Would That Be Alright?

1.  

   What if God did not punish anyone? Ever? Not in this life, or in the afterlife. What if Heaven is a reality – but, Hell is not? Would that be alright with you?

   What if Heaven is every person’s ultimate fate, and everyone is reincarnated, over and over again, until they got it right and went to Heaven? Would that be okay?

   Does any of that make sense to you? It does to me.

Ye Are Gods

Gender, race, color, creed, nationality, religion, class, politics, sexual persuasion, taxonomy, planet, solar system or whatever you find in the universe is still an individualized manifestation of the One. Just as every individual limb, muscle, cell, molecule and atom of your body cannot be separated and are all necessary components of your one body, all that is seen and unseen, in the known and unknown Universe is a necessary aspect of the One Body and cannot be separated. There is One; you are It just as all are It. This is why Jesus said, “ye are gods”.

Once all stop thinking along the lines of division and separation, every aspect of the one will be healed. Live as one with all, because you are. ~ Guy

#OneLove

Effective Prayer

Everyone desires something greater, something better or something more in life. Whether it is greater health, better relationships or more wealth, there is no one without desire for a more fulfilled life in some aspect. The good news is that everyone can experience more of whatever it is anyone may feel is lacking in their life. Everyone deserves more than what they now have, and everyone can have more of what they deserve.

The question then is if you deserve more, and you can have more, why don’t you have it and how can you get it? The answer is summed up in the idea taught to man a little more than two millenniums ago; “Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

So, you see; it’s pretty simple. You can pray for anything you want. You can pray for as many things as you want. It doesn’t matter what you pray for, or how much you pray for, as long as you believe that you will receive whatever you pray for. Peace, joy, love, career fulfillment, greater relationships of any nature, greater finances, better health or anything you want, need or desire to live a happier more fulfilled life. The only thing is you must believe you receive what you pray for; then you most certainly will.

This means that if you don’t receive the things you pray for, whatever those things may be, you didn’t bring yourself to a point of belief that you will. You may say you believe, but if you don’t feel that you do, it is certain that you don’t. That is why, “As a man believeth in his heart, so is he.” What you feel is true for you is what you actually believe, and what you actually believe is what you receive.

So, why shouldn’t anyone believe in receiving their desires? Well, it’s not that anyone shouldn’t believe in having or receiving their desires, because everyone should. It’s just that believing in something you don’t see in the physical world of effects isn’t always that easy. Why? Because, it isn’t that easy for us to feel prosperous when the rent or mortgage is due and there is no money in our bank account. It isn’t easy to feel healthy while we are filled with fever or experiencing aches and pains.

But, when you can feel a sense of perfection within yourself while experiencing aches and pains, the aches and pains will disappear. When you can feel a sense of prosperity within yourself even when your bills must be paid and there is no money in the bank, your bills will be taken care of. When you can feel loved within yourself even when everyone around you seems to despise you, the honor, admiration and respect of all around you will appear. This is why the teaching to “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” is so vital. The only reason we ever experience anything less than the perfection of the Truth of our being, is because we have learned to believe it is true for us. We are not judging with “righteous judgment”.

The Truth of your being is Perfection. It is taught, “Be ye perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is Perfect”. The Perfection of Being is Heaven, and it is within you. “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”.

So, since the way to get more of what you want, need, desire and deserve is to believe what you pray for is given to you, even before you see it, and it is difficult for you to believe in that which you don’t see in front of you, even with the teachings that have been handed down over the years, how do you bring yourself to a sense of belief in things it seems you do not have?  How do you believe in your heart that you receive what ever you pray for, judge righteous judgment instead of according to the appearance, and become perfect, even as the Perfect Spirit within you is? How do you demonstrate the invisible Truth of your being as your manifest, physical reality?

Since the answer was given so long ago, there has been plenty of time to put the ideas given to practice. There has been plenty of time not only to practice the ideas, but to create definite techniques by which they can be applied with mathematical and scientific precision. These methods and techniques can be practiced, applied and mastered by anyone willing to put in the necessary work and effort to practice, apply and master them. When you do, you will master the proven and provable techniques of employing effective prayer to attain the belief in receiving what things soever you desire, and you will receive them.

