Soul Guidance
By Mary Cook, M.A., R.A.S.
When we seem blocked from spiritual progress, we are likely listening to the wrong source of inner guidance. We are both human and spiritual. Our mind dictates advice based on the culture and habits of our family, society and environment, while higher consciousness offers our soul’s perspective.
Our human mind gives us what we need to function in our specific social system. We learn to master tasks, acquire abilities and define and meet goals that give us a sense of esteem and empowerment. Our five senses help us determine our particular responses to stimuli. We seek gratification of desires and needs and avoidance of pain and confusion. We in the western world especially, experience materialism, which emphasizes security and power through abundant finances, competition and consumerism.
We are here with a deep longing to learn, experience and evolve, according to our character traits and talents, and their potential. We and our lives are dual in nature; blending healthy and unhealthy, knowledge and ignorance, attraction and repulsion, stewardship and exploitation, wealth and impoverishment and so on. Earthly life is not meant to be perfect bliss and harmony.
The key to accomplish our purpose, however is to attend equally to both human and spiritual aspects and discern between the two.
When we are significantly harmed or deprived in early life and have no resources with which to heal, our minds’ focus can become dominantly fear based. This then propels a preponderance of defense mechanisms to protect our physical or psychological survival. Fear and its reactions make it difficult for us to appreciate the balance of what our mind can give us. The excess of fear can cause us to fixate outwardly, both to blame and to seek relief so as to avoid internal examination. Since we cannot control others and outside experiences however, we only accumulate more fear through this method. Fear also disrupts our ability to hear from our soul. We often realize the flaw in this chronic over-focus at a much later time.
The voice of fear is loud, repetitive, insistent, and frequently illogical and insane. We are threatened, called names and given disaster scenarios of what will occur if we fail to heed fears’ advice. Fear is an intrusive bully that attempts to control and smother us with its self appointed power. And yet, it is the culmination of this long, painful, overwhelming experience, that can motivate us to an earnest search for spiritual truth and blessings. We tend to take for granted that which is always with us and revere more strongly that from which we have been desperately deprived.
And how then will we know the voice of our soul? One way is by its stark contrast to fear. Our souls’ voice remains silent if we do not wish to hear it, for it needs nothing from us and is not bound by time or space. When it speaks, it will not give us more than we can understand and wisely use. Soul enters our conscious awareness where we have created space and cultivated gratitude for its offerings. Soul guidance is gentle, soft spoken and devoid of all judgement. It is accepting, calm, encouraging, unconditionally loving, patient and understanding.
Our soul will not aid us in causing harm or in robbing anyone of free will. It will not co-dependently rescue us from problems we must experience in order to learn and spiritually evolve. Soul sees through false disguises, defense mechanisms and character defects, to show us that it is our own shadow that scares us the most. This shadow only needs the light of love and truth for it to be transformed.
Whenever we feel blocked from spiritual growth, we can ask what actions, feelings or thoughts hold us hostage. We can imagine, then practice demonstrating their surrender to our Higher Power. We allow ourselves to increasingly align with the divine, while at the same time accepting the imperfection of our humanness. In this way we are experiencing healthy, unconditional love and commitment to ongoing progress. As we continue to ask and listen for soul guidance, fortresses of fear fall down around us to reveal the blessings that have always been with us.
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WWW.MARYCOOKMA.COM Mary Cook is the author of “Grace Lost and Found: From Addictions and Compulsions to Satisfaction and Serenity”, available from Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, etc. She has 36 years of clinical practice and 29 years of university teaching experience. She is a national speaker and has a private practice in San Pedro, CA. Mary is available for telephone and office counseling, guided meditation, speaking engagements and in-service training. Contact her at MaryCookMA@att.net and see website for further information.
