The Only Thing That Matters (28 page)

Of course you now know—thanks to the “remembering” you have done here—
that this is not mandatory.
This has been said over and over again, so that you can be very, very clear about that. If you choose to sidestep the expression of Divinity at its next highest level, finding it more of a challenge than you wish to encounter in this or any particular Moment, you may experience the Moment in any way that you wish.

So now the question is put to you that all spiritual masters face. (Not that you suddenly have to become a spiritual master, but it may serve you to look at, once in a while, a question that they look at all the time.) The question: If it is
you
choosing, in your own Mind, to have one particular interior experience rather than a different interior experience regarding an Outer Event in your life, how can you not be content and okay no matter what is being experienced? Are you not getting your way? Even if you are experiencing being scared, or angry, or frustrated, or upset … are you not getting your way? Or is it still your continuing belief that you do not choose your emotions, and that you have no control over them?

You do have control, of course. You select, create, and then act on every emotion you ever have. What you select, when you create it, and how you act on it is solely up to you. No one can make you have any particular emotion. And knowing this, embracing it, results from a growth in Consciousness arising out of your use of the Soul's tools of Gratitude and Recontextualization. These tools produce a shift of attitude, not of circumstance.
Nothing has changed, but everything is different
.

What has been altered is not the exterior, but the interior. Now you are internally clear that you are
always at choice
regarding your Experience of any and every Event or Circumstance, knowing that your Experience is based on Emotions about that Event or Circumstance, arising out of your Thoughts about that Event or Circumstance, emerging from your Truth about that Event or Circumstance, produced by the Data that you hold about that Event or Circumstance—
which Data can, upon your decision, be expanded at any time to include the Awareness of the Soul
.

With such an expansion of the Mind's Data, you become instantly clear that nothing can be forced upon you,
ever
, and that how you are experiencing Life is how you choose to.

You can peer down the throat of the lion without fear, or recoil at the sight of a spider. You can walk the ledge without trembling, or you can shrink from walking out of your own house.

The choice is yours. It has always been yours. The world can do things
to
you, but it cannot extract things
from
you that you do not choose to give.

A steady focus on The Only Thing That Matters, using powerful tools such as Gratitude and Recontextualization, places you in the space of royalty, as the sovereign of your own Kingdom.

Your Kingdom has come, your Will is being done, on earth, which is part of heaven.

Has it not been written: “Ye are Gods”?

33
How High Is the Bar?

N
OW A WORD HERE, PLEASE
, about expectations. Specifically, those you set for yourself.

Part Two of this text established very clearly where your Soul intends the Sacred Journey to take you. But be careful that you do not “set the bar” too high in terms of how or when you get there.

Your goal is Completion, but that does not mean that you have to show up as a mistake-avoiding, humanity-denying, wisdom-speaking guru every moment of your Life. In fact, everything you do moves you forward on the path of evolution, so do not berate or beleaguer yourself for “not doing it right” as you move through your days and times.

Make ample use of this third Tool for Life …

C
OMPASSION

Remember that Completion was defined as The Totality of You expressing and experiencing Divinity at the highest level that the circumstance, condition, or event of a Present Moment allows, given your level of Consciousness in that Moment.

The final phrase in that last sentence is not unimportant. It would be highly beneficial for you to wrap your understanding of the Sacred Journey in those words. Nothing will cause you to feel waylaid faster than expecting the impossible of yourself.

Remember what Divinity Itself expects of you.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

You are not required to be or do anything, and nothing is demanded of you. The entire Process of Life is an exercise in Free Will.

And Free Will means exactly that. It does not mean that you are free to do or not do what someone has told you that “God commands.” It means you are free to express and experience all of Life exactly as you chose, and there will be no “judgment” or “punishment” involved.

It will take some time, in earthly terms, for the New Mind to include in its database the Soul's Awareness. Your Old Mind has, after all, been inundated with all manner of Temporal Truth, which is quite different from Spiritual Reality.

