 
Most people grew up with the familiar saying, “It is better to give than to receive”; however, very few people understand how this adage is blocking abundance from their lives.
Is it really better to give than it is to receive? The answer for me is NO! I say this for two reasons.
First of al, if you have this belief, you are probably blocking abundance from flowing into you life, and this is occurring because you have a hard time receiving. Think about it. How many times have you turned down compliments for something you did? Did you say something like “oh, it was nothing”? Or if a friend wants to compensate you for something you did for them, how often do you say “No, I couldn’t possibly accept you money or gift.” Have many times have seen a penny on the ground and refused to pick it up?
If any of these examples sound familiar, you may be blocking your abundance. If you refuse to receive what another person or the Universe is offering you, you are dishonoring that person because you are blocking his or her ability to give. If you consistently refuse to pick up pennies off the ground the Universe offers, you are training the Universe not to give it to you because a penny is money and it no different than a million dollars to the Universe.
Second of all, in order for you or someone to give, there must be a receiver to accept what is given because giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin and both are required. You can not have one without the other, and one is not better than the other.
Therefore, if you intend to live a prosperous life, you must be an excellent giver and an excellent receiver, and this is one of the primary differences between prosperous people and poor people.
Prosperous people are excellent receivers.
Poor people are poor receivers.
This is not a criticism of poor people because poor people (people who have a low level of prosperity) are not less intelligent, less capable, or even less motivated than prosperous people. They just are not open to the possibilities around them, and they are blocking the abundance from their lives. Without taking advantage of opportunities, it’s nearly impossible to grow and experience greater levels of prosperity in life.
So why, then, are most people poor receivers?
It occurs because they have accepted this meme that “it is better to give than receive”. A meme is like a mind virus that spreads easily from person to person and affects the level of prosperity and abundance that you experience. But if you trace this meme back to its original translation, you may be amazed what it really said. The real adage before it was changed to the current day translation was:
It is better to be in a position to give than in a position to have to receive.
The original adage changes the whole meaning of the meme, “it is better to give than receive”. Therefore, if you were inflected with this meme (limiting belief), you have been conditioned not to receive; however, you can reprogram you subconscious mind to willingly receive everything that comes into your life. By everything, I mean all the events and circumstances in our lives, even though that you designate as “bad”.
To reprogram yourself, do the following:
Using your closed hand, rub over your heart center in the middle of your chest in a clockwise motion, and repeat the following declaration:
I am choosing to an excellent giver and an excellent receiver.
Repeat this reprogramming technique through out the day until you subconscious mind has accepted this truth.
By reprogramming yourself to receive, you open yourself to the blessings of God (Universe) and allow abundance to flow into your life.
At the same time, continue to give unconditionally and with love because what you gives return back to you multiplied. Don’t just give money, but give of your time, energy, resources, knowledge, skills, and/or talents. I believe the more you give, the more you receive, and this is based on the universal Law of Giving and Receiving.
The Law of Giving and Receiving is one the greatest laws that you can implement to manifest prosperity when you consciously use it. If you wish to receive anything in your life, you first need to give it unconditionally from the heart. At the same time, you must be open to receiving it. Many times it will come from a different source than what you gave and it may come in a different form than you expect, but it will be returned. This law is based on spiritual and scientific teachings and principles.
From the spiritual teaching, the Law of Giving and Receiving is demonstrated as follows:
Whatever you sow (meaning whatever you plant, disseminate, disperse, or put out), you will also reap (meaning you will also receive, gain, harvest, accumulate, or get back). - Galatians 6:7
From the scientific teaching, the Law of Giving and Receiving is demonstrated as follows:
For every action (meaning for everything you do, every act, effort, or transaction), there will always be an equal or even opposite reaction (meaning there will be cause and effect or consequences and/or repercussions). -Isaac Newton’s Law of Motion.
So Give. Give. Give. And do so cheerfully and unconditionally. It is the energy behind the giving that matters so do not give grudgingly. The Law of Giving and Receiving guarantees that you shall receive plenty for what you give if you are open to receiving it.
