{"id":111043,"date":"2022-06-04T17:09:59","date_gmt":"2022-06-05T00:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/?p=111043"},"modified":"2022-06-16T10:41:26","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T17:41:26","slug":"expanding-into-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/archives\/111043-expanding-into-spirit","title":{"rendered":"Expanding Into Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The only way to be happy is to take responsibility, authority, control over your life.\u00a0 You need to own your thoughts and you need to complete your actions.\u00a0 You build self-esteem by completing your actions.<\/em>\u00a0 \u2013 John-Roger<\/p>\n

This article was first published in the Movement Newspaper, January 1988.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most difficult parts of living can be feelings of self-betrayal, self-denial and self-let-down. The most difficult part of that may be to have lived, believed, and thought out a philosophy only to find out, when you come down to the moment of testing, that it fails you.\u00a0 People often think that a philosophy is supposed to “hold” you in moments of crisis; I don’t teach that.\u00a0 I teach that you <\/em>hold a philosophy. My conviction is that we, as humans and Souls, are far greater than any book ever written, for we are, indeed, the very likeness and image of perfection.\u00a0 That part which is eternal is the part I work with, speak to, and toward which I direct my teachings.\u00a0 And that is the Soul.\u00a0 Anything that can be seen in this world can be burned, destroyed, ripped apart, or can decay.\u00a0 The things of this world must be given their place in terms of this world, and there is a spiritual knowledge that transcends these physical-material levels.<\/p>\n

You can spend lifetimes reading books, seeking knowledge, and studying various disciplines and then come to the present moment when all you have gained becomes integrated in your consciousness and you see people through your knowledge.\u00a0 If the knowledge you have received has been corrupted, you see people through your corruption.\u00a0 If the knowledge you have received is pure and has been refined by your experience and loving compassion, you see people through that purity.\u00a0 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So is godliness, loveliness, and happiness.<\/p>\n

I tell people to forsake the knowledge they have gained solely from the outer world, from books and intellectual pursuits, and I suggest they go within to the wisdom and intelligence that is of Spirit.\u00a0 Outer knowledge by itself can be used to twist, distort, and corrupt, and much of the time, it can be used against you and others rather than for the upliftment of all.\u00a0 Knowledge that is used to hurt or harm is a corruption of the inner wisdom of Spirit.<\/p>\n

One of the main tenets I teach is “Use everything for your advancement.”\u00a0 Take the abilities you have and develop them. Show the talents sleeping inside you how to come awake.\u00a0 Develop the abilities you have. When people point up to you areas that are your shortcomings, instead of taking it as a “putdown,\u201d take it as valuable information to be used to strengthen you and make that area more effective for you. You’ve heard of the expression, “Every knock is a boost.”\u00a0 It refers to this attitude of using everything for your advancement. You can use every piece of information that comes to you to lift you and make you stronger, better, and more effective.<\/p>\n

To seek perfection on this level is folly, but to seek excellence is to improve the last state you were in and to work on the one you’re moving into.\u00a0 To improve the last state you were in is also moving you to the next state.\u00a0 You, as a human being made in the likeness of God, are gifted with the ability to make intelligent choices in your life’s expression.\u00a0 You have the opportunity to let life contract upon you, squeeze you, and give you the “justification” to curse, gnash your teeth, wring your clothing, and complain about the injustice and inequities of life. You are given that chance all the time.\u00a0 And right along with that, you have the chance to expand into a loving quality in the very moment of your contraction.<\/p>\n

When you feel yourself tighten up in response to a negative situation, you can turn that around and, in that moment, expand your energy within yourself.\u00a0 You can counteract the contraction, which is an ego possessive state where you have possessed yourself, turned in upon yourself, and separated yourself from the “other” who you perceived as having hurt you in that moment.<\/p>\n

Sometimes people expand out of a sense of retaliation. Someone may say to you, “You’re just no good; you’re terrible!” And you may say, “Yeah, well, who are you to say something like that? You’re not so hot yourself.” So there may not be contraction, but there may not be a loving feeling present, either. The greater way of expansion goes like this, “I’m going to love myself from the position I’m in, and if you don’t reach out to me, my heart will still reach out to you. Even if I am not allowed to touch you because of your dislike for me, you cannot stop me from touching you inside of me, where I love you.\u00a0 There’s nothing you can do about my love for you.”\u00a0 The rewards you will find inside yourself will far outweigh the “price” you pay to expand rather than contract.\u00a0 The price you pay for sacrificing the state of contraction and resentment is opening up to the love that is present and letting your whole self be sacrificed on the altar of God’s love.<\/p>\n