Effective prayer then, is not begging, pleading or cajoling a God which is separate from or outside of you to do something to you or for you. It is not bargaining with a God that is in the sky for favors. It is not supplicating yourself to a God that is looking down on you and rewarding you by giving you what you want, while punishing you by not doing so, or even doing some type of harm to you. It is looking within yourself to God which lives in you, seeing the Perfection of God which lives in you, (righteous judgment), and allowing the Perfection of Being which is God living in you to express perfectly as you, by your own belief of that Perfection existing and expressing as you.

It has been taught to pray without ceasing. The fact of the matter is that everyone does so. Every thought you have sets an Infinite Action of cause and effect into motion. This is why you can say of everything that you have experienced in life, “as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee”. Every thought you have defines a belief, and every belief you have sets a definite Law of Infinite Action into motion, doing “unto you” as you believe. So, whether you are consciously aware of it, or not, you are always praying for something. Because you may be praying without being conscious of what you are praying by thinking and feeling what you are believing, you will receive things you may not want.

When your thoughts and feelings indicate that you have a belief in prosperity, you will prosper. When your thoughts and feelings indicate that your belief is more in line with lack, you will always be in a state of lacking what you need. Likewise, it is for thoughts of sickness or health, joy or depression, love or hatred, or whatever the case may be, it is always done unto you as you believe.

So, the method for praying aright consists of certain, exact elements of technique. The exact elements of technique for praying aright include: paying attention to what you most consistently think and feel, and what most consistently shows up in your life as a result, then changing your habitual thought patterns until your feelings reflect the new ideas that you have used to replace former ideas and thought patterns. Recognize what you have in your life that you do not want, then decide what you want to replace the things you do not want.

After you have decided what you want, select the ideas you are going to focus on until you replace the ideas which the Law of cause and effect are currently acting upon, thereby replacing the experiences you are now having and want to change. In other words, “Change your mind, and keep it changed”. When you decide on, select and initiate a new thought about anything, and thereby change your mind by thinking the new thought until you develop a new feeling and belief about the thing you want changed, you will be praying for what you want, believing you will receive it; and you will.

And so It is.

Guy E. Lawson, R.Sc.P.

How Can You See the Good in the Bad Things That Happen in the World?

Someone recently asked me, “How can I see the good in a child being harmed, molested, or killed?”

You cannot see the good in any negative situation by taking it for what it is in the physical and looking at it with your physical eyes. There is no good to be seen there. You must realize however, that what is seen as anything less than or other than good in the physical appears in the physical because of ideas believed in, in the invisible. When you see beyond the physical and determine for yourself what you see, and determined what you want to see based on the Truth, what you begin to see in the physical changes, because now the Good can reveal Itself in the physical things you saw before.

Example: “After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, “Wilt thou be made whole?” The impotent man answered him, “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.” Jesus saith unto him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath”. ~John 5:1-9

In this example there was a man who could not walk, who in fact had not been able to walk for 38 years. That is how he saw himself. That’s how everyone who knew him saw him too. That is the way anyone only looking at what they could see in the physical could see him. Looking solely at what could be seen in the physical there is no good that can be seen in such a situation. You can see the Good only when you do as the Master Teacher, Jesus taught and “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” ~John 7:24

We judge according to the appearance and wonder how we can see the good. In this way we cannot. We must judge righteous judgment. That means knowing and seeing within ourselves the Truth. We can only know the Truth within ourselves or in the Invisible. When Jesus in the above example judged the man with the infirmity as whole, knowing and seeing the Perfection of God as the Truth of that man, the Truth was able to express in the man, through the man and as the man. That is how we judge righteous judgment; by knowing the Truth and not relying on what we see in the physical as reality. It is a real experience in the physical, but it is the Spiritual Reality that we know within our own use of Mind that allows the Good to be revealed in any physical thing.

How do you see the Peace of God while looking at war and accepting it as reality? You don’t. You know Peace within yourself to allow Peace to be established “in earth as it is in Heaven”.

This is why Reverend Michael Beckwith has said that when we see these things in the news to realize that we are “receiving a call for prayer.” Are we going to bring the dead back to life? Maybe not, although I believe that if we have enough faith we can (and I know of someone who did in my lifetime). But we can see more Love revealed in the world as opposed to the brutality spoken of in the question I was asked; but, only when we see the Good – by our own choice, within our own mind. Seeing the Good must be a proactive decision made by you if you want to see more of it. You cannot wait for something “bad” to turn into something good. You cannot say, “I can’t wait to see the good in this situation”, and expect to see any good if you haven’t determined what the good is based on Truth and spoken it into being.