At first, you may want to deny your Soul's Awareness. Ironically—considering that you have told yourself that all of Life's Truths emerge from an all-loving God—you may tell yourself that the Eternal Awareness brought to you by your Soul is, actually, too good to be true. It seems incredible, on the surface, that you have truly been given absolute freedom to make your decisions and to create your life as you choose.

As well, a human being's level of Consciousness (or, to use our “sponge” analogy, the ability of your Mind to absorb your Soul's Awareness) will most likely be different at age 7 from what it will be at 47 or 67. (Not necessarily, but most likely.)

To make the illustration more immediate, your own level of Consciousness could be remarkably different tomorrow from what it is today. And, for that matter, in the next
instant
from what it is right now—
perhaps even as a result of reading this
. (Wisdom which you have brought
to
yourself
from
yourself
through
yourself.)

Know, too, that Consciousness
fluctuates.
It does not remain constant simply because it has reached a certain level, but increases and decreases depending upon the amount of the Soul's Awareness that is integrated into the Mind's Experience at any given Moment.

Or as one observer put it: “Enlightenment is not like getting your tonsils out—once it's done, it's done. Enlightenment is a moment-to-moment experience. That is both its challenge and its delight. The Quest is never over, and it is never boring.”

Yet there is a way to put an end to the “wild swings” from extremely high Consciousness to very low Consciousness that you may have encountered on your Sacred Journey. That way is to use the tool of Compassion when you observe yourself expressing less than your highest Consciousness.

Allow yourself to notice that you are just as you need to be, just when you need to be, in order to move forward the agenda of your Soul.

You are learning how to do that—or, more correctly,
remembering
what your Soul already knows about that.
Conversations with God
says something quite remarkable on this. It says that it is impossible for you to make a mistake. It is only possible to take steps that continue to lead you to your destination.

A true scientist never becomes discouraged for long (if she becomes discouraged at all) working in a laboratory and failing to get the desired results. The scientist understands perfectly that the more sophisticated the experiment, the more
nuanced
each step in the experiment must be. The slightest shade of a difference in approach, or in any of the many variable aspects, and the outcome can be vastly altered. Yet each approach leads toward the scientist's desired destination.

Your life is exactly like that. Your actions—even those you would label as errors—could not be more perfect to ignite your remembrance of all that you choose to remember, to experience all that you choose to experience, to get you to all the places you choose to go, through the blessed expression of Life Itself.

So then, each time your experience shows you the next step on your path, allow your heart to open, not close, knowing that Heaven is at work here, and all will be well.

Poet Em Claire has written of this, too …

Please do not regret
all those moments that have brought you
Here
.
If you are reading this,
then your perseverance has been answered,
and a Grace is coming
.
So for now, hold on loosely to where you are.
And like knots on a rope that mark your reaching,
hand over hand
you will continue to climb—
sometimes through ecstasy,
sometimes through white agony, but
higher
into evermore light.
This same formula over
and over again.
Until that day you find yourself
just a beacon;
only flame
.
In a place
where even Love Itself has come undone
.
_____
“Love Itself”
© 2006 em claire

Dear Sweet, Wonderful One …

Know that the Soul's intention is never to bring you to the breaking point, but always to invite you to the breakthrough point. On your way there, be gentle with yourself. Be soft and understanding and kind, and use this tool of Compassion.

Remember what was said in the very early going of this exploration:
You are doing nothing wrong
.

You are simply remembering. And you cannot remember all of the Soul's wisdom at once. You really do have to ring out the sponge every now and then if you wish to absorb the ocean.

Your present level of Consciousness is therefore not a measure of your goodness as a human being, nor of your credentials as a spiritual entity.

A third grader is no less a beautiful child than a fourth grader, and no less a picture of perfection than a college graduate. And one who has slipped and fallen and gotten up again has had to call forth more courage than one who, while still brave enough to be taking a challenging journey, has never scraped a knee.

So have Compassion for yourself. You are courageous and good, and you deserve it.