Now faith is the [a]substance of things hoped for, the [b]evidence of things not seen. ( Hebrews 11:1 )
'Have a little Faith!'
No matter how much substance one gives to this popular statement; there is some truth to it. There is nothing wrong with placing Faith in something outside yourself, though there is always the chance you'll be disappointed! Therefore, the Crux comes in how & where you place that Faith! Do we place our Faith in what some Book says about a Person/Being we have no Proof of except for that Book, or do we trust in our own ability ( capability ) & that of those around us? The Book in question, of course, as we have explored previously, is simply one of many translations ( versions ) of an Ancient Near Eastern narrative into a modern Western piece of literature. In that vein; the words "substance" & "evidence" might better be translated 'foundation' & 'conviction'. So, the question here might be; "What is YOUR Foundation; what is YOUR Conviction?"
Fear is a great motivator! As Christians. we are taught to 'fear God': whether this 'fear' is simply a healthy respect or what, it is still Fear. "Why should we 'fear' God?" Well, of course, we don't want to go to 'Hell'. so there IS that, right? Okay, so 'healthy respect'; we're right back to, 'God' has the Power to destroy 'both soul and body in Hell'. Nice Guy, right?! However. this is somewhat beside the point. If your Faith is in some Being out there, Who may or may not exist, then your Faith is founded on mere Hope! However, if your Faith is in your own ability to choose, based not on what you read in some Book, but what you feel within Yourself, then your Faith is indeed grounded in something substantive. Here again, many or most Christians will tell you, to whatever degree, that because of 'the Fall', we CANNOT, free-will or not, make good choices, so according to their reasoning, we MUST place our Faith in that same Person/Being who may or may not cast us into 'Hell'! Since we know "there is no Fear in Love", however, doesn't it make more sense in your own ability to save yourself, to choose the Right, especially given the fact that this Book also tells us that "we have the Mind of ( the ) Christ"?!
Yes; Fear IS a great motivator, but Love is the Greatest Motivator! For instance, Love for ourselves enables us to have Love for others! You might have heard the saying, 'if you can't love yourself, you can't truly love anybody else'? This is a true saying & worthy of all acceptation. When we love ourselves, we begin to see that we DO have the Power to make Right Choices, for Love IS Right! We ARE Love, for We are of the same Essence as 'God', Who "is Love". This is not to say that 'God is one of us' ( a human being ), as some have postulated, just that WITHIN our humanity, in fact, that which truly motivates our humanity, is the Essence of Who we are, what makes us 'us'. Now, playing the 'devil's advocate' here, it might be said that if this 'Essence' is truly what motivates our humanity, then humanity must have been, as a whole, affected by 'the Fall', because, "look at all the evil that humanity has perpetrated"! A good point, maybe, or so it might seem, except that those who perpetrate & perpetuate evil are acting out of Fear, NOT Love. Fear comes from without; Love comes from within; Fear is learned, Love just IS. One doesn't LEARN to Love another: for lack of a better term, It just 'happens': a child, on the other hand, must LEARN to Fear, otherwise, he or she will never understand the concept!
As human beings, we should understand that there is ALWAYS a choice! We may not like either choice & therefore we might say, based on Fear, that we had no choice. As the saying goes, however, 'if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice'. Even if you felt like you had to choose 'the lesser of two evils'; you still chose 'evil'! Fear tells us that if we don't choose one or the other, then the one that we fear most will be chosen for us. Love, on the other hand, tells us to trust our own intuition, or whatever Higher Power we choose to place our Faith in, to make the Right choice, even if it seems there is no chance in 'Hell'. Love tells us as well, that as long as we 'harm none', to do what we will! Fear teaches us to walk on eggshells lest someone perceives what we do as 'harm'. In other words, Fear makes us worry about what others might think & therefore we usually act accordingly. Love, on the other hand, is based on intuition & intention. When guided by Love, In Essence, by our Higher Self, we act with intention, intuitively ( one might even say, 'instinctively' ).