Now there are some people who resist giving freely. Often some people decide not to give because they believe they do not have enough to give. They feel that if they give, they will have nothing left. This type of belief comes from a poverty consciousness.
From a spiritual perspective, if you do not sow, you will not reap. How can you receive what you desire, if you never give anything, and how can you receive anything if you are not open to receiving it?
From the scientific perspective, if you do nothing, nothing will happen. You must take action for something to occur because we live in a cause and effect world.
If you decide not to give for fear that there is not enough or fear of loss, you will never really experience the free flowing abundance in your life, whether it is money, joy, peace of mind, love, anything else you truly desire.
So, let today be the day that you change your level of prosperity by transforming your thoughts and renewing your mind. Open you heart to give freely and transform the mind to receive abundantly. When you do, you will experience a liberating awareness of abundance flowing in your life. You realize that you can give freely without fear of ever over extending yourself or experiencing lack and scarcity because you will experience joy, love, inner peace, and an increased level of prosperity.
Namaste,
RC
written by Reginald Cuffee
Ever since I have been studying prosperity and success, I have found that one of the greatest blocks that many people have about financial prosperity is the core belief that having an abundance money or material wealth is not spiritual.
This belief is very pervasive in the world, and it is having a detrimental effect on the quality of most people lives. Many people have been conditioned by organized religion which propagated this belief through the centuries.
If you have been raised in the Christian faith or Churchianity as I called it, you may have hear or read the verse in the bible which states:
“It be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24).
Because of the misinterpretation of this verse, many people are using this verse in the bible as their excuse for choosing not to be rich or wealthy (financial prosperous). But, as with all truths, clarification can clear up the confusion.
This verse like many of the verses in the bible was not meant to be translated literally, but metaphorically. When this verse is taken literally, it is quite obvious that a camel can not could not pass through the eye of needle, but Christ had an entirely different meaning. Christ was not telling us that rich people can’t enter the Kingdom of God or material riches are evil and rich people are bad. However, many people who reads or hears this verse make the classic mistake of relating riches in this verse to having MONEY and MATERIAL WEALTH, but this is an incorrect translation.
So what did Christ mean?
When Christ used the words “rich man”, he was referring to you and me because we are all rich. You may not agree with the idea that you are rich, but the truth is - if you have attachments to you material possessions or you get your identity (who you believe your are) from your material possession and material wealth, you are rich in Ego, and this is what Christ was alluding to in that verse.
Your Ego is the veil that keeps you separate from your True Self, and if you desire to enter the inner Kingdom and experience peace, joy, and love, you must not be attached to your possession to the point that you are possessed by your possessions. Although most people tend to associate attachment in terms of physical objects such as money, cars, or houses, it can also apply to mind-states. These mind-states include attachments such as your self concept, your limiting beliefs, your victim story, your negative attitude, your poverty consciousness, and your negative emotions.
As long as you remain attached to any limiting idea created by your Ego, you are a rich man or woman who will find it difficult to enter the Kingdom. Remember, Christ did not say it was impossible to enter the Kingdom, just it is more difficult and hard. So the moral of this story is that, it is ok to have material wealth, but it is detrimental to you spiritual growth if you become attached to it or if you get you identity from it.
Note, when Christ speaks of Heaven or Kingdom of God, he is referring to the recognition of oneness. Of course if people are constantly chasing material things, like money, fame, etc, they can never feel that oneness because the Ego always want more and always create the feeling of duality - Me, My, Them, I have, or I Don’t have, etc.
If you are currently clinging to your riches or finding your identification with it, let go of it. I know this is can be very difficult for some people because you believe what you “own” is who you are; therefore, you may not be willing to give it up. If you let it go, who would you Be?
