Inner Guidance (3 page)

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Inner Guidance: Our Divine Birthright

choice to follow the inner direction of Divine Spirit, this powerful inner guidance I had been given, even though it meant leaving behind the comfort of the previous ways and this beloved church, my friend wished me Godspeed and helped me on my way.

“

G
o sit among the trees, contemplate God, and await further instructions.” In my ardor for God, I interpreted the inner guidance of that Sunday quite lit-erally.

Every Sunday morning around ten o’clock, I would go out to the park near my home, taking a blanket to sit on and a little book that I kept as a journal. Inwardly, I asked for guidance and direction, and then I closed my eyes to ponder the Creator. Sometimes I would read passages from the Bible and contemplate their meaning. At other times, I would focus on a feeling of gratitude and allow it to take me to a new level of appreciation for life.

And yes, I received insights and awakenings. I would reflect on these and capture further realizations by writing in my journal. I began to connect with a deep sense of calm and happiness.

Perhaps this was the next step for me, learning to ask and then to listen. In the process, I began to learn to trust in God’s divine plan and recognize the gifts in my life.

The awareness I now gained each Sunday was more personal and private than anything I had experienced before. It was like having a sacred appointment with God.

Later that year, when the snow began to fall, I would simply take a long walk in nature. Wearing my warm coat and boots, I strolled along the quiet paths and felt Inner Guidance_CH 01-05.p65

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Leaving the Church of My Childhood:

Inner Guidance Brings a New Spiritual Direction 13

the love that flowed both to me and out from me. The park had become an outdoor cathedral where I could contemplate God and explore my inner guidance. Worship was now synonymous with breathing, walking, and being alive.

Many subtle changes were happening to me as I worshipped this way, month after month. The transformation in my consciousness delighted me, and the wonderful events that began to manifest in my outer life did as well. I knew the two were connected, and I felt that God was truly speaking to me, as I was learning to listen in a much deeper way.

I was discovering that indeed, listening is a powerful form of prayer. It might seem like an easy concept to learn and practice, yet it took time for me to really begin to grasp this lesson.

As I developed this rapport, making it my priority, significant inner and outer changes occurred. The combination of devotion and discipline that I was putting into these Sunday mornings was bringing me great joy.

I was seeking and listening for the Voice of God in my life; and suddenly, everywhere I looked, I could see miracles quietly abounding.

T
he synchronicity of life sometimes startled me; sometimes it made me laugh aloud. Now I could certainly see that life was interconnected, with all aspects working for the greatest good.

Sitting in the park one Sunday morning, I watched a family walk by. The young girl asked her father, “Why do birds fly?” He laughed. “Because they can. Wouldn’t you want to fly if you knew you could?” I laughed too.

Well, yes, perhaps that is
why
birds fly—because they can! I interpreted this little conversation, however, as Inner Guidance_CH 01-05.p65

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Inner Guidance: Our Divine Birthright

God speaking to me.

I later learned in Eckankar that this is called the Golden-tongued Wisdom. It is one of the more common ways God speaks to each of us. A key form of inner guidance, it can help us steer a better course for ourselves in both the big and seemingly insignificant moments of life.

Did this little family bring me a spiritual lesson that morning? A robin flew by, and I smiled. Why would we pursue spiritual truth in all things, in all ways, learning to listen and to follow our inner guidance? Because we can! Indeed, who would not want to learn to listen to God if they knew they could?

If we knew inner guidance and truth were all around, most of us would be grateful for the help. I was. To me, it was like the freedom of flying.

Those early days after I left the church of my childhood were all about learning this: how to open my spiritual ears, how to hear the Voice of God in whatever way It came. I was learning how much God loves me, how Divine Spirit was indeed working on my behalf to help me grow spiritually.

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Portal to an Inner Library:

Inner Guidance

Reveals Mysterious Quotes

Whenever something out of the ordinary comes
up—a deviation from the humdrum, routine
activities that account for most of your life—it is
bringing you a spiritual lesson. It is up to you to
take the trouble to try to recognize what this
lesson could be.

—Harold Klemp

The Eternal Dreamer
4

W
e come alive when we are passionate about what we do. When I first began teaching

high school, I fell head over heels in love

with my career.

I enjoyed everything about it, from engaging the students in discussion to finding creative ways to capture and hold their attention. Teaching is by no means an easy task. I began my career when I was twenty-one, and most of my students were juniors and seniors in high school, just a few years younger than I was. But I loved it all. Because our ages weren’t so far apart, I could easily relate to the students. I felt full of enthu-15

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Inner Guidance: Our Divine Birthright

siasm and energy and wanted to put new ideas into action.

My goal was to be the best teacher I could possibly be. However, since life does not come with an instruction manual, I found it challenging. I leaned heavily on my ability to listen for and receive inner guidance—what I’d been practicing since my early years in South Carolina. I decided to use the inner guidance that came through to enhance my teaching experience.

This decision required me to go well beyond fear into trust. In this stage of my apprenticeship with inner guidance, I gained an increasing awareness of the grand design of my life. And as I did, a great spiritual opportunity came my way.

I
t happened during my second year of teaching.

I was employed by a small-town suburban high school in the Midwest, and life was very full. I was teaching during the day, working on my master’s degree at night.

