Book Excerpt Chapter Five: Work on Yourself First

Faith - Trust That the Moment is Perfect

p. 120 - You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey from Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy by James Blanchard Cisneros.

Increasing your faith is a part of the process of changing your world from the inside out, changing your attitudes and perceptions and changing your life. So what happens when you have a problem, you know the solution to your problem, you execute the solution, but nothing within you changes? Let me give you an example. I was in a group once where a woman (let's call her Jane) was involved in a custody battle with her husband (let's call him... Tarzan) and his lawyer for visitation rights with their fifteen-year-old child. Jane shared her story by describing Tarzan as passive aggressive, and his lawyer as a bitch. Jane explained how this was draining her, and asked how she could see her situation differently. Many people gave very good and spiritual advice, explaining to her that what she was seeing in another was simply a projection of who she believed herself to be. They tried to explain to her that what she was experiencing was really an illusion; they told her that she needed to forgive and pray for her husband and his lawyer. Jane explained that she understood what people were saying. She said that she agreed with them, and that she had tried many of those suggestions, but she still could not find peace. She had the answer, she made an effort to execute the solution, but she still could not find peace.

Before I continue, let me say this: My friend, you bless this world by allowing your brother or sister to experience the illusions he or she still sees as real. Imagine, if you will, Jane walking in a garbage dump. Jane knows she is walking in a dump, she can smell it and feel the instability beneath her feet, but she still chooses to walk in it. Jane feels unstable and insecure, so she asks her friends to help her and they tell her that she is walking in a dump. Jane agrees with them. They show her the way she can walk to get outside the dump. Her friends even remind her of a beautiful park just outside the dump. Jane believes that what they are saying is true and it feels right to her. Jane follows her friend's advice and walks on the path her friends tell her leads out of the dump. Jane can see the park in the distance. She understands that she has a choice. After many, many circles around the dump she finally makes the choice to follow the path and walk out. She finds herself outside the dump, yet she cannot stop thinking of the dump. Although she now walks in a beautiful flower-filled park, she can't stop thinking of the dump. Just the thought of the dump brings back the smells, and although she sees herself walking on firm ground, she feels unstable and insecure. Jane looks back and can't see the dump anymore, but she imagines the many people still walking in circles in it. She cannot understand why she still feels a part of the dump even though she has physically left it. She has done the right thing and she knows she made the right decision. She feels proud of having made the choice to leave the dump; however, like flies in the dump, those thoughts and feelings of insecurity and instability still surround her.

Jane believes she knows her highest will. She listened and did what she knew was right and what would bring her peace. Yet, somehow she believes that she needs to add something to her highest will to make it complete, and because of this she lacks trust. For Jane, and all of us, a lack of trust will never be a consequence of doing our highest will. Your highest will or His will is perfection and perfection needs nothing added to it. As long as you believe that something needs to be added to perfection, you will not find rest or peace, because you will be on a continuous search for something that does not exist. My friend, even if you choose to transplant a rhino's tusk onto a horse you will not get a unicorn. Do what brings you peace; do what you believe to be right, and then trust. It is truly that simple.

My friend, listen carefully, for I have experienced this on many occasions. You will be lifted as high as you choose to go. You will choose to go as high as you believe you deserve and have the right to go. You will go as high as you trust Him to take you. No one else will make that decision for you. You will be taken by the hand and lifted toward God and only you will stop this process. You may create a gate, paint a wall, or simply believe yourself not worthy enough, but only you can block your connection to Him. If you actually had faith in your connection to Him, you would never need to worry about a gate. As the river flows into the sea, so too do you naturally flow to God. You need do nothing but simply allow. It is only your choice to hold onto a branch of the riverbank that will delay your conscious unity with God.

As your trust in God lifts and unites you with Him, your faith in His plan and in His will, will bring you absolute peace. I have said many times before that God’s will and your highest will are one and the same. Trust this, and you will find peace. If you fail to trust this, you can do all the right things for the right reasons and stand in the most beautiful of places on this planet and you will not find peace. My friend, peace is your natural inheritance, but it is only when you choose to accept your inheritance that you allow yourself to receive, experience and enjoy it.

You truly have only two choices: illusion and truth. You can either try to add to perfection, or you can experience perfection. The only thing that Jane lacked was trust. Jane did all the right things, said all the right words, but in the end she did not have full faith in what she was doing. She was looking to add to perfection instead of simply experiencing it. If you are looking to add to perfection, you will not find rest. You will not find rest from continuously looking for something that does not exist.

If your brothers or sisters want to add, or believe they have to add to perfection, then let them. They must look outside themselves to find they are missing nothing. And they will find nothing real, because nothing real is missing. They will find a lot of illusions and make them real, only to find out later that they were illusions and nothing else. They will not find rest, for they will never find what they are searching for. They will search until they realize that what they were looking for does not exist. My friend, it is exhausting to try to be who you are not. Once you recognize this, you will look no more and finally find rest.

The most difficult step in obtaining peace lies not in remembering truth, but in faithfully executing its principles. Peace of mind lies not only in the execution of the principles, but also in your absolute faith in them. One of the main methods of obtaining peace of mind is your ability to forgive. If you know that peace of mind is given to you when you choose to forgive, and you want peace badly enough, you will forgive. But, and this is a big but, if you do not have absolute faith that what you are doing is the right thing and that it will bring you peace, you will not find ultimate peace. Ultimate peace of mind comes when you can forgive someone and have absolute knowledge that it is God's and your highest will to do so.
 

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of the great spiritual / self development book You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey from Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy by James Blanchard Cisneros.