Namaste,
RC
written by Reginald Cuffee
Each one of us has the constant chatter of thoughts in our heads. This persistent little voice is known as the ego. The ego is a manifestation of the individual self in the physical world, and it is the aspect of us that exists solely in the realm of thought. The ego is our conscious identity of who we believe we are, and it is the part of us that interacts with the world. It is the ego that expresses individuality (separateness) and gives us the sense of me, my, mine, and myself.
The word ego comes from the Latin form, meaning “I”, and it is the I-ness in us that creates the sense of separateness from the rest of the world. Eckhart Tolle, who is a spiritual teacher, says “The word “I” embodies the greatest error and the deepest truth, depending on how it is used.” When most people use the word “I”, it is a misperception of who you are, and it is a false sense of identity. This occurs because most people make the mistake of identifying themselves with the little “i”, the ego or False Self, instead of the big “I” or the Higher Self ( the Soul) which is connected to God. Some spiritual teachers call this false sense of identity an illusion, but this word denies the reality of our experiences. An illusion has no existence, but a delusion, on the other hand, is a convoluted and twisted way of perceiving Truth. Albert Einstein, who had deep insights not only in to the reality of time and space but also into human nature, referred to this false sense of identity as “an optical illusion of consciousness”.
The ego is not a physical entity; rather it is a mental concept of who we think we are. This mental concept is very powerful, and for many people, it controls the realities they experience. The ego acts like a defense attorney, and it will supply us with any evidence that we need to keep our psyche convinced that all our actions are justified. Much of the content of the ego has been repressed in unconscious form, and it manifests as distorted thinking patterns. The ego uses these distorted thinking patterns to deceive us into believing that we are helpless victims who are unable to create our experiences. The ego perceives its main job to ensure our survival, but this is part of the fallacy. The ego is not concerned with our survival, but its own, and it protects itself by controlling us from changing our realities.
Although most people know they have an ego, most are unaware that they are being controlled by it, and this occurs because they identify self with ego which is the focal point of their sense of self. This identification with the ego, the little “i”, as self is the root of their suffering, anger, misery, frustration, unhappiness and all other negative emotions.
The identification with the ego occurs during early childhood, thus the ego is a byproduct of our upbringing. It constantly monitors our relationship to everything in our environment. It observes who we are in relation to people, places, and objects. Once we develop the skill of language, the ego catalogues our relationship to our environment using words. In relation to our parents, the ego identifies us as “the child”. In relation to the size of our parents, we are identified as “small”. These observations become our identity. Everything that is observed serves to create a label to identify the self. This labeling is the ego’s way of creating a human “identity”, beginning with “i” during our childhood. As we grow older, the original i-thought attracts other thoughts to itself, and it becomes identified with a gender, the body, possessions, a nationality, race, religion, profession. Other things the “i” identifies with are roles such as mother, father, husband, wife, opinions, likes and dislikes.
We all have roles, but the more seriously we take our roles, the more we disconnect from our Higher Selves. Even fairly beneficial roles are subject to this. Take a kind woman who defines herself as a loving mother. What happens when all her children grow up and begin to want independence? The stronger the role, the harder it is for the ego to let go. In the ego’s efforts to hold on to a part of itself, it might turn the same loving mother into a controlling tyrant. She might unconsciously retard her children’s growth into independent adults so they will always need her and be by her side. Or she might turn into a bitter, lonely, complainer.
Roles are not restricted to the individual. Some egos find their strongest identity as part of a group. These groups can range from violent street gangs to a weekly book club, from our religion to our race and our nationality. Another thing the ego identifies with comes from our perceived childhood ‘traumas”. These traumas are “perceived” because they are based upon our interpretation when we were a child. When we were no more than a child, a simple and perhaps insignificant incident occurred, and we came to an erroneous conclusion about it that was to become the pattern for our life. Something was said or done that hurt our feelings and rattle our identities. As a result of that upsetting experience, we arrived at some fundamental misconception about ourselves, and that deduction became our primary ego identity that determines who we are BEing and shapes our reality concept.
