Home CHAPTER 17 Contents
Are You Ready
To Be
All The Power
In The
Universe?
"
Love is the only power;
Love is the only way.
Love sweetens every hour;
Love makes a happy day."
Sai Baba
Nothing happens without self-confidence
King Henry V of sixteenth century England was battling with France to reclaim his father's winnings. It was really pride that motivated his actions, but there was a genuineness, a fearlessness and a devotion to God that I admire in his character. He and his men had been slogging in the rain and were bedraggled, disgruntled and missing their families, not to mention on the verge of starvation. It was the day of a deciding battle and the French troops were fresh and outnumbered them by at least twenty to one.
Young King Henry rallied his troops with his famous St. Crispian's Day address wherein he declared, “All things are ready if our minds be so.” He dedicated the day to God and demanded moral character of his men, telling them that there were to be no spoils and no women and that they were to fight honestly and fairly. By the end of the day he had no idea who was the victor. He had given to his maximum capacity. When the dead were counted he had lost only 26 men while the whole French army had been utterly decimated. When you know you can win, it doesn't matter the odds against you, you will succeed. That is self-confidence.
It is ego that tells us that we are helpless or that the odds against us are too overwhelming. Ego is simply an idea that things could happen to us against our will. Everything that happens to you, you have asked for, because it serves some purpose. If it were not so, it could not be your experience. Whenever you feel hurt by anyone or anything, it is because you have given your power away. When you take your power back by recognizing that in God you are all-powerful, you again take charge of your life.
The oldest and most powerful mantra in the Vedas, the ancient Hindu scriptures, is the Gayatri mantra and the last two lines request, “Let my limited consciousness be merged with the limitless consciousness that I am in truth.” In truth, you are as powerful as God. You have everything God has since you were created exactly like Him. God is all-powerful. Therefore, you too must be all-powerful. Sai Baba says there is no one more powerful than you. Nothing happens without your will. Everything that happens, you have asked for and have received as you have asked. If you don't like what is happening, you have the power to give yourself a different experience. You can change your mind. Everything is possible when you have self-confidence.
There are those who say power can be dangerous. What they are referring to is not power, but force. Force is used by those who believe themselves weak. Those who know they are all-powerful will not misuse their power. Once you see that you have put value in powerlessness, will it be a sacrifice to trade it in for all the power in the universe?
There are no neutral thoughts. Your mind is all-powerful. When you think loving thoughts, you are thinking with God and those thoughts contribute to the welfare of all humanity because we are all one. Those are real thoughts. Those thoughts weaken illusion's hold and move you toward waking up. That is why Baba constantly urges us to watch our thoughts, words, and deeds. He encourages service to society because when you help one, you help everyone. He urges us to constantly repeat His name because when your mind is focused on God, you are not misappropriating your power. Then you are choosing for God and for your freedom and the freedom of all.
Perseverance in alignment with God's will is all the power you need
Once I came to Sai Baba to procure a robe for our center in Southern California. I was given three interviews during that visit. In the first interview I asked for the robe and Baba agreed to give me one. But a month passed and there was no robe. I went to the office and they told me I should have come immediately - that it was too late. In a second interview I again asked for a robe and again Baba promised to deliver one to me. Immediately after the interview I went to the office and they agreed to check with Baba, but then the man in charge fell seriously ill and the robe lost importance in the shuffle. A third time I was called in and a third time was promised a robe. When I went to the office, the new management told me it was not their business and that if Baba intended to give me a robe He would have to do so directly.
I sought advice among my devotee friends and was told that Elsie Cowan, a prominent devotee, had once asked for some sandals. When they were not forth coming, she sat in the hot sun near Baba's door. When a student came by and asked, “Mother, why are you sitting in the hot sun?” she told him of her determination not to move without the promised sandals. The boy reported to Baba. He came back shortly and told Elsie that the sandals would come and for her to please move to the shade. She would not budge. She sat there until the sandals were in her lap.
