Inner Guidance

Inner Guidance

OUR DIVINE BIRTHRIGHT

Advance Uncorrected and Unpublished Proof.

This copy is not for distribution or sale.

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Inner

Guidance

OUR DIVINE BIRTHRIGHT

S

Anne Archer Butcher

E

ECKANKAR

Minneapolis

www.Eckankar.org

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Inner Guidance: Our Divine Birthright

Copyright © 2013 Anne Archer Butcher

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, whether electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Eckankar.

The terms ECKANKAR, ECK, EK, MAHANTA, SOUL TRAVEL, and VAIRAGI, among others, are trademarks of ECKANKAR, PO

Box 2000, Chanhassen, MN 55317-2000 USA.

120904

Printed in USA

Edited by Patrick Carroll, Joan Klemp, and Anthony Moore Cover design by Doug Munson

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Butcher, Anne Archer.

Inner guidance : our divine birthright / Anne Archer Butcher.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

Summary: "Author Anne Archer Butcher’s account of getting help in her daily life through divine guidance, dreams, miracles, and spiritual experiences in Eckankar with Sri Harold Klemp, the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master"--Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-1-57043-385-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Spiritual life--

Eckankar (Organization) I. Title.

BP605.E3B88 2013

299'.93--dc23

2013001433

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992

(Permanence of Paper).

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Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi 1. Learning to Listen to God: How to Discover Inner Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2. Leaving the Church of My Childhood: Inner Guidance Brings a New Spiritual Direction . . . . 7

3. Portal to an Inner Library: Inner Guidance Reveals Mysterious Quotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

4. A Dramatic Welcome to a Life-Changing

Teaching: Inner Guidance Answers the Call

of Soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

5. You Will Have a Child Before You Are

Thirty: Inner Guidance and Prophecy . . . . . . . 41

6. Resolving Karmic Connections from the Past: Inner Guidance Opens an Ancient Door . . . . . . . 51

7.

The Ocean of Love: Inner Guidance during

an Out-of-Body Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

8. There Is No Death: Inner Guidance Assists with a Loved One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

9. Saying Yes to the Great Adventure of Life: Inner Guidance Opens Amazing Doors . . . . . . . 87

10. Facing a Real and Present Danger: Inner

Guidance for Overcoming Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

v

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vi

Contents

11. Breaking through the Hard Human Shell:

Inner Guidance Brings a New State of

Awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

12. The Gift Has Already Been Given: Inner

Guidance to Accept Our Abundant Blessings . . . 115

13. Learning about Inner Masters: Inner

Guidance and Inner Realities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

14. What Is It That You Wish? Inner Guidance for the Greatest Vision of Ourselves . . . . . . . . 135

15. Taking the Next Step in Spiritual Unfoldment: Inner Guidance and Karmic Release . . . 143

16. Letting Go of Anger, Accepting Grace:

Inner Guidance through a Waking Dream . . . 149

17. Miracles I Can Do in a Minute: Inner Guidance and the Application of Spiritual Principles . . . . 157

18. Men in the House: Asking for Inner

Guidance Opens a Door to Spiritual Worlds . . . 165

19. I Knew You Wore Glasses: Inner Guidance

and Further Confirmation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

20. A Near-Death Experience:
Inner Guidance Saved My Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

21. In the Heart of God: Inner Guidance to Sing HU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

22. Winning the Lottery of Life: Inner

Guidance on How We Create Our Lives . . . . . 199

23. Welcoming Healing and Health:
Inner Guidance Provides Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

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Contents

vii

24. A Gift of Life:
Inner Guidance and Divine Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

25. Thy Will Be Done: Inner Guidance and

Surrender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

26. Spiritual Healing of Limited Beliefs: From Inner Guidance to Outer Abundance . . . . . . . . 241

27. Life or Death in West Africa: Inner

Guidance in Service to All Life . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Next Steps in Spiritual Exploration . . . . . . . . . . 261

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

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Acknowledgments

This book is many years in the making. The fact that it is complete means that I owe sincere thanks to several important people.

First, a special thanks to Sri Harold Klemp and his wife, Joan, for their continued inspiration and for teaching me the true meaning of guidance.

To my husband, Alden Butcher, for his endless love and abiding encouragement—I thank you from the depths of my being. What a gift you are to me! Along with our daughter Sarah, whose love and presence in my life shows me a greater potential for blessings than I ever knew was possible.

And to Henry Koster, for your friendship, editorial support, and remarkable dedication to this project, always given with tireless service.

ix

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The purpose . . . is to try to give you an inkling of where to go and what to do to open your
heart so that you can have the guidance of the
Holy Spirit to help you in your daily life.

