Soul awareness vs. the intellect

[AlFike]

In a recent message from our old friend Confucius he stated the following:

[/i]you my children acknowledge the desires of your souls, you see the power of the blessings of the Father’s Love and you are drawn to this light, you are drawn to this need, this desire within and you accept this and you place your prayers to the Heavenly Father to fill this void, to fill your soul, to bring this part of you alive with God’s presence, God’s blessing within. This cannot be achieved through the mental faculties. Knowledge of the mind will never bring insight of the soul, my children. It is the inflowing of God’s Love that will bring this type of insight and understanding of truth. And it comes wordlessly. It comes as a great opening to the great truth, to the great wisdom, to the great understanding that is inherent to God and His wondrous being. And so with this love you, too, shall have insights into God’s being, God’s truth and the truth of Creation. It will come in this way. It will not come by you building in your mind human knowledge and understanding. This is limited. This is so limited in its scope and the soul filled with love has great possibilities and is able to understand the infinite.

As we pursue the Divine Path and work through the many phases of soul growth and mental understandings of what it is that makes us so focused on this pursuit, I believe that we must all come to the same conclusion as Confucius has stated here. That the material mind will never grasp the infinite truth gained through communion with God. This mystical experience is not based on study directly but is the fulfillment of our faithful and prayerful dedication to finding truth through God's Love . We all start with study of the truths of the Divine Path as presented by Padgett's dedicated works and other avenues. In order to journey, we must first read the map. But in our case, the map ventures into mentally unknowable territory. The misty landscape where the material mind cannot follow and the soul mind must take over as navigator. The material mind cannot relate to this new territory because it lacks material references and sign posts. The territory of the soul cannot be deciphered with mindful analysis, it must be experienced through prayerful listening and meditation. Like holding out your hands and waiting for the Holy Spirit to lift you out of the material paradigm to a soul reality.

Communion with God does not come with peaceful sensations and buoyant loving thoughts only. It is many layered and it requires practice to achieve a level of comprehension and awareness. The magic ingredient is the Divine Essence because without the essence of God, our souls lack the ability to relate to God's soul in a comprehensive way. It is easy to get caught up in all the good feelings and sensations which come from praying and receiving the Love. Angels are present with you in this holy time and God's presence can be felt as well . The intoxicating comfort and peace that is a part of this experience is often enough for us mortals to keep coming back for more and that experience is more often than not what we crave . Yet, I believe that it is only the initial phase or layer of this communion. There are far more powerful things to come to those with enough soul growth to venture beyond the comfortable. This takes some doing. Firstly, we educate our minds with what it is that we are to pursue and how to do it. Then we practice and achieve a measure of competency. In time we establish a prayer pattern and habits which bring results .I have noticed over the years that this is where most of us like to stay as it does not require much on our part to spend a little time in prayer and receive the comfort derived from it. Unfortunately the you know what must eventually hit the fan as our souls begin to cleanse from the effects of the Love. At this stage, many are jolted out of their comfort zone and try desperately to go back to what can be considered the baby phase of being enveloped in the Love which soothes and heals. This confrontational phase elicits a great deal of restlessness and some confusion as most of us try to put the lid back on that can of worms which is our true soul condition. For the committed, this is a grinding and bumpy road that often lacks the sweet kiss of our Father's Love but the ugly truth of our own lack of it. It takes time to work our way out of this phase and as life is so erratic, we often hop around from one phase to another. Two steps forward and one back. As we grow and evolve in the flow of our Father's Love, a certain amount of freedom from our inner error and barriers gets washed away with the workings of the DL. As growth continues, our inherent soul faculties emerge and the soul awakens and expands. For some, this may involve second sight in all it's forms. Certainly visions and visitations can be common as the soul awakens. The world takes on a different hue and many inner shifts occur. This dynamic phase is the reward for climbing the mountain which is the purifying of your being. Acknowledging that this phase is not one long stretch of angst followed by relief but many such episodes of purging error. Now the stage is set for what Confucius describes as the true understanding of the soul and the awakening of the soul mind. Seeing truth through the eyes of the soul, knowing God from this perspective and truly loving yourself and all Creation. From this perspective, the world is different and your place in it has more meaning than ever before. Of course all of these perspectives are a matter of degree and evolve to become somewhat unique in each soul. Although truth is absolute, the individual's perspective of it is not. Every soul, as does every mind, has it's interpretation and individual experience of these aspects of truth. But truth becomes evident, clear and knowable in often wordless ways. Truth in it's untarnished form is often simple. It is this uncomplicated form that makes for a foundation for the soul to understand greater truths. The distillation of our mental understandings which is also transformed and reborn into the language of the soul as a result of the power of God's Love, brings us these insights in Technicolor brilliance. The eyes of our soul slowly open and reveal to our material minds the gems of truth that defy words and description but are fully acknowledged in a very profound way. We are then on our way to becoming a celestial being who is imbued with God like perceptions and awareness's. We come to that place of seeing the reality of God in ways that are unperceivable by the material senses and mind. Only the soul mind is capable of these insights. Only the awakened soul can truly understand and perceive God.

