What Tolstoy is saying is that it is incumbent upon all of us to return to the peace from whence we came. We must refuse to use force, especially in our thoughts—and above all, we must remember our Spirit.
Some Suggestions for Putting the Ideas in This Chapter to Work for You
— Find a picture of yourself as a very young child in which you were lost in your bliss. Place that photo in a conspicuous spot and let it serve to remind you that the same Spirit you’re expressing in the photograph is alive and well within you right now, and that you’re going to remember it and consort with it every day.
— Train your memory. By doing so, you’ll be able to return to early childhood memories of love, peace, and joy—and back even further to your spiritual origination. Recapturing early events in your life will help you discover that you have more access to your past and your spiritual beginnings than you might have believed. It’s all in there, so discipline yourself to become a retriever.
— Pray in solitude. Make peace with silence and remind yourself that it’s there that you’ll come to remember your Spirit. As Blaise Pascal, the great French scientist and philosopher, once remarked, “All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.” When you’re able to transcend an aversion to silence, you’ll also transcend many other miseries. And it’s in this silence that the remembrance of God will be activated.
— Vow to have fewer conflicts in your life. It is your objective in reading this book to become inspired—therefore, you’ll want to bring a halt to your feeling that conflict is normal and unavoidable. You came from no conflict, and you can return to that heaven right here on Earth by refusing to have your inner world conflicted by anyone at anytime. Affirm it over and over: I do not attract conflict to myself.
— Try this visualization that I replicate here from The Book of Runes:
Visualize yourself standing before a gateway on a hilltop. Your entire life lies out behind you and below. Before you step through the gateway, pause and review the past: the learning and the joys, the victories and the sorrows—everything it took to bring you here.
By doing this exercise, you’ll be practicing the virtue of remembering, and it will almost force you to return to Spirit!
You don’t have to learn a single new thing in order to communicate and make conscious contact with your Source—it’s all in you already. All you have to do is remember. . . .
CHAPTER 17
THE LANGUAGE OF SPIRIT
“When asked where God is, people point towards the sky or some far and distant region; no wonder then that He does not manifest Himself! Realize that He is in you, with you, behind you, and all around you; and He can be seen and felt everywhere.”
— SATHYA SAI BABA
IN THE PREVIOUS THREE CHAPTERS I’ve tried to stress that it’s our job to take responsibility for opening the channel to communication to God, rather than viewing Him as a “cosmic bellboy” whose job it is to listen to our whims and respond just because we asked. But how can we recognize when our Spiritual Source is getting in touch with us?
Spirit’s messages are not necessarily going to be in our native tongue, since It is in no way restricted by words (either written or spoken) as the exclusive means for communicating with us. Remember, the world of Spirit contains the highest and fastest energy in the Universe—it vibrates so quickly that it manifests the invisible into particles and then into the forms that we see, touch, taste, hear, and smell with our senses. All It needs is to activate the immensely mysterious power of creation and send us guidelines and assistance via its high-energy vibrations.
As Jesus said in one of my favorite quotes (which I’ve shared thousands of times in my life): “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26). I’d like you to read through the ideas I’m offering here concerning the language of Spirit with this quote in mind. As weird as some of the communication patterns I talk about may seem, and as much as your ego may be tempted to dismiss them as mere coincidences and devoid of meaning, remember that “with God all things are possible.”
We’re communicating with a Source Energy that creates worlds, One that knows no restrictions and certainly doesn’t use the low-energy, slow-language methods that we do. Spirit communicates instantaneously, tapping in to our higher faculties of intuition, telepathy, insight, psychic awareness, spirit acumen, clairvoyance, the sixth sense, and even beyond.
The brilliant poet Rainer Maria Rilke put this all into perspective when he made this observation: “We must accept our existence to the greatest extent possible; everything, the unprecedented also, needs to be accepted. That is basically the only case of courage required of us: to be courageous in the face of the strangest, the most whimsical and unexplainable thing that we could encounter.”
Being Ready for the Teacher
It’s been known for millennia that “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” Well, our teachers are always there because they’re gifts from Spirit. The real question is our readiness to tune in to what they have to teach us. The key word here is readiness—that is, we must be open to all possibilities and trusting in our intuitive hunches.
Wondering if something might possibly be a message from God is evidence that we’re open to our intuiton. Our thoughts are sacred and substantiate our connection to the Divine, so they don’t need to be corroborated by anyone or anything else. Our Creator is listening and responding in ways that don’t necessarily correspond to the laws of the material world—that is, we won’t be hearing from a physical source that’s aligned with cause and effect, the laws of physics, or even what we believe is “possible.” It’s our job to do all that we can to vibrationally match to that spiritual energy.
We were once perfectly together with our Creative Force, and now we’re being called to come back to It. It’s vitally important to be open to the language of alignment—most of us need to begin the process by recognizing our tendency to discount such messages as mere happenstance. In an infinite Universe, with an organized intelligence supporting it at all moments, there can be no such thing as accidents.