Baba's door was no longer accessible, so sitting in the hot sun was not the way to demonstrate my determination. I decided to fast until the robe appeared. But it was Christmas time and after a few days, fasting was really getting in the way of the joy that the season offers, so I quit, but I did not stop praying for a robe.
It was two days after Christmas and my departure day. I asked the head volunteer if I could sit in front to ask for the robe. She pointed to all those who were making similar requests and shrugging her shoulders said, “What can I do?” I went back to my place in my row. The person at the front of the line drew #25. There is a lottery system set up to get inside. It would be impossible to make contact with Baba with that high number. I again plucked up the courage to ask Mata-ji, telling her the robe was not for me, but for all those people back home who were not so fortunate to be here. That softened her heart and she let me sit in front.
When Baba came, He stopped by the person on the one side and then the person on the other side, completely avoiding me. I said, “Baba leaving today, may I please have a robe?” He ignored me and continued walking. I persisted more loudly, “Baba, leaving today.” Suddenly He turned back, “What? Leaving today?” “Yes, and please may I take a robe for our center?” Baba said, “Yes, yes, where are you staying?” “In Elsie Cowan's flat.” “I know. What is your name?” “Yaani.” “Yes, yes.” And He walked on. All day I stayed in the flat full of anticipation, but the robe didn't show up.
Then it was afternoon, my very last darsan and of course I couldn't possibly ask Mata-ji for special favor again. Our row drew #19. When I took my place, I was about 12 layers of women deep and there was no possibility to ask Baba out loud. But I could pray, and pray I did, with all my heart and soul. Baba walked right toward me. But He just passed me by and kept on walking. I prayed even harder, “I know you are just testing me. I know you are hearing my prayer. I won't give up. I will never give up. Please Baba, you promised....” Suddenly He turned and retraced His steps. When within ear shot, He instructed me to go to the office.
After darsan I ran to the office, only to be told the office was helpless as there was no robe waiting for me. I told them I was leaving this very moment, but when the robe turned up, they could give it to friends in Elsie's flat who were also leaving in a few days. They would see that the robe reached me. The office agreed and I was on my way. I was so very happy all the way home. Never did I wonder if the robe would really turn up. I had persevered. I had done everything to my maximum capacity and now I left the results to God. I was singing and dancing for joy. I was so exhilarated.
A few days later my friends showed up with the robe. They said the office had thoroughly interrogated them to make sure they would not consider holding onto the coveted garment themselves. Then the manager had apparently said of me, “She's one lucky lady.”
I had confidence that my purpose was selfless and that I deserved the robe. I did not get discouraged or let any of the obstacles get in the way. That kind of determination and perseverance is all that is necessary and you can do anything, you can go anywhere. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes. You have to be willing to draw your circle just as Elsie did in not budging till the desired result was achieved. That perseverance takes self-confidence. With confidence that you will get what you truly want and deserve, you will passionately invest every ounce of energy into your pursuit. With that kind of determination to awaken, you will awaken.
You do not need to know what to do. You do not need to know how to proceed. All will be given with your determination to succeed. So great is your power. It is your desire for anything that brings everything to you, so watch what you desire. Desire eternal life, perfect happiness, a healed mind, peace, love and truth for yourself and everyone. Anything less than that is not worthy of you. At the same time, temper your determination with a willingness to let go and trust God for everything. Again the spiritual athlete knows how to walk the tight rope, neither letting the pendulum swing too far to the side of your passionate desire for what is your true inheritance or too far to the side of surrendering to whatever is happening in the moment.
You are all the power in the universe
Sai Baba says, “You are the Lord of the universe. There is no one more powerful than you.” If you really are all-powerful what does that mean? It means that nothing happens to you that you do not will. Baba says that He has a mission to restore peace and happiness onto the whole planet and that there is no force that can alter His mission in any way. There is nothing that can interfere with Baba's mission, because He knows how to wield His power to achieve the desired outcome.
