The Principles of Spiritual Power
This service is led by Rev. Lynn Woodland
It's widely accepted that the ability to feel power in our lives is crucial to our well-being on every level. Forms of therapy, healing and spirituality that don't enhance our experience of power do us little good. Well known medical intuitive, Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit, found in her years of work with physical illnesses that feelings of empowerment generate emotional well-being and physical health while the lack of it triggers illness. She goes so far as to say, "Power is at the root of the human experience" and, "Our relationship to power is at the core of our health."
Yet for many the very idea of power conjures up harsh images of force, hierarchies, greed, power over others, victims and abusers. This old paradigm of power is based in fear and has no place in the new order of reality. It disappears as we leap into our true power, which I term "spiritual power" to refer to the power we have beyond that of our physical nature. Fear is antithetical to spiritual power. It keeps us limited, focused on defense and protection rather than creation. Fear can easily permeate every aspect of our lives and shape our experience of reality. There are a number of "fear" beliefs that are so predominant in the world today that most of us have them incorporated into our way of thinking and living by a very early age. Our state of fear becomes so habitual we may even cease to recognize it. Yet, the more we collectively hold fear-based beliefs to be truth, the more we perpetuate a fearful world. The "reality" that fear would have us believe looks like this:
Fear Beliefs Predominant in the World Today
Separateness. The fear perspective holds that we're all separate, unrelated to other living beings and disconnected from the world around us. Therefore, what happens to one person doesn't necessarily impact upon others and, ultimately, we are alone in life.
Vulnerability. From a place of fear, we believe the world is a dangerous place and we need to always be on the defensive to keep ourselves safe. We believe that our fear protects us.
Scarcity. Through the filter of fear, it appears that there isn't enough of anythingÑbe it money, material resources, love, joy or timeÑfor everyone to have all they need. Consequently, we feel compelled to compete to get our share. We're fearful about letting go of what we have because we might not get any more. We're guilty about receiving abundantly because having "more than our share" must be at the expense of someone else.
Powerlessness. Fear tells us that we're victims of circumstances beyond our control and that one person can't make a difference. We feel at the mercy of senseless, random forces of the universe.
Spiritual power results when we shift perspective. When we make this shift, we assume that instead of being separate we're connected. We begin to see that we're safe because the essence of our being, something greater than our physical body, is beyond harm. We recognize that there is enough of everything for everyone, so we can give freely without fear and receive without guilt. We transform painful experiences through forgiveness and love.
A paradigm shift is needed to make this leap out of fear and into love. This can be impossibly difficult or astonishingly easy. A paradigm shift is hard for someone else to explain to you, but when you've had one, you know it and wonder why you never saw things that way before. It's the experience of suddenly recognizing many simple and obvious options in a situation that previously felt impossibly limited. It's the "Aha!" experience of suddenly seeing the bigger picture as though someone removed blinders from your eyes that you didn't even know you'd been wearing.
Price Pritcett begins his book on personal effectiveness entitled you2, telling a story that perfectly illustrates the idea of a paradigm shift. He described watching a housefly bashing itself to death trying to get outside through a screen window. All of its limited housefly senses told it that straight ahead was the most direct route to freedom. It could see it, smell it, practically taste it, yet the more it tried, the more beaten and battered it became. If only the fly could have seen the bigger picture it would have been able to turn around in the opposite direction and fly easily through an open door. This is how we often operate in life. We become fixated on the linear route that is most obvious to our physical senses and assume that it's not only the best but the only route to our goal. Then we limit our possibilities and wind up pursuing a path that won't take us where we want to go, and may even destroy us in the process.
Paradigm shifts come when we expand our consciousness. While there are many techniques and spiritual practices designed to facilitate this process, ultimately expanding consciousness is not about "doing," it's about "being," so no amount of exercises and activities are guaranteed to bring it about. This concept in and of itself requires a paradigm shift to comprehend because our culture worships doing as the path to achieve all outcomes, even spiritual ones (as in, "If I meditate long enough eventually I'll become enlightened!"). But a shift in consciousness can't be measured in exercises performed or time elapsed. Go back to the housefly metaphor: increasing effort wasn't effective. A new approach was required. Flexibility, openness and vision lead to paradigm shifts, not necessarily hard work. Expanding consciousness has more to do with how we experience the moment and how we choose to perceive the world around us.
The following spiritual power principles are the foundation stones of this course become operative when we let go of fear. They represent a shift from "housefly" thinking to a perspective that allows a greater range of possibilities.
Spiritual Power Principles
We create our reality through our state of mind. Therefore, we have limitless possibilities in all situations, and are never victims of circumstances beyond our control because we can always choose to change our state of mind.
Our point of power is in the present. Because we create our reality through our state of mind, and our state of mind exists only in the present, manifesting any desired future outcome begins with a change in consciousness in the moment.
Love is the only true power there is. Therefore, our experience of safety, health, creativity and success increases as we give attention to love rather than fear.
Our true relationship to one another is unity rather than separateness. Our power increases synergistically as we shift from "me" consciousness to "we" consciousness and replace competition with a paradigm of win/win.
There is a limitless spiritual source of power, wisdom and love we always have access to. Therefore, we don't need to live in fear of scarcity, and we are never alone.
We are more than our physical body. We are spiritual beings. Therefore, we don't need to be afraid of death, separation and illness.
In essence, these power principles all hinge upon recognizing the connection between our inner state and the outer reality of our lives. Our thoughts create the blueprint of our lives. Our emotions provide energy. Our intuition shows us the highest path, speaking to us constantly through subtle sensations, visions and passing thoughts that most of us have numbed out or learned to ignore. To use all of the power available to us, we must begin to pay attention to what we have perhaps spent a lifetime learning to dismiss.
The more we do this, the more we get to know the quiet power of inner peace that enables us to turn over our fear-based control to a higher, wiser part of Self. We find the power to act on intuition with faith and certainty. This power replaces the loud voice of discipline and "reason" with the gentler voice of Inner Guidance. Those who have learned to listen to this soft and sometimes elusive voice have the appearance of being "lucky;" always in the right place at the right time, at peace with life. This is an ability that can be learned, and it is what differentiates ordinary people from truly extraordinary ones. The true proof of power is the capacity to know and manifest our heart's desire. It's the ability to feel content, happy, at peace with our lives and to follow a path that will sustain our state of inner peace. Our heart's desire isn't a selfish thing. It's not to be confused with greed, narcissism or self-absorption. It is, rather, the highest aspirations of our heart that, when all distractions are cleared out of the way, naturally seeks a path that serves all as it serves one. There's a harmony, a divine order in following our heart's desire. Struggle diminishes and miracles happen. It brings personal joy and inner peace and, because of who we've become, we can't help but make a contribution to the whole at the same time.
Thank you for coming.
Namaste
For a deeper dive into this journey of consciousness and practical spirituality, consider participating in Rev. Lynn Woodland's Quantum Spirit Unlimited online course of education and ordination, offered on a self-determined tuition basis. For information, see www.quantumspiritunlimited.com. For more on Lynn Woodland's work, see www.lynnwoodland.com.
Rev. Lynn Woodland is a writer, and founder of Miracles of the Spirit. She has spent her entire professional life promoting spiritually empowering alternatives. To learn more about Lynn Woodland's work, visit www.lynnwoodland.com.