How can you see the good in a child being harmed, molested, or killed? You can’t when you believe that is the truth. In Truth no one can be killed because no one ever dies. If Life is eternal how can it be that someone dies? In Truth no one can do anything to anyone else. Why? Because it is done unto you as you believe. In order for a person to be robbed, there has to be a belief by that person that someone can do something bad to them, and that someone can take something from them. That will be in harmony with someone who believes that they cannot get their good unless they take something from someone else. The person that believes they can only get their good by taking something from someone else is not in harmony with someone that knows that nothing can be taken from them, because whatever they have and whatever is theirs, is theirs by right of consciousness. The understanding that nothing happens to you, but that all that happens in your experience happens through you gives you the foundation for that belief.

The more you then believe that Good and Good alone is revealed in all children, the more you will see evidence of that in your world. As long as the human race believes in something less than good, and to the degree that the human race believes in something less than good, those beliefs must be played out in the physical. The more any individual believes in Good and Good alone, the more it will be played out in their individual experience and the more the world as a whole will be blessed. Whatever you believe affects not just you and your experience, but everything and everyone everywhere. Do you wish to affect the world by believing that bad things happen to people, or by taking a proactive stance in knowing the Truth?

~ Guy

Reach A New Height

Within you is something unique, something that longs for expression and somthing that will not only change you forever, but will change the world forever. As each one is an individualization of that which created, sustains and lives in all, each one individualizes it. It is only you that thinks as you do, perceives life as you do and feels as you do.

It is likewise only you that creates what you create, for only you can. No other can be you, no other can think for you and no other can give the world the gift that lies within you. You have something to give which only you can. It is the reason you were born.

Though we each have a special gift to give the world, few of us ever do and few of us ever will. In fact, most never realize this is true of them and will go through life feeling as if this is only the case for a special few. As you read these words you may reason, “There could only be one Da Vinci, Beethoven, Joan of Arc, Edison, Ford, Nelson Mandela, Amelia Earhart, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Barack Obama or anyone else who is that notable for their contributions to the world”. If that is your thought, you are absolutely correct. There can only be one of any of these monumental figures of history, past or present.

Likewise, there is and can only be one you. You may not have risen to the height that any of the aforementioned have, but you can. But like each of the aforementioned, no one else can do what you have in you to do. Only you have the God given talent that is yours. Only you have the ideas and the desires that can give expression to your dreams, for they are your dreams and your dreams alone.

You can keep doing what you feel is practical or safe, you can keep feeling as if there is no hope for you to accomplish anything with your life, or you can listen to your heart and honor your heart’s desire. Your unique talents are equal to living the desires of your heart. When you listen to your heart’s desire and follow your dream, believing that your dreams become your reality, they do.

New heights are in you to be reached and you can reach them. You cannot reach a new height if you don’t believe you can, because if you don’t believe you can reach it, you won’t even try. You will not reach a new height if you don’t start moving in that direction, because without moving in the direction of your dream you cannot get there. You will only reach a new height if you begin to climb.

Dare to climb that mountain, write that book, sing that song  or implement that idea the world has never heard of before, because the dream belongs to you and you alone. It belongs to you, but it is your gift for the world.

Guy

Learning to Love Yourself

What happens in your world of experience is always a reflection of your consciousness; as above so below, as within so without, you reap what you sow and Life always gives to you what you give to it.

The sum total of your thoughts, feelings and beliefs comprise your consciousness.  This includes those ideas you are aware of on the conscious level of your mental activity, and those ideas you are not aware of on the subconscious level of your mental activity.  Not being aware of what is going on in the thought atmosphere of your subconscious mind, you are quite often left feeling surprised or helpless about the life experiences you have.

Considering this it is imperative to think about how much you really love yourself, because to the degree that you really love yourself, you see that love reflected in your world of experiences.  Do you harshly judge and criticize yourself, or are you kind and loving to yourself.  For instance; do you hear yourself saying things like, “how could you be so stupid” or “you idiot, you should know better” when you make a mistake, or do you say instead, “that’s alright, something good will come from this”, “it’s not my fault, I did the best I could in the moment” or something like “okay, let’s look for the lesson in this”.