Baba is a living example of omnipotence. Everything that happens around Him happens at His will. He says that no one comes to Him unless He wills it. There are plenty of stories of those who have attempted to see Baba and gotten waylaid. He did not will it and without His will it could not happen. During the mid-70's a camera crew from BBC in England came to the ashram and took some footage of Baba and the ashram activities. They were planning to televise their film. When they returned to England, not one frame of film had anything on it. It was all blank. All film shot prior to coming to the ashram and after leaving came out perfectly. Baba said it was not time for Him to be known to the world. Everything that happens in relation to Him is under His control. He is the host in His ashram and nothing happens without His will.
In 1962, Baba didn't want His birthday to be spoiled by the Chinese invasion into His homeland, so the night before His birthday, by 12 o'clock midnight, there was not a single Chinese in all of India. They had simply left of their own accord. Baba says, “When I will, I act.” He fully focuses on what He wills. He doesn't let Himself get distracted, and so whatever He wills, does take place. We can be very comforted in this. It means that He can make pretzels of weapons of mass destruction. There is nothing more powerful than God. Nothing happens without His will. And it is His will that we be as powerful as He is.
Power means perfect equality
The only true power is love, wherein power is used not to dominate or control, but to join in sacred oneness with God and all others. Power struggles frequently infiltrate into marriages, teacher/student, professional/client, healer/patient and employer/employee relationships.
Marriages where husbands attempt to control through use of force such as anger, physical power and physical or verbal abuse are clearly not in alignment with honoring one's partner. The women in such situations typically respond with fear, until they see through his display. His is not power but force. Force is used by those who think themselves weak. As soon as she sees truly, she will be in a position to open the door to his stepping into his real power. Asking God to guide her, she can move the relationship into one where there is equality and an honoring and supporting of each other as God and Goddess. Then the relationship moves from a special relationship into a holy relationship. Conversely a woman may try to control her husband through manipulation, whining, pushiness, or seduction. Control over another is not power but weakness and cannot lead to happiness for either partner.
The workplace is frequently fraught with power struggles and competition as well. People think they are stressed because of their work load, or because of the particular circumstances in which they find themselves. They think they are the effect of a cause outside of themselves. They have it backwards. You are the cause of everything that happens to you. You arrange your circumstances because you want to be stressed or victimized by your particular situation, because it serves the purpose of autonomy.
The service professionals, doctors, dentists, psychologists... would do well to honor their clients equality in order that true healing take place. You are never less than the Ph.D. or the M.D. you make appoints with just because they have a qualification you don't possess. Equality is of God and therein lies your power and your strength. Do cultivate a healthy respect for another's position or expertise where appropriate. Always temper the teachings with common sense. Vulnerability and helplessness are part of the package when you choose ego as your master. Once you are willing to accept that you are the cause of everything that happens to you, you have taken the first step in reclaiming your power and thereby regaining control over your life.
You cannot be hurt by anyone or anything. If you could it would mean there is something or someone more powerful than you. That is simply not true. At the same time, you are not more powerful than anyone else. You can never do anything to hurt another. You can only attack or be attacked if that is what you both decided. You can only experience love and union with another if that is what you both decided. When did you make that decision? If you are all-powerful, you must have made it or your experience would be otherwise. You do not know when you made the decisions that are being played out because though your mind is all-powerful, you do not know your own mind.
Psychology studies subconscious and unconscious aspects of mind. You were created as conscious mind only. God does not have any unconscious aspects in His mind and He gave you His mind. It is you who chose to be unconscious or unaware of the full power of your mind. That is because you allied with an ego which uses the power of your mind to convince you that you are powerless and ignorant. Ego uses your mind to keep you from knowing your own mind. It does this only as long as you let it. Most people have hundreds of thoughts per minute and are much too tolerant of their wandering mind. Control your mind and you will know your mind. Deep breathing helps to slow down the mind. Sai Baba says, “I never think, when I will I act.” There are no surprises in His life. He knows what He wills.