My description of how this all works is without doubt primitive and generalized. I'm sure the angels are reading this and smiling as they would upon a grade one child learning how to print. The basics are there but there is so much more to it than what I have said. My intention is to get you to think about how knowing the truth is a evolutionary process. It takes work, time and effort. Most of all more Divine Love. We struggle to get to one level, only to fall back in weakness to the something less advanced. Often we plateau and do not shift for years but the love is still working within us. I don't know anyone who is fully there yet. Some of us come closer than others but who is to say who is the closest ? Jesus certainly attained this understanding while on earth. The angels are encouraging us to strive to get there as well while on earth. I think that this is possible but would require a very great deal of faith and dedication to receiving the Love and allowing the purification process to flow unimpeded by our delicate egos. We need to be brave and strong as life tends to get in the way of these lofty goals with every turn. Our humanness seems to rebel against any attempt to rid ourselves of it. The temptations of the body and the mind run roughshod over the desires of the soul on many occasions, at least in my experience. Yet what is more compelling or more rewarding than to be in full alignment with our Creator and know that deep joy and universal knowledge ? It is indeed a goal worth pursuing and in this pursuit, we are changing the world just that little bit and God knows, we need the change. May His hand rest upon us and may we always pursue truth through our souls filled with His Love. And may change always be our motto.

With love........Al

[Terry Adler]

Here I am again after a brief time away from the forum immersed in being a companion/caregiver, facing challenges daily in staying in the Love, very often failing those challenges (through getting stuck in impatience, fear, self-doubt, despair).

Al, your thoughts about soul awareness vs. the intellect are inspired. Thank you so much for these beautifully expressed insights about the relationship between soul and intellect. What you say gives voice to what I believe, what I have experienced, what guides my daily efforts to grow in the Love. I am grateful to you for the mature, wise way in which you explain what you know. Bless you, my friend, and thank you.

As I read your post, I feel grateful for the people in my life who have lived this way, seeking guidance through the soul. My best friend especially, who worked with very injured, disturbed people facing what seemed like insurmountable problems, would always come home from her work to pray for guidance, which she would be given. In reaching to the Love for answers, she received them. Often the answer was Love; by bringing the Presence of the Creator's Love that dwelt within her to lost and suffering souls, she brought them hope, lifted their hearts and spirits, gave them strength to face another day. She brought them material help as well, in the form of modest offerings of clothing, money and other resources. But the key was how she brought these things to them, not with pity, charity or an invitation to dependency, but with true regard for each person, for their intrinsic value.

She led with her soul, with Love, not with her mind. Her soul awareness would inspire her mind to come up with creative solutions to complex problems. She would never credit herself with the successes that came, but always acknowledge our Creator as the Source for all the good that emerged. Such was her humility, she would often be amazed at what was achieved as she served as a channel for the Love.

I struggle to maintain the close bond with our Creator that made it possible for her to work in this way. At least I am becoming more and more aware of what in me gets in the way. And I am learning how to intentionally bring the Love into those unloving aspects of me, to clear them. It is often a struggle, but the rewards are great, progress is being made, though I still feel as if I am in my infancy on this path.

There are other such models in my friendship circle, some of whom don't speak the language of Divine Love but act as channels of Love nonetheless. Some of our beliefs may differ radically, yet that is inconsequential, as my soul recognizes the beauty of their souls.

Thank you again, Al, for the sharing the wisdom and growing beauty of your soul!
Love,
Terry

[Joseph]

Al, my brother in like precious faith and love ...

While I was reading your 'musing' about soul awareness vs. the intellect, I could not help but wonder what was behind your sitting to type this wonderfully inspired piece of writing. Was this something you have been mulling over? A subject you have been wanting to write something about? Perhaps the result of the gentle nudging of your spirit guides?

It is indeed inspired and so true. It shows in a picturesque way the journey of the evolution of the soul as it is being transformed by the inflowing of the Divine Love. I felt blessed reading it. Thank you for writing what you did and sharing it with us.

Presently I am writing a new book and have hit a blank wall, what some call "writers block." Anyway, I may start writing again because of what you shared here. Again, thanks.

