#28 (19:31 – 20:02)

“Make a daily effort to look upon others without condemnation. Every judgment takes you away from your goal of peace. Keep in mind that you do not define anyone with your judgments, but only define yourself as someone who needs to judge. Judge not, lest you too be judged.”

The message in this is very simple, yet it is the most difficult to practice. Every day, we all look at others and judge. We choose to get offended by many things, and in the interim, judge the way others talk, the way others do things, the way others dress, the way others work, the way others live their lives. We believe that others should act or do things the way we expect them to. This is our ego at work here; my way is the right way, why can’t you do things the way I want you to. You see that this is your ego wanting to control others. I believe this is the underlying factor. So, let us all make a conscious effort to pass love instead of judgment. It will take some practice, but I assure you, it is possible.

Love,

Frank

#27 (18:41 – 19:30)

“Accept this seeming contradiction; the fact that your body will die and that you are also eternal. Surrender to this fact that when someone dies, and stop telling yourself that his or her death should not have happened the way that it did. You can surrender and you can grieve. You do not die; that which was never born, never dies. You are an eternal spirit, formless. You are transforming your life with this. Going beyond form means you, the real you, the observer within is ageless and timeless. That which it is observing, noticing is bound by the need for things to begin and end.”

This is the most difficult idea to accept, especially if you have lost someone very close to you. Believing that we are eternal beings and knowing that to be true are two totally different things. However, if you believe in the perfection of the Universe and that no accidents can happen, then you can understand everything happens the way it should and it becomes easier to surrender. Once you surrender to the will of God, surrender everything to God, then your experience of the world becomes easier to handle because you develop an inner knowingness that all that happens is of God’s will and you do not have the capacity to understand why. Therefore, do not be in conflict with the way things are. Accept it even if it is difficult to understand that we are eternal beings, we are spiritual beings that have temporary bodies. The Law of Conservation of Energy says that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, but can change form. Life is energy, and therefore, cannot be destroyed and was never created. We only change form. Science has proven this time and time again.

#26 (17:54 – 18:40)

“Practice releasing the emotions of fear and guilt; replace them with love, forgiveness and kindness. If you are feeling guilty about your past conduct, remind yourself that you are inviting turmoil into your life. Release the guilt by forgiving yourself and vowing to avoid this sort of conduct in the future. Guilt is a waste of your mental energy. Everything that you have done is over, it all had a lesson for you. Using up your present moments feeling bad about it is only one more way of keeping yourself from being fully and spiritually alive in the present. Send guilt out of your life beginning now; it is just a thought away.”

Guilt is a very low energy to express. Dr. David Hawkins said this in Power versus Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, “Guilt-domination results in a preoccupation with ‘sin,’ an unforgiving emotional attitude frequently exploited by religious demagogues, who use it for coercion and control. Such ‘sin-and-salvation’ merchants, obsessed with punishment, are likely either acting out their own guilt, or projecting it unto others.” I see why guilt is one of the emotions that is most difficult to let go of. Not only is it used by many for coercion and manipulation, but the ego also feeds off of it to maintain its domination over our conscious evolution. Dr. Wayne Dyer says to release guilt by replacing them with love, forgiveness and kindness. Forgiveness is one of the most powerful tools; both forgiveness of oneself and others can have a profound effect on one’s spiritual evolution. It allows us to see that we are all humans and are prone to mistakes. Once you truly understand that human consciousness is innately innocent and that it cannot tell the difference between what is truth from what is not, then it cannot help but make mistakes. So you are instantly able to forgive. Your perception and experience of the world then changes. Consequently, there is no need to dwell on any given occurrence of the past because of this. Forgive yourself and move on. Learn from it and work on becoming a better person if you feel that how you reacted or what you did was not aligned with your true nature.

The experiences of life are all lessons for us, so we must release all guilt that resides in us because of mistakes of the past. These had to happen otherwise they wouldn’t have. So learn from them and vow not to make the same mistakes again. Great things will then happen in our lives. We all have to power within us to remove this guilt. We have the choice to do so; it is just a thought away.

Be kind and loving to all of life, in all of its expressions.

#25 (17:12 – 17:53)

“If you are engaging in addictive behavior of any kind, the most effective way to rid yourself of the addiction is to go directly to your higher Self and turn this problem over to God. That’s right, just turn it over, surrender knowing that the highest force in the Universe is within you. Simply say, ‘God, I am turning this addiction over to you. I have tried everything else, now I am trying you’. And allow the higher part of yourself and allow God in to help remove those temptations of the senses that you think you can’t live without.”

In listening to this lesson this morning, the twelve step program game to mind and I understand why the 12 step program has been so successful. It allows us to understand a fundamental principle, that there is a higher power greater than ourselves, that could restore us to sanity [STEP 2]. It is no coincidence that this step comes after admitting that one was powerless over one’s addiction [STEP 1], and before making a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of God as we understand God [STEP 3]. Isn’t this great? There is so much power in the 12 step program, power I am yet to fully comprehend, but it was designed in such a way that it brings forth a healing power that is at a very high level. I believe the key to it is the belief in a power higher than one’s own will, and when one admits that, through humility, then the blockages of the ego are removed somewhat, allowing the healing or recovery process to occur spontaneously.

We do not have the power within ourselves to bring forth this sort of energy, but once we surrender to the Source of All, we access the unlimited potentiality of the Universe. Therefore, if there is any addiction that you are suffering from, surrender to God as you understand God and repeat the mantra “God, I am turning this addiction over to you. I have tried everything else, now I am trying you” and watch the healing process occur. Amazing isn’t it?