Here’s a true idea that rarely occurs to us. There is a greater potential in what we don’t yet know about this life of ours than there is in what we’ve already seen about it.
 |
| One manifesting as Many |
ਭੈ ਤਨਿ ਅਗਨਿ ਭਖੈ ਭੈ ਨਾਲਿ ॥
bhai than agan bhakhai bhai naal
The fire of fear within the body is burnt away by the Fear of God.
Page151 Line 4 Raag Gaurhee Guaarayree: Guru Nanak Dev
For instance, maybe we turn around one day and find ourselves caught in the dark grip of some kind of fear. Perhaps we see the one we love “looking the other way”; maybe a phone call delivers uncertain news about our deteriorating health; or someone tells us about a forthcoming change at work that threatens our sense of security.
In moments such as these, our future grows as dark and full of the loneliness, worry, and loss we see coming our way. But our lives need not be swallowed up in unconscious servitude to this kind of suffering. We have another choice if we will only dare be still and be the Light. Here now are some ways to practice realizing the truth of your Self. Each case begins with remembering to make the new choice that follows:
ਡਰਿ ਘਰੁ ਘਰਿ ਡਰੁ ਡਰਿ ਡਰੁ ਜਾਇ ॥
ddar ghar ghar ddar ddar ddar jaae
Place the Fear of God within the home of your heart; with this Fear of God in your heart, all other fears shall be frightened away.
Page151 Line 7 Raag Gaurhee: Guru Nanak Dev
* Instead of surrendering yourself to its punishing presence, bring your loneliness into the Light of your Self. If you will remain there within your awareness of this “darkness”, here’s what you’ll see take place before your inner eyes: the fear of being alone will be transformed into the contentment of knowing that you have never been without the love that you long for. You will see that a tenderness beyond words lives within the Light you have embraced.
* Bring your fear and worry about “tomorrow” into the Light of your Self. Remain there in your awareness of these frightening shadows, and here’s what will unfold before your inner eyes: you’ll watch these dark doubts dissolve into an unquestioned knowing that no time to come has power over the peace of being in the present moment. You will see that serenity is one with the life of the Light you have chosen to be.
*When visited by some sense of loss or emptiness, bring it into the Light of your Self. Remain quietly attentive to how that dark state wants to drag you into its world, even as you hold it in your awareness, and you’ll see a miracle take place before your inner eyes: that feeling of being forsaken will be transformed into the fullness of knowing that who you really are is wholeness itself. For your willingness to be inwardly watchful, you will see that the Light of your Self reaches everywhere in the universe . . . so how could you ever be alone? All that lives . . . lives within the Light of your Self.
ਜਿਨ ਅੰਦਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਨਿਧਾਨੁ ਹੈ ਤਿਨ ਕਾ ਭਉ ਸਭੁ ਗਵਾਇਸੀ ॥
jin andhar naam nidhhaan hai thin kaa bho sabh gavaaeisee
Those who have the treasure of the Naam deep within - all their fears are removed.
Page310 Line 13 Raag Gaurhee: Guru Ram Das
After many years of talking to aspirants about being the Light instead of searching for what they think they need to deal with their dark states, I have found there is one main reason most people won’t take the leap of releasing their fears into the Light that lives within them. They profess a love of the Light, but whenever an unwanted moment appears, and they look into its unknown abyss . . . they see no Light there, only darkness. Then comes an immediate resistance, and darkness rules the day. Let me shed some light on this problem. Things are not always as they are seen.
Do you recall the wonderful characters in The Wizard of Oz? Along with Dorothy–who was trying to find her way back home–there was the scarecrow, the tin man, and the cowardly lion: her compatriots on the journey to see the great wizard who would grant each of them their most fervent wish.
The scarecrow wanted a brain, a mind with which to reason and know the truth of things. The tin man hoped for a heart to beat in his hollow tin chest, so that by its warmth and rhythmic beating he would know the presence of the love for which he longed; and the cowardly lion wanted courage to face his fears, to meet any form of darkness with what it takes to defeat it. By the end of the story–largely as a result of what they go through because of their love for Dorothy–each makes this glad discovery: the very quality of character for which they had gone out searching was already living within them!
So it is with us: we have forgotten who we really are cannot be made a captive of any dark condition any more than a sunbeam can be caught and held in a bottle.
Our True Self is success itself, in every meaning of the word, because by its Light it fulfills and liberates all that it touches.
Never mind all the voices you’ll no doubt hear shouting at you the first time you decide to be the Light of your Self. That which is dark does not go gently through being made new and bright. So there is work involved. But the Light we realize within us never fails; it literally carries us above whatever mountain is before us by revealing it to be nothing other than what we had yet to see about ourselves.
We cannot control the way the world turns, we cannot change day into night, we cannot keep what is not ours; and we cannot hide these facts from ourselves, no matter how hard we try. But what we are given to do, and that turns out to be the one power of ours truly capable of transforming the whole of life, is that we can choose–moment to moment–to be the Light of our Self. We are created as co-creators of all that we can be conscious of within ourselves. It is our right to be in relationship with only those powers whose presence serves our chosen purpose in life
......which is to be One with the Light.
ਸਦਾ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਨਿਰੰਕਾਰੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਜਪੈ ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਗੁਰ ਸਬਦ ਰਸਿ ਕਰਤ ਦ੍ਰਿੜੁ ਭਗਤਿ ਹਰਿ ॥
sadhaa niravair nirankaar nirabho japai praem gur sabadh ras karath dhrirr bhagath har
Meditate lovingly forever on the Lord, free of hate and vengeance, Formless and Fearless; lovingly savor the Word of the Guru's Shabad, and implant devotional worship of the Lord deep within.
Page1400 Line 18 Raag Sava-yay (praise of Guru Ram Das: Ga-yand
(Excerpted from The Essential Laws of Fearless Living, Weiser Books)
————————————————————————————Guy Finley is the best-selling author of The Secret of Letting Go, The Essential Laws of Fearless Living, and 35 other works that have sold over a million copies in 18 languages worldwide. His work has been featured on hundreds of radio and TV networks including NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, NPR, and PBS. Guy has spent the last 30 years showing individuals the authentic path to a higher life filled with happiness, success, and true love. Finley lives and teaches in Merlin, Oregon where he is Director of non-profit Life of Learning Foundation.
For more information visit www.guyfinley.org, and receive your free Guy Finley Starter Kit. You get several free downloadable gifts including a special newsletter filled with helpful insights and encouragement emailed to your desktop once each week.
—————————————————————————