Even though we made this conclusion from the view point of a child, we usually have carried our reactions of this early painful experience with us into adulthood to some degree or another. The memories may now appear as constant anxiety, feelings of rejection, low self-esteem, and inescapable fear of abandonment, depression and pessimism. We may feel powerless to exert any control over the events of our own lives. We may feel unworthy of love or success or vibrant health. We may feel that nothing good can or ever will happen to us.
Identities
Although we have a primary identify that we created from our fundamental misconception of an event that occur in our childhood, we have many kinds of identities. An identity is any declaration or deeply rooted determinations about what we are and what we are not, and what we are capable of and not capable of. Most identities are in the form I AM (whatever) or I AM NOT (whatever) or I CAN or I CAN’T; however, all identities are not equal. For example, I AM cold or I AM angry are identities, but they are fleeting physical experiences and easy to change.
While there are various types of identities including roles such a parent, daughter, father, doctor, teacher, it is the Essence identities that control our lives. Essence identities are those that affirm or deny our fundamental spiritual essence and determine our self-image and self-worth. Just as there are negative and positive emotions, we also have negative and positive identities.
Examples of positive essence identities include I can, I AM able, I AM worthy, I AM deserving, I AM strong, I AM smart, and I AM good to name a few. These types of identities produce happiness, joy, prosperity, and inner peace.
Examples of negative essence identities include I can’t, I AM unable, I AM unworthy, I AM less than, I AM stupid, I AM weak, I AM not good enough, I AM bad, to name a few. Our negative essence identities are based in fear and they are the cause of our problems, conflicts, poverty, and suffering in life. Most of our negative identities were created to help us survive something that, at one time, made us feel unsafe or insecure either emotionally or physically. Psychologists call these mechanisms “ego defenses”. These ego defenses built a fence around your heart (body, psyche) to keep it safe from harm.
These essence identities become our perception of who we are (our self-image) and determine who we are BEing. Who we are BEing affects our thoughts and beliefs about ourselves and determine what we experience in our realities. While much of the negative information, observations, opinions, attitudes, and “perceived traumas” the ego absorbed during our young formative years created our identities, most of it is no longer needed.
If we are to live a prosperous life, we need to turn our attention from the past and begin to dis-create our negative essence identities. This can start when we are able to consciously view our negative essence identities from a spiritual witness perspective, but to do this, we have to awaken.
Most of us remain asleep and thereby in a state of unconsciousness with little, if any, awareness. Many of us have heard about the concept of being “born again”, but most people do not know the true meaning. Well, the true meaning of that is awakening to our true SPIRIT-ual nature and living from our Higher Selves, and that involves surrendering the illusions of the ego.
Namaste,
RC
written by Reginald Cuffee
Intuition is the gateway to your vast and unlimited self, and all the wisdom and guidance you need to create a prosperous life. It serves as your inner compass aligning you and guiding to your highest path and potential, and opens you to realms of awareness beyond five-sensory perception.
Although intuition is an inherent ability that we all possess and can tap into for guidance, creativity, problem solving, and new discoveries, many people do not believe in it, do not understand it, nor do they act on it. This ability is not a rare gift, but it is something that comes to everyone. Most people have had the experience where they sense information that seems to come spontaneously from nowhere or have heard of people who had experiences such as:
- The telephone rings and you reach out to answer it. As you do, the image of someone flashes in your consciousness. You pick up the telephone, and the person whose image flashed in your mind is at the other end of the telephone.
- You get a feeling you should not accept a job offer that is paying significantly more than you are currently earning. Months later, you discover that the company has filed for bankruptcy and is laying off its workforce. Because you listened to your gut feeling, you avoided being financially impacted by the actions of the new company.
- A woman suddenly senses that her young daughter has fallen off a swing in the schoolyard. Moments later she receives a telephone call from the school confirming her feelings.
- A scientist is working on a cure for a medical problem. While sleeping, the scientist receives a message while dreaming. The message was the missing link the scientist needed to complete the cure.
