The Positive Approach - Lesson 30

The Positive Approach

By Peter Shepherd

Listen to the Lesson:

I have taken to heart the following three quotes as the basis for my thoughts and intentions at this time, regarding personal and world events. I feel this positive approach is empowered by the love that is the nature of our being, and is effective in creating peace and happiness. The alternative - applying resistance, judgment, antagonism and hatred - is to be ruled by fear, which is to deny one's essence, and has the effect of empowering that which one opposes.

(1) Peace Pilgrim states...

"In my work I have chosen the positive approach. I never think of myself as protesting against something, but rather as witnessing for harmonious living. Those who witness for, present solutions. Those who witness against, usually do not - they dwell on what is wrong, resorting to judgment and criticism and sometimes even name-calling. Naturally, the negative approach has a detrimental effect on the person who uses it, while the positive approach has a good effect.

"When an evil is attacked, the evil mobilizes, although it may have been weak and unorganized before, and therefore the attack gives it validity and strength. When there is no attack, but instead good influences are brought to bear upon the situation, not only does the evil tend to fade away, but the evildoer tends to be transformed. The positive approach inspires; the negative approach makes angry.

"When you make people angry, they act in accordance with their baser instincts, often violently and irrationally. When you inspire people, they act in accordance with their higher instincts, sensibly and rationally. Also, anger is transient, whereas inspiration sometimes has a life-long effect."

Behind the apparent reality of war and violence the higher reality is love and peace. The energy of love comes from all our hearts but is misdirected if we have attention on our fears, which occurs if we resist the reality of what appears to us and our own part in creating that reality. For we do indeed create our life experience. That is a high-level spiritual viewpoint, the viewpoint of God, but if we accept that we are individual lamps of God-light, to manifest God in our lives we need to recognize our causation and incorporate that knowledge into our world view and understanding of events.

Freely download Peace Pilgrim's biography -
Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words

(2) The Chinese Proverb...

"If there is light in the soul,
There will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person,
There will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house,
There will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
There will be peace in the world."

We all face the issue of how best to go about integrating a spiritual viewpoint into our daily lives. The everyday game of life appears very different from the view of the angels. Many things happen that we do not consciously initiate. We have friends and enemies, loves and hates. Some are on our side, others against us. The spiritual, birds-eye view however - the conscious view - is that this game of our lives is something we continuously create, in order to teach ourselves experiential lessons. We reflect our state of being in our surroundings, so they act as a mirror. This is God experiencing His/Her creation to the full. We are also engaged in raising the vibration of Earth energies towards a higher dimension, closer to our source, the creative power behind all. We are not just individual islands, our purpose really extends to a universal scale.

So we need to live our human lives but instead of making the world increasingly solid (and our fears and resistances increasingly strong) we need to step back and remember that each one of us is actually creating the reality we experience, through the power of our higher selves, at one with God. Then step back in and encompass all with our presence. Reality is lighter than we may think, and we can change our life experience by adjusting our viewpoints and beliefs to become closer to our true nature - which is in every case loving and non-judgmental.

The personal insights that I have discovered bear out the truth of this spiritual viewpoint, that we do indeed create our lives and situation, based on our beliefs. Often it is particularly the subconscious and suppressed beliefs that determine our internal conflicts and fears, and cause us to lose sight of our essential being. There are ways and means of uncovering this stuff and of realizing our essence - that is there all along - so we can knowingly create our reality in accordance with our loving nature.

Human beings in the last 2000 years have progressed little (in terms of human nature) but times are changing. Personal growth tools help us to learn faster and more effectively from our experience and so enhance the quality of the further experiences we will create. We also aspire to discover our spiritual nature and again we haven't made a lot of progress unaided (and religion hasn't been a great help). But now better tools are available. For example, modern techniques help a person to achieve in a few years what Buddhist monks take many lifetimes learning.

Actually the process is simply stated: we need to look afresh, in the present moment, and clear away our false assumptions and fixed ideas by shining a light of objectivity and honesty. Our guidance in this process is love. We can all do this and the time is right.

(3) Shakti Gawain...

"Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow - it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it."

We all have a belief system full of ideas imprinted by our culture and upbringing, and as the effect of earlier traumatic experiences, and even influences we are born with. They are here with us all the time in the present and effect our view of things and interpretation of events, so that we are not really free to be ourselves, and to know our true selves and our true goals and purposes in life.

We all therefore need to follow an effective path of personal development!

What's Next

It is possible to find out what your true goals in life are and to attain those goals. It is possible to recognize what your problems really are and to fix those problems for good. Unlimited possibilities then open up for you. Most of us struggle on. We do everything bar change our minds. Only a few realize that the path of improvement means changing ourselves. Those who have this realization - and act on it - gain what others can only dream about. All you have to lose is whatever stands in your way. Nothing will change unless you do. This free course will be a big help for you...

The New Life Course is based on principles that have helped thousands of people, endorsed by experts over many years. A step by step approach is followed throughout to help you uncover the self-imposed barriers to self-knowledge and freedom of expression and action. The course is available to purchase and download in PDF format.

If you are interested in the spiritual path, the Love is All You Need program is for you. It contains a wonderful selection of methods and meditations that are really quite transformative. Plus Your Inner Truth presents a phenomenal range of journaling tools to help you find the truth of your situation. You may feel stressed, or confused, there may be a lot going on and choices to make that seem a bit overwhelming. Or you may simply need time with yourself, to decide what is it you really want... and just who are you, really?

And then, Is There Life After Death? is a fascinating read.

Podcast: The Way Forward

The current years are felt by many to be a turning point in the consciousness of humanity. Make or break. The turn-around in consciousness - a spiritual awakening - will need to come from within us. It is a change that we can create - and this is the time.

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