Since your subconscious is filled with every thought, idea, feeling and memory you’ve ever had, it is impossible to know everything that goes on in the subconscious activity of your mind.  But it is through the subconscious activity of your mind that your world of experiences, circumstances, events and conditions is created.  If you’ve been harshly judging yourself all of your life, what you feel and believe about yourself, and what is stored in your subconscious mind is harsh judgment, and will be reflected in your experiences.  On the other hand, if you’ve been kind and loving to yourself all of your life, what you feel and believe about yourself, and what is stored in your subconscious mind is loving kindness, and that will be reflected in your experiences.

The good news is that if you have not been so kind and loving to yourself up until now, you can now begin.  You have the ability to change the way you think about yourself, because you have dominion over what you think.  Starting now you can redirect your conscious thinking and thereby reprogram your subconscious thought activity.  You can be proactive in the way you think about yourself and you can consciously choose whatever thoughts and ideas you want to fill your subconscious mind.  If you want to have more kind and loving experiences in your life, start now by being more kind and loving to yourself.

Use more positive self speak in the midst of unfavorable situations.  The more you do, the less those situations will occur.  Be proactive in consciously redirecting and reprogramming your subconscious thinking with the use of positive affirmations, using kind and loving thoughts about yourself.  The more you do this, the more the thought atmosphere of your subconscious mental activity changes, thus more positive, kind and loving conditions will be reflected in your world of experiences.

Use affirmations such as: I love myself, I am good, I am always the best I can be, I accept myself as I am, I am a good (man, woman, person, husband, wife, mother, father, employee, boss, daughter, son, etc…), I deserve the best, I am wonderful, I am fabulous, I am smart, I am wise, I am good at what I do, I am good to me, I am beautiful, I am kind to myself and I forgive myself.  Don’t limit yourself to these suggestions; create some kind and loving self speak affirmations for yourself to use.

Think about the ideas you have read here and make the decision to be more kind and loving to you by implementing them.  Remember, you have spent a lifetime creating the thought atmosphere that makes up the subconscious of your mind; you are not going to completely change it overnight.  Devote yourself to improving your life by using positive self talk and positive affirmations for as long as it takes to see the change you want to see.  After all, who’s going to love you if you don’t? You deserve the best. And so It is. – Guy

God’s Light

God’s Light

The article you’re reading now was inspired by the picture you see here.  It was taken by a friend of mine named Sharon Zellner, and she appropriately named it “God’s Light”. It is an awesome and awe inspiring picture which captured a natural arc of light. It’s as if sunlight is emanating from the earth, rising up into the air, and pouring back down into the earth becoming one with it again. I have never seen anything like it, and am amazed that Sharon not only did, but was also able to capture it in such an excellent fashion.

How can this phenomenal occurrence be explained? I have a little understanding about rainbows, but this doesn’t seem to fit the explanations we have come to accept about their appearances. Even if there was some moisture in the air at the time this picture was taken, where is the spectrum of colors and why is the entire object able to be seen from such a close distance?

These may be good questions, but I don’t particularly feel the need to examine these ideas any further.  There is probably a very good tangible explanation of this spectacle, but my thoughts quickly move to my personal interpretation of this wonderful vision in terms of some explainable metaphysical symbolism; I just need to know what it means to me.

As with any interpretation of anything imaginable, there are an infinite number of viewpoints, angles and perspectives that any idea can be approached from. For instance, the idea of God’s Light can be looked at as the sun, which many have come to view as the light of God shining on the world to supply energy, warmth, luminescence, and all that is necessary to regulate all functions of life.  It can also be looked at as the Infinite Intelligence of Spirit, filling all space and time with the unconditioned knowledge of all that is necessary to regulate all functions of Life.

We view the idea of illumined individuals, illumined minds or illumined thinkers. We sometimes get a “bright idea”, or when we realize the answer to a question we’ve been pondering, it is because “a light” has come on to give us the answer. We hope that people we care about, who make what we judge as mistakes in their approach to life, will someday “see the light” and change their ways, or come “from the darkness into the light”.