These are just a few examples of this phenomenon called intuition. People often describe these and similar experiences as psychic impressions, gut feelings, hunches, inspiration, revelations, premonitions, insight, inner voice, or vibes. No matter how we describe these experiences, they all have one thing in common-they all come from the small voice within us. I called this small voice the Higher Self which is the aspect of your consciousness closest to Source (God). It is your divine essence; the fully realized eternal being that you are.
Although intuition is a highly effective human ability and perhaps the most universal natural ability we possess, there remains considerable skepticism in western cultures about it. Unlike the non-western cultures which associates intuition with a way to discern the Divine or the true nature of all realities, western cultures tend to emphasize intellect, logical thinking, reason, rationality, and objectivity. As a result, many people in western cultures denigrate its legitimacy and reject its efficaciousness.
However, there are many people who have readily accepted the validity of intuition and acknowledged that they have used their intuitive power in their lives. These people include scientists, philosophers, musicians, artists, and business people such as Albert Einstein, Dr. Jonas Salk, Philosopher Karl Popper, Ray Kroc (founder of McDonalds) , and Morris Kline (mathematician) .
Albert Einstein, who was one of the most notable scientists in the 20th century, was an ardent believer in man’s intuitive abilities. He said that “man’s conquest over his own ignorance must rest on intuition and “the intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, the solution comes to you and you don’t know how or why.”
What is Intuition
“Intuition is an opening in your mind that allows for right answers, insights, and realizations. It is an inspiration beyond the analytical, inductive, or synthesizing mind. Intuition simulates and prepares us to receive grace as the representative of higher consciousness.” - Dr. Chuck Spezzano
Intuition is derived from Latin term intuire, which translates as “to look upon attentively, to contemplate, or to consider”. The word intuition is used as a noun to describe a faculty of mind, a state or a mode of consciousness, a specific kind of knowledge, and a process in arriving at general knowledge or meaning.
To intuit is the verb form of this noun and intuitive is the adjective that conveys the same meaning.
Intuition is that unerring and inexplicable knowing beyond logical thought and volition. Yet it possesses a flowing logic all its own. It is a powerful ability that manifests itself in the hunches and inspirations that lead again and again to added insight or new direction, creative breakthrough, or the ability to be in the right place at the right time. In a typical intuitive experience, there is a sense of being a recipient as opposed to an initiator. It is the “Aha” which comes spontaneously, a sudden dawning, or total shock. Intuition is holistic to the extent that it is a flash containing an extraordinary amount of information worth a thousand pictures, yet not necessarily focused on any details - the whole rather than the parts.
Modes of Receiving Intuitive Impressions
An important first step in becoming aware of our intuitive messages is paying attention to how it comes to us. We each have a dominate mode or combination of ways we receive intuitive impressions (messages or revelations), and understanding what works for us is the key to opening up your intuitive insight. There are four basic modes that we can receive intuitive impressions from our inner voice. These four basic modes include:
- Receiving inner or outer visions or dreams (clairvoyance).
- Receiving inner or outer sounds or messages in words (clairaudience).
- Receiving feelings through inner sensing or bodily sensations (clairsentience).
- The inner knowing and epiphanies of awareness at higher levels. (Claircognizance)
All four modes reveal insights and information beyond our five-sensory sources, sight, sound, touch, and smell. You may naturally resonate with or be more dominant in one or more of these inner senses; however, you can work to awaken and strengthen each one of them.
How To Initiate Your Intuition
Although we all have intuitive abilities, no one can more force or command intuition than grow one inch in height. You can prepare for it by being open and receptive, but you can not say here it is and have it appear. It comes suddenly as a burst of wind on a still day, or like shooting star illuminating the night sky. When it does appear, it usually appears with the information that you need at the time. It may contain a solution for some problem you have been working on, information as a warning to protect you, or contain symbols that leads to some new discovery or new invention.