My classroom was large. Chalkboards covered three walls, and the fourth was all windows. Teaching American literature, I emphasized writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

To prepare myself for the challenges of each day, I offered a simple little prayer: “Dear God, please show me what to teach the students. Teach me truth so that I may better teach them.” I then listened carefully to any inner guidance or subtle nudges I might feel as I went through my day.

We often talked about the beliefs of outstanding writers, and that led to periods of animated discussion and debate. I yearned to help these students find elements of philosophy that would assist them in their lives. I also recognized that what I taught them could Inner Guidance_CH 01-05.p65

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Portal to an Inner Library:

Inner Guidance Reveals Mysterious Quotes

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shape their thinking for a lifetime. During each class, after we covered the primary material, I would write a quote from some noted philosopher on the board and invite discussion.

One day, the first of many unusual things occurred.

As I put my piece of chalk to the board, a mysterious feeling came over me. My hand moved across the chalkboard, writing a short line of text. I was writing something that I did not recognize. I could not recall ever having read these words before. What appeared on the chalkboard was this:

“My opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world.”

What is this?
I thought, staring at the white marks on black.
I did not intend to write these words!
Whose
words have I written?

I backed away from the chalkboard, as much to distance myself from such an oddity as to study it better.

These words had come to me through the inner guidance I had learned to trust so well. Was something wrong, or was something very right?

I felt uneasy, almost frightened. Yet, in the face of this uncertainty, I found a little comfort in the fact that the words somehow seemed familiar to me. Perhaps I
had
read it somewhere once and now, somehow, had spontaneously recalled it.

But who wrote it?

I placed quotation marks at the beginning and end of what I had written, but I cited no author as I normally would have.

Gathering my composure, I calmly announced to Inner Guidance_CH 01-05.p65

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Inner Guidance: Our Divine Birthright

the class that we would read this quote and then discuss it. Slowly I read the lines again. We were studying American literature, but this was not from any of the American literature I had studied.

Immediately, two students’ hands shot up, and the questions began.

“Who wrote that?” demanded one student.

The other asked, “Are you going to give the author and the source?”

To cover my lack of information, I told my class that I would not reveal the author or the source at this time.

We would simply discuss what was on the board.

Shortly, however, the bell rang, and the students left the class, smiling. They felt I was up to something. I reassured myself that I would do some research and find the source of the quote. The next group of students entered the room and took their seats as I hurriedly copied the quote from the board to my own journal.

Categorizing what had happened as an enigma, I simply put it out of my mind for the time being.

Listening is not always easy; there are many distractions in life. That’s what I had learned even as a little girl. And sometimes it is difficult to fully understand what we do hear inwardly. This is a lesson we all have to learn through experience, yet it is unquestion-ably worth our effort.

The next class was advanced English. Soon, armed with a quote from Thoreau’s
Walden
,
I approached the board again. As in the previous class, I prepared to write an excerpt I knew well, this time about the pursuit of meaning in life. Yet, Thoreau’s familiar words were not what came forth.

What I wrote was a new paragraph, similar in tone to the earlier quote. But it was a different passage Inner Guidance_CH 01-05.p65

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Inner Guidance Reveals Mysterious Quotes

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altogether, on a different subject. I did not even understand the meaning of what I wrote
.

What on earth is going on here?
I wondered. Now I definitely felt concerned. But, trying to suppress my rising anxiety, I thought,
How foolish! I can’t be afraid
of chalk and a blackboard or of my own brain.

As I put quotation marks around the text, I again announced that, for the moment, I would not be revealing the author and the source of the writing; it was just for discussion. Again, the exchange was enthusiastic and stimulating. This group of bright students managed to do almost all of the talking with very little direction from me.

Uncharacteristically lost in my thoughts, I puzzled over this mysterious incident that had now occurred twice in my classroom. I looked at my hand that held the chalk. Did it suddenly have a life of its own?

W
as I being guided inwardly to an entirely new understanding of spirituality? Hour after hour, new quotes appeared on the chalkboard for each new class.

I decided to keep the writings on the board. By the end of the day, I had used all the boards in the room to write the quotes that had come to me. Now quiet and alone, I stood dumbfounded in my empty classroom, surrounded by the prolific handiwork of some unknown fount of wisdom, and marveled at what had just happened.

Something very unusual was occurring. Was this inner guidance? If so, it was beyond anything I had ever imagined possible.

Compelling messages, some long and some very short, were pouring into my classroom, each seemingly customized for a specific group of students. As much as I might have liked to believe I was the author, I knew Inner Guidance_CH 01-05.p65

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Inner Guidance: Our Divine Birthright

I was not. How was this happening?

It was a great mystery to me, and as I drove home from school, I hoped I would eventually discover the answer.

B
y the end of the first week, I had no answers, only many more questions. Other writings continued to flood into my classes. The students were becoming very inquisitive. I knew I had to tell them something soon; however, I was uncomfortable exposing this mystery before I had more personal understanding.

Armed with a journal of all the quotes, I went on a search for the mysterious author or authors. I pored through books in the library. I was confident the texts must be there somewhere. I could at least guess at sources and pore through books. Then, perhaps, I would be able to solve the greater unknown—how and why I was able to receive this material and share it with my students.

It was a frustrating search. Realizing I needed help, I decided to contact a university librarian one afternoon.

I presented her with my list of “quotes,” with little explanation.