The Only Thing That Matters (6 page)

But now, some common ground: Everyone—atheists, agnostics, and antagonists alike—believes in Life, for that is humanity's common experience. And so the invitation here is to get past simple verbiage that can lead to “Oh
no
,” and go straight to inner wisdom that can lead to “Oh
my.
”

“Life” is that which is larger than any individual or any particular belief system. It is that which animates all of existence. Its energy is found everywhere. Without its energy, nothing that is, is. All that ever was, is now, and ever will be arises out of Life.

Life is something that is obviously happening. It is expressing in, as, and all around every person. No one can deny Life's presence. The only challenge remaining, then, is one of semantics.

If we decide to call Life “God,” the life journey becomes a Sacred Journey. It is simply a matter of what words one uses to describe a single phenomenon.

So if the word “God” stops you in your tracks, read the word “Life” wherever you see the word “God.” It won't change a thing in the meaning. And if the word “Divine” pushes you back, substitute the words “Life Serving.” And if the word “Sacred” brings discomfort, use the word “Important.”

Thus we see that the Journey you are on is an Important Journey, fulfilling a Life Serving Purpose. What may not be very clear is precisely what that purpose
is.
Yet your own remembering has expanded to the point where you now see clearly that Life has an intelligence all its own. (The Universe does not need “instructions” on how to run; the tiniest cells of living matter know exactly what they need to do to replicate and survive.)

You can see at a glance that Life is unspeakably magnificent in its design, that it is incomprehensibly sophisticated in its functioning, and that every event and outcome is a part of that design.

Your intuitive understanding also tells you that Life's very essence, its foundational energy, can be focused and directed by Life Itself with specific intent to produce specific outcomes—and that, since
you
are part of the basic intelligence that is Life Itself expressing,
you
can focus and direct
your
Life energy with specific intent to produce specific outcomes.

All of this understanding is the beginning of living in a way that matters. It is by no means the All of it, but it is the Start of it. You merely have to remember how to get
on
with it.

That is what you are doing here.

You have drawn yourself, in this very moment, to an
outward writing of your inward knowing
.

Do not be surprised, then, if your experience here is very much like reading your own diary, misplaced long ago, but now found. As you encounter each new paragraph you may have a sense of knowing already what you are seemingly being introduced to now.

It is your Soul that holds this Awareness—to which your Mind is now being reintroduced.

The word Soul, of course, is another one of those words that many people resist. Many people do not even believe that they
have
a Soul. Or if they believe they do, they have no idea what the Soul
is
, or what it
does
.

What is its function? What is its purpose? We know what the Mind does. We know what the Body does.
What does the Soul do?

Some people may see the Soul as sort of a “conscience,” or maybe as a kind of “guardian,” or “angel” (or both)—standing off to the side, with a purpose that is probably good, but whose way of functioning is not at all clear.

Then there are those who
know
that they have a Soul, and who feel that the Soul has an agenda (in this they are correct), but who are so mixed up about what that agenda
is
that they are living lives that create more heartache and difficulty, self-deprivation and lack of joy than they were ever meant to (or need to) experience.

Still others—you among them—also know that the Soul exists, but are no longer willing to be trapped in Old Stories about the Soul's agenda. You are ready to call into your Mind the Knowledge of your Soul regarding its True Agenda. There's an impulse deep within that makes you want to do this
now
. It comes from that part of you that looks at your life and whispers,
It doesn't have to be this way
.

It is, of course, your
Soul
itself doing the whispering, and leading the way on The Sacred Journey. Your Soul is not only
leading
the way, it is
showing
the way and
creating
the way.

It is not, however,
directing
the way.

Because the Soul is not the dictator here, demanding this and commanding that, your Body and your Mind may not always be going in the same direction as your Soul. And while this is the very essence of freedom, it can—as one might well imagine—create in one's life … how shall we put this …?

Complications
.

8
Surprising News about Your
Body and Your Mind

L
IFE'S BIGGEST COMPLICATIONS
are those that present themselves when the Soul, the Mind, and the Body are all going in different directions. To understand how this can happen, it will help to know even more about The Totality of You.

The explanation here is going to get a little intricate or complex now, but once again you're urged to stick with it, because when this entire exploration is over, your whole life can change.

That is not an exaggeration. It is, in fact, a reasonable expectation.

Because the intricacy of the explorations here is recognized, the format of this presentation (as you surely have noticed) is to present its information in tidbits. By placing vast and complex information before the Mind in small pieces, the Mind can much more easily absorb it. This is not because the Mind is dull, it is because it sometimes simply needs a rest. So, if it serves you as you move forward, allow yourself to stop for a breather at any one of the many Pausing Junctures that have been inserted into the narrative text, indicated by this symbol …

When you come upon one of these natural stopping points, you may wish to do just that. Stop. Pause. Relax the Mind. Maybe silently consider what has just been read.

One wonderful tool is to actually
rewrite
what has just been read, in your own words, in a personal journal. The idea would be to put your thoughts about
these
thoughts in a place where you can access them easily, and that which will be much more personal to you than a book on a shelf that you may not pick up to read again for months.

People tend to read their personal journals much more frequently than they reread books—even good books that they got a lot out of. Somehow a journal entry, with the ideas found here expressed in your own words, will seem much more compelling to your Mind a year from today than this book itself.

Give it a try.

One more note about what's written here, please:

To promote easier absorbing and consideration of the many metaphysical abstractions this text contains, you will find in our continuing explorations here some circling back over broad concepts and some repetition of specific ideas. This redundancy is not by accident. (Nor is it by accident that you have found your way to these ideas.)