I must take this a step further, by referencing what Michael stated in very fine detail as it relates to the process of the acceptance of principles, which must be reiterated:
“Your mind receives information from your senses, and the information from your senses that goes into the mind is deposited into your soul. The soul is made up of your will and your emotions. Your soul then takes that information from your senses and deposits it into your spirit, which is the source of the power that I just discussed with you earlier. Your spirit, your body, and your soul are all interrelated. The soul receives from the spirit and discerns whether what it has received is right or not. This is where the power under which you find yourself influenced becomes of paramount importance. If what you are receiving from your senses is corrupt, meaning the principles are incorrect, then your soul will be damaged, and even if your spirit does not agree, it will be subject to your soul and the information that has been downloaded into it. So, the principle of purity is ensuring that what is received by the soul, body, and spirit are all aligned as one, integrated fully with the intentions of the one in whose allegiance you follow.”
In other words, the spirit of the man may be in proper allegiance with Michael’s Commander; however, if the principles he is exposed to and deposits into his soul are incorrect, then the man will still find himself living out of those corrupt principles. This, I have come to believe, is more fact than fiction. So, in all reality, the battle is one of principles—those principles seeking to influence the soul of the individual.
As I pondered the consequences of such, I came to believe that there is one thing I must do in order to be on the right side, so to speak, in the coming decade and live a life above the storm:
Guard my mind!
Each and every day I wake, my senses begin their work, and they at once begin to pick up on all things around me. When I lift my head in the morning, I hear the sound of my alarm, which is synced to the local radio station’s morning show. From there, I shower and turn on my favorite podcast, listening on autopilot as I dress and prep my meals for the day. From there, I begin checking my emails, but hold on; before that, I must swipe through the handful of messages my phone carrier has sent me regarding some of the major world news for the day. And then I enter my car, and again, my senses are readily at work, taking all of the principles I am being fed from either my own musical selection or the selection of music that is being played on the local radio. But this influence on the soul, it doesn’t stop there, for it appears every car I pass carries a bumper sticker or two—each plastered with principles from both Michael’s Commander or Mr. Prince’s master. I mustn’t forget the billboards I pass each day on the freeway on my way to my office, for those, too, present a constant battle between both kingdoms. Then at the office, I cannot omit the office gossip between coworkers and every interaction between my colleagues and our customers. Opinions, facts, half-truths, all of them are constantly being disseminated and taken in by the senses.
But yet, the battle for my soul marches on, for I haven’t yet checked the various social mediums that I currently subscribe to, and when I do, I immediately receive opposing principles from my network of thousands of followers. Thousands of people are disseminating principles that my senses have no choice but to absorb. Depending on how often I check them or how accustomed I have gotten to relying on them, this number could be multiplied 10-, 15-, or 20-fold. Repetition, repetition, repetition—my soul is slowly being transformed by whatever I continue absorbing on such platforms.
Let’s now finish off the day.
After work, I head away from the office and off to the gym, where the senses of my eyes now kick into high gear, taking in all that is around me as I complete my early evening workout. If you’ve been to the gym at least once in the last decade—you get the idea. Upon leaving this mental and visual harrying, I receive numerous phone calls from family and friends, plus hundreds of messages on the several group chats that I have found myself a member of. Each one feeds my sensual appetite; each message represents either the side of good or the side of evil. As I settle in for the evening, the assault continues as I fall asleep to the sound of the television or the evening news, which aggressively bombards me again and again, battling fervently for undisputed control of my soul.
By the time I have again laid my head down to sleep for the night, I have undoubtedly been exposed to some millions of principles that are fighting for my allegiance.
A Better Way: “Civil Disobedience”
Meets “Practicing the Presence”
Now that I have decided which government I will follow, I must follow, I have been left with the task of designing a better way. I must blaze a more formidable path to “guarding my mind” and protecting myself from the damning principles being disseminated by Mr. Prince and his master, thereby securing my future in spite of the circumstances and situations I find myself engulfed in due to the wily tricks of the side of darkness in the coming years. This idea of both civil disobedience and practicing the presence combined, I feel, presents me and all others a promising strategy that can at once be deployed for immediate action.
Those who champion this idea of civil disobedience have said that the external government, which the people have chosen to bring about their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can effectively act through it. They have also said that, for practicality’s sake, having no external government is also not a viable option in the immediate. What is an option, however, is better external government. As Thoreau wrote in Civil Disobedience, “Every man should make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.”
Well, in this case, now that I understand the fact, yes, the fact, that external government is merely a reflection of either a healthy or poverty-stricken internal state, I must, first and foremost, make known the kind of internal government that fits my liking and begin at once adhering to it. Contrary to external government, however, I now know that I can, in fact, completely reject either internal government, the side of light, or the side of darkness. I can reject the one of ill and mischievous principles in favor of the one whose principles I most pressingly seek to align with. For as Thoreau noted, “All men recognize the right to revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.”
Is the government of Asbeel and his master tyrannical and inefficient? In his own words, “It is a wonderful thing when I see a man finally begin to unconsciously act out things like murder, lust, and adultery, and not even be aware of it, or be convicted by it. That is when I, my master, and his forces, have won.” Or perhaps it is even more prevalent in his statement, “Our kingdom can be found wherever, and through whomever—even those that choose not to acknowledge us! You have perhaps seen our kingdom in many places and in many forms, and it is evidenced by things like hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and sexual immorality.” These characteristics create an environment that is both tyrannical and inefficient in nature, formidable obstacles for creating and shaping a better world. Therefore, I must, in good conscience, refuse my allegiance to it in favor of its Adversary.
