Let us begin with a question: What do you believe? You may say, “There are way too many answers to that question. I believe many things.” So, let’s narrow our focus. What do you believe about your purpose on this planet? Why are you here? Do you even have solid beliefs about that? Most do not. Most humans have beliefs that attempt to explain your relationship with the physical world as you know it, as well as your connection to the Creator of this world and the universe that surrounds it. Those beliefs typically come from your religious traditions. But if you ask the leaders of the religions why the world was created and why God put you here, they will say, “We don’t really know. It’s part of the mysteries of our faith. We only know that we must love and serve God.”
Most of your religious and spiritual leaders agree on that belief—that they should love and serve God. But at the same time, they hold many different beliefs about the world and what God wants from them. Some will say, “I believe and teach that God loves everyone equally and unconditionally, and that His forgiveness is not something we must earn—it is always given freely. We simply cannot offend an all-loving God.” Some will say, “I believe and teach that God loves everyone equally. But just like the parent of a naughty child, there are some things humans do that displease God and make Him angry with us.” Others will say, “I believe and teach that we must earn the love of God, and there are some things we do that God despises. He will forgive us only if we perform the right rituals and say the right words to get back in His favor.” And still others will say, “I believe and teach that God hates certain acts and choices and he hates the people who engage in them.” Where do you fall on that spectrum of belief?
What are Your Beliefs?
Now let’s expand our focus. What do you believe about politics and government? Which form of government is best? Which party is most fit to lead? How much authority should government have in the day-to-day lives of ordinary people?
What do you believe about money? Is it good or bad? Is it better to spend or save? What are the correct things to spend money on, and what expenditures are foolish? What about those people who have enormous wealth—are they to be admired or despised?
What do you believe about food? Is it fine to eat whatever you want? Should humans avoid eating the flesh of animals? Should you avoid their eggs and milk?
What about music and art? Is one form more important than another? Are some forms inherently bad?
What about education? Does it matter if you go to college? Does it matter which college you go to? Is it important what you study? Should you study something that interests you or something that has the most potential to earn you lots of money?
What about your health? Should you exercise a lot or a little? Is it best to run or walk, lift weights or do yoga? And if you become ill, what will bring you the fastest path to healing: pharmaceuticals or naturopathic remedies?
And what about love—how it should be shared and with whom? Are there people who don’t deserve love? Are some expressions of love offensive to God? Should a commitment you make to someone in love be kept at all costs, or should commitments be broken in some circumstances?
Finally, what about work? Should you do work you are passionate about, or should you pursue the highest-paying work you can get? Are some types of work more important than others? Are there vocations that are offensive to God? Is there some larger purpose to your work?
Those are a lot of questions, representing many points of view. Reflect for a moment on how many more things there are in this world about which you can have a point of view.
Now, imagine you are back in high school and it’s graduation day. All your classmates are assembled in the gym for the commencement ceremony, and there is an air of anticipation and excitement in the room. The keynote speaker takes the stage, and in the course of her address she asks you all of those questions. Think for a moment about how you would have answered them on that day and where those answers came from.
What about work? At that point in your life, you probably did not have much experience with it–perhaps only a part-time job with limited responsibility. But you likely learned a certain work ethic from your parents and teachers.
What about love? Who taught you what it means to love and be loved when you were 17 years old? Perhaps your parents, peers, or the media?
And money? At such a young age, you probably did not yet have direct control over much money. So where did your beliefs about money come from? Perhaps your parents, teachers, or friends?
Have Your Beliefs Changed?
Now imagine it’s 10 years later and your graduating class is getting together for a reunion. Most of your classmates are there, excitedly exchanging stories about what the past 10 years of life have been like, and most of the stories relate to one or more of the questions your graduation speaker posed 10 years ago. As you speak to many people, what do you notice about their current beliefs? How many of them seem to have shifted their personal truth? Some will tell you, “Well, I used to believe thus and so, but then I had a significant life experience that changed my point of view.” And how many still believe pretty much the same way they did in high school? You will find the full spectrum in that room.
Now let’s move out another 10 years to your 20-year high school reunion. The joy of connecting with old friends is high, and the conversations inevitably come back to those same questions about major life themes: education, work, love, money, health, entertainment, and so on. But what a difference another 10 years make in what you and your peers believe about the world and your place in it. Some will have married their high school sweethearts and then divorced. Some will say they have yet to find true love. Some will have experienced significant health challenges, while others have found new heights of health and well-being. Some will have made lots of money, and some will have lost most of what they had. Some will have found deep faith in a religious or spiritual belief system, and others will have had the foundations of their faith shaken out from under them.
Now project out future decades to the 30th, 40th, and 50th reunions. So much more life experience has passed. So many more beliefs have come and gone. There has been joy and sorrow, hardship and abundance, love and fear, new life and the loss of loved ones. Some of your friends will not be there because they, too, have transitioned out of physical existence altogether.