However we look at it, light is something we cherish; something we feel is necessary and beautiful.

An illumined being is one that we see as “walking in the Light of Spirit” or being “filled with the Light of God”.  This describes to us an individual that is wise, because they have become consciously aware of the Infinite Intelligence of the Universe as a basic aspect of their being, and are guided by this Intelligence with an intuitive understanding of how to approach all matters of Life.  These individuals also recognize themselves as “the Light of God”.

They see all of Life as they see themselves, as individualizing God’s Life, Love, Light, Power, Peace, Beauty and Joy. Everywhere they look they see Good, because everywhere they look they see God.

What does it take to become one of these illumined individuals?  It takes the willingness on anyone’s part to recognize that God is all there is; that all aspects of God are individualized throughout all of creation.  It takes a willingness to practice knowing that the Presence of Spirit is alive everywhere, existing in all, through all and as all.  It takes the willingness to believe that despite what we may see with our physical eye, the Truth of the Invisible, Infinite, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent Creator and Sustainer of all Life, is the Truth of our being and the Truth of all Life.  You and I have the power to do this; it is the power of our choice.

It is what allows us as human beings to have dominion over our selves, our experiences, and the rest of creation. It is also what allows us to be what we determine ourselves to be, do what we determine we can do, and have what we determine we can have.  It is what allows us to make the conscious decision to walk in the Light of God, be a Light unto our world and radiate God’s Light as a blessing to our world. I determine this for me, and I know that you can determine this for you. I am God’s Light, knowing that God’s Light blesses the world as me, and knowing that God’s Light blesses the world as you.  Thanks to Sharon for sharing this beautiful reminder of Truth with us all.  And so It is.

Guy

Inspired Quote of the Day
“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.” – Dwight L. Moody

Inspired Affirmation of the Day
I am a Light in this world, shining brightly for all to see the awesome wonder, goodness and glory that is God in all that exists. And so It is.

More Ideas on Overcoming Fear

I received a number of comments about last week’s post, “Overcoming Fear.”  Two of the comments were posted to the blog, but I received many more via email.  Since the comments that were emailed to me were made in a more private format, I must assume that those who made the comments don’t want to be publicly identified.

However, I think that some of the comments I received via email, and my responses to them, may be helpful for a larger audience to ponder.  So, although the authors of the comments will remain anonymous, a few of these comments and my responses to them are the subject of the post I’m making today.

Comment:  Well written and powerful for you. Would that it would be so easy for other people. The trick is to get yourself to believe. Some people who have had horrific life experiences, simply cannot see the good in life. They simply have experienced too much pain. For those, just showing them peaceful ways of coping is probably the answer.

Response:  Mastering “the trick” of coming to believe in a new idea isn’t any easier for me than it is for anyone else.  However, that is the most peaceful way I know of coping; making the effort and doing the (mental and spiritual) work necessary to change the thought patterns that keep us in bondage to the lack, limitation and chaos we experience when we allow ourselves to feel as if there is nothing we can do because we see ourselves as victims.

For instance, I could live my life from the limited ideas I developed as I experienced the abuse that I was subject to from my Stepfather, but I chose instead to do the work necessary to know the Truth about him and to forgive him so that I could heal and move forward in life in a more joyful and productive manner.  I found that solution to be better for me than to continue to try and cope with the pain, anger and humility that lived in me for so many years as a result of his treatment towards me.

That’s only one example.  I am a descendant of slaves, born in America, raised in a neighborhood of others like myself during a time when heavy racial, social and economic strife impacted the lives of everyone around me.  I have literally hundreds of stories I can tell about painful, horrific, or painfully horrific life experiences I’ve had.  I’d rather share the stories of how I’ve been blessed and what blesses me in life, how I’ve healed from those painful experiences and how I learned to stop blaming the world around me and everyone in it for my woes. That seems more helpful to me.

I have found in the course of my life, that all people, no matter what their background may be, have had horrific life experiences, and that the vast majority of people have experienced tremendous amounts of pain.  It seems that although people live in denial, try to hide from their pain, or can put on a good show, no one can really cope peacefully with the skeletons in their closet.  The only solution is to heal, and that takes the willingness to do the work.

