DIVINE GUIDANCE

In this short essay, we'll stick close to the tradition of Religious Science and if what we say fails to address your own particular experience of divine guidance, bear in mind Jesus' words, "It is done unto you as you believe."

We believe in the essential unity of everything. There is one Spirit which expresses as everything: Mind, thought, Life, sensation, Substance, body, things... stars, spiders, people, politics, potholes, junk and joy. We are seamlessly integrated in every aspect of our being and consciousness with God and the rest of the universe. We are not apart from God, we are each a part of God, an individualized expression of God-consciousness. Consciousness is perfect, but the use we individually make of Consciousness is limited. The on-going adventure of human life could be characterized as the growth or evolution of our "own" limited consciousness toward complete consciousness, the climb from ignorance to knowledge, the "journey of the soul toward Spirit."

On our journey, we are "guided" in many ways. We are equipped with a basic built-i
"urge" to live and express life more abundantly. We naturally move toward what is pleasing to us and away from what is unpleasant to us. On a physical, animal level this is automatic, "natural". We need no guidance to like pleasure and dislike pain. We need only experience in order to learn what we like and dislike.

But we are not robots. We can and do choose how we will increase our pleasure and minimize our pain. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes... something else happens, and the desire for "guidance" arises in us. We observe our parents, ask our friends, study books, practice our skills, consult counselors, we pray (often as a last resort!) to whatever "higher power" we conceive... for guidance.

When we (finally) pray for guidance, it is very helpful to actually believe that we can receive guidance, that we can recognize it when it appears. We can. All Knowledge is present right now in the one Mind, of which our "own" mind is a part. When we open ourselves to believing that whatever we need to know is available to us when we need to know it, then it is! The key is our belief that we CAN know, and this is often a major stumbling-block. Recall, "It is done unto you as you believe."

Even believing that we can receive guidance, we must still recognize it amidst all of the events that make up our daily experience. It may happen that you will be interrupted by a fanfare of trumpets and a radiant being intoning the sought-after knowledge to your ears. It may happen that you "remember" what you need to know; "Oh, I knew that!" What you need may be presented to you as an opportunity to try something you've never done before, or as a "failure" that forces you to "find another way". "Divine Guidance" only speaks to us in ways that we can understand, but we must pay attention.

If, when we say, "Oh well, I know that God is guiding me", we are expressing our belief that this is so, then it is. If we are just making nice-sounding excuses for our latest screw-up, then it's just that, an excuse. When we're honest with ourselves, we know the truth.

If we are just guessing or hoping that we are being divinely guided (rather than believing it) then, most likely, we are simply being "herded" by what's known as "race mind" or conventional wisdom, the lowest common denominator of collective belief. By conscious intention, we can raise ourselves by aligning our consciousness with the highest conception of Good that we can imagine, and let that be our guide.

These, then, are the keys to divine guidance: believe and pay attention. "Ask and it shall be given you. Knock and the door shall be opened." However, it is up to us to receive, and step through the opened door. nnnn