When we stepped away from ourselves,
It was simply to learn more about ourselves.
It was meant to be a tiny,
Momentary wish to be something completely different from our identity in the limitlessness of love.
But in order to make the experience of limitation and the loss of love seem real,
We had to completely forget our spiritual reality for the moment.
And as we dreamed and took our first imaginative step away from our oneness with the inner self into the physical world,
It instantly became real for us.
It seemed so real that we immediately believed we were bound and had no memory of our freedom or our loving heritage.
And we're still dreaming.
The chaos,
The conflicts,
The threatening planetary changes,
And the suffering we perceive seem to grow more pervasive and overwhelming each day.
Feeling helpless in the face of these complex problems that seem to have no solution,
Many of us retreat into depression or frantically search for remedies to deal with our rising anxiety.
As we try to numb ourselves against the frightening projections of that first misstep away from love,
Or redouble our efforts to fight what we're seeing,
We become more convinced each day that the dream is real.
In the midst of our pain,
The voice of the inner self is becoming more and more irrepressible,
Telling us it's time to wake up from the nightmare we have believed for so long.
It's time to respond to the deep,
Unbreakable inner knowing that what we're seeing cannot be our destiny.
It's often when we feel most deeply victimized and truly admit that we have no answers for the problems we face,
That we create an opening that allows the inner self to intervene and begin to show us solutions that are beyond anything we could have imagined in the dream.
In the story I shared in the first episode,
I clearly believed in the reality of the victimization and injustice I perceived.
I saw these experiences as problems that were separate from myself,
Aspects of the physical world I needed to fight against to change.
It wasn't until I gave up and I admitted that all the solutions I had tried had failed to bring about the changes I wanted,
That the inner self could begin to show me its presence within me and the power of forgiveness as the source of all change.
As I surrendered to the experience of not knowing the answers I sought,
I could encounter the prospect that there were no answers,
And it was in that darkness that I knew this could not be true.
Finally,
Reawakening to the heritage of love,
I felt the desire for its reality and demanded its evidence in my life.
With this renewal,
I allowed the intervention of the inner self in my life and immediately was introduced to my first spiritual teacher.
For me,
For each of us,
The inner self is the real champion behind every breath that we take.
Remember that what you're seeing rose in response to your desire to playfully exercise your powerful freedom of choice and experience the reverse of love.
The freedom to choose is still within you.
You can use it now to begin the journey back to love.
The same power fueled by your deep desire for the reality of love will end the nightmare.
Here's a meditation.
Close your eyes and breathe gently and slowly.
See yourself just as you are this day,
Looking out onto the landscape of your life.
Let yourself see the full array of all the challenges you see in your life right now.
Images of those in your personal life as well as those images of problems you see in the world that frighten and overwhelm you.
Then turn around and away from the dream and see your inner self welcoming you with open arms.
Step forward and let yourself be embraced by this champion.
Listen as this self reassures you that you're beginning a journey back to love.
Feel the warmth,
The truth,
And the love of this eternal partner.
Then open your eyes and carry this strength into your day.