You are all the power in the universe, because you are as God created you and He has withheld nothing from you, His precious creation. He trusted you implicitly and entrusted you with power equal to His. So great is His faith in you. So awesome is your truth. You are grandeur and strength. Your capacity is limitless. And you used that power to make a replacement for God. In other words you used the power of God to overthrow God. But that is impossible as God did not create you more powerful than Himself.
You cannot overstep God's will, because God is as powerful as you are. You are equal with God. He is not more powerful and He is not less powerful. If you want to do something that He does not will, it simply cannot happen. If it could, you would be more powerful than God. Nonetheless you are all-powerful. Whatever you want to be real is real for you merely by your wanting it. It cannot make it real, for only God and God's love are real. God will never conflict with you. His power is His love, and love is always patient and forbearing. If you want to make an unreal choice He will wait till you are ready to make a real one.
Use your power in the service of truth and reality
You are sustained by the power of God who created you. Your relationship with God is symbiotic. God depends on you as much as you depend on Him. You enhance Him and He enhances you. You made ego against God's will. As God did not will you to make ego, it is not real. When you made ego you made it real for yourself by believing in what you had made. Then you entrusted your all-powerful mind to it. It has no power of its own. It uses the power of your mind for its sustenance. The relationship you have with ego is parasitic. Ego sucks your mind dry. It uses all your God power to convince you that you are powerless. Your situation can be likened to the character in the science fiction movie who invents a robot. The robot takes over and becomes your master and you become its slave. That is exactly how it is with you and ego. Ego is not your friend. It is an illusory idea which uses all your God given power to convince you of its reality.
Faith given to illusions does not lack power, for by them you believe you are powerless. You are faithless to yourself but strong in faith in your illusions about yourself. Ego is an illusion which took you over through your consent because you put your faith in it. You are still all-powerful and you can take back your power any time you choose.
The way to regain control of your all-powerful mind is by recognizing that everything is a projection of your mind. You projected your body and the world outside of your mind. They can be used as teaching devices to show you your mind. When you start to see everything as your projection, you are perceiving correctly and this opens the door to regaining awareness of your mind and your power.
Use whatever happens to your body as an opportunity to know your mind. When it is sick, it shows you that you think you are not whole and perfect as God created you. If you knew you were whole and perfect it would be impossible for your body to become ill. So your sickness becomes a learning device. Sickness does not make you bad. It reveals an error in thinking. It reveals a simple lack. Ask God to fill the lack. All you need do is be willing to be restored to wholeness and God does the rest. You need do so little to receive so much.
No one can hurt you
If you are hurt by anyone, it can only be because you still think that another is more powerful than you. That is a gift, as it exposes faulty thinking. Be willing for your mind to be restored to wholeness. Be willing for a shift from victim-victimizer consciousness to God consciousness. Let God make the shift for you. All that is asked of you is a little willingness. You want it when you ask for help instead of feeling victimized. Knowing that everything happens by your desire will motivate you to want to change your mind. When you take full responsibility for everything that is happening to you, you will desire that shift. When you desire the shift, God will give you the shift in consciousness. It is desire that determines everything. If you feel jealousy, anger, pride, hatred or lust it can only be because you think that you are not all-powerful and that your power is not exactly the same as everyone else's. Ask to be restored to wholeness.
The more you see that everything that happens in your world is reflecting back to you your own mind, the more quickly you will become aware of your mind. When you know your mind, you can change it. If you are unaware that you are the cause of all that happens to you, you will feel helpless. I now know that I cannot ever be raped again. That is impossible. Consciousness has shifted from victim-victimizer consciousness to God consciousness. That type of incident simply would serve no purpose and without a purpose, it cannot happen. I am all-powerful. I know that I cannot get sick. My body does not fall ill, by God's grace. I know that my body is not to be used for attack and sickness is attack. I know that my body is not who I am, thus it is not real. Because I know this, it is impossible for me to get sick. I have taken back my power in most areas of my life.
