A special message from Laura Fine: Fear and Faith

How do we regard such an incident as the massacre of dear school children? There are 3 primary realms of existence, the material, emotional and spiritual.rnIn the material realm, this is a tragedy beyond measure. Nothing can make sense of a senseless act, especially one of violence acted upon innocent children. And yet it happens. Innocent helpless children were massacred. A mother murdered by her son. Where is the father? How does the mind of a boy become so sick to perform such a heinous act? It merits accountability and punishment to the greatest extreme, and even that is robbed from his victims through suicide. On the emotional plane, the range of feelings in response to such an incident is vast: helplessness, terror, rage, despair, numbness, denial, fear. How to we go on? How do we respond? How do we enter a store, a movie, walk across the street without looking over our shoulder? Fear spreads its wings across our continent like a blanket as we lock our doors and increase our hyper vigilance. There is no longer a safe haven outside our barricaded home for play or rest. In the Spiritual Realm, there is only perfection. Every birth and death is perfectly timed. There are only lessons and spiritual values such as trust, faith, surrender, compassion, forgiveness and detachment. No crime is unforgivable and no soul ever dies, they simply change bodies.rnTo move forward without fear we must integrate all 3 realms of existence. We live in a world of paradox filled with unspeakable horrors and unfathomable beauty. How do we co-exist with both extremes and stay sane, safe and stable? Those who create a relationship with both the physical and non-physical realms have an ability to mentally and emotionally cope during times of uncontrollable devastation. Anchoring a practice of mental beliefs in the spiritual qualities, such as goodness and love, has a rehabilitating effect on the mind and heart. A faith based practice calms the mind, the heart and the emotions. When we feel helpless its natural to want to blame something or someone. When we can’t direct it at something or someone concrete, we direct our helpless emotions toward the intangible. And this is where faith can be shaken. When faith is shaken, we can be overtaken by fear. When we have faith, there is no fear. In my years of coaching and counseling those who have survived and thrived after trauma have faith as a key component for recovery. However you choose to have faith, in whomever you choose to have faith, if your faith is rooted in the belief of a wisdom and power greater than yourself then your mind and heart relax and heal more wholly. When you make a practice of faith through meditation, prayer, contemplation, imagination, worship and ritual that is rooted in goodness, your physiology produces oxytocin and positive endorphins. Faith is good for you. It’s impossible to prove the existence of something non-material with material measures. So the question ultimately is not whether God or a higher power actually exists. The question is what will having the practice of a belief in a higher power result in? For uncountable people who have a deep faith based practice, one common benefit is a strong feeling of inner peace. You can’t measure that, but what if the powerful feeling of inner peace, was in and of itself, proof that a higher power, that is wiser then you and good, does exist? That inner peace when practiced stays strong even when you don’t understand the paradoxical events of this world. When unspeakable horror brushes close to your door, practice faith, it will stabilize your mind. Hold onto the anchor of faith. - Laura FinernDirector, Lionheart Institute