For the rest of this chapter, I’ll be offering some of my own hunches about how the All-Knowing Creative Spirit communicates. Some of these ways fall into the category of “inexplicable alignments,” which means that there’s meaning there, but our ego mind—chained as it is to its belief in the material laws it has always lived by—refuses to see the hidden messages that are staring us right in the face.
The Four Messages of Alignment
For many years I’ve felt what I considered to be the language of Spirit speaking to me in ways that often defy my logical mind. These feelings are more than hunches and even go beyond intuition—and I sincerely believe that they’ve contributed to my living an inspired life.
The following four examples aren’t rules or laws that apply to everyone, but if they do work for others, I’ll be even more inspired because it’s my intention to be in a space where I’m able to give to others all that I know. I also offer these ideas with the constant reminder that when one listens to Spirit, all things are possible. (And even though I’m offering them in a numbered sequence, they certainly don’t conform to any linear arrangement.)
1. Alignment of Feelings
When I feel good (God), I’m aligned with Spirit. As I tell my children, we must rely on how we feel to determine our state of health, rather than seeking our answers in a medical printout full of numbers. Feeling energized, content, excited, and happy are better indicators of our health and well-being than having our bodily functions assessed by a distant laboratory. A positive honest response to the question, “Does this [or will this] make me feel good?” tells us immediately if we’re aligned with our Creative Source or not.
For example, I’d been having an uninspired relationship with my cell-phone provider. For weeks I’d been unable to resolve the conflict: Each morning I’d plunge ahead and call the company again, traipse
through the endless recorded messages, be on hold for sometimes a half hour, and finally reach a supervisor who’d read this from a company manual: “We’re doing our best and apologize for any inconvenience this may be causing you. We can’t give you a timetable for when this will be resolved.”
Every day I’d hear the same words being read, so it was obvious that I was getting nowhere. But what upset me more than this lack of progress was my unmistakable misalignment. I was so upset I wasn’t feeling good that my writing, my exercise program, and even my health were being negatively impacted. And then I remembered to follow my own advice.
The next time I started to go through my morning ritual with the cell-phone company, I stopped and told myself that I intended to feel good on this issue. I then put the phone down, went for a swim in the ocean, and thanked God for a renewed sense of peace. And sure enough, a voice inside me said, “By not being able to receive your calls, you’ve been given a rare opportunity to be at peace, which is something you’ve complained about in the past because of so many disturbances. Also, the phone company is doing the best they know how, so surround them with light and let the issue resolve itself.” And finally, the most astonishing thing I heard was, “You’re being protected from receiving messages that wouldn’t serve you well. I have put your incoming calls on temporary hiatus so that you can be free from what will only make you feel bad. So enjoy your peace!”
I’ve since allowed Spirit to handle the issue, and now when I think about what was such a source of annoyance and inner turmoil for me, I feel good (God). This might seem like a petty example in a book about such a large topic as inspiration; nevertheless, I urge you to ask the question, “Does this make me feel good?” and pay attention to the answer the next time there’s a similar “petty” situation in your life. You may be surprised to find yourself realigned!
2. Alignments with Nature
Everything in nature is in-Spirit—it isn’t spoiled by ego, nor can it ever be. So when nature speaks to us, we should listen intently. When a wild bird touches us, for instance, or a fish brushes by when we’re swimming in the ocean or a lake, I believe that it’s a direct communication from our Source of Being. Since these creations of God instinctively keep their distance, when they depart from their DNA patterns to actually contact us physically, I think we should pay attention.
A few times in my life, I’ve had a bird sweep by my body, and on each of these occasions I’ve felt a deep sense of connection to God. Each time I’ve stopped and reexamined my thoughts at the precise instant of contact, and I was able to interpret that connection as a message to pay closer attention to my mission of writing.
Just today, as I walked along the ocean and thought about writing this section on nature and spiritual alignment, a bright red cardinal flew within inches of my face and stopped right in front of me. It looked directly at me, nodded its head, and flew off, again very close to my body. At the time of this encounter I was contemplating whether to even include these bird stories, considering that they might be misunderstood or perhaps even criticized by the professional community. In such moments, I always decide to listen to my own inner knowing—let the critics be damned!
I also recall other ways in which nature has gotten my attention and let me know that I was in touch with Spirit. For example, I remember once being in a fierce wind and having a leaf blow right into my face, almost smacking me as I was thinking a decidedly nonspiritual thought of revenge; on another occasion while I was filled with anger, a tree branch collided with me as I exited my car—and it was a calm day without a breeze, and nothing was visibly disturbing the tree. And I have a piece of driftwood that meandered into my open hand while I was meditating at one of the “Seven Sacred Pools” near Hana (on Maui). When it touched me while my eyes were closed in deep meditation, I was startled—yet I knew that it was saying something to me. This wood, which I’ve kept for more than two decades, is a reminder to me that Spirit is alive and working. To this day, when I look at it I think of God . . . and as you know, thinking of God and becoming like Him are precisely what it takes to live a life of inspiration.