Intuition can come as a bolt from no where. It can be as weak as a slight gut feeling. It can be a feeling in your heart, a sensation in your head, a ringing in your ear, a whispering voice in your head, an answer to a nagging question, insight and information of a future event, or a complete story in symbols in the mind.
However, you can initiate guidance from your Higher Self by using intentions and asking for help and insight. From that point, your Higher Self will respond via one or more mode for receiving intuitive messages.
But there is two major problems for most people….
Firstly, many people dismiss these experiences (messages) off as coincidence or ignore them because they are reluctant to listen or trust to their inner voice. As children, many of us were not trained to connect with or trust our intuition. When I was in grammar school, I did arithmetic with intuition and allowed the answer to compute automatically. But my junior high school math teacher threatened to flunk me for getting the right answers without being able to show steps by which I arrived at them. Many schools have scolded children for daydreaming, doodling or looking out of the window which often suppress creativity.
Furthermore, western cultures does not encourage the reflective receptive attitude necessary to expand consciousness or to access knowledge within. Albert Einstein said “the intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
I believe this mistrust of our intuitive abilities is due to fear. This fear is the fear of the unknown, fear of loss of control, fear of unalterable life changes, fear of psychic ability, fear of confusion about reality and fantasy, or fear of making a mistake. This fear sends a message to other levels of consciousness that they are not to permit full expression.
Secondly, many people who accepts the concept of intuition, believe that it speaks to us in complete, grammatically correct sentences or in vivid, color images. However, intuition communicates indirectly, in fragments and through symbols and is never forceful or loud. It is rare to find a high degree of correspondence between intuitive impressions and what actually occurs.
For example, perhaps your inner voice tells you to eat avocados. You are willing to eat them, but you wonder “why avocados?” You may even explore the Internet to read up on the nutritional value of avocados. But the reason you were given the message to eat avocados did not have anything to do with nutrition. It was to nudge you to go to the market that day. While there, you run into a friend from your old neighborhood who introduces you to the person who is to become your spouse. You discover the intuitive message was not about eating avocados after all; it was nudging you to go to the market so you could meet the person you would ultimately marry.
Removing Blocks To Intuition
If you truly desire to become come receptive for intuitive guidance, you must connect to your Higher Self remove the blocks to intuition. These blocks are the inability or unwillingness to surrender in a detached way from the capricious, neurotic ego. The ego is our conscious identity of who we believe we are, and it keeps us externally focused. When we detach from the ego’s control, we can have transpersonal experiences which always involve an expansion of consciousness. The reality of these experiences is apprehended intuitively. When our consciousness expands, it allows the deepest wisdom and truth to come forth.
To move pass the ego, you must pierce the illusion of the neurotic ego and enhance one’s intuitive abilities. This can be accomplished by listening to your heart. The heart is the seat of the soul, and the place where your Higher Self can be heard when your mind is still. The incessant chatter of your ego mind battles clear communication with the small voice within.
To quiet the mind, you can use any technique that will still the ego mind and to draw its attention from the outer world to the realm of inner realities. This has a positive effect on awakening the sensitivity to intuition. The intention of quieting the mind is to produce a shift to an inward receptive state and to diminish the intensity of ordinary consciousness so that the small inner voice can be heard. Personally, I recommend the metaphysical practice of meditation which prepares the mind for the experience of intuition.
Meditation is an emphasis on turning within and connecting to the depths of one’s Higher Self; the point where God is manifesting as you. In Matthew 6:6, Jesus states “Go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. “ This means to go inside your mind and close off the outer senses and seek a connection to your Higher Self. In a meditative state, the full power of your intuitive insight can be accessed. In this state, your intuition senses the whole reality of the situation and delivers information which would be unobtainable by any other means. The deeper the meditative state, the clearer it becomes as to what the best solution can be.
Although meditation is by far the best transpersonal activity a you can use for becoming receptive to intuition, there are additional consciousness expanding activities that can be practiced. Some of these activities include visualization, yoga, mind mapping, and work with dreams. These activities are designed to sensitize their innate imaging capability of the unconscious mind and to give the mind practice in integrating the imaging capacity of the right hemisphere with the language capacity of the left hemisphere. While intuition may emerge spontaneously, when you make an intentional decision to participate in these activities, your innate intuitive ability is awakened more quickly and usually more powerfully.