Now that I have made my ultimate, final decision and have pledged to refute any allegiance to the kingdom of darkness that Asbeel, or Mr. Prince, represents, I must decide in practical terms the nature in which I will seek to pursue his Adversary and His government, the kingdom of light. I must admit, in my most recent analysis of the situation based on an assessment of both my current life and how I have found myself at times a victim to both moral and immoral principles, the solution I have devised does not veer far from the path I found myself on prior to my encounter. This is what I had and have continued to term “practicing the presence,” or the constant pursuit of the Father.
The book by the 17th-century brother I had mentioned
earlier is called The Practice of the Presence of God. The basic theme of the message is the development of the awareness of the presence of the Father in one’s life is, once mastered, the key by which all men must live and continue to live if he is to give his full allegiance to the government of Heaven. A man must strive to develop a keen sense of the Father in all his dealings, and he must take that sense, once he has mastered its development and attained it, with him wherever he finds himself. One must strive to keep his gaze entirely fixed on Him in faith—calmly, humbly, and lovingly, without allowing the appearance of anxious thoughts or emotions.
When one awakes in the morning, his mind must be fixed on Him. As he prepares for the day, his mind must be fastened on Him. In the midst of the chaotic traffic of the day, his mind must remain faithfully secured on Him and His presence. At the water cooler with colleagues and as he rummages through his lunch, his mind must be set and decided on Him. As he finishes out the day and heads to the gym for his evening workout, a sense of the Divine must still permeate his being. Then, even in the midst of his own home when his guards are lowered and he enjoys his evening dinner followed by a few moments of exposure to various mediums, he must remain 100 percent cognizant of the presence of the Father.
Many who read this will likely dismiss this as some utopian dream that cannot be realized amidst the busy world that we live, and so I will take the time to challenge this assumption. In order to do so, I must first remind you of what one’s focus should be and where it should be placed. When one is focused on the “Divine,” as it has been coined, he is really focusing on the One who rules over the government to which he has given his allegiance. In other words, the gaze and focus of his mind can always be found on the King who rules over the government of Heaven, of which he is a citizen. Because the King is the embodiment of the kingdom, then thoughts of the “Divine,” or the King, are really thoughts directed toward the kingdom in which a person finds himself living. So, in essence, one’s thoughts of the Divine, or the King, are really thoughts of the government of which he is a citizen.
Does this sound familiar? In our earthly country, it has been said that a citizen should always strive to be a law-abiding citizen. If one is to be a law-abiding citizen, he must at all times be aware, if not subconsciously, that he is a citizen representing the government of the country in which he lives. So, when he awakes in the morning, he must remember his citizenship. When he prepares for his day, he must remember this citizenship. When he finds himself at the water cooler and at lunch, rummaging away at the previous night’s leftovers, he must remain cognizant of the fact that he must remain a law-abiding citizen. From his work to the gym, and from the gym to his home, and from his home to the dinner table and to the couch, he is always “practicing the presence,” or reminding himself that he is a servant of his country and must remain in right standing.
The key is that the government of Heaven is no different, except for the fact that the King Himself is the embodiment of the country and any thoughts of the King are actually thoughts of His government or His kingdom. So, in essence, when one can train himself to be aware of this presence at all times, aware of the fact that he is a servant of the government, he will align himself totally to that government and be able to effectively “guard his mind” against all of the wily tricks of the adversary. You are what you are continually hearing; you are what you are continually seeing. There is nothing on Earth as powerful as the human will because the very nature of will implies self-control. The will of man controls the destiny of man. The seat of the will is the conscious and the subconscious mind. A man is whatever is in his subconscious mind, and whoever controls the subconscious mind controls the man. Whoever controls the heart controls the life. If you want to control the man, you must control the heart, and the heart is controlled through constant repetition. The more a thing is repeated, the more the subconscious mind is impacted. It all comes down to a battle for the soul. The soul is a collection of the mind, the will, and the emotions. The battle in life is for the soul of man.
It is with our minds that we become slaves to our masters. The mind is the battleground, and it is the place where the greatest conflict is. More trouble is in the mind of man than in the wallet of man. It is due to this conflict that people go to bed tired and wake up tired. It is due to this conflict that many people get sleep, but they never get rest. It is due to this conflict that people find that their minds are in turmoil all night long, and they wrestle in their sleep, caught up in warfare. The enemy is after the mind because the mind is the battleground. Worry, stress, nervous breakdowns, feelings of quitting, and feelings of failure. The desire to quit on one’s dream. The desire to never get up and resort to giving up on their dream. The fight, the real fight, is in the mind.
This, I must conclude, is the key to an effective life, an effective decade, and the foundation of any fulfillment on the way toward completion of one’s destiny.
As I sit here, I find myself once again thinking deeply of the following possibility: Suppose I could think any thought or dream any dream that my heart desired. Suppose I could use this ability to see into the future 5, 10, or perhaps even 50 years down the road. Suppose I could ask any question and get any answer regarding the future and the destiny of the world. A secret, perhaps, to help those currently living and those who will one day inhabit Planet Earth live a life free from the oppression and the hopelessness that has come to torture and torment so many in our days. I have supposed before, and I now suppose again, but this time, I am not without answer:
Indeed, the focus of one’s mind, body, spirit, and soul must be in alignment with the government of Heaven, one must find himself in a state of complete disobedience to the adversary, and he must each and every day strive to master the practice of the Father’s presence. For light is to darkness what love is to fear; in the presence of one, the other disappears. A true formula for conquering the fear within.
At this moment, as I think back to the trickster’s little riddle, I fold my arms, lean back in my chair, and smile.
Light of Darkness Page 15