible.´