At times I still get hurt in relation to the ones closest to me. That makes them my teachers. They still find my places of vulnerability and I am grateful to them. And I give myself permission to feel sad or hurt if that is real for me. I don't use the teachings to intellectualize myself out of feelings. And I remember the truth that they cannot hurt me. They do not have the power. I can feel hurt but that doesn't mean they hurt me. There is no one more powerful than you. That does not mean that you are responsible for the actions of others. You cannot change another. Even Baba cannot change a person's heart. He says, “I can turn earth into sky and sky into earth, but over men's hearts I have no power.” We are each in charge of our own lives, but no one else's. If someone is not acting appropriately in relation to you, you can change how you relate to the situation but you cannot change them.
We do affect and influence others with the example we set. We can inspire, encourage and support others and that is effective, as we are one and our minds are joined. When I went to Ramana Maharshi's ashram, I experienced a profound silence and in that supportive container my mind naturally fell into that reverie effortlessly. Ramana's silence was influencing my mind positively because I was receptive. We can influence each other, but we have no power over anyone except ourselves.
God is not more powerful than you
We placed God outside of our minds. He did not put us outside of His mind. He yearns for the reestablishment of communication with His children. He is lonely without His children. But He has no power over when we will return to Him. That is up to us. We are all-powerful and God cannot force us to do anything we do not want to do. God's love for us is unaffectable. He loves us no matter what we do in our minds. And the truth is that we could not put God outside of our minds, though we thought we could. God placed Himself in your mind forever. He is always there. That is irrevocable. Be glad it is so. You only have the power to think things are other than they are and to make your ideas seem real. You do not have the power to alter the truth.
When Baba created the ring drama shared in Chapter 9, He set it up to inspire me to rise into my power by asking Him for a ring that was specifically intended for me and not to settle for one that was originally intended for someone else. I did not settle for being less than God. In that moment, equality with God was reestablished in my mind. That drama permitted a shift in consciousness, where I recognized I am a Goddess, as powerful as God. I know my Father and I are one.
You have the power to think that God is separate from you and to project Him outside of your mind. God does not have the power to stop you from thinking that because you are all-powerful. This does not make your idea true, though it may seem true for you. You would only want to think that God is not in you when you listen to ego. Ego wants you to believe God is separate and fearful. Once you know who God is, you will want Him in your mind and will invite Him to stay. God is pure love and wants you to be happy. To recognize that you have God's love in your mind is so awesome and overwhelmingly wonderful.
God cannot heal the separation with you as He did not create it. We tend to blame Him for the abandonment we feel, because we see Him as all-powerful and so how could things that are not peaceful or joyful happen except at His whim? But His power cannot be forced upon us for the very fact that He created us free and honors us as all-powerful. If God had separated from us He could reunite with His beloved children. But He has no power over that reestablishment of communication because He did not will communication be severed. You and I are responsible and communication is reestablished when we so choose. In truth communication was not severed, but lack of communication certainly has been our experience. Because the truth has not been affected, God's power has not been usurped by us.
God cannot force His love on you by its very nature. That would not be love. He is not more powerful than you. If you do not wish to receive His love, He can only wait in patient loving tenderness. If you wish to descend into hell, He has no power to prevent you. You are all-powerful. There is nothing opposing your will. In interviews Baba frequently asks, “What do you want?” The correct answer is, “I am always getting exactly what I want in each moment.” If that is so, then we can look at what we have and decide if it is really what we want.
