|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Opening comments from author Barbara Whitfield: The Power of Humility was a shared writing with my husband, Charles Whitfield, MD, and Jyoti and Russell Park. It shows us how to use our relationships as our spiritual path. This book is actually a map of transcendence. The entire book can be summed up by this simple map.
This map then points us up to Level 2 - Co-Commitment - where we realize we have choices; we don't have to accept painful and often disabling conflict in relationships anymore. By using the power of humility in this way we transcend "either/or" thinking and move up to "both/and" thinking which allows for more choices so that our relationships can be dedicated to Co-Commitment. Then the empowered self of Level 2 is transformed into a Co-Creative energy and action which is Level 3. At this level of development, it's as if we and God become partners. We sense the flow and perfection of God in our life, we act in ways that creatively manifest our now expanded intent, and we love unconditionally while we do it. Level 4 - Unity - follows in this chapter from The Power of Humility: Choosing Peace over Conflict in Relationships... Chapter 9: Level 4 Triangles AS RODGERS AND
HAMMERSTEIN WROTE in their musical "
People in recovery from addictions have called part of it serenity, Eastern religions have called it samadhi or sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss). A Course in Miracles calls it Atonement (pronounced At-one-ment), Richard Bucke called part of it cosmic consciousness, and others call it Christ Consciousness. History 9.1 - Greg's
Story BW: Tell me what happened in your words. When I
got in there, Kyle was laying down. The nurse's room was really small. We were
all crowded in there, the nurse, I sort of knew he was in shock. He didn't really know what was going on. I tried to tell him not to worry and tried to give him some drink and he gagged. I got him to look right in my eyes. I said to him, "Breathe with me, Kyle." Then he started breathing normally. I didn't really know what happened or how this happened. I could tell that everything was coming back to him. I could tell he knew now what was going on. BW: Later in the day, Kyle said that Christ was in you and you had helped him to heal. How do you feel about that? Well, I, I didn't feel like ... I didn't feel like Christ. It felt good that I could help. I wasn't looking for recognition or for praise for what happened. It wasn't like that. I'm just glad I was able to help Kyle. BW: Yes. I understand and I hear humility. Yeah. I definitely felt humbled. I felt something moving through me, like light or something. I cried the whole time. It felt like something was going through me to get to Kyle. It was incredible. I told him afterward that only three people will ever know what happened in that room: him, me and the Lord. BW: But it sounds like the other kids felt it because there was a lot of crying going on when you told everyone else the story. Your friend, Frankie, said something like 65 kids were raised up by it. So, could we say this was 'contagious?' Yeah. There was a brother and sister there that were fighting a lot and all of a sudden they were seeing eye to eye. Everyone was getting along.
Yeah. I definitely felt it and then after it was like a breath of fresh air, kind of - a release. And, I knew it but I knew I didn't do it. BW: Could we say, "We're conduits." We're like empty tubes and It's coming through us. Exactly! BW: But we have to be willing. It only happens if we are willing. Do you think that somewhere in you there was that "click" of being willing - there was that moment? Yeah! I have this thing with our Father. Every night when I go to bed I tell God about my day and I thank him for it all. I am so grateful for everyday. BW: As far back as you can remember, have you had this relationship with God? No. It's been about two years. BW: What do you think it is that happened two years ago? I think I reached just a complete understanding and full appreciation for the Lord and everything he has provided me and that he provides me everyday. An example of this would be my family. They are a miracle. BW: Tell me about your family - that two years ago you realized they were a miracle. Well I always knew how important they were to me, but it's like once you begin having this powerful relationship with God, everything in your life takes on a new value. I always loved them but I'm also so grateful. BW: What do your parents do to help you? Is there anything special that they do?