Namaste,
RC
written by Reginald Cuffee
As human beings, we all have the same basic desire for happiness; however, many people in the world are not achieving this basic desire. In fact, most people are unfulfilled and feel as if life is just passing them by. For some, they have come to a point in life where the question becomes something like, “Is this all there is to life?” and are seeking to transform what they are experiencing.
Some of these people turn to so-called motivation gurus, politicians, or religion to find answers that will end their suffering in life. However, most people still do not find the answers because they are looking in the wrong place. Many people believe that external situations and circumstances are the root of their unhappiness, but this is a fallacy. What is causing people to suffering is they do not know who they are, and they do not understand that they create their experiences based on who they are BEing, their thoughts, their emotions, their beliefs, and how close they are in alignment with Source Energy (God).
Who Am I?
When confronted with the question, “who am I?”, most of us do not know how to answer it. We inevitably answer by saying “I am …” followed by a descriptive label such a father, a doctor, a rich man, a clever man, a smart woman, an American, a Republican, or a Christian. Others will say that I am good looking, athletic, old or young or hard working, but what exactly are we referring to when we say “I”?
Are we a body? Are we a mind? Are we emotions? Are we consciousness? Are we what we do? Where do we draw the line between “I” and “my” and between who and what we are and what we have? Many people believe they are their bodies; however, we are much more than that limited perception. Although we are human beings, we consist of two parts - the human and the BEing. The human part is our physical body which is just a vehicle for our BEing to experience this physical dimension; however, this is a small part of us. The “BEing”, which is the “highest” part of us, includes our mind, emotions, thoughts, Will, and consciousness.
Many people are unaware of this concept and insist that they are their body. If you are really your body, what happens to you when you lose your leg in an automobile accident? Are you still you? What if you lose both legs, both arms and become a quadriplegic amputee, are you still you? Is your “I”, now lessened? Are you less a person? Have you lost any part of the real you? Yes, you have a loss of physical function, but are you as a person, a character, a personality in any way lessened? Is your Will lessened? Is your consciousness lessened? Is your mind and intelligence lessened? By applying deductive reasoning, you will conclude that your sense of self and the essence of what and who you are remain unchanged.
Other people say they are their name, job title, nationality or mind, but are these labels really true? Let’s examine this. Throughout western society, it is customary for new brides to take the last name of their new husbands, but does this change the essence of who they are. If Sally Jones changed her name to Sally Smith, did the essence of who she is change? No, she remains unchanged. Her body, memories, Will, consciousness, and essence of who she is, remains unchanged. The same applies to labels of nationality and job titles. I have a friend who was born and raised in the Philippines. When she was twenty, she moved to America and eventually became a naturalized citizen. She is now “an American citizen”. Again, I ask the question, did the essence of who she is change? No, she remains unchanged. Her body, memories, Will, and consciousness, remains unchanged.
Well, what about your mind? Are you your mind? Many people do indeed think that they are their mind. When a person says, I am my mind, I usually ask them to do a simple exercise. I ask them to close their eyes and take a deep breathe. As they slowly exhale, I ask them to stop all thinking and remain quiet. I have them do this for about 45 seconds. Then, I ask the person if they heard a voice in their head. Everyone that I asked to do this exercise say the same answer -”yes”. I reconfirm the answer by repeating the question a second time. Again, the person usually answers “yes”. Next I asked the following: “if you heard a voice, who was listening to the voice, and who was speaking?” Most people are unusually baffled and stated that “I was listening, and my mind was speaking”. Does this not show a clear distinction between you and your mind? There is that which possesses: “I” and that which is possessed: “mind”. Furthermore, when you tried to control your mind by stop thinking, your mind continued to generate thoughts (chatter) almost as if they were wild horses. So there is a “controller”, and there is that which is controlled which further indicate two separate entities. So, in a stringent analysis, “I” is not your mind. You have a mind, but you are not your mind.