Guy

Comment:  Hi Guy,

Just visited your blog and read your “Overcoming Fear” article today.
A few remarks before commenting on the article.

I really like about your blog/site:

a) Visually appealing, nicely organized, easy to navigate;

b) Useful content, both in terms of identifying yourself and also providing New Thought resources;

c) An engaging writing style; excellent grammar and spelling.

The “Fear” article:

I for one am always on the lookout for stories about overcoming limitation, hoping to find useful “how-tos”. In your article, when you got to how you were going to accomplish releasing the fear of heights and flying, you started with the premise that fear and love cannot coexist. I got stuck there — with a lot of questions about the premise. Can’t they? Ever? Even though I know I live in an all-loving universe, I still experience fear. Doesn’t that mean they co-exist? Did you mean in a particular situation? This interfered with the reasoning in the following paragraph and for the rest of the article, I was wondering what you really meant. But maybe that’s a good thing…have to think about it.

Keep up the good work. I enjoy the stories.

Response:  Thank you so much for providing your critical review of the Blog.  My desire was to find out what people think about the site in the terms that you stated.  I am happy to find that I am accomplishing what I set out to achieve.

In answer to your question, if you search within yourself I think you will find that although you may have “mixed emotions” about certain situations, circumstances or experiences in your life, it is because your thoughts about these things fluctuate. “I like the way that looks, but it just doesn’t feel right to me.”

I like the way that looks is one thought, and it just doesn’t feel right is another one. although one thought followed directly after the other, it is impossible to think them both at once.  Both ideas stimulate different emotions; so, because your thinking can be in a state of flux, your emotions can too.  When this occurs it may feel or seem like you are feeling two things at once, but you are actually feeling one thing after another in rapid succession.  If you keep your thoughts fixed on thoughts of God’s Love, that is all you will experience.  If you keep your thoughts fixed on ideas that you are fearful about, that is all you will experience.  But only one idea can occupy your mind at a time, no matter how quickly a different one follows.  The key is to develop the discipline to keep ourselves thinking what we choose and want to think, despite what thoughts or ideas may occur more readily in us because of our habitual thought patterns.

I hope this helps to answer your question.  Thank you again for your critique.

Guy

Comment:  This [post] was just what I needed.  I am experiencing some serious fear right now and this was a tremendous help.

Regarding accessing your blog and giving feedback:  people are soooo fearful right now about the economy and what’s going on with their jobs and their lives that they just don’t have the time to go out there.  I think that it is a tremendous site and thank you for all of your efforts.

Response:  Thank you so much for your comments.  People are always fearful about something, but most of the time the cause of their fears is so deeply buried in their consciousness it cannot be identified, which is quite problematic; after all, how can you do the work necessary to change a situation if you don’t know what to work on?  At least with an idea as solid as “the state of the economy,” we know where to start; so, we can determine what train of thought we need to establish in order to create a better experience.  Maybe I’ll address this idea in the blog in the days ahead.

Guy

Comment:  I enjoyed the article on fear and am really glad you have conquered it.  Your article made me think of all types of fear and how we delay taking responsibility for addressing the fear.  I too have  fear of flying small planes.  But when I was in Israel and invited to fly on a small plane over the city or Jerusalem at dusk I was really afraid.  But on the plane with me was the bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church for Jerusalem and I told him that I did not want to [fly] on such a small plane and I was scared.  He told me that God was with me and that he was always with me in the air, [and] on the ground.  So when ever I am flying and feel frightened I think of Bishop Nikiporous and I know God is with me.

I liked your site and the content it is well organized.  You are a very good communicator and your writings are easy to understand – you offer real world options and suggestions and place them in a context that allows the reader to feel connected.  I enjoyed them.

Response:  I didn’t know we had this common experience in terms of the problem we faced and how we were able to overcome it.  This is a very interesting revelation.

Something else to realize, is that the idea of taking responsibility for healing ourselves of the fear based ideas and ways of living we’re accustomed to is a bit frightening for most people in itself.  We could all use a Bishop Nikiporous from time to time. Thank God they’re here for us.

Guy

To: all who visit and are inspired by this site; I love you, and I bless you.