Whatever changes you have experienced, the one thing you all still have in common is that you believe certain things about the world. Everyone has a box of belief that defines how the world works and what their place in it is. You simply don’t function in the physical world without that box. But what is different now is that your beliefs have all evolved through your individual life experience to where your boxes all look much different than they used to. When you graduated, your boxes were more similar to each other because most of your life experiences to that point weren’t vastly different. With some exceptions, the people you gravitated toward in high school had fairly similar upbringings, and fairly similar goals in life. Those who had vastly different boxes probably didn’t interest you that much. In fact, you probably judged them for it.
But now life experience has changed your box of belief. Old truths have fallen away. New truths have come and gone. Some things that once were mysteries now seem clear. And yet you know that you have felt certainty about things before, only to then have that certainty shaken by new life experience. Perhaps you put your faith in a religious, political, or career paradigm, only to find yourself thinking later, “This just can’t be correct. There must be something more truthful than this.”
Are You Comfortable with Your Current Beliefs?
By the time you reach your 30-year reunion, most of you will have had enough life experience to know that your beliefs are constantly evolving. And yet, most also still have the desire to find a belief that is absolute truth so that you can stick with it. It’s human nature to want to feel correct. You want to have certainty that you are living “a good life” or that you are living according to “what God wants” from you. And once you find something that feels comfortable enough, you tend to think, “Ah, now I know. Now I’m doing it right.”
Friends, there is no right and wrong in the human experience. You are given free will on this planet, and that means you are in charge of your thoughts and actions at all times without judgment from God. You are always loved unconditionally no matter the choices you make, or the circumstances they bring.
But what we want to illustrate through this message is that for most humans, whatever your beliefs are about the world at any given time are just another step in your evolution. That includes what you believe today. We ask you to resist the temptation to think that you have it figured out simply because it feels comfortable or because you know in your heart that what you believe today feels more enlightened than what you believed 10, 20, or 30 years ago. Your confidence in what you believe today may feel justified because you have the perspective of, “I went through that challenge and came out the other end, and now I know myself better than I ever have.” It’s true—you do know yourself better. But what we want you to keep in mind is that there is always so much more to know.
As long as you define yourself according to what you see around you in the physical world—your college; your career; your relationships; your health; the money or possessions you have or don’t have; the art, music, or entertainment that interests you; where you go on vacation—as long as your definition of yourself hinges on these things, you are still containing yourself in a box belief that is much smaller than who you truly are.
Are You Willing to Believe You are More?
Most humans have no idea how big they really are. We have said it before, and we will continue to say it: You are part of the Creator of All That Is. You are Divine Spirit in human form. Part of you has intentionally chosen to embody with the goal of waking up to the Truth of who you really are. That’s what it’s all about. Everything else is just a preference born of your human free will and informed by your life experience. Your box may be much bigger than it was decades ago. You may have made it big enough that it feels very comfortable and leads you to believe you are living “a good life”. There’s nothing at all wrong with that. But we’re here to say, “Why settle even for that comfortable box when you could know how magnificent you truly are? Why continue to limit yourself?”
Some people have fooled themselves into thinking they have achieved a high degree of enlightenment simply because they have created that comfortable box. They have learned the power of their thoughts in creating their reality, and they have used them to create a physical reality that looks great by earthly standards—abundant financial wealth, good health, meaningful relationships, and satisfying work. If you are one of those people, we congratulate you on mastering free will to create a comfortable earth existence. And we are here to tell you that a comfortable earth existence is not why you embodied on this planet. Neither were you born to be poor and lonely. The point is that both ends of the physical spectrum are irrelevant to the true purpose of life.
The purpose of human existence is to realize that you are SO MUCH BIGGER than just human. SO MUCH BIGGER! Most of you really have no idea yet. And that is why you continue to embody. Enjoy all the trappings of physical comfort while you are here. But do not let those trappings become a distraction from the Truth of you truly are. Do not allow yourself to think that because you have mastered physical manifestation, you are more enlightened than your neighbor who has not.
The true measure of how much you have awakened to who you truly are is the level of love you feel and share. As we have said many times before, love includes compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and the wisdom that comes through living in alignment with these values. They vibrate at the frequency of your Divine Source, and they are at the opposite end of the spectrum from fear and all of its components, such as anger, resentment, shame, and regret.
When you align your thoughts and feelings with love, you allow Source Energy—the Creative Energy of God—to flood your life. It is then that Truth reveals itself. You blow the lid off your box of belief about who you are in the world, and you begin to catch glimpses of just how big you really are. When you step into that energy, you reflect it back to others. That encourages them to open their own box of belief and see how big they are. Then others notice their expansion and say, “I don’t know what she’s got, but I want some.” That, my friends, is how the expansion of the human consciousness starts to snowball, and that is how a more benevolent and just world is created.
Do you really want to change the world? Start by looking at whether you’re aligned more with love or fear. Then seek to align with love more and more, every moment that you can. Open your current box with your conscious intention to know your own magnificence. Open yourself to receive and share the Divine Love of God. Then watch how Truths become apparent to you that previously you could not see through your box of belief. That’s why you’re here, you know.
We honor your commitment to your journey, and we’re always right beside you, cheering you on.
Image credit: distel2610