new age spirituality

finding purpose in infinite reality

Hearing the Voice Within

abracad, · Categories: self help, spirituality

Learning to hear one's inner guide (or little voice within) isn't so much acquiring a new skill as rediscovering a very old one.

As Spiritual beings we are naturally intuitive, naturally perceptive of those signals coming from the non-physical realms. But both as individuals, and as a species, the ability has been neglected, devalued, even ridiculed. (more…)

Share

The Little Voice Within

abracad, · Categories: self help, spirituality

This inner guidance system is known as many things: going with your gut, the little voice within, instinct, intuition etc. What it means is defying logic, reason, and analysis, the laws of probability etc to do something that seems absurd or irrational just because it feels right.

I think this is something that as a species we used to do a lot, but over time we've become more "civilized" and "sophisticated" (note the quote marks) and have somehow lost touch with our inner guidance system. We live in an age of reason, an era of unparalleled access to information and the computing power to supposedly make sense of it. Decision-making has never been so easy. And yet for all that, doesn't the gut reaction still have a place? Doesn't the resurgence of interest in so-called new age topics indicate that it does?

Never forget, we are not automata, but Spiritual beings undertaking but one leg of an infinite journey. We are not (totally) predictable, being blessed with free will. We are divine beings, remaining part of the great oneness from which we emanate, but also unique, idiosyncratic and imperfect.

By playing the odds we could probably go through life safely and comfortably with a steady job, steady spouse and 2 point something kids, average home in an average part of town, eventually drawing an adequate but unremarkable pension. But is that really what it's all about?

If we accept that this life really is just a tiny part of a much greater reality, a reality that continues regardless of our performance on this small stage, then surely our conscious goal ought to be the amassing of experience. And that comes from thinking and acting outside the box.

Before we're born we agree what the purpose of this life will be. But the memory of our choice is buried so deep we're unaware of it. We have free will, and encounter numerous distractions along the way. But life continually presents signposts nudging us in the right direction. These are external events; the tide that seems to push us inevitably towards certain things. They are also the gut instincts that tell us when something is right, or not.

Where does the gut get its info? It can come from our higher self, the eternal, Spiritual, part of our current being. It can also come from our many (Spiritual) guides and helpers who watch over our earthly journey with loving interest, who have our best interests at heart but who cannot directly interfere with our free will.

Interestingly, even hard-nosed businessman Donald Trump devotes a whole chapter of his book Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life to "Basic Instincts" or what he describes as "Go With Your Gut".

Should we choose to become more responsive to our little voice within we need to ensure that we are truly listening to our higher self or guides and not being driven by the emotions of our ego. This discernment gets easier with practice, once we stop dismissing such impressions as irrational nonsense. Lower emotions tend to be fickle, or obviously aimed at short-term gratification rather than lasting progression.

If, like most of us, you've ignored your inner guidance system for too long, you'll find your early experiences of it to be fallible as you misinterpret its messages, or confuse it with lower emotions. Over time it will pay dividends that more than compensate for early setbacks. The potential gains far outweigh the cost of early errors. So start listening to your gut today, you'll find it an invaluable ally on your chosen path.

Share

Nasty Prejudice or Wonderful Uniqueness?

abracad, · Categories: spirituality

To listen to the political correctness lobbies anyone would think that prejudice is the greatest evil stalking the planet. Without in any way justifying the most heinous acts that stem from its distortions I'd like to present a different view of prejudice.

What has always been and always will be is Spirit, or God for want of a better word. In its ceaseless urge for progress, eternal Spirit created the physical universe and elected to manifest itself in this perturbing playground in countless different guises of which me and you are but two.

And here's where prejudice comes in. If we were all alike then our earthly incarnations would be pointless because we would be unable to play off our differences one against the other.

Let's assume a world entirely without prejudice, where no biased idea can exist. What we'd have is a world of perfect logic. Where every choice, every move would be determined by some immovable parameters. We'd all be like Star Trek's Spock.

But in that nightmare scenario everyone would make the same choices. Everyone would want to drive the same car, live in the same place, do the same job... Society, the very essence of human existence, would cease to function.

Instead, we are born different. Into different backgrounds, with different talents, abilities, likes, dislikes... And of course we all favor the kind of world that favors our particular characteristics. In other words prejudice is an innate part to our very being.

