Soul takes flight.
August 9, 1993
God, who is your light and your spiritual strength, uplifts your soul and helps it to fly. The flight of your soul is worth your greater understanding. There are times in your life when you feel you could nearly fly—you feel uplifted, exhilarated, on an emotional high. Your soul exhibits a great vibrancy, and you feel this near euphoria where all that you encounter becomes positive. Things go right, your moods are positive and optimistic, and you find yourself looking forward and not concentrating on the inward journey. These are indeed moments when your soul takes flight, so to speak. Your human life is elevated by the energy emanating from your soul. The presence of your spiritual self becomes undeniable and permeates everything you experience. This energy colors the perception of all that takes place around you.
There are, of course, many times in your life when you are not aware of the flight of your soul. But that is because you become so preoccupied with all that is at hand that you lose sight of the beauty which expands above and beyond you. It may be hard to indeed accept, but it is a fact that the energy that you sense from your soul at certain times in your life is a constant energy. Your soul takes flight even when you are anchored to the floor.
When you are discouraged or sick or lonely, the spiritual essence of your being, your soul, flies ahead of you. Your soul becomes a source or potential for elevating your sense of life around you. It is not something you wait for; it is not something you merely hope for. It is there constantly. When you are not so preoccupied with what is close by, you are more capable of being aware of the vibrancy, the brilliance, of your soul.
On our side, we are not concerned about what surrounds us in the immediate facility for we are freed of that and we are led upward and outward by this energy. It is at times when you experience such emotions that you capture but a glimpse of the brilliance and joy and energy which we experience. It is but a brief look at what is held for you in the future, in the eternity which you shall all experience.
When tragedy strikes, it is easy to forget to view what lies but a short distance ahead or remains above you. The preoccupation which from time to time dominates one’s life clouds the vision of what is really important. Anxiety is a kind of cloud. When you worry about events to come, you lose the perspective of what is reality beyond those events, and you are unable to experience those events within the proper framework. The event dominates the scene rather than occupying only a corner.
Anxiety, fear, worry—these are all clouds that obstruct your vision. When you experience moments of such clouds, whatever they may be, step back and remember those times when you have felt the soaring of your soul and think for a moment that that brilliance, that energy, that love and exhilaration are still every bit a part of your existence. When you see back to those moments of such energy, you recognize how transitory your frustrations and anxieties really are and also how insignificant they are.
There is nothing that can cause anxiety that is of any real significance, for what is significant in life is love for oneself and others, and a recognition of the presence of God in the form of love offered by others. That’s what is significant. Such considerations are never a source for worry or anxiety or fear. You fear what is closest to you. You fear the dangers that lie around the corner, but you don’t fear the whole journey. You don’t fear the path of your life. So you don’t fear what is significant, only what is insignificant or transitory.
The permanence of your soul you know about, but your soul is not just an intellectual construct. It is an entity that is very real, that is vital, that can move you to do things, that can guide your life, that can provide a sense of meaning to your life. The soul that occupies your life is what is really important. Keep your attention on the goal and don’t worry about your feet. Life is not to be dominated by your own concerns. Life should be dominated by optimism and a sense of perspective bathed in the joy of God’s presence.
There are many who are consumed by the matters they encounter day after day after day. These matters are acknowledged, dealt with, dispatched, and then these people are ready for the next problem. But they have no vision of what they are doing in life, for life is not a series of problem-solving experiences. Problems are indeed a part of all life, but that is not what life is about. Move away from preoccupations of problem solving, from the concerns of immediate challenges, from concerns about the less significant elements in life, and bring your attention in a more concentrated manner to that part of your human life which is indeed significant, namely your relationships with others, your relationship with God.
Your relationship with God affects and shapes your relationship with others. If you feel a close relationship to God, you cannot feel isolated from another human being, for isolation means darkness, and in God’s creation there is no total isolation. No one is alone, nothing which has been created is alone, and therefore, nothing is isolated. Because nothing is isolated, all have connections to others. Each individual has the responsibility for nurturing the development of others. This may be through expressing love to another, support, teaching, or caring for another medically. It could be any number of ways.
Recognize that you are not islands. Recognize that all humans are a single unit really. There is nothing that separates you from another. Only attitudes can be built as walls, but in truth, regardless of the attitudes, you are all still a single unit. Inasmuch as you can recognize the unity of all human beings, you will not feel a sense of aloneness, you will never feel separated, and you will recognize the need of supporting others through love by what you say, by what you do, by what you think. All have an impact on those around you. This is the bigger picture. This is the view forward and upward.
When you recognize that total unity with all of creation, the momentary stumbles, the momentary challenges, the momentary causes for worry or anxiety become totally insignificant. Keep your eyes on the goal, not on your feet. Seek the high ground, for it is there that you have the widest view. It is to that high ground that your soul constantly soars. It is to provide you in your human form with the broadest view of the unity of God’s creation.
Despite the suffering and the frustration which is manifest throughout the world, despite the inequality which you read about this evening, all is really a single unit. Feel that unity and respond to it. Avoid putting up walls between people, nations, ideologies, philosophies, and governments. Those are merely trappings which provide a temporary sense of identity but have no bearing on why you are experiencing your human life.
You are living to affirm total unity. That is your goal. That is where the eyes are uplifted. That is what you must see when the clouds roll across your vision. You must still recognize the goal is there even though you cannot see it. You must look forward and outward, reach in all directions and be uplifted by the constant soaring of your soul.
We watch that flight with great joy. We are here to show you the way. You are blessed in that journey. We bless you with God’s love and overwhelming brilliance.
Amen.