Do you really want the sickness, suffering, lack and conflict that are necessarily part of autonomy? Is that really what you want? Do you want the competitiveness that proves you greater than or less than others? Do you want the pleasure/pain syndrome that keeps your specialness in tact? Do you want the sacrifice that fame, fortune, glory, reputation and adulation demand? Or do you just want to merge with God and others in the full recognition that we are all exactly alike, that we are all equal? In that you recognize that we are all of equal power, glory, holiness and innocence. No one is better, no one is less, not even God. We are all so much more alike than we are different. Once we understand that, we can really start to enjoy our relationships with God and each other.
Love is the only power. Only love is strong, because it is undivided. Love is so powerful it can move mountains. What are you doing with all your God given power? What do you really want? Do you want peace and happiness for all humanity, or do you still want to gain at another's expense? If you do not want peace and happiness for all you do not want it for yourself. Do you want to be who you are, or do you want autonomy, specialness, or grandiosity? Do you want to be one with everyone and everything or do you want praise, adulation and inequality? Do you want to be put on a pedestal, to be seen as special, better than, or holier than? God is humility, grandeur, power and love. You are God. There is nothing outside of you that can add in any way to what you already know, are and have.
Reclaim your power now
Many students get sucked into spiritual movements where they give their power away to their teacher. Sai Baba empowers us by reminding us to follow our hearts. The ego-oriented teacher is out to dominate you. A true teacher will always want to absolve you finally from the need for a teacher. A true teacher will set himself up as a way shower, rather than as one who promises to do it for you. If you think your salvation depends on your teacher, you are in the wrong relationship. You are your own savior. No one, not even God, can do it for you. A spiritual or religious group in which you are not free to leave is not a true offering and will not help you to your destination of freedom from bondage. If you leave the Catholic church you are damned to hell. This is an example of use of force instead of power. Viciousness comes from the need to defend an untrue thought system. Truth needs no defense. Defense is how untruth is maintained, but also how it is exposed.
A true student will find a true teacher. A true teacher is one who looks after the welfare of the student and is unconcerned about his reputation or how many students he has gathered around him. And he supports and even encourages his students to move on when that is correct and appropriate. Do not let others use their power inappropriately in relation to you and do not use your power inappropriately either. Teacher/student is just one type of relationship where there is a tendency to surrender your power. You also give your power away to doctors and dentists every time you let them make decisions for you. You defer to them because of their expertise in the area. But the power of decision is your own. When you give it away, you set yourself up for future regrets. In the work place the boss is frequently given power over his employees. You have rights and when you know what they are you will act in ways that preserve your honor and dignity. If you are a boss, it is right to cultivate a healthy respect in your employees, but that through love rather than domination or subordination.
Manipulating events to suit desires is misuse of power
There are those ‘new-agers' who hold the idea that power means the ability to get themselves parking spaces or to manifest whatever they want. You are already getting what you want. To use the power of your mind in a manipulative or coercive way is a misappropriation of power. It is a little like walking on coals or bending spoons. If it does not heal, it is a misdirection of power. Using your mind to get what you want masks symptoms and does not solve your problem. To solve the problem we need to get in touch with the seed idea from which all thoughts, actions and effects spring. The seed idea behind manipulating events is lack of trust in God. When we trust God to know what is best we are not giving our power away. Instead, we are directing our power appropriately and can rest assured that we will be empowered by that surrender. As our power comes from God, by entrusting it to God we are merely acknowledging Him as our Source.
What about Sai Baba and His manifestation of objects, you may wonder? Baba says they are His calling cards. They instill faith and give joy to His devotees. He does not manifest for show. He did not undertake yogic practices to attain powers. He came onto the planet with these abilities as God incarnate. He is Divine and limitless and His love expresses in that and many other ways. Love is creative and limitless. This is different from the yogi who walked on water out of pride of attainment through self-effort.