Prejudice per se is not wrong, and we should stop trying to eliminate it from our psyche. Instead we should seek ever-greater understanding of our particular nature, including awareness of our prejudices and when they are driving our actions. We should do all within our power never to harm others as a result of our prejudices, ie we should never get carried away in the mass hysteria of nationalism or racism. But if we simply prefer X over Y, even if we can't rationally justify it, it's fine. We're just being human and fulfilling our purpose.

Humans are irrational beings. That irrationality is part of the very reason for our existence. Prejudice is the irrational favoring of one thing over another. It's what makes you what you are, like your DNA or fingerprint. So, we are naturally and unavoidably prejudiced. And what's really great is that everyone's prejudices are different.

Share

The Power of Thought

abracad, · Categories: self help, spirituality

Thoughts are powerful things. Every one of man's achievements, from the greatest to the most insignificant, began with thought. As did every human atrocity.

Thoughts are a mind process. And mind is the interface between our transient earthly existence and our eternal Spiritual essence. Thoughts are like programs run on the biological supercomputer that is our brain. Their inputs come from both the physical and Spiritual realms, with their outputs interpreted by the Spirit within.

Thinking is like the planting of a seed. This seed has an energy that spreads like the ripples from a pebble tossed into a pool, touching all other entities. Not all thoughts blossom into reality, but all have the potential to. Their fruition (or otherwise) depends upon the strength of the initial thought, and the degree to which it is received and acted upon by those agencies necessary for its realization. Like magnets, thoughts tend to attract their content to the thinker.

Thought is therefore a double-edged sword for humanity.

By thinking, planning, holding and building a dream in ever-greater detail we are laying the foundations for that dream to become a part of our physical reality. This is the essence of the recent self-help blockbuster movie and book The Secret. If you want something enough, contemplate it enough, and believe in it enough, it will come true. The most successful thoughts are not mere academic musings, but are experienced with all the emotion as if they were already real, as taught in Napoleon Hill's classic Think and Grow Rich (read online - free).

But by the same principles so our fears and anxieties also tend to happen, and the more we dwell upon them, the more likely they are to become true. This is why we really do need to get our worries under control. If a situation concerns us, we need to analyze our concerns, identify what we can best do about them, and do those things. Having done this, in the knowledge we have done our best and can do no more, we must simply let go of the anxiety. We must not allow it to take root. 

The key is to master your thoughts, rather than allow them to master you. We all know how difficult it can be to try to hold our attention on one thing for longer than a few seconds; the mind continually wanders elsewhere. But with discipline,  perseverance, and a little meditation, our ability to do so can become stronger. Begin by setting some time, just a few minutes a couple of times a day, when you will think of some dearly-held dream. Make the schedule easy-to-follow, so you don't get sidetracked. You will soon witness the process becoming easier, even enjoyable. And remain ever vigilant for those destructive worries.

Thoughts are powerful things. Use them with care.

Share

New Year, New Beginnings

abracad, · Categories: christmas, spirituality

Time flies. I can hardly believe another year has almost passed and a new one is upon us.

New Year is closely linked (in both temporal proximity and symbolic meaning) with the Winter solstice and Christmas, ie the passing of the shortest day and the (re-)birth of the Sun (Son).

Traditionally this is a time to reflect on what has gone as well as making resolutions for the brand new year ahead. It is rightly a time to celebrate. Surviving another year on the roller coaster of life is achievement in itself and a milestone worth marking.

Reviewing the past twelve months - in personal and global terms - obviously invokes different emotions in different people. For some it has brought wonderful success, for others heartbreaking disaster. Perhaps for most any review includes both ups and downs.

Kipling said: "if you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same" ... "yours is the Earth and everything that's in it". For good and bad, ecstasy and despair, are but two sides of the same coins. What counts is what we can draw the lessons of experience, for this hard-earned knowledge is what truly maketh the person and is the ultimate purpose of life.

Hopefully you will have had at least as many ups and downs, but even if not the fact that you are reading this means your place is still in this world, there is still work to be done, adventures to be had, lessons to be learned. Which leads us to our second theme - new beginnings.

It is customary at New Year to make resolutions. Often these are made hastily and lightly about quitting smoking, losing weight, getting more exercise etc etc. And just as hastily and lightly broken. It's but a small proportion that outlives January.

