Lately I have been concerned -- I refuse to say worried -- so OK -- worried -- about a seemingly threatening issue. Though experience has repeatedly taught that rescue always arrives in the nick of time from an unexpected direction, this dark cloud hovered above me, dark and foreboding disaster. At such times I follow my own rules, keep calm, retreat to my safe center, my position of witness -- using the promises of Psalm 91 as a protective buffer.
These words came to me Thanksgiving morning as I huddled under the covers:
I say to you:
Fear not.
Go to the Light.
Light is Love.
Your errors are forgiven.
All is forgotten.
You are Free.
More wisdom continued.
Dwell in the Light of Certainty.
Fear is ignorance
My animals have taught me so much. I remember my eight-pound Pekinese, Princess Yin, as a precocious pup, afraid of nothing until one evening she burst into agitated barking. Upon investigation, the object of her terror turned out to be a nightshirt that to her must have had a frightening shape, which I had hung over the bathtub to dry. I took it down and she saw that it presented no threat. Yinnie understood that it was harmless.
Children learn early on that Halloween witches and the fearsome Wizard of Oz exist only for their entertainment. Boogie men are easily banished by nightlights.
Indra, a close friend and fellow traveler, offered this instruction as a ritual which can help change a worried, non-productive mindset:
- Gather documents representative of your dilemma(s).
- Place them beneath a lit light (lamp, candle) of your choice.
- Tell them that they are returning to the light of Enlightenment.
- Bless them on their way.
- Fugetaboutit!!!
Our minds operate somewhat like water filters that are designed to eliminate elements determined by the ego to be detrimental to its agenda.
In recent times past to the present, photographers placed filters on their cameras, which altered effects of color and light upon subjects. In this digital age, visual results are largely controlled by humans using computer programs.
Memories of past events effectively screen our performance, forming a blueprint for future patterns of behavior. Everyone sees the present in his/her light of their individual past, ensuring more of the same conditions and circumstances.
It is generally recognized by behavioral psychologists that repetitive behavior induces a tendency toward repetition.[1] This can be confirmed by observation:
If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.
Soaking in a soothing bath is one of my fave places to receive guidance; in this instance, insight for a way to reinforce the significant message of this blog. Certain that greater minds than mine must have contemplated this theme, I turned to my faithful servant, the Internet.
So these gems crop up:
"We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them." -- Christian Nevell Bovee
"Misunderstanding arising from ignorance breeds fear, and fear remains the greatest enemy of peace." -- Lester B. Pearson
"Fear always springs from ignorance." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Ignorance is the parent of fear." -- Herman Melville
Let's go a bit deeper. A Course In Miracles (published by the Foundation for Inner Peace) is believed to have been dictated by Jesus to Helen Schucman. The text claims that all emotions derive from only two -- love and fear.
Scripture states that "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear" (John 4:18)
So clearly, knowledge banishes ignorance along with its source, fear, restoring love.
References
[1] Skinner, B.F. Science and Human Behavior. New York: The Free Press, 1953. [Link]