With love and a hug,

Joseph

PS To add, the title I am considering for my book is: "Higher Ground". The subject of this book is primarily about the evolution of the human soul, with the long subtitle: a true story of a journey toward the life abounding with joy and happiness.

[AlFike]

Thank you Terry and Joseph for your loving and wise responses to my post. Terry, I know your struggles and pray for the both of you every day. What you have taken on is not easy or glamorous. It is often thankless and fraught with dilemmas. I admire so much the tenacity and love that you carry through your commitment of love. Bless you my beloved sister for the many things that you do out of love. Yes, we were both taught by the same mentor and we carry the truth conveyed to us by her and may we carry that to others. Your loving dedication to her is truly an act of soul love.

Joseph, I'm intrigued by your book because I too have ambitions to write a similar book. But how to begin and how to make it readable to those who are not so well versed in these matters is a bit of a dilemma. I think it will have to be inspired by the angels. My motivation for writing what I did was indeed the result of a lot of contemplation about this issue. Confucius's message gave me the perfect segue into the topic. A while back, Geoff and I had words regarding this issue which felt unfinished and my true thoughts buried under circular arguments. My ego wasn't too pleased about being sidelined in my intention to talk about what I believe is an important issue . I also was not too clear on my communication and this lead to some misunderstandings. It always takes two to tango .Geoff has graciously offered to back off from his somewhat corrective habit with me. With this, I'm feeling more comfortable sharing in this way. I don't believe that Geoff's intention is to have some form of control over the situation but his approach is very different from mine and this causes some tensions in the conversation. Underneath it all, I believe that we both have good intentions but the ego is such a trap for both of us. The need to be right trumps the requirement to be loving. Always lessons to learn and letting go of the mind's need for domination. I think that my writing is more to do with what I need to tell myself than what I want to say to others because I struggle every bit as much as the next guy. It is such a blessing to have this opportunity to reveal these obstacles and aspirations here as I believe that much of what I'm dealing with is present in all our lives. To put words to it and bring these issues out in the open is helping to knit this community together. I wish that more of you would be willing to add to the conversation. So please don't be shy . We're open to whatever is on your mind pertaining to the Divine Love truths. Much love to you all.........Al

[Kristy]

Al, thank you for your writing as this topic is near and dear to me. Everyone most likely realizes that I am not a writer so I hesitate to try to put to words what I feel. I can easily say I agree with "Soul over Mind". But for me to formulate in words my experiences is far more difficult. I believe this is in a way a gift because I feel much better than I speak, or I write, and God understands and God responds with His Love. No words is a blessing in my case!

Very early on in my journey, I remembered a message that Jesus wrote that said that everyone, irrespective of intelligence, is welcome to pray and receive Divine Love. It matters not how smart or knowledgeable we are. So from that point on, I have been committed to my soul development and not my mind. I do some reading, however, I would rather be meditating in His Love.

I have mentioned in the past that during my meditation and prayer time, my prayers are brief and my meditation is lengthy - where I seek stillness through the elimination of all of my thoughts. These days it comes quite easy and I find myself communing with our Father, building our relationship, and exchanging our Love/love. As my soul has developed, the feeling of the energy (waves through my entire upper body) has increased. Al, the energy level that I experienced when we had our mini retreat almost a year ago in Syracuse, is not even a fraction of what I feel now. It encapsulates me, sometimes "freezes me", other times my limbs or my head is moved (today my hands came together like one who is praying). I feel during this special time, that God is speaking to my soul and is directing my every movement. I am stunned by it. I can not begin to describe the love I feel for our Father.

I could go on and on about my experiences during meditation but I won't ... I think I will simply sum it up by saying that my soul is indeed developing and my mind is shifting into the shadows (slowwwwwly). I can not describe what "I do" but when I do it, I immediately have the soul energy through out me .... this happens all day long, not just in meditation. I simply "feel soul" and I am overcome. Right, the words aren't doing it ! I do get tired so sometimes I have to ask God to stop it. But not very often!

Time to stop writing. Thank you for the invitation to share. In his Love, Kristy

[AlFike]

Ah Kristy, you are a powerhouse. I fully expect you to levitate the entire gathering in September. Can hardly wait for that magic carpet ride . You are so blessed to be able to experience God's Love in such tangible ways. It must be difficult to tear yourself away. So many long for what you have my friend and may you always have such confirming communion with God. God bless you my love and please consider yourself a fine writer. Maybe not something you love to do but you do a great job nonetheless. With love........Al

[Marga M.]