But New Year really is a new blank page in the book of life. So just for once let's think a little harder and resolve to do something that is both meaningful and likely to last. Many people get a break from work over the Holiday season. Use it to consider where you're heading, where you'd truly like to be headed, and what changes you need to make.

Think big. Aiming high always produces greater results than setting your sights too low - even if you don't quite reach your personal summit. But also give yourself a chance to taste the satisfaction of success, eg by setting milestones along the way. Keep yourself heartened by allowing yourself a little treat for a milestone reached.

And so to Spring, the next review, when the seeds sowed now begin to come to life.

Happy New Year

Share

Does Santa Exist?

abracad, · Categories: christmas, spirituality

When I was a kid I'd go to bed full of excitement on Christmas Eve. I'd wake up the following morning to find a pile of toys and other gifts where none had been the previous night. The magic, I was told, was all down to some kindly old guy who lived at the north pole and every year would ride his reindeer-driven sleigh across the skies delivering his presents to all the kids around the world who'd behaved well enough to deserve them.

Then one day I "learned" Father Christmas didn't really exist, and the mysterious gifts ceased. I'd entered the cynical world of adults where magic doesn't happen, and people fight wars and do other bad stuff that kids aren't born knowing about.

But is what I "learned" really right? After all, in many ways the child really can teach the man. Nobody's ever seen Santa, so he can't exist - right? Then again, nobody's ever seen electricity, radio waves, black holes...

Santa's mission is to give without the hope of receiving. It's also to encourage kids to believe that miracles sometimes do happen.

Well on count 1, at this time of year there's a hell of a lot of giving without thought for what you'll get. (Yeah, OK, I know a lot of giving is done for cynical reasons, because it's expected, because the giver does want something back etc, but take all that away and there's still a great deal of selflessness going on.)

And on count 2, miracles can and do happen. Not often, but often enough to make them real. And one of the most important factors in being the recipient of one of these events... the simple power of belief. All you have to do is ask, and it shall be given. Or rather - the power you need to make it happen - will be given.

So, as I'm told by those that "know", Santa doesn't exist - but his Spirit sure as hell does.

And who was it left my presents when I was a kid?

Share

Happy Holidays / What is Love?

abracad, · Categories: christmas, spirituality

Once again the Holiday season is upon us. How are you feeling?

Filled with wonder of the Season? Stressed by last-minute preparations and overcrowded malls? Or simply disgusted at the over-commercialisation and the pressures on folk to overspend and incur debt just so big business can earn a quick buck (remember Jesus driving the money-lenders from the temple)?

What bugs me is the political correctness bullsh*t seeking to expunge Christian symbolism from Christmas for fear of offending other faiths. How can anyone, Christian or otherwise, possibly be offended by celebrating the birth and life of a man who taught a message of love and peace?

And isn't love what this season is all about?

Love is an oft-used term, eg I love this movie, or football team, or ice cream. It's also the most common theme in literature, music and art, though none adequately express the feelings it inspires.

So what does love really mean? It can reduce a grown man to jelly, but defies definition in mere words. Following the lesson of Jesus, "love your neighbour as yourself", we can say love means to treat the object of your love as, or better than, yourself.

If you've ever been privileged to have kids you'll understand this. You feel what they feel. You would sacrifice anything for their well-being. You would gladly assume their suffering. It is the recognition and acknowledgement of the oneness of two individuals.

It's easy to love our nearest and dearest (though at this season we may feel we love some more at a distance), less easy to love strangers, and hardest of all to love our enemies. But that is what Jesus taught: "But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" [Matthew 5:44].

Now that's a tall order for most of us mere mortals, but maybe - just for teh festive season - we can begin by simply accepting others and them be. Regardless of their race, religious belief, past history, whatever... That means acknowledging the place of everyone as unique individuals with a unique role to play in the tapestry of life.

Enjoy the season, don't stress, do what you can as best you can. And when the day comes,

Happy Holidays

Share

The Meaning of Coincidence

abracad, · Categories: coincidence and synchronicity, luck, paranormal phenomena, psychic development, science and spirituality, spirituality

Coincidence is where two or more unrelated things seem to occur in close enough proximity to suggest some relationship between them. Eg you dream of a school friend you haven't heard from for years only to get a reunion invitation from that same person next day.

