Before the time of understanding, we have all been brainwashed creatures of culture, to varying degrees. We played back religious dogma like parrots, mumbled acceptable phrases to avoid rocking the boat. Rarely did we speak honestly from our hearts.

Sometimes you feared to displease because doing so felt as though you were “hurting people’s feelings.” But this concern was not for others but your own false sense of security, as you felt the emotional rug of approval being pulled out from under you.

In order to survive, loved ones may run from your grace robbing grasping for affection. If you did that, rejection swelled up as pride and the hollow of your spirit filled up with hate and guilt, all the more reason to need, and for others to run from greater desperation.

Frustration triggers the vicious cycle of looking for love in all the wrong places. Even if it were possible to bask in the light of glorious praises, you would never be happy because your very own needs set people up to make you a puppet of their approval.

In one form or another you are always setting others up to fail as you also fall into judgment.

All those from whom we seek love seek it also from you; we are all in want. How can people give the love they don’t have? Little wonder every one of us has some kind of repressed frustration morphing into depression, mental illnesses and the various psychosomatic disorders.

You will not be meditating long before old cherished beliefs start surfacing for re-examination. Scripture recalled may hold deeper meaning heretofore denied you.

For this reason these words are not meant to be memorized, rather they are intended to awaken you to the understanding of what you already know deep down inside; function now from understanding.

"Practicing the presence will free you from being drawn into the endless loop of worry that is negative faith. "

The lens of consciousness is destined to see and be moved by the light of its creator’s reality. The energy of love flowering out of the true self is harmonious with purpose, a soothing balm to your restless nature. It is incompatible with the willfulness of an emotionally sustained ego.

But as the pressures of the world disturb true purpose, pride rushes to the defense of our altered loyalties and provides the illusion that we are living our own lives.

The process of being programmed by social pressure seems natural enough, since it mimics the purpose for which we were created.

Your consciousness must be detached from this order so that subconscious may be imprinted by the will of the Creator. This is not possible until you are ready to turn away from self-serving pursuits.

When the light comes, your faults as well as those of others will be revealed. This will be the opportunity to do what you could not do before — not pass judgment. Up until this time you have been blind for two reasons: Your ego refused to see your own wrong, and your emotions kept you from seeing and doing the right thing.

In the past you could not see those influences because your ego did not want to believe there was anything greater than you were.

As you come to the light, resist being (resentfully) humiliated in those moments of private shame. Do not arrogantly shake a demanding fist at heaven. Salvation is a gift. Wait patiently for the experience of God’s purging pain.

Resentment tainted your noblest instincts and transferred your loyalties to other than yourself. Resentment linked thought, feeling and reaction into identifiable sensitivities to people, places and things of the past.

Daily resentments, feeding those emotional traumas draw your consciousness in a virtual sea of thoughts and daydreams. Rage boils over and acting out, the innocent are hurt.  

As you become more objective, pull back from fantasies to clear your mind. Practicing the presence will free you from being drawn into the endless loop of worry that is negative faith.