“If you accept your thoughts as inspirations from the Supreme Intelligence, obey them when they prescribe difficult duties, because they come only so long as they are used; or if your skepticism reaches to the last verge, and you have no confidence in any foreign mind, then be brave, because there is one good opinion which must always be of consequence to you, namely, your own.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (Essay on Courage)
The more we trust our opinion, the more sure it will be. That is natural. If a friend of yours asks your opinion repeatedly but never pays heed to what you say, you will put less and less energy into your giving of advice. But if you know what you say will be heeded to the letter, then you put into your advice all our your talents, insights, energy and wisdom. So it is with your own wisdom — it abandons you when you don’t heed its advice.
If we are faithful to our own genius, then the deeper will its reach be into the source of being that is the source of all intelligence. When there is perfect fidelity to that inner voice, every moment is a revelation — an infinity that dwarfs perception of rational thought.
This faithfulness to the inner promptings leads to intuition and illumination. The great saints and masters of the spiritual path do not get their elevated positions from reading books; they attain their status by listening to the inner voice, which is one and the same with the source of all being – infinite consciousness. Following its promptings is a daring adventure beyond the limits of the mind into the realm of pure light. It’s a path to self-discovery — a path where the veil between separation and infinite oneness gradually becomes finer than a hair.
Once you start this process, this path, its direction will be as compelling as the north pole is to a compass. No other direction will do. There is no turning back. The intensity of experience makes the old mode of being seem intolerable. The sensitivities of the heart and the perceptions of higher vibrations create a longing for higher and higher vibrations of light. It is like the wine connoisseur who has a palette for the finest nuances of wine – to him a mediocre quality of wine would never do.
Have you ever taken a trip in a car with a built-in navigation system? You only have to turn it on and tell it where you want to go. It knows where you are. It’s the same with intuition. Our decisions on career, finances, marriage, children, housing, health care can all benefit from listening to its voice. And the more you use it, the better guide it will prove to be.
The first thing that changes in life by following intuition is that the heart’s longing will be much more in the forefront of daily life. It becomes a priority. It no longer takes a back seat.
Sometimes it can make you seem totally impractical, but that is a matter of perspective. What seems practical in life is seen to be otherwise in hindsight. Nothing can be deemed truly practical until purpose in life is discerned. And the heart knows purpose better than the mind.
Many times the longing of the heart is what intuition is giving voice to but the rational mind shuts it down. It is too embarrassed by what might appear as pure nonsense. It doesn’t believe in the omnipresence of spirit. It doesn’t know what it is supposed to do. It lives life in blocks of separateness. It doesn’t see that its perceptions or reality are in appearance only — that the real truth of its meaning in beyond its capacity to discern. The light and sustenance of being are beyond its frail comprehension.
Remember who you are. Know that you are in essence pure light, inconceivable to rational thought –boundless, everlasting, and beautiful. Your purpose, as Meher Baba pointed out, “is no game for the fainthearted and the weak.”
Apprehension of real purpose is natural for someone who is attached to the past, for real meaning obliterates the past. It is a dying to what was and an eternal embrace of what is. This is the nature of consciousness. This is the game of real poise, of diving into an ocean of tranquility. This is the discovery of omnipresent light.
Have you ever taken a bicycle ride down a hill without holding onto the handlebars? It is a feeling of letting go, or surrendering to what is, of trusting in nature, of abandonment. Can you imagine riding through your life without holding onto the handlebars, trusting your well being to the omnipresent?
It takes trust. It takes a perception that you are one with the perfection and wholeness that envelops everything. It takes courage. And yes, it can appear as pure madness. But in the final analysis, it is pure wisdom. It is transcendence into the essence of who you really are.
