objectivity, seeing what you want to see, and the awakening of intelligence

[Busby]

Originally Posted by happy soul

We're not mere people - 'human' is only the form of incarnation we take.

.

)

Are you sure about that?

I'm not.

And is incarnation the right word?

[Baile]

Originally Posted by happy soul

One thing is, which precedes/creates/begets which, willingness or readiness?

I was talking to one of my sisters once about my desire to quit smoking (which unfortunately I still haven't done.....btw if anyone reading this would like to pray that I quit this coming new year, please do) and I said that I needed to be READY to quit. She replied that I would be ready when I WANTED to.

I 100% understand the question you are asking here. It's a great question. I will offer my thoughts, and relate them via a story of my own wish to quit smoking many years ago.

I wanted to quit smoking. But I kept smoking. I look back now and I would say I kept smoking because I only said I wanted to quit, and only thought I was ready to quit. But in reality I was not WILLING to quit. I had offered up all the external and empty words and gestures, but hadn't actually made the inner connection. It's the inner connection that leads to the willful action.

From my experience, the will accomplish a thing is born of a higher desire and higher commitment that manifests when one has truly aligned with one's vision of their best Self. This will-union with the Higher Self is a completely different energy-dynamic than, for example, the more typical projecting of one's intellectual hopes and wishes into a situation.

Intellectual hopes and desires are impermanant; they come and go from one day to the next. Whereas alignment with Higher Self ideals is permamant and eternal. Once one recognizes the higher calling, it can never be undone and cannot ever be lost. It is a depth-connection experience, which forever remains part of the person's ongoing and never-ending soul evolution.

In my case, I awoke instananeously in my soul one morning in the midst of smoking a cigarette. The clarity, desire and alignment all hit me at once, from one moment to the next. It was nothing less than a paradigm shift in consciousness. I realized in that split second that I was not a smoker; that is not who I am. Smoking does not align with the vision I have of my best (Higher) Self. And so I quit smoking right then on the spot: butted it out and never smoked again, and barely ever had the desire after that. That was twenty years ago.

I did not quit for all the mundane, egotistical and intellectual reasons that had always failed me: health, money, smell, how it looks to others. I quit because a higher aspect of myself called me to quit. And it was the easiest thing in the world to quit after that. That is another aspect of Higher Self connection; it's easy, like breathing or laughter. Even AA in its own way acknowledges some of this when it speaks of the need to give over to a higher power.

You said, "We're not mere people - 'human' is only the form of incarnation we take." This story is a perfect example of that truth. I quit smoking because my incarnated human form stopped thinking about it, and instead opened up in that instant to my higher non-human spirit form... the Higher Self that always (and already) knows what the Lower Self requires in any incarnation.

And how does all this specifically apply to your question about willingness versus readiness? Maybe that could be another aspect of the discussion.

[happy soul]

Busby, well, I can't say I'm absolutely 100% certain. But I do have a lot of faith in it. Personal experience, logic, intuition, and even the evidence have me basically fully convinced. But I do admit it's possible that I'm mistaken.

Baile, that's a beautiful and inspiring story, and speaks to my situation. You see, what I'm hoping is that, this time (this attempt to quit) it really is 'time' for me to quit. In other words, my Higher Self wills that I quit this time.

But it can be confusing, because questions like is it even possible for me to fail to quit if my Higher Self wills it arise. I believe that, ultimately, 'all is as God wills it', everything is happening perfectly. We sometimes create pain/misfortune to have an opportunity for growth and learning. But as I said in my previous post, that could easily become an excuse or worse, a justification for doing wrong, so we do have to be careful not to misapply truth.

Your story about quitting is really amazing, and confirms some of my own thoughts about manifesting desires.

[Baile]

Originally Posted by happy soul

But it can be confusing, because questions like is it even possible for me to fail to quit if my Higher Self wills it arise. I believe that, ultimately, 'all is as God wills it', everything is happening perfectly.

Your story about quitting is really amazing, and confirms some of my own thoughts about manifesting desires.

Thanks. And yes, everything is happening perfectly. That is absolutely true, and one can then relax into life, knowing that truth. Now, it's that knowing-relaxing into life that helps open one up to their Higher Self. One becomes far less concerned and preoccupied with mundane, lower-self day-to-day worries. That in turn creates an open space in one's thoughts and soul for higher inspiration to find a place.