Pay attention to episodes in nature that arouse Spirit and kindle an inner spark of awe and admiration for you. You don’t have to discuss it with another being—if it has meaning for you, it’s valid. (In fact, this is the first time I’ve shared the story of my sacred piece of driftwood.) Listen to the winds, the critters, the clouds, the rains, and the oceans—listen to it all.
Here’s a Chinook Blessing Litany that reveals the Native American awareness of the language of Spirit inherent in all of nature:
We call upon the earth, our planet home, with its beautiful depths and soaring heights, its vitality and abundance of life, and together we ask that it:
Teach us, and show us the way.
We call upon the mountains, the Cascades and the Olympics, the high green valleys and meadows filled with wild flowers, the snows that never melt, the summits of intense silence, and we ask that they:
Teach us, and show us the way.
We call upon the waters that rim the earth, horizon to horizon, that flow in our rivers and streams, that fall upon our gardens and fields, and we ask that they:
Teach us, and show us the way.
We call upon the land which grows our food, the nurturing soil, the fertile fields, the abundant gardens and orchards, and we ask that they:
Teach us, and show us the way.
We call upon the forests, the great trees reaching strongly to the sky with earth in their roots and the heavens in their branches, the fir and the pine and the cedar, and we ask them to:
Teach us, and show us the way.
We call upon the creatures of the fields and forests and the seas, our brothers and sisters the wolves and deer, the eagle and dove, the great whales and the dolphin, the beautiful Orca and salmon who share our Northwest home, and we ask them to:
Teach us, and show us the way.
We call upon the moon and the stars and the sun, who govern the rhythms and seasons of our lives and remind us that we are part of a great and wondrous universe, and we ask them to:
Teach us, and show us the way.
We call upon all those who have lived on this earth, our ancestors and our friends, who dreamed the best for future generations, and upon whose lives our lives are built, and with thanksgiving, we call upon them to:
Teach us, and show us the way.
And lastly, we call upon all that we hold most sacred, the presence and power of the Great Spirit of love and truth which flows through all the universe . . . to be with us to:
Teach us, and show us the way.
Indeed, nature has much to teach us, and it will help show the way. All we need to do is align with its perfection and note how it aligns with ours.
3. Alignment with Events
Strange occurrences and seemingly inexplicable events may actually be our All-Creating Source lining up “coincidences” to teach us and show us the way. Recently, for instance, I’d been advised to read a particular book that had been on bestseller lists for several months. I looked for it in various stores at the airport, but finally gave up because it was time to board my flight.
The title was still swirling around in my thoughts as I got to my seat. A woman who’d had her seat changed twice ended up sitting next to me, and she was carrying the very book I was seeking. And when I got home and turned on the TV, a guest on a talk show was talking about it. I couldn’t help but notice the four alignments within a few hours concerning this book: my friend telling me about it, my search for it in the airport, a fellow passenger reading it, and a talk-show discussion of it.
When I experience these kinds of alignments, I’ve learned to not dismiss them as accidental. I’m still not totally certain of what was happening here, but I did purchase the book (The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd), and while reading it I happened upon a story that I quoted in this one. Perhaps all the aligned events showed up so that the message in
that story would be read and shared by someone reading this work, or so I’d have this example—the possibilities are endless!
One of my favorite quotes is from Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale: “In the end, or, rather, as things really are, any event, no matter how small, is intimately and sensibly tied to all others.” It’s exciting to observe the pattern of events appearing repeatedly in our conscious field of experience. We can notice the spine-tingling amazement we feel while reminding ourselves that this could very well be Spirit inviting us in to reconnect with It.
The language of Spirit will proclaim its creativity by producing sequences of repetition to align us with our Source. When we have an idea about taking on a new project and then read about it in a magazine that mysteriously shows up in our hands, and then a stranger in line at the movie theater begins talking to us out of the blue about this same topic—which is mentioned in the movie itself—and during dinner we overhear the people at an adjacent table discussing this same subject, guess what? We’re in an “alignment attention-getter,” written and carried out by Spirit. In other words, this is not an accident—the teachers are not only showing up, they’re practically hitting us over the head!
The reason we begin to notice all of this aligned synchronicity is because we’ve tuned in to it. The teachers have always been there, but now we notice them. And our noticing indicates a new level of readiness to listen to our ultimate calling. In fact, these alignments can take some really interesting forms. The same numbers showing up—for example, we awaken at precisely 4:44 morning after morning, and then see those numbers appear on the odometer, on the radio, as a checkbook balance, at the deli counter, and as an assigned number for a charity walk—causes us to ask, “What’s going on here?” The answer is that the Universe is asking us to be receptive and pay attention. It’s not about playing all fours in a casino or the lottery—it’s about knowing that these seemingly accidental repetitions are actually invitations from Spirit to join It.
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