And so it is.
Guy

Straight Ahead

Moving straight ahead
A goal, a dream, a plan
Unlimited potential
Exists in every man

All that you desire
All you want to be
The future you envision
Becomes your destiny

Hard work and determination
Will take you anywhere
The sooner you get started
The sooner you’ll get there

So, let nobody stop you
My friend, it’s up to you
Work steady towards your vision
Your dream will soon come true

Copyright 1991
Guy E. Lawson

Overcoming Fear

In the summer of 1967 at the age of eight, I traveled from my home in Cleveland, Ohio to visit my uncle in New York City.  I was thrilled at the prospect of flying to New York on my own.  My mother saw me to the gate as I departed, and my uncle met me at the gate as I arrived.

The thrill of the anticipated flight disappeared as soon as the plane lifted off. That was the moment I discovered my fear of heights.

Needless to say, the flight was not a pleasant one.  I was terrified.  I don’t know whether it was motion sickness or the fear that caused me to become so violently ill, but the stewardess (which is what a flight attendant was called then) said it was motion sickness.  I think it was the fear.

It was a wonderful 2 week vacation, filled with lots of fun and excitement.  I will never forget it.  But I refused to fly back and my uncle wound up driving me home.

10 years later, at the age of 18, I voluntarily joined the peacetime army.  I probably would not have joined if I had the foresight to think about flying to Fort Knox, Kentucky for basic training.  I tried to get out of the flight, but I was told that taking the bus was not an option; the government provided the plane ticket and I had orders to fly.  To top it all off, I was traveling with a “buddy,” which meant I had to act as if I was not concerned about the flight at all.  After all, I could not let my new “buddy” see any fear in me.  He already had a problem with me because I was put “in charge” of the trip, and he just couldn’t understand why he had to be insubordinate to someone of my (ethnic) background.

I rode the bus home after basic training.  I rode the bus to my Advanced Individual Training at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana.  I rode the bus to my permanent duty station at Fort Ord, California.  Fortunately, I was never given an overseas assignment.

I stayed away from flying until February 1995, when I was convinced to travel to Cozumel, Mexico to celebrate my 36^th birthday.  With my fear of heights and of flying securely in tact, I took the trip.  Although the flight going to Cozumel and returning to Chicago, (where I’ve resided since 1994), was horrendous, the vacation itself was a tremendous experience.  It was so fantastic in fact, that I have taken a vacation requiring flight every year since; sometimes two.

The dilemma was always the flying.  I developed a love for travel; seeing and experiencing new and different places, people and cultures, is very exciting to me.  The problem of getting there and getting home was (marginally) outweighed by the enthusiasm I had for the anticipated adventure.

However, by the year 2000, I grew tired of experiencing the fear.  I determined that my entire vacation experience should be fun and enjoyable.  I decided that it was time for me to practice the teaching of knowing the presence of God in this matter.  I could not think of a viable reason that I should have an experience of something other than good in order for me to have an experience of my determined good.  I knew it was time to release the fear of heights and of flying.  But how would I accomplish this?

I remembered once coming across the idea that fear and love cannot coexist.  So, I used that idea as my starting point.  Fear, after all, (which has been described by the acronym False Expectations Appearing Real), is nothing more than a lack of faith that God is present in a certain situation, or the faith that God is not present.  When we practice and realize the presence of God in any situation, there is no fear because we know that there is nothing that exists which can destroy, defeat or oppose the Power that is God.

One of the attributes of God, or put another way, a fundamental aspect of the Nature of God is Love.  God is Love.  So, if I know that God is Love, and I know that God cannot be opposed, then I know that Love is an expression of the Power of God which cannot be opposed.  This is why fear and love cannot coexist; believing in, feeling and knowing the Love of God means knowing that I am filled with, immersed in, enveloped in and surrounded by this Power, that is constantly, consistently and unconditionally giving of Itself to me so that I always have my good.  The good that I determine for myself then, is and must be recognized as my real expectation.  Recognizing my real expectation of good, there is no power for any false expectation to appear in my mind or in my experience.

Based on this thinking, I used treatments and affirmations around the ideas that “God is Love,” and “The Love of God is with me now.”  I consciously conquered my fear of heights and of flying in the year 2000.  I now enjoy flying as much as the vacations I take, and I always sit by the window so I can take in the Magnificence and Beauty of God that I am surrounded by as I travel.

And so it is.

Guy