Excerpt 1: “This tendency on the part of mankind to live ‘unexamined’ lives is what the late Fr. Anthony De Mello was referring to when he said these words:
Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep. They’re born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, and they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence.27
The desire to remain asleep is quite strong; the fact is that it’s much easier to stay focused on the every day world than it is to pay attention to the whisperings of one’s soul.”
Excerpt 2: “So what does it mean to have a Higher Self? Does it mean that we are the mortal version of a more advanced being? Does it mean, as many traditional religious texts espouse, that each of us is a lowly sinner that needs to prove ourselves worthy before we can come to know this Divine aspect of ourselves? Or does it perhaps mean that this Higher Self and we are actually one fully integrated entity existing in two separate dimensions?
While these questions cannot be definitively answered by any mortal being, I personally like this description of man’s/woman’s true nature that appeared in an inspiring book called, The Quest, A Journey of Spiritual Rediscovery:
We are creations of God. That makes us “children” of God, and so we resemble God. This is not to say we are God. We are not God anymore than a wave is the ocean, but the created reflects the nature of its creator. The wave is born of the ocean-it is a child of the ocean, and so while it can never be “the ocean”, it is nonetheless one with it. Like the wave, we are expressions of God’s Universe. We are indeed the Universe made alive.”32
[32 Richard and Mary-Alice Jafolla, The Quest, A Journey of Spiritual Rediscovery, (Unity Village, MO: Unity Movement Advisory Council, 1993), p. 49]
Excerpt 3: “At the fundamental level then, it is our thoughts that are the true currency of creation. This is because as children of God, we are connected to the God-Force at all times, for it is this higher intelligence that beats our hearts, digests our food, etc. Moreover, our connection to God is not simply physiologically based, but also exists at the level of mind. Our minds truly are extensions of the mind of God, and as such have enormous creative power. According to Dr. Joseph Murphy:
It is the world within, namely your thoughts, feelings and imagery that makes your world without. It is, therefore, the only creative power, and everything you find in your world of expression has been created by you in the inner world of your mind, consciously or unconsciously.”33
[33 Dr. Joseph Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963) p.24]
Excerpt 4: “I personally have come to believe that whatever you concentrate upon with strong emotion is precisely what will manifest in your reality, both the good and the bad. In that regard, consider this highly relevant excerpt from Lynn Grabhorn’s practical and very entertaining book, Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting:
It’s high time we woke up to the fact that we are electromagnetic beings tripping around with this mindboggling capacity to magnetize into our lives whatever in the world we desire by controlling the feelings that come from our thoughts.
There’s just no way around it, the way we feel is the way we attract. And more often than not those feelings come from our thoughts, setting up the instantaneous electromagnetic chain reactions that ultimately cause things to happen, to be created, to be withheld, or to be destroyed.32
We human beings are always thinking and feeling, and likewise always creating and attracting, simply because we are constantly sending out these energy impulses, and then taking actions based upon them. The implications of this are quite significant, because it suggests that whatever we are focusing on, we are either purposely or inadvertently giving form and substance to it.”
[36 Lynn Grabhorn, Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting, (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc., 2000) p.13]
Excerpt 5: “In the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus’ comment that, “The kingdom of God is within” suggests to me that only by looking inside ourselves we can come to experience true peace of mind. Once you do achieve this state, you’ll then clearly know that you are a ‘success’ regardless of what you do, what you earn, or what you own.”