Be assertive, not aggressive
If you find yourself in a situation where you are being violated in any way, how should you respond? Always honor yourself and do that which serves your truth. Power should not be expressed as force, might or hurtful acts either in relation to yourself or others. Be true to yourself. Be mighty in splendor, dignity and honoring of yourself. You are God's purity, holiness and sanctity. You deserve the best because of who you are. Let everything that happens be used to reveal to you that goodness, beauty and holiness are what you truly want because they are what you are. You should only want to be treated like the Goddess or the God that you are. If that is not what is happening, then use what is happening to bridge the gap. Ask to be shown what to do.
I cannot change anyone. I can only change myself. Once I really know I am a Goddess, I cannot but be treated as such. Don't settle for less than the best for yourself. You deserve the best. You have the power within you to have the best. You are all the power in the universe. Never forget your awesome inheritance. Cultivate it. Nurture it. Realize it. Turn to God. With God all things are possible. Without God nothing is possible. Every impossible situation can be brought to wholeness. There is nothing that is impossible when you stand in the strength of who you are as God created you.
Watch any tendency to justify being a victimizer with, “There are no victims. Whatever I am doing to another, they have requested or it could not happen.” This reasoning is a misapplication of the teaching and is taking enough spiritual knowledge to hang yourself. Help ever - hurt never. When you hurt another, you are hurting yourself. It is not your business to support another's victim consciousness. Your business is to treat ALL with the utmost respect, kindness and gratitude.
Everyone deserves the best, as all are precious children of a most holy loving God, and it is God's will that all His children be treated as Divine, regardless of their actions. No one with past karma or victim/victimizer consciousness need balance the scales. They need only shift from victim/victimizer consciousness to God consciousness and all karmic consequences are wiped away by God's grace. You can help make that shift by treating everyone with honor and dignity. When you do that you know your truth as God created you and you remind others of their truth by your living example. At the very least you need not play a role in balancing the scales for someone else.
Use nonviolent resistance against injustice
What about the bullies in your life? Do you just remind yourself that you cannot be hurt and that you are doing this to yourself, when you get nailed up on the cross for the hundredth time? Sai Baba says to resist injustice, while Jesus says to resist not evil. I hear Sai Baba to say don't be passive or complacent in the face of injustice. And I hear Jesus to say don't fight it. The Aramaic word for resist means “to stand against.” Jesus is instructing us not to act in kind as in an eye for an eye. At the same time, Jesus life was not one of being passive in the face of injustice.
Baba and Jesus are both saying essentially the same thing though it may sound on the surface that they are giving opposite messages. We always have to dive deep and then the right interpretation and the right application will reveal itself. When the twin towers was hit in the fall of 2001, Baba advised to send pink light to Osama bin Laden and the President Bush and all those families who were terrorized. He did not advise doing nothing. He advised resisting evil. Meet it with goodness. Meet hatred with love. That is how evil is overcome.
To love does not mean to let yourself be stepped on. Jesus said, “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek turn the other also, and if anyone wants to sue you and take your outer garment, give your undergarment as well. And if one of the occupation troops forces you to carry his pack one mile, go two.” This sounds like he was advising his followers to let themselves be trampled upon. But Jesus' life was an example of resisting injustices and violations. There is a plausible explanation.
The Romans were misusing their power to dominate the Jews. They treated the Jews with a lack of honor and dignity that is everyone's due. They would strike the Jews into submission with the back of their left hand. They didn't have toilet paper in those days and the left was considered unclean. If the Jew should offer the left cheek it would put the Roman in the untenable position of having to use the right hand or the hand which was reserved for equals. Offering the left cheek was an assertion of equality. Jesus was not suggesting that the Jews be passive, complacent or resigned to injustices in their lives, but to meet evil with nonviolent resistance.
When Jesus instructed the poor to give their undergarments he was advising those who were being unfairly taxed to remove their underwear when they were stripped of their outer garments due to inability to pay their taxes. This action of utter nakedness brought shame onto their creditors, so again it was an act of nonviolent resistance against injustice. Jesus was not teaching passiveness or submissiveness. He was teaching active nonviolent resistance.
