rse! Never under estimate what a few committed people can do!

OM SHANTI OM SHANTI OM SHANTI

WHAT IF? .......from "Fire in the Soul" by Joan Borysenko, Ph.D

What if you were a fragment of a larger consciousness? Such a fragment can be thought of as a creative impulse that is at once unique yet made of the same essence as all other souls... All the cells of our body - eyes, ears, heart, muscles, liver and so on - are encoded with the full intelligence of the body. Hypothetically an entire replica, or clone, of the body could be grown from a single cell. Similarly, the creative intelligence of the Universe is perfectly present in each of its parts. We are like holograms of the One Mind.

I am a child of the One Light

The Wisdom of the Universe is present within me

What if the One Mind knows itself through its creations? The same life-force that grows an oak from an acorn, a mountain from the earth’s molten core, a stream from the spring thaw, a child from an egg and a sperm, an idea from the mind of a human being is present in all things, all thoughts and all experiences. There is no place where It is not. The One Mind lives its Stories and knows itself through perceiving the reflections it creates, yet it is simultaneously present in those reflections.

God is present in all things, all experiences.

The Universe knows itself and expands itself through me.

What if the purpose of my existence is to become truly loving, and through that love find my way back to the divine source. Think about those times in which you have felt most fully human - present to a sunset, aware of the light in the eyes of a child, being kind or helpful with no thought of return, filled with the peace that comes from forgiveness. In these loving moments we feel connected to a greater whole. Love is the topic of many of the First Stories that were left to guide us home: the forgiving love of the father for the Prodigal Son, the blissful love of the gopis for the Lord Krishna, the pure and devoted love of Mary Magdalene for Jesus. The simple love of the prince who awakens Snow White from a deathlike sleep.

I am ready to wake up now.

My Higher Self is full of love stories.

What if we find our freedom through struggling against darkness. Where would Luke Skywalker be without Darth Vader? How would Jacob have walked across the Jabbok River to claim his new life without first wrestling with the angel who crippled his thigh? Would Camelot have been so sweet if Arthur had been handed it on a silver platter? Dark nights can awaken First Stories of freedom, or they can reinforce the belief that we are powerless. The choice for bondage or freedom is ours. It is called Free Will.

Darkness is the great awakener.

In facing adversity I can find my freedom.

What if you were immortal. Imagine that the suit of flesh you are currently sitting in is a spacesuit that you need in order to venture into an alien world. You have temporarily forgotten that you put this suit on to have an adventure and actually believe that the suit is who you are. Imagine your surprise at the moment of "death." Your suit falls off, its purpose complete, and your soul rises back into the presence of the Light from which you emerged. There, in the presence of overwhelming love, you are helped to review this life - which seems much like a dream when it’s over - and evaluate the stories you have spun. Were they stories of love and freedom, or did you fall asleep and dream stories of fear?

I can wake up now.

I can chose to believe in love over fear

What if those things that seem unfair turn out to make sense? According to those who have returned from near-death experiences, it is there, in the presence of the Light, that we understand the circumstances of our life. Everything makes sense and we seem to have had exactly the adventure that our soul required to find its way back to the Source. If we had previously - in other lives and other realms of being - created stories of fear that hid the First Stories of love, we had to face those fears and overcome them.

I am given the circumstances I require for my awakening.

Every situation, seen rightly, contains the seeds of freedom.

What if you have all the help you need to find your way back to the Light? Your own Higher Self and your guides - teachers and comforting presences in the nonphysical realm who accompany you throughout life (same people think of these beings as guardian angels) - are always trying to get your attention. Many people who have had near-death experiences meet these guides when they are out of their bodies and subsequently maintain a conscious communication with them. But whether you are conscious of them or not, they are always trying to communicate with you.

All the help I need is available to me.

I can receive it by asking.

What if pain is also an act of service. When your own heart has been broken you are most empathetic to the suffering of others. You then become what Thornton Wilder called "a soldier if love’s service." Only those "broken by the wheels of living," said Wilder, could serve in this way. A mother who has lost her son can become a special beacon of hope to other bereaved parents. A person who is living well with cancer, or who has recovered against all odds, is uniquely helpful to others traveling the same territory. One who has suffered incest or been betrayed, brutalized or abandoned and has set herself or himself free through forgiveness is especially able to help others learn how to forgive.

The power to love and serve grows through pain.

I can offer healing to others as I heal myself.

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