Love is what we are born AS, fear is what we learn as we progress through life...

I changed the title just a bit but have to attribute it to Marriane Williamson, who is one of my favorite writers and teachers.  This is so true.  Think about a new born baby, the only things that really scare them are loud noises and the sense of falling both of which are experiences.  But the baby doesn't sit around wondering if a loud noise is going to happen or if they will be dropped.

But as we grow, we begin to be conditioned to realize fear is a part of life.  We begin to be concerned about fitting in, we are warned about all the perils of life.  After all, life is hard and trust is something that has to be earned, there is evil in the world, etc. etc.   Our parents, teachers, preachers, government leaders, authority figures offer an almost constant barrage of reasons that we should be concerned or afraid.  And frankly, history supports this concern for safety.  People kill poeple which in and of itself is crazy, but when you consider the rationalizations that are used to justify these actions you realize how really crazy it is.

So, if Love is what we are born AS, why is it so prevalent that we learn this obsession with fear?  It's a learning process.  As divine eternal beings, its one thing to know our potential and power, but it is a completely different thing to experience that potential and power...to actually participate in the evolution and expansion of all that is.  That is scary stuff.  I'm paraphrasing but Mariane Williamson says "Our greatest fear is not what might happen to us, it is what our true power and potential is".

We have all had those moments of epiphany.  Those moments when you have this sense of "Aha" or close connection with life.  Well, the degree to which those moments are enjoyed as Bliss, Joy, Love or connection is determined by having the experience of what those moments are not.  In other words, you can't experience the feeling of true pure positive Love without knowing what the feeling is for its absence.  Fear is the opposite of Love, but it is also not a natural state for us.

We need to begin cultivating rituals for realizing our true potential.  We need to begin attending to our highest goal of being connected to our divinity.  We need to begin realizing that we are not separate from one another, from nature, and all that is.  We are all connected at our essence.  You know that, right?

All ancient wisdom carries the same tenet.  We are all extensions of GOD, Source energy, or the Universe.  Call it Christ Consciousness, the Buddha Nature, the way of the Tao and so on, we have infinite potential and wisdom available to us.  you know, "if you do not go within, you go without"?  But we all resist this innate connection with divinity to some degree.

This resistance manifests as sickness, obesity, crime, civil unrest, political discord and anything that comes out of fear.  Interpretation of religion can be resistance to our divinity.  Addictions are a big area of resistance.  And these are all ritualistic in nature.  Sickness, obesity and emotional disorders don't happen as a result of a one time behavior or action.  They result from habitual behaviors that are out of alignment with your True Self.  If everyone was acting out of just 25% alignment with their Divine Self, do you think 17,000 children would die everyday from starvation?  Of course not.

So as we approach the New Year, rather than coming up with resolutions that won't last more than 2 weeks, simply take a look at your daily rituals.  For instance, what you do with the first 15 minutes of your day when you wake up, or the first 15 minutes after you arrive home from work, or the last 15 minutes of the day before turning the lights out at night.  Do they serve you?

I urge you to develop rituals that support you physically, emotionally, spiritually and socially.  They don't have to be huge, just a few minutes at first, but these are the things that can eliminate the resistance to your true nature.  After all, we are spiritual beings but how much time do we actually spend cultivating our spirit or our True Nature?