Whole Life Magazine

February / March 2017

Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/781893

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 17 of 43

yoga & spirit By Neale Donald Walsch A Spiritual Perspective MANY FACETS OF A DEEPLY DIVIDED COUNTRY T he world is shaking with change, and that's problematical, because change inevitably creates division. We're seeing this now in the United States, which is deeply divided once again as a new president takes offi ce—even as it was in 2008 when this was last occurring. But it doesn't have to be this way. There's a way around all of this. The problem, of course, is fear. There are many people who are afraid of what the future will bring. There are also many who are not. They are, in fact, celebrating the change. Few would dispute, however, that there is a deep divide in the country. There are those who say that this divide is wid- er than it has ever been. For sure, many partisans on both sides of the di- vide are more vocal than ever. And some are, sadly, less civil. If you're among those feeling a little fear these days, if only because of this divide and the under- current of anxiousness and even anger it seems to be producing in some people, you're not alone. We've carefully constructed the web of our lives, and when one part of the web shakes, the rest of the web feels it. Just as in some animals who run for higher ground when they sense an earthquake coming, our human senses, too, are highly attuned to the energy shifts that surround us. We feel it on a primal level and it can shake us to our core, igniting a 'fi ght or fl ight' reaction. The question now before America: Is there an effective spiri- tual response to the energy shift that's taking place in the Unit- ed States? Is there a spiritual message that can heal the divide, allowing all of us, and not just a portion of us, to move forward with positive feelings about tomorrow? For me, the answer is yes, and here's why: Spiritual teachers through the ages have offered us the insight that we are, each of us, Individuations of the Divine. Even if we do not believe, in the literal sense, that God and we are One, many feel that a higher power exists and surrounds us, creating an energy fi eld outside of ourselves that connects us all. Call it the Cosmos, the Universe, Divinity—whatever works for you. If we simply believe on a scientifi c level that all energy is cre- ative, then we are one with all creation. And if we experience this as being true, then our thought about it virtually compels us to change our idea about change itself—because we would have to see that all change is happening "through us," not "to us." We would have to also see that all change is change for the better. There can be no such thing as change for the worse, in the sense that every change is a step in our evo- lutionary process. We see this all around us. And we observe that evolution only moves in one direction: forward, not backward. It is, in fact, what produces change, and then gen- erates our next response to it. And so, the knowing that we cannot be the victims of circumstances which we are collaboratively creat- ing invites us to shift from the fear-driven question: "How can this hurt me?" to "How can this help me?" Or, even better: "How can this moment be leveraged to serve the greater good, and how can I participate in and contribute to it?" Now there is an irony here. One might call it the supreme irony. The irony is that when enough people shift to this more positive perspective, the miracle of metaphysics will begin to transform the world around us. And, this is where the invitation is to think about change in a new way. Thus, we have found our solution to the problem of fearing change—and the divide that it has created in America today between people welcoming and people worried about the days to come. And so, the opportunity now is one of transcendence. We can replace fear of tomorrow with gratitude to life for providing us with a golden moment in which to heal an old wound, alter an old pattern, shift an old reality, release an old story, change an old idea, and create a new experience of self and life. Adopting this spiritual perspective allows us to be certain 18 wholelifetimes.com

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Whole Life Magazine - February / March 2017