Dear Al,

Al said:

“As we pursue the Divine Path and work through the many phases of soul growth and mental understandings of what it is that makes us so focused on this pursuit, I believe that we must all come to the same conclusion as Confucius has stated here. That the material mind will never grasp the infinite truth gained through communion with God.”

Thank you so much for opening up this wonderful insightful discussion about soul awareness versus the intellect. Would like to share a few messages from people in TGRA which seem to confirm what you are bringing to light on this very topic and even though in their own individual experiences may have differed, but they ALL affirm that it was the very Essence of our Creator that flowed into their souls that changed their intellectual viewpoints of Him. Thus, making Him very personal and with more spiritual depth than they thought possible with their mere minds.

Dr. Lesley Stone: “…We began to pray for the Divine Love, letting our soul longings go out to the Heavenly Father, and in time a feeling came glowing involuntarily into the region of our hearts. We felt this emotion grow stronger, and stronger with continued fervid prayers and as we did so, our faith in God became solidified and absolute. Never before had he, nor I, felt so sure of the real existence of the Father and His Divine Love and Mercy. The cold intellectual concept which we had entertained of Him had through prayers for His Love been transformed into a warm, glowing, living feeling of closeness, of at-onement with the Heavenly Father, whose Love and Mercy and Goodness we could sense were personal and real. (Vol. I, Pg. IX.)


Prof. Joseph Salyards:

“I never, until recently, could comprehend the real truth and meaning of God, I believing him to be mere essence, void of form or personality, who could have the wisdom and love and power that I was taught such God possessed. Such comprehension is beyond the finite mind, and can only be accepted as a realization of an existing condition or truth by means of faith. Yet now I have more than faith to enable me to understand the fact that this God, whom we call our Father, for He is, has all these qualities and powers and such understanding, is to me a wonderful and unexpected addition to my knowledge of God. (Vol. II, pg. 176)

This understanding, of course, is not a thing that arises from any exercise of the mind, or the results of any mental power or quality which I may never have realized that I possessed, but it is the result of the exercise of my soul perceptions, which have become so great and in such condition of unison or harmony with our Father’s qualities of soul, that He and all these attributes appear to me as real, perceptible existences, having a certainty of comprehensible being, as do the existence of spirits and their attributes.

So, you see, what soul development may mean and what its possibilities are. No mere development of the intellectual qualities or attributes could ever lead to a comprehension of the personality of God as I have described it. (Vol. II, pg. 176-177)

Jesus Affirms What the Professor said:

I have heard what the Professor said to you, and you must try your best to comprehend its meaning, for it contains a description of the true conception of God in a way that only one having the developed soul perceptions could explain. The only difficulty in the way of your fully understanding this idea of who and what God is, is that the ideas IS NOT ONE THAT A MERE MIND CAN GRASP, FOR ONLY THE SOUL THAT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED TO A SUFFICIENT DEGREE CAN COMPREHEND. But yet, you may be able to conceive of its meaning to an extent that WILL ENABLE YOU TO GET CLOSER TO OUR FATHER AS A REAL, PERSONAL FATHER, AND NOT AS A BEING FOR FORMLESS EXISTENCE ONLY.

I MEAN THAT THE IDEA OF PERSONALITY MAY BRING THE FATHER NEARER TO YOU, SO THAT YOU MAY REALIZE A DEEPER MEANING OF HIS LOVE AND CARE AND MERCY AND INTEREST IN YOU AND IN ALL HIS CREATURES.

In my message on God*, you will find that the idea of personality is spoken of, but not emphasized so much as in the writing of the Professor; but the truth is that our Father is to the soul perceptions a Being of real existence and personality. (Vol. II, pg.178)

Al continued:

In time we establish a prayer pattern and habits which bring results. I have noticed over the years that this this is where most of us like to stay as it does not require much on our part to spend a little time in prayer and receive the comfort derived from it. UNFORTUNATELY YOU KNOW WHAT MUST EVENTUALLY HIT THE FAN AS OUR SOULS BEGIN TO CLEANSE FROM THE EFFECTS OF THE LOVE. AT THIS STAGE, MANY ARE JOLTED OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONE AND TRY DESPERATELY TO GO BACK TO WHAT CAN BE CONSIDERED THE BABY PHASE OF BEING ENVELOPED IN THE LOVE WHICH SOOTHES AND HEALS. .... [BUT] FOR THE COMMITTED, THIS IS A GRINDING AND BUMPY ROAD THAT OFTEN LACKS THE SWEET KISS OF OUR FATHER'S LOVE BUT THE UGLY TRUTH OF OUR OWN LACK OF IT."

