12/30/05 - The truth about faith

Hello God.

Hello Edward.

Thanks for the rain. It feels good.

You’re quite welcome.

I want to talk about faith today.

Good topic.

Well, I’m not sure because I want to start by telling you that I don’t have the kind of faith in You that You’re asking for?

What do you mean?

Well I wouldn’t leave my family. I couldn’t. And then I think of how Abraham was asked to show his faith and I think, “no way.”

Hello God.

Hello Edward.

Thanks for the rain. It feels good.

You’re quite welcome.

I want to talk about faith today.

Good topic.

Well, I’m not sure because I want to start by telling you that I don’t have the kind of faith in You that You’re asking for?

What do you mean?

Well I wouldn’t leave my family. I couldn’t. And then I think of how Abraham was asked to show his faith and I think, “no way.”

Ok. Here we go again. First of all, I don’t ask you or anyone else to do anything. I don’t know how this whole idea got started that I’m out here giving you all commands and asking you to prove yourself to me. That’s the biggest bunch of hooey that’s ever been created. Let’s get this straight: I don’t ask, I don’t command, and I certainly don’t test. These are all constructs of your individual and collective ability to make your lives miserable. You see I don’t care if you have faith in me. That makes not one bit of difference. I love You. I love You with or without faith. I love you when you have no faith and when you have faith in yourself, or your country or one god or 1000 gods and goddesses. I always love you and always want you to attain your highest, grandest, greatest potential. And I will do everything in my power to help you. But I will NEVER command you. And I will NEVER test you.

So these “tests” that I have been experiencing, they are my own creation?

Yes.

Then, in your eyes, there is no test?

No test.

Then that means there is no passing or failing?

You got it.

I don’t think I get it. Because there has to be an edge – I won’t call it a test. There has to be a place where I am faced with a decision that will move me towards that highest, grandest, greatest potential or cause me to stay where I am.

You’re correct. There are edges. In fact, every moment, every thought, every word, every decision, every breath, is an edge. But not a test.

Perhaps it’s just semantics, but I’m not sure that I see the difference.

It’s not just semantics, there is a very important distinction. Let’s say you come to a fork in the road, and you have no idea where each path leads. You have to make a choice. You could choose to sit there, but you wouldn’t get very far on your journey. So you choose one or the other of the paths. And you walk on. Once you’ve made that choice, it’s as if that fork in the road disappears. Your entire life now moves forward from that decision point. It is as if you have, in that moment, with that one decision, recreated your entire existence. Think about it: If you had chosen the other path, who knows how your life would have unfolded. And here’s the thing: What could be more exciting and amazing than the thought that with that choice you have just changed the entire course of your life?

I see that. But I’m still not sure that I see how it’s not a test.

In a test there is a right answer and a wrong answer, a right choice and a wrong choice. At an edge, there is only a choice, only a decision that will irrevocably change your life.

Hmm, I think I might prefer to have a test.

Exactly. That’s the problem right there. You, and by you I mean all of you, are so concerned about making the “wrong” choice that you’re created all of these ways to test yourself in preparation for the “Big” choice. But, here’s the secret: They’re all big choices. Every breath, every thought, every word, every action you take reflects a decision you are making that is instantly and forevermore changing your life. Don’t you realize how incredibly amazing that is? In every moment, you are, literally, creating your life experience.

It sounds incredibly scary to me. It sounds potentially paralyzing, actually. In fact, it is paralyzing. I know there have been times when I have avoided making decisions purely out of fear that I would make the “wrong” one. And now, you’re telling me that there are no right or wrong choices, just choices that will impact, no completely change, the outcome of my life. That’s not a helpful distinction, in my opinion.

Ok. Let’s take a step back. We’ve got to get down to this right and wrong thing again.

You mean the idea that there is no right and wrong?

Right.

I don’t think you understand the magnitude of what you are trying to shift. Our entire existence is based on the concept of right and wrong.

No it is not!

So you’re saying I’m wrong.

Cute. No. I’m saying you’ve been misguided. I’m saying your belief system is based on a faulty perception of how this Universe actually works.

The Universe does not work on right or wrong?

Correct.

What does it work on then?

You tell me. Expand your thinking beyond the confines of your little physical existence, and breathe into your huge spiritual awareness. And tell, what does the Universe work on?

Well here’s some of what comes to me: Flow, choice, love, awareness. For some reason, awareness feels like the closest answer.

Yes. Tell me more.

Well the image that first came to me was of breath, or of breathing. I thought, “how can every breath be a choice, a decision I am making?” And then I realized that it’s the ultimate choice: To choose breath is to choose life. I was caught up in thinking that I was not choosing to breathe, that it is an “involuntary” action. But it’s not. I choose to breathe. And I choose how to breathe. And so that made me think that it really comes down to awareness. My awareness that with every breath I “choose” to take I am contributing to the expansion of the Universe. And every decision, every edge that I come to in my life, is really an extension of that awareness.

Yes. Brilliant.

Thank you.

Tell me how it feels.

It feels light. It feels exciting, like I want to go out and play with my new toy! And I still feel that edge of fear, doubt, hesitation inside me.

Good. Use that edge to continuously refocus you in the center of your awareness. That doubt and fear is your friend.

So can we get back to how we started this conversation?

Of course.

I know it sounds a bit silly now, but I still have to ask: You’re not asking me to leave my family?

Of course not. I told you, I don’t ask, tell, command or test, ever.

So where was that image coming from?

Where do you think?

Inside of me.

Yup.

I test myself a lot don’t I?

You sure do.

I think it’s time to stop that.

I agree.

Well thank you again. I’m going to go have breakfast now.

You’re very welcome. Enjoy your breakfast.

And thanks again for the rain. I wonder if I was Noah in a past life. I have this thing for rising water and floods.

I’ll check into that and get back to you.

That would be great. Bye for now.

Good bye.

Comments

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