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EXCERPTS FROM CHAPTER 3:
WHO ARE YOU?
| Excerpt 1:
"This tendency on the part of mankind to live 'unexamined' lives
is what the late Fr. Anthony De Mello was referring to when he said these words: |
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Most people, even though
they don't know it, are asleep. They're born asleep, they
live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children
in their sleep, and they die in their sleep without ever
waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty
of this thing that we call human existence.27 |
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The desire
to remain asleep is quite strong; the fact is that
it's much easier to stay focused on the every day world than
it is to pay attention to the whisperings of one's soul."
[27 Anthony DeMello, Awareness,
(New York, NY: Image Books/Doubleday, 1992) p. 5]
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Excerpt 2: "So
what does it mean to have a Higher Self? Does it mean that
we are the mortal version of a more advanced being? Does
it mean, as many traditional religious texts espouse, that
each of us is a lowly sinner that needs to prove ourselves
worthy before we can come to know this Divine aspect of ourselves?
Or does it perhaps mean that this Higher Self and we are
actually one fully integrated entity existing in two separate
dimensions?
While these questions cannot be definitively answered by any
mortal being, I personally like this description of man's/woman's
true nature that appeared in an inspiring book called, The
Quest, A Journey of Spiritual Rediscovery: |
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We are creations of God.
That makes us "children" of God, and so we resemble
God. This is not to say we are God. We are not God anymore
than a wave is the ocean, but the created reflects the nature
of its creator. The wave is born of the ocean-it is a child
of the ocean, and so while it can never be "the ocean",
it is nonetheless one with it. Like the wave, we are expressions
of God's Universe. We are indeed the Universe made alive."32 |
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[32 Richard
and Mary-Alice Jafolla, The Quest, A Journey of Spiritual
Rediscovery, (Unity Village, MO: Unity Movement Advisory
Council, 1993), p. 49]
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| Excerpt 3: "At
the fundamental level then, it is our thoughts that are the
true currency of creation. This is because as children of
God, we are connected to the God-Force at all times, for
it is this higher intelligence that beats our hearts, digests
our food, etc. Moreover, our connection to God is not simply
physiologically based, but also exists at the level of mind.
Our minds truly are extensions of the mind of God, and as
such have enormous creative power. According to Dr. Joseph
Murphy: |
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It is the world within,
namely your thoughts, feelings and imagery that makes your
world without. It is, therefore, the only creative power,
and everything you find in your world of expression has been
created by you in the inner world of your mind, consciously
or unconsciously."33 |
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| [33 Dr.
Joseph Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind,
(Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963) p.24]
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| Excerpt
4: "I personally have come to believe
that whatever you concentrate upon with strong emotion
is precisely what will manifest in your reality, both
the good and the bad. In that regard, consider this highly
relevant excerpt from Lynn Grabhorn's practical and very
entertaining book, Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting: |
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It's high time we
woke up to the fact that we are electromagnetic beings
tripping around with this mindboggling capacity to magnetize
into our lives whatever in the world we desire by controlling
the feelings that come from our thoughts.
There's just no way around it, the way we feel is the way we
attract. And more often than not those feelings come from our
thoughts, setting up the instantaneous electromagnetic chain
reactions that ultimately cause things to happen, to be created,
to be withheld, or to be destroyed.32
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We human beings are always thinking
and feeling, and likewise always creating and attracting, simply
because we are constantly sending out these energy impulses,
and then taking actions based upon them. The implications of
this are quite significant, because it suggests that whatever we
are focusing on, we are either purposely or inadvertently giving
form and substance to it."
[36 Lynn Grabhorn, Excuse
Me, Your Life Is Waiting, (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton
Roads Publishing Company, Inc., 2000) p.13]
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Excerpt 5: "In
the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus' comment that, "The
kingdom of God is within" suggests to me that only by looking
inside ourselves we can come to experience true peace of mind.
Once you do achieve this state, you'll then clearly know that
you are a 'success' regardless of what you do, what you earn,
or what you own."
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