—Harold Klemp

How to Survive Spiritually in Our Times
¹

W
e all have inner guidance. It’s the Divine speaking to us, to Soul, and it’s always

present in our lives, with us at all times.

Inner guidance is an exceptional spiritual tool. It opens the door of the heart to divine assistance, like having the wisest person in the world at our shoulder, helping with every decision.

Who wouldn’t want that?

But for many, inner guidance is something rare and unexplored, available only to saints. That’s why I wrote this book—to show how I learned about inner guidance through the fascinating teachings of Eckankar, Religion of the Light and Sound of God, and to offer you, the reader, ways to become more aware of this great spiritual gift.

The stories in this book are from my own personal exploration of inner guidance. I offer them in the hope they will show you the way to your own stories, your xi

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xii

own realizations of this wealth of guidance and direction in your life. It’s waiting for you to discover and cultivate for your own greatest good on every level—

spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical.

I think of inner guidance as a GPS, a global positioning system that is all-wise and all-knowing, leading me not only to my highest purpose as Soul, but also to a destination far greater than what I imagine.

How do you begin using inner guidance?

The first step is to learn to listen, to tune in to the still small voice within. This was my biggest challenge.

Early on I wondered what would become of my life.

I asked for inner help, and the teachings of Eckankar brought daily spiritual exercises. By practicing them I strengthened my inner connection with the Holy Spirit.

I learned to receive and follow divine guidance in every aspect of my life—relationships, family, health, and career.

Now I can clearly see how inner guidance, the Voice of God, was directing the show. I have had more than one fulfilling career, I’ve travelled the world, and I have a wonderful personal life. I enjoy a deep love and remarkable marriage, a beautiful family, and a profound, personal relationship with God. It has not been an easy journey, but it has always been truly worth it.

I believe we can each follow our inner guidance from God wherever we are in life—no matter what spiritual path we are on. I was raised as a devout Christian, yet I was led through my own spiritual experiences to the path of Eckankar, into the deepest mysteries of life. What I learned through Eckankar about inner guidance, as well as universal laws and the secrets of the inner worlds of God, may be used by anyone regardless of background or beliefs. These heavenly gifts are available to us all. They are meant to uplift and trans-Inner Guidance_Intro.p65

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form our lives, completely and profoundly.

To truly understand the blessings of inner guidance, each of us must experience it for ourselves. By sharing these stories of inner guidance in my life—how I acquired it and where it has led me—I hope to inspire you to embark on your own personal exploration of our divine birthright.

We can all discover how to connect with divine wisdom. We can open our hearts to greater joy, love, peace, and success. And we can each fulfill our highest and greatest destiny in this life.

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Learning to Listen to God:

How to Discover Inner Guidance

The Voice of God is speaking to us every day,
in every way, in the smallest things in our everyday lives.

—Harold Klemp

How the Inner Master Works
²

T
he farmer down the road was the first person I approached with my question. During that

summer, I often ate breakfast with him. “Do you know how to talk to God?”

Like all the others I would ask, he could only respond with gentle amusement, warm chuckles, and a little instruction on how to pray.

I assured him I knew how to say my prayers. This was something different—I wanted to really connect with God and to hear God too. Perhaps all my neigh-borhood friends that summer wanted the same thing I did, but no one could tell me how to hear the Voice of God and have a real conversation.

Deep down, we all know how to talk to God. It is simple, really. But receiving the gifts of inner guidance is not so much about talking as listening.

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Inner Guidance: Our Divine Birthright

Listening was the lesson I needed to learn.

It was 1954, in rural South Carolina. I felt the desire for God stirring within me. What drove me to chat with my neighbors that summer was a distinct feeling that I had forgotten something important. It was like the fleeting memory of a dream that held a special key but, when I awoke, had escaped me completely.

Not knowing how to begin my quest for God, I turned to the people around me. I posed my childlike questions to my country neighbors, asking each of them, one after the other, if they knew how to talk to God. House to house I went, explaining how I felt—that I had forgotten something important.

My quest was simple: God knew what I had forgotten and would tell me, if I could just discover how to make this all-important connection. My neighbors were stumped and referred me back to my mother.

My mother helped. Mom told me that we all come into this world with the gift to hear the Voice of God, but the world keeps us so busy that we forget. She told me that at one time she felt that she had the ability to hear, but she had almost completely lost it. Mom reminded me that I must always remember to
listen
.

Certainly I did not know then what I’ve come to understand now. Prior to our birth in this world, we are guided by Divine Spirit to create a plan that will take us toward our greatest destiny. Surely God knew what I was here for and what my life was about—but I wanted to know too.