If you are not our name, job title, nationality, or mind, who are you? The Yogic teachings explain that we are made up of five different energy layers or koshas, also called sheaths. The outermost is the Physical body. Inside that is our Breath layer, through which flows the universal life-force energy or prana. The next layer is the Mind, which is our consciousness, and further inside we discover our Intellect, which serves the function of discrimination. The final sheath is our Bliss body which is the domain of Spirit, the collective consciousness, and the place where we find our Soul.
Our Soul, sometimes referred to as the True Self or Higher Self, is pure Spirit and is a luminous ray of light from Source Energy (God). The Higher Self is our inner core that has awareness, and it is the center that observes. It is eternal, and is the part of us that consist of pure consciousness and connects us directly to the Source Energy (God). It is the big “I” inside us; the “I” that is the true “I am”; the “I” that is God. Our Higher Self is not only limited to our present incarnation, but it as access to all our lifetimes, past, present and future. It spans dimensions, time and space.
In the late-eighties, there was a popular movie entitled “Cocoon”. The aliens in the movie were just glowing bundles of serene white light (energy). When trying to envision the energetic bodies that the ancient yogis were describing, it reminds me of this movie. Unfortunately, we rarely think of ourselves in this way. But we are an aspect of Source Energy (God); not God in the monotheistic, religious sense, but God as the Ultimate Consciousness, the great field of pure potentiality from which all things arise who has chosen to come to this physical space / time dimension for the purpose of experiencing the variety that surrounds us and to create our reality for expansion of our souls.
Furthermore, we are each here to awaken a hidden part of ourselves, which naturally wants to explore the Universe and experience how amazing life is. We were all given the power of co-creation so we can celebrate our spiritual existence through an out-flowing of our infinite creative cosmic energy. Therefore, we are the creators of our experiences, and we are the experiencers of that which we create. Creating our experiences is the most natural creative expression of our innate power. According to Dr. Joseph Murphy, founder of the Church of Divine Science, we are here to discover our true place in life, and to give of our talents to the world. We are here to expand and unfold in a wonderful way, according to a God-given potential, and to bring forth spiritual, mental, and material riches, which will bless humanity in countless ways.
If this true, why do most people create limited experiences that is based in lack such as ill-health, bad relationships, and poverty which cause them to suffer? It occurs because they are being controlled by their minds, and they have not connected to their Higher Self which is the source of intuitive knowledge and guidance. Furthermore, most people are unaware that they are the creator of their experiences. Instead, most people go through life thinking that life just happens, and they are basically at the mercy of random events, luck, fate, karma, or circumstances and they believe they are powerless human beings who have little influence over what they experience in life. As a result, many people feel trapped in a reality that keep them feeling unfulfilled, unhappy, and experiencing suffering. However, this is just an illusion because we have been endowed with Will which is our ability to decide, to choose, and to determine. Will is our power to move energy, move things, manifest our desires, and create who we are BEing. By using our Will, we can change our realities because they are nothing more than illusions that are based on our thoughts, emotions, beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and points of views, and this change begins by renewing our mind.
In the Christian Bible, Apostle Paul stated “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind….” (Romans 12:2) which means we must remove all negative thoughts, limiting beliefs, opinions, emotional trauma, and negative memories that is trapped in our mind. Our mind is our greatest ally or our greatest enemy, depending on whether we control it or it controls us. What is going on in our lives is a reflection of what is going on in our mind. Our mind is a major determinant of our experiences, and our happiness or pain in our lives. To resolve our problems and conflicts in life, we must first resolve the turbulence in our mind and remove the negative energy that causes the illusion of separateness and become our Higher Self. By accomplishing this, we will be in alignment with Source Energy (God) and our good will flow to us.
Namaste,
RC
written by Reginald Cuffee
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