Why is This So Important?

IMHO: As we continue on this journey of soul development and being progressive (like our elder brother has told us he is), we too must recognize that is time to grow up -- to come up higher. In order to do this, we must let go of every weight that so easily besets up.

Personally, I am strong willed, have a bad temper, and materialistic (to name a few), and these were no easy things to let go of. Some had helped me get through a rough life. Thus, I struggled with them for years. Yet it was the love that I had for the Father, and the feeling of finally entering into "His Rest" as I was spending time with Him in prayer. One day the Father actually showed me the consequences of my bad choices in holding on to things and my old way of thinking that were actually hurting me. Plus, showed me that the cost of doing so out weighted the benefits. He then gave me a choice of being willing to let them go. In tears, as I fought to continue to straddle the fence (be "ME" and still love God) -- I had to surrender. And that's when He showered me with His Divine Love, and let me know that I had to power to not only overcome by shortcomings, but He NOW had my back. My tears of sorrow were turned into tears of joy!!

Would like to close with a these messages from TGRA:

Jesus continued saying:

I know how difficult it is for the mind to conceive, even in a faint way, how such a personality can be a part of a being who is declared to be a mere spirit without form or limitation, and everywhere at the same time; but I tell you that it is a truth that by the soul’s faculties is comprehensible the personal attribute of the Father.

“…Thou, God seest me,” is not a mere meaningless generality which men repeat and do not understand, for God does see every act of man; and as I said when on earth, not even a sparrow falls without my Father knowing it, and the hairs on your head are all numbered. So, if men will only learn that this great truth is of such importance, they will take more care of the manner in which they live their lives."

As I was saying men must realize that God knows not only their acts but their thoughts, and every idle thought will have to be accounted for, and the penalties which his laws impose will have to be paid.

So, if men would only realize this fact, of God’s being able to see and know what their lives on earth are, they would many times, think before they do some things which they do, supposing that no one but themselves know of them. (Vol. II, pg. 177-178)

Stephen said:

Let no man rest in the assurance that God is only a formless spirit, without the attributes of seeing and hearing and knowing what the thoughts and deed of men and spirits are, for if he does, in the time of accounting, he will be deceived in his false security. (Vol. II, pg. 181)

Judas said:

God is a spirit and a person, and not a mere nebulous being without form or personality. He IS REAL AS TO THESE QUALITIES, AND IS NOT WANTING THAT WHICH WILL MAKE HIM THE FATHER THAT JESUS SO OFTEN CALLED HIM. (Vol. II, Pg. 199)

Jesus said:

The Importance of man Cultivating the Soul Perceptions. Spiritual things cannot be Perceived by the Material Mind.

The material laws may be learned from by the operation of the senses that belong to and constitute the material mind, but the spiritual laws can only be learned by the exercise and application of the faculties of the soul. The soul is to the spiritual things of God what the mind is to the material things of God. And the mistake that men make and have made, is to attempt to learn these spiritual things with the powers of the material mind.

These perceptions are just as real as are the five senses of the natural mind, though most men do not even know of their existence; and when once you have succeeded in understanding that they do exist, and that you may be able to use them just as you use the faculties of the material mind, you will be able to progress in the development of these faculties or perceptions with as much success and certainty as does the great scientist or philosopher in the studies of the things to which he applies the faculties of his material mind. (Vol. II, Pg. 201-202.)

In closing, If by any way I've compared apples to oranges, PLEASE FEEL FREE to correct me.

Much love and respect,

Marga

[AlFike]

Thanks Marga for this. We are certainly a tag team, I give the personal thoughts and you give us the book facts to back them up, or not. Great partnership here and I appreciate the effort that you put into it as you make these opportunities teaching moments. I think you have demonstrated very aptly that perceiving truth requires soul perceptions. May God bless those who are vigilant and stand for truth. I'm happy not to be contradicted here as there are so many smart individuals who can smell error a mile away and are not shy to expose it. You keep me on my toes Marga and I appreciate that. I only see apples in this bin . Much love to you ..........Al

[Marga M.]

Dear Al,
Glad that I could be of service. Your post is so important, and you covered a lot of territory in it -- happy that there was so much material in TGRA to back it up and put it into perspective for those of us that have to struggle with growth, yet desiring to have a closer walk with the Creator.

Again, thank you for bringing this subject up.

Much love and respect,

Marga

[brother dave k.]

Al, thank you for sharing your experience, strength and hope. i related to and resonated with much of your expression. It is indeed very difficult to give expression to the experiences and perceptions of our soul. i heard you and the celestials that guide you.

your brother and friend,

dave k.