Between getting the idea for this post and actually writing it a friend told me of two instances when people she hadn't seen for ages came into her mind. The first she ran into on the street next day, and the second happened to be on the TV when she walked into the next room! And, on the day I posted this, I happened to be flicking through the TV channels and started watching an old series (of about 80 episodes). Bizarrely the episode being shown was the same that I happened upon over 4 years ago also by channel-flicking. I don't follow this series and don't recall having watched it inbetween times. Coincidence, or what? (more…)

Share

Don't Worry, Be Happy

abracad, · Categories: self help, spirituality

A few years ago an (irritatingly) catchy little tune called Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin was going the rounds. Once heard it took ages to get out of your head. But within that simple song lies a profound message; we spend way too much time worrying.

The thing about worrying is that no good ever comes of it. Worry dissipates your energies, diverting them from more constructive use. As we've got better at curing physical illness so it seems mental illnesses such as stress, depression, anxiety (essentially all aliases for worry) have expanded to fill the gap. And of course these conditions adversely affect physical health.

But even worse than that, worry is a form of thought. And as countless teachers have told thoughts are very powerful things. They tend to manifest themselves in reality. So by worrying, you actually serve to create the very thing you are worried about!

If something is bothering you all the worry in the world isn't going to help (and will most likely harm). Whatever it may be - money, work, relationships, kids, health, family... DO something about it. If the problem is money, start planning and budgeting a little better; if it's work, start checking the job ads or consider something more radical like self-employment or re-training; if it's health, eat healthy, exercise and follow the doctor's orders...

Sit quietly, take a few deep breaths, analyze what's wrong and what you can do about it. Don't be afraid to ask for help through prayer, or even from those you trust.

In most situations you'll have a choice of potential actions (including simply doing nothing and letting what will be just be). And for each, since we can't see the future, a range of possible outcomes - including the best, worst and most likely.

You'll now be empowered by knowledge. Decide what you're going to do. Then do it. And stop worrying, because you KNOW that you've done the best you could in the circumstances, and whatever happens you KNOW that you couldn't have done any better.

Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday

Think back to childhood. I'm pretty sure you worried then too. Perhaps you forgot to revise for a class test, or maybe you got dropped from the football team, or your best friend didn't want to let you in a game... At the time didn't it seem the biggest problem in the world, but looking back don't your childhood worries seem inconsequential? And that's how today's worries will seem when reviewed in the world of Spirit. So stop worrying and be happy.

Share

Does Evil Exist?

abracad, · Categories: spirituality

Though we all have our own concepts of good and bad, right and wrong, when we think objectively the concept of morality is a slippery one, if it any concrete existence at all. Just look at how laws, organized society's embodiment of morality, differ from culture to culture and even over (a short) time within the same culture.

In England homosexuality was illegal until 1967. Now, even daring to voice anything remotely critical of the practice is sufficient to warrant a visit from the authorities (TIMESONLINE Dec 23, 2005). Normally killing a fellow human being is a serious crime. But do it in a war and you'll get a medal. Be a government-employed executioner and you'll get a paycheck and pension. And how many doctors assist the passage of suffering patients, believing they are acting out of compassion. Members of the same profession regularly carry out "abortion".....

But having recognized moral fluidity, is there any such thing as absolute evil? In the extreme, what of those who start wars? A single stroke of their pen condemns hundreds of thousands to pointless slaughter.

Given we all come to earth for experiential growth the indiscriminate mass slaughter that is war surely ends the adventure of life prematurely for a large number. Their journey, though not exactly pointless, is certainly under-fulfilled. And that destruction, that wasted potential, is as close as we get to evil in that it frustrates rather than serves the Will of Spirit.

Which raises the question of whether such "evil" is part of God's plan, or the result of individual (ab)use of free will leading the party concerned too far from their intended path. Perhaps we cannot answer this with certainty in our incarnate form. In most cases I'd tentatively suggest it is free will gone wrong. But maybe, occasionally, one is born whose purpose is not primarily to experience but to act as a catalyst enabling the greater experience of many others.

So continue to hold, and refine, your personal concepts of right and wrong. Also oppose in whatever ways you can those things that appear to be truly evil. You may not always be successful, but you and the world will be the better for your efforts.

Share