In the midst of hate and despair, love.\u00a0 In the midst of hurt, love.\u00a0 If they won’t let you reach out and touch them, love them from inside yourself. You don’t have to have any great abilities to be able to reach out and touch somebody.\u00a0 Sometimes just rubbing your finger against somebody else’s finger can lift them so tremendously.\u00a0 Just reaching out and touching someone’s shoulder as you walk by can turn them from a place of inner contraction to one of expansion.\u00a0 The expansion that you experience floods through you to others and assists them in moving into greater expansion.<\/p>\n

You have the ability to love yourself into health, wealth and happiness, and you have the ability to love others into their health, wealth and happiness, too.\u00a0 But if you live in a conceptualization of knowledge, rather than living from your own experience of life, you may not reach out and touch another because tradition says you don’t do that.\u00a0 But when you live from your experience, you will be able to perceive what is going on around you, react with empathy and loving, and reach out to assist others in their movement through life.\u00a0 You will forget about whether it might be “embarrassing” or “inappropriate” or some other judgmental label and just respond from the loving heart you are.<\/p>\n

Do you know that it’s okay not to always have an intellectual analysis for every move you make?\u00a0 You don’t have to always be able to justify and explain yourself in intellectual terms that will please another.\u00a0 You have the right to live your life as you intuitively know is right for you.\u00a0 If you make mistakes, you’ll learn.\u00a0 Those things you need to know will become clear to you. You don’t need to clutter up your mind with a lot of things you have no use for.\u00a0 If you cannot do something with the information given to you, you don’t need it.\u00a0 If someone gives you information that has no place in your life, you don’t have to be concerned with it. You don’t have to decide if it’s right or wrong, accurate or nonsense.\u00a0 If it doesn’t apply to you, you can just disregard it. When people criticize or condemn you, if you can take their information and use it to improve on an area of your life, then it’s valuable to you.\u00a0 If they condemn you and you don’t relate to what they say and cannot use it for your advancement then disregard it.\u00a0 I get all sorts of responses from people, and a lot of times I just laugh and go on about my business because I know they did not perceive accurately, even though I may understand how they were able to perceive as they did.\u00a0 So I can have empathy and understanding, and I don’t have to do anything with their information.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that your personality is not going to please everyone.\u00a0 It’s just not possible.\u00a0 What we all need to do is see beyond the personalities to the Soul that lies beyond all the bodies, minds, and emotions that are so much more obvious on this level.<\/p>\n

Anyone can sit and criticize your personality.\u00a0 You can sit and criticize my personality.\u00a0 Those abilities come very cheap.\u00a0 You can sit and criticize just about everything in this world.\u00a0 But you also have the ability to step forward in your strength and build, rather than tear down, and produce the loving and happiness you really want to create in this world.\u00a0 You need to let go of your fears.\u00a0 You need to quit arguing for your limited abilities.\u00a0 You need to sacrifice everything that is negative and everything that does not serve you.\u00a0 You need to have the courage to always choose the positive, even when other people are choosing the negative.\u00a0 When enough of us do that, we can make a difference.\u00a0 You can choose to see love in everything around you.\u00a0 You can choose the Light over darkness.\u00a0 You can choose to reach out to people, touch them, support them with your loving, be with them, and assist them, even when they don’t necessarily choose back.\u00a0 As you continue to make the positive choice, other people around you will also start choosing positively.\u00a0 Ultimately it is so much more fun than making the negative choices that it becomes contagious.\u00a0 Everyone wants to be happy; the trick is finding out how to do that.<\/p>\n

The only way to be happy is to take responsibility, authority, control over your life.\u00a0 You need to own your thoughts and you need to complete your actions.\u00a0 You build self-esteem by completing your actions.\u00a0 If you want to feel worthwhile, do worthwhile things. Do them with integrity.\u00a0 Do them with excellence.\u00a0 Do them with loving.\u00a0 In time, you’ll be able to look back and see the beautiful things you have done and the wonderful ways you have been of service to others, and you’ll feel good about yourself.\u00a0 It’s a natural reaction.\u00a0 If you don’t complete something or you do something from negativity and anger, rather than loving, you may look back at that action and something inside of you lurches and you think, \u201cOh, God, I don’t want to look at that.\u201d\u00a0 That <\/em>is your destroyer and betrayer.\u00a0 Go and correct the action.\u00a0 Change it so it will not beat at you anymore.\u00a0 And love the you that created the opportunity to learn and to do better.\u00a0 Everything <\/em>can be used to lift you.\u00a0 Let everything lift you.\u00a0 Give yourself a break.\u00a0 Treat yourself like the best friend you ever, ever had — because you are.<\/p>\n

Baruch Bashan<\/p>\n

WATCH A SHORT VIDEO WITH JOHN-ROGER<\/h5>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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