As to carrying their packs two miles, Roman soldiers would force Jewish civilians to carry their heavy packs, but the law mandated they be carried no more than one mile. When a peasant carried a pack more than a mile the soldier became culpable for violation of military law. It was a different era and we cannot take literally everything that got said for the particular circumstances that had to be dealt with at that time. You know in your heart what is right. To be passive in the face of injustice is to condone it and thereby to judge it. Non-judgment is not passive. You deserve the best because of who you are. So does every living thing including the victimizer. You serve him by seeing that his actions are not real and by remembering for him that he is as God created him. Do not condone his actions or you do him a disservice.
You are a precious child of God. You do not deserve to be unjustly treated under any circumstances. If you are not being treated as the Goddess or God that you are, something is wrong and you can turn to God to show you how to remedy your situation. Don't justify or rationalize ill-treatment from anyone. Do not think that it is your bad karma coming back to you, that you have to put up with it because you have no alternatives, that you deserve it or that you stand to learn from your circumstances. You deserve the best only and always. Turn to God and you will be given nonviolent solutions to every problem.
Force is a misuse of power and is not to be tolerated. If you truly love yourself, you will never use force to get anything, nor will you permit force to be used against you. Take back your power Oh holy child of God. It was you who gave it away. It is yours whenever you so choose. There is no one more powerful than you. Nothing can happen to you that you have not asked for. If you don't like it, change your circumstances. If you don't know how to change them, ask for help. With God all things are possible. Walk the earth with your head held high in the glory of your mighty power. Be empowered in the knowledge of your splendorous truth and may all go well with you always. Love is the only power. May the power of your love transform the world into a sublime masterpiece where all are empowered to lead lives of dignity as it was always meant to be.
Our all-powerful, all-loving Father/Mother God, thank You for creating us as powerful as You. What an awesome trust You have placed in us, Your creations. Thank You for honoring us and wanting only the best for us. Love is the power you have given Your Divinely loved children. Show us how to use our power to honor and glorify You. Show us how to use our power in the service of all our brothers and sisters toward the end of the misuse of power in its entirety. Show us how to use our power for love and for healing this beautiful world. May all beings everywhere take back their power so they may live with dignity, honor and holiness as You intended for all Your precious children.
May all beings in all the worlds be happy and blest, Amen.
Are you really all that powerful?
(Questions for on-line course - all are welcome to participate. Please share your answers at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/joiningintruth)
- What stands in the way of the salvation of the world? Is God unable to save the world? Are we impotent? Is God helpless? Are we all the power in the universe?
- Are you as powerful as God? How is that possible? If the world needs salvation, why doesn't God just fix it now?
- Are you responsible for everything that happens to you? Can you be both a victim and all-powerful? Which would you rather be? Do you want to be the author of your life, or do you want someone else to be responsible for what happens to you? How does self-responsibility reestablish our power in our minds?
- Do you feel like you really wield all that much power? What power does ego really have? What forces have power over us if we are not vigilant? What is the difference between God and ego in relation to power? What are subconscious or unconscious aspects of mind?
- What will re-open the door to self-empowerment? What is self-confidence?
- Are thoughts things? Are we in charge of our thoughts?
- What happened to being all powerful if we find ourselves constantly frustrated in our attempts at getting what we really want?
- When is power used appropriately? What is the cause of power struggles? What form do those struggles take? When is power misused?
- What is the difference between power and force?
- Who do we give our power away to? How do spiritual students keep from giving their power away to gurus?
- If you find yourself in a tight spot, how might you respond to injustice? Should we resist injustice? When Jesus told his disciples to resist NOT evil, what did he mean? What is forbearance? Is it passive? What happens when you are passive in the face of injustice?
- What is non-violent resistance to injustice? Why is non-violence better than violence in response to injustice? Is non-violence passive?
FINAL EXAM - What are the key questions and their right answers?