I find it's a state of mind and awareness that can be practiced and nurtured over time. I've had several of these types of extreme and obvious Higher Self interventions. And I feel a gentle connection with my Higher Self on a minute-by-minute basis, each day and every day. For me, it's finding joy and being positive that brings this about. Now I realize that it is hard to choose to be joyful and positive if one's life is a mess, yes. But in my case, I changed my life many years ago, specifically so as to place myself in a happy, peaceful environment where I could be joyful and positive. So even that is a choice.

For me, manifesting desires has much to do with being in a place or state where one truly feels open and free. That in turn creates a life of open and free possibility, where everything and anything is allowed to blossom. This by the way is very much connected to your topic. It is all about the awakening of the Higher Self intelligence. It is the process whereby the lower self subjective ego is transformed, and is born anew as it discovers eternal union with Higher Self objective knowledge and understanding.

[happy soul]

You really amaze me Baile. It's now obvious to me that you're a very wise and advanced soul. People definitely get a feel for people, get a sense of them, through experience and interaction.

Anyway, I'm gonna read that (your most recent post) a few more times because I feel that it's a message for me.

I have nothing else to add except that everything you said resonated with me.

Peace!

[Baile]

Originally Posted by happy soul

I have nothing else to add except that everything you said resonated with me.

Peace!

Thanks happy soul, and I always look for your new threads for the same reasons. Even your user name says it all. In my experience, the spiritual path (healthy, healing, holistic beingness) is all about nurturing happy joy within one's soul, and that's about it.

[Miss Hepburn]

https://stepstoknowledge.com/index.html

Hi !
Well, I perused the website. Being an ACIM advocate ...I wondered, 'Gee,
why would someone need another daily workbook? Lol.
ACIM and The Way of Mastery both channeled by Jesus seem like enough."

But, what do I know!?
Each teacher touches yet another student...that would not otherwise find wisdom and guidance elsewhere!
Plus, The Course is sometimes a bit highbrow...and many get through one page and close the book!
The Text has very advanced and 'different' concepts....bends the mind a bit too much for some!
My mind got very 'bent'....hahaha, or stretched.
I didn't read far enough to see if this was Holy Spirit based....hope so.


Seems like a neat daily workbook.
I give it a , happy soul.


And yup, everything is happening perfectly....the good, the bad and the ugly....
and then, we see ALL is good...always! Always has been!!! Right?

[happy soul]

Thanks again Baile. I think Abraham would agree with you that it's all about joy and happiness. As he says, 'Nothing is more important than feeling good.'

Thanks Miss Hepburn for sharing the link. Many of the lessons in the year long workbook in Steps to Knowledge are very similar to ACIM. It's the same basic 'thought system' that's being taught, so naturally there's a lot of similarity. To be honest with you I haven't worked through the StK workbook (I've done the ACIM workbook several times), but I've read all the lessons (as with ACIM the main affirmations are in the table of contents) and although some of the details are different, it's kind of just another form of the same thing as ACIM.

[happy soul]

Miss Hepburn, are you familiar with 'The Holy Spirit's Interpretation of the New Testament'? (NTI for short)

It's channeled by the Holy Spirit and published by The Foundation for the Holy Spirit. It doesn't have a workbook, but it's hailed by many as a great masterpiece on par with ACIM, and as a companion to it. I'm currently reading it and it's really amazing.

[Baile]

Originally Posted by happy soul

Miss Hepburn, are you familiar with 'The Holy Spirit's Interpretation of the New Testament'? (NTI for short)

It's channeled by the Holy Spirit and published by The Foundation for the Holy Spirit. It doesn't have a workbook, but it's hailed by many as a great masterpiece on par with ACIM, and as a companion to it. I'm currently reading it and it's really amazing.

Esoteric Christianity -- studying the occult reality behind the Christ impulse and Jesus mystery -- was an essential aspect of my own awakening. Not suggesting it's necessary for everyone. And that's because it's actually about the process -- the reflective, intuitive penetration into the ideas presented -- rather than the specific topic or subject matter itself. Just pointing out that reflective processing opened me up to the realization that closed, predetermed beliefs are anathema to objective understanding and knowledge (truth, as you called it in your first post).

And going back to your first post, I would say all of it is difficult if not impossible to grasp unless one has reached the point on their path where they have renounced hardened belief, in all its forms. Books like NTI are like grade school primers for spiritual students who are taking their initial steps away from any and all exoteric belief-system modes of thinking.