BW: Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about your spiritual life? Who you are spiritually? I am truly grateful for
everything in my life, for God, I trace everything back to Him. He is the
source of all the great things in my life. I pray every night, which I feel
is a big part why I have such a strong relationship with God. By praying
every night or just whenever I want to - BW: What do you think you're going to do in the future? Are you going to use this in any way? Yeah. I probably want to be a teacher or a school counselor or a sports trainer. I'd love to be a part of a career that helps others. I understand how religion in public schools isn't generally accepted, but I would use everything I have learned and I guess you could say this "Gift" that I have by applying it to everyday life. I feel everyone possess this "Gift" within them. The definition of the gift is simply just making others happy with something as simple as a smile. God's love isn't something hard to find. It's within everyone. BW: If you could say anything else...? God is always with us. People tend to feel alone at times, but if they just opened the eyes of their hearts they would realize that He is always there. People can find God in themselves and in others... If people stop focusing on the negative aspects of others and themselves, God's love becomes present - making for a happier view of our selves and of the world we live in. Greg's experience gives
us an example of Level 4 being and functioning. Grounded in this reality, it
illustrates many of the characteristics of humility (as described in Chapter
2). Never owning this spontaneous healing as coming from himself, he
attributes this remarkable moment to his and others' relationship with God. Sacred Ground Our highest functioning
friends tell us: When they ask for help as this threesome - almost
immediately help comes in ways they could not have predicted. This help is
softer and more loving than they could have imagined, and comes with
integrity and tenderness - there are no painful confrontations except an
occasional loving confrontation where they are flooded with knowledge about
themselves, the other person or the relationship. Table 9.1 (included at the end of this article) shows us how Level 3 compares with the expanded spiritual awareness of Level 4. History 9.2 -
Barbara's Life Review Held in the Light: My Life Review Now I felt God's love; this love was holding me. It felt incredible. There are no words in the English language, or maybe in this reality, to explain the kind of love God emanates. God was totally accepting of everything we - God and I, reviewed in my life... In every scene of my life review I could feel again what I had felt at various times in my life. And I could feel everything everyone else felt as a consequence of my actions. Some of it felt good and some of it felt awful. All of this translated into knowledge, and I learned - oh, how I learned!
I realize now that without God's holding me, I wouldn't have had the strength to experience what I did. When it started, God and I were merging. We became one - so that I could see through God's eyes and feel through God's heart. We, together, witnessed how severely I had treated myself because that was the behavior shown and taught to me as a child. I realized that the only big mistake I made in my life of thirty-two years was that I never learned to love myself... I also realized that I didn't end at my skin. We are all in this big churning mass of consciousness. We all seemed to be a part of this Consciousness we call God. We're not just human. We are Spirit. We were Spirit before we came into this lifetime. We all seem to be struggling Spirits now, trying to get "being human" right. And when we leave here, we will be pure Spirit again. God held me and let
me into God's experience of all this. I felt God's memories of these scenes
through God's eyes. I could sense God's divine intelligence and it was
astonishing. God loves us and wants us to learn and wake up to our real
selves - to what is important. I realized that God wants us to know that we
only experience real pain if we die without living first. I experienced that we are here to learn to give and receive love. But only when we heal enough to be real can we understand and give and receive love the way love was meant to be. When we are held by God in our life reviews, and we merge into One, we remember this feeling as being limitless. God is limitless. God's capacity to love is never-ending. God's love for us never changes no matter how we are. God doesn't judge us either. During our life review, we judge ourselves when we feel the pain we have created in other's lives. We also feel the love we have created in other's lives. (This may be a kind of Cosmic Equalizer.)
I am back here, in time, but still with God. It is just a little harder for me to realize God's presence because my body and my mind get in the way. But that's all right. I still feel It - as I continue to awaken to what is real - not the physical world that only teaches us to achieve and consume - but the real world where our spirits grow and learn about healing and love. And, now back in this lifetime in this reality, what I learn about another person may not be what I had wanted that person to be. However, unconditional love remains firm. Real love begins only when one person comes to know another for who that person actually is as a human being. We get closer to the whole picture, the truth of who another is and who we are. This reality now is interchangeable with my original life review. I am aware of God's presence and I am aware that I have a choice of choosing pain or choosing love, choosing projection or expanding and becoming my potential. We know that each one of us is a unique reflection of God. Not to develop to our potential is to deny God another facet of Its being. Time I am learning to let go
every moment and accept all of my experience - courage and fear, celebration
and pain, expansiveness and limitation. And so it is at this Level 4 of human consciousness. We pass through this reality into the Reality of God's Bigger Consciousness. We have moved from our limited experience and come face to face with the Universe. At this level it is not simply that God chooses us, but that we also choose God. We open to God every moment and with every breath. Then we chose to invite unconditional love, God's loving energy in action into our lives. We live our own potential. And it hits us one day, possibly the same day we notice that it is the same on both sides of reality: We are all inside God, and God is loving us through us. I experience this is as though I am holding one hand up to God in God's World and my other hand is extended out to the people I love and the people I assist in their healing work. Other clinicians report similar observations during some sessions with their patients. Hospice workers and others who help people die report the same type of Level 4 experiences. One way to demonstrate this is while doing a hands-on healing (see side bar "Sharing the Energy of the Higher Levels" on page 139.) Creation It is here that our joy lies. When we invite spirit - Higher Self - into our conscious physical being, it brings with it what we have craved throughout our lives. We, who at our core are Spirit, need our root spiritual feelings - peace and joy. We naturally are Spirit - and these feelings of peace and joy are our natural spiritual feeling state when we open to and join with God to create our life.
Our lives are a celebration because: God has a dream - Barbara Whitfield 1995 Conclusion The Greek word for meek
has been variously translated to include gentle, humble, considerate,
patient, and courteous. Spiritual teacher and author Eckhart Tolle said,
"The meek are the egoless. They are those that have awakened to their
true nature as consciousness and recognize that essence in all 'others,' all
life-forms. We take our conflicts and turn them into harmony. What seemed to be the curse becomes the gift. We make lemonade out of lemons. We transcend right and wrong, Yin and Yang, and unite our opposites. We heal the split and embrace something new, something born from balance. When all of us live life, sharing unconditional love, we may become the synergy of God. This is part of what the Mystery of God may include. It is not an easy task, but ultimately it is the one we may have been given. God's will is our highest human potential, shared. (Whitfield B 1995) All this and more is possible when we function from Levels 2, 3, and 4. Side Bar 9.1 -
Time and Timelessness We still meet our appointments on time but our perception of time changes to give us a peaceful experience where we can focus on the task at hand and be fully present with it. We have worked hard to heal our wounds, and in their place comes more than we expected. At this time in our own evolution, humility and gratitude give us a steady renewal that allows us to feel the abundance of the Universe. All our striving to become who God meant us to be - happens. As our physical being and our spirit become one, our journey and destination become one - demonstrating the truth about duality and polarity. It was all an illusion. We are One, and separation collapses. We realize that peace and enjoyment are not a feeling but an attitude and a state of mind. We remember who we are and that we are already and always Home. Even the belief in heaven after this lifetime recedes as we experience creating heaven here. Side Bar 9.2 -
Sharing The Energy at the Higher Levels This works with one person as an instrument or up to as many as six. The main principle is that the people who are doing the hands-on giving feel safe to the patient receiving the energy. We have had children as young as three in a healing circle and elders as old as 90. It doesn't matter if the people giving even believe in all this. All that matters is that we have the intention of wanting to help. Many times people receiving in a healing circle tell me afterward that their pain medication is working or that they don't need it now. Their skin coloring gets better, they are more relaxed and they feel loved. This can be done twice a day or more if the patient requests it. The givers have often told me that the experience also calmed them. It not only helped their bodies to relax, it also helped their hearts to know that they were giving "something" to the person in need. This is especially important to loved ones who have before been afraid to touch for fear of creating more pain. This gives them a safe way to express themselves that bypasses words. We are not looking for a "cure." We are creating a sharing that brings comfort to the receiver - and usually spills over into the givers. Whether the patient is going to get better... or eventually die isn't the point of these hands-on circles. Sharing Universal Love is the purpose. We do this together for about 20 minutes. It feels like a meditation of clearing the mind and sitting in a peaceful way, placing our hands gently on the patient and sharing a current of Energy that envelops all of us. We naturally come out of it in 20 minutes or so feeling more relaxed and at the same time energized because the Energy we shared didn't come from us but came through us.
Summary Table 9.1 - Characteristics of Level 3 and 4 Triangles
Footnotes: © 2006, Charles and Barbara Whitfield, Jyoti and Russell Park This excerpt is reprinted from The Power of Humility by Charles and Barbara Whitfield, Jyoti and Russell Park... For more information, or to purchase the book, click on the book cover shown to the right. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
ABOUT THE AUTHORS Charles L.
Whitfield, M.D., is a pioneer in trauma recovery, including the way we remember
childhood and other trauma and abuse. A physician and front line therapist
who assists trauma survivors in their healing, he is the author of sixty
published articles and ten best selling books on trauma psychology and
recovery; three of these books have been translated and published in ten
foreign languages. Since 1995 he has been voted by his peers as being one of
the best doctors in Barbara H.
Whitfield, R.T., C.M.T., is the author of many published articles and five books.
She is a thanatologist (thanatology is the study of death and dying),
workshop presenter, near-death experiencer and respiratory and massage
therapist. She was on the faculty of Russell D. Park,
Ph.D., is a
clinical psychologist specializing in transpersonal psychology and neurotherapy.
Russell is a contract faculty member for the Jyoti
(Jeneane Pravatt, Ph.D.), is internationally known as a spiritual and psychological
consultant working with spiritual emergence as it manifests through the
individual and community. She has explored multi-cultural approaches that
raise consciousness in the body, resulting in a healing of body, mind and
Spirit. Her spiritual and psychological insights provide a balanced approach
to integrating one's life. Her extensive study of indigenous healing and
spiritual practices combined with her training in Jungian and psychological
approaches to mental health have inspired a variety of projects. Her
consistent focus is to actively affirm our role as guardians of this planet,
consciously creating communities, through business and social reform that
bring heart and divine intention to the forefront. She resides in |