Love IS the Greatest Choice, though some might say, as far as our True Nature, our Higher, or Highest Self goes, there IS no choice involved; It just IS! One might think that it should be easy, even humanly speaking; the obvious choice is Love, not Fear, but unfortunately, in the day & age in which we live, it often seems to be the most difficult choice in the world. Humans have been so conditioned for so long, by whatever means, to live in Fear. This Fear has many different facets, but what it really comes down to is a Fear of the Unknown, Fear of the Future, Fear of what others might think, Fear of what others might DO, Fear of the IFs of Life; 'What will happen IF?', 'IF I do this, what will happen?' If I do that, what will happen?' 'What IF I don't.............?' So many IFs with Fear, but with Love, there are no IFs! Because We ARE Love, there is no 'IF he or she is worthy', no 'IF I feel like it' ( honestly, we ALL have those days, some more than others ). Love just IS! When we allow our Highest Self to influence our actions, the choice will always be Love from a Pure Heart!
I'm definitely no expert on children & even though I have 11 siblings ( 4 sisters, 7 brothers ), cannot say on my own authority, tell you that children have to learn Fear, learn Hate, but studies have been made to show this disturbing fact! There is no certain age when children begin to learn Hate & Fear, for so much depends on the environment in which they are raised, or better yet, allowed to grow. as the Great Wheel turns. However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that children ( again, depending on their environment ) are learning earlier and earlier to allow their emotions to rule them! On the other side of the proverbial coin, Love is NOT an emotion, but an almost passable substitute, that is also called 'love', is another of these ruling emotions; this 'love', which is more akin to 'lust', though not necessarily BASED in Fear, is too often dependent on, or even ruled by Fear. 'What if he or she doesn't return my 'love'?' 'What if I lose her or him?' So many IFs!
As we have explored many times previously, We are More than Human! Yes, we are, as far as our individual Journey on this Sacred Earth, Human Beings, Human beings with Free-Will, the capability to make Choices & not only that, the capability to make Right Choices! We have this ability, because whatever Higher Power we give worth to, whether It be the 'God' of our own choosing or our own Inner Being, our Highest Self enables us to just simply BE, not to Fear what may come from ours or other's actions. When we live from our Highest Self, for instance, someone might do us harm, whether real or perceived, but we understand that their action was not necessarily against us ( personally ), but was a product of their own Fear, their own Pain. This does not necessarily mean that we should just let it pass ( 'turn the other cheek' ), but Love gives us Empathy for our fellow humans, who have been conditioned as much or more than we have. Again, 'we ARE Human Beings', but as More than Human, our Intention is Love, not Fear!
As children must be taught, throughout their lives, to Fear, so we, as adults, must unlearn the Fear that we were taught. It is only through realization of Who & What we truly are, by embracing our true nature, that being Love, that we will ever truly conquer Fear! Fear is insidious! The reason for this is an overactive Ego. When presented with any given situation, no matter how much you place your faith in someone outside yourself, there is always that seed, however small, of doubt that filters through & says, 'What if?' From 'What will happen to my toy if that other child plays with it?' to 'If I don't do what I'm told, will I burn in 'Hell' forever?', we are faced with so much Fear throughout our lives that to unlearn all that we have been taught, we will have to go through a usually painful unlearning process. This Process, painful as it is, must happen in order for the Healing to begin.
Fear. though a great motivator, will not motivate you to heal! Oh, sure; Fear might make you wanna start taking care of your biological body, but to truly Heal, one needs to work from the inside out, in a manner of speaking. Only Love can do that! 'As above, so below'; when we begin with our 'heart'. our Soul, one might say, this Healing will manifest in our physical body. Now, this is not to say necessarily, that we, humanly speaking, will experience a complete '180', but the health we feel in the Spirit cannot help but manifest in our physical body. Our very Essence IS Health & when we live from & in that Essence, we will present, to whatever extent, the very picture of Health! ( On a more personal note: this may be my own Fear speaking, but I wonder if, speaking of our biological bodies, there isn't a 'point of no return', where the damage is all but irreversible )
So; 'Fear or Faith'? With the Faith that Love will guide us through all of Life's obstacles, we need not Fear! 'As above. so below'; if we place our Faith in something, or someone outside ourselves, there's always the chance we will be disappointed. If we place that Faith in ourselves, however; though we may fail untold times, because we are operating out of Love, not Fear, we will get up, dust ourselves off & 'try, try again'. The answer to the question; 'Fear or Faith?' is 'Love'! More precisely. it is our Faith in the Power of Love that will carry us through.
Namaste' & Blessed Be.
Sage Charles
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