One of the horrible costs of living in your mind, trusting your mind, going for Tree of Knowledge, is that you cut yourself off from your inner knower… and hand your life and destiny over to people who are not your friends, who are not on your side, who have their own agenda in saying anything.
I am observing the few high capacity producers in my circle, and this is one of the big difference between you and them: they may take hints… but then they do their own thinking, their own process.
The missing capacity, self-trust, or as Dan Millman calls it Faith, of course needs to be based on other capacities: cannot stand alone. And you also need to build some reality to it, some solid foundation. That is why you don’t have it: you life has been, and likely will be a life of turning to other people for all your thinking.
This is Dan Millman’s “article” from the book “The Life You Were Born To Live”. He knows a lot, sees, a lot, and doesn’t know and doesn’t see a lot more. But the article may awaken the desire in you to be your own person…
The Law of Faith
The Law of Faith is founded upon the recognition that we know more than we have read, heard, or studied: we know more because we are more; we have a direct link to universal wisdom; we only have to look, listen, and trust.
Only by having faith in ourselves can we be faithful to others. ERICH FROMM
Some of us believe we trust ourselves, but on closer examination, we discover that we actually trust mental knowledge, theories, and beliefs that came from someone else—a book, a teacher, a guide. Those of us who have issues with self-trust tend to rely on scientists, “experts,” psychics, oracles, gurus, or others to advise us and to validate our views; we may search everywhere but within to find ourselves. Just as some people give away their power, we may discard our inner wisdom and then look for it elsewhere, becoming “seekers of truth,” spiritual vagabonds, or seminar addicts, traveling from one teacher or workshop to the next, looking for new information that may satisfy or fulfill us. But we will never find fulfillment until we discover it within ourselves—not as a large storehouse of information, but as a direct channel to the infinite wisdom available to us all.
Expert guidance certainly has its value, especially from the truly wise. No need, for example, to learn tennis by ourselves when a good coach can save some time. But we need to develop more trust in our own deepest intuition and wisdom as the final arbiter and source of our decisions.
The Law of Faith reminds us to trust the Spirit within ourselves, to take a leap of faith into the possibility that we may know far more than we now recognize. This law entails far more than raising our self-concept, however; trust cuts across every domain until we see Spirit operating at every level, not only within ourselves but within others and in the world.
Trusting Spirit does not require a belief in an external God; rather, it involves trusting in the inherent wisdom and laws of the universe and in the mysterious process of our life with all its ups and downs—knowing that wherever we step, the path appears beneath our feet.
The Law of Faith, directly aligned with the Law of Flexibility (p. 324) and the Law of Higher Will (p. 381), reminds us that we are part of the Mystery we call God, and that awesome, powerful, wise, immortal Spirit also resides within each of us.
When we say, “I trust myself completely,” we are most often referring to our conscious self—our mind or ego. This kind of self-trust won’t take us
far, because the ego can only access limited data. When we come to consider the possibility that a mysterious energy of infinite wisdom, patience, and compassion is operating in, as, and through us and everyone else, we open doors to a new experience of life; when we realize this level of trust, our life changes forever.
I use the term Spirit to refer to this higher energy, but whatever name we use, when we truly come to trust this higher energy or
Spirit working behind the scenes according to its own laws, then we can also trust that part of Spirit we call “ourselves” and “others.”
We can always feel this connection and this trust in our heart. But, first, we have to get out of our head. This means coming to trust our body’s instinctive wisdom about how to move, what to eat, when to have sex, and how to heal ourselves—letting the body do the job it is here to do, without the mind’s interference with theories and philosophies. For self-trust to reach its most profound degree, it must occur on all levels of our being—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
A corollary to the Law of Faith can be stated thus: Self-trust comes through direct experience, which reminds us to pay attention first to our own experience, not to advice from a book or teacher. Improvisational dancing, martial arts and other sports, and playing a musical instrument, are all good ways to develop a trust in our body’s innate ability to move without thinking, following its own wisdom. We come to trust that our body can take care of itself very well without philosophies; we discover what our body knows and can do what’s needed as soon as we listen and let it show us.
Challenge courses, such as the Peaceful Warrior Intensive or the “high ropes course,” can demonstrate in dramatic ways that by trusting our body we can do more than we might have believed, leading to higher levels of self-trust. But even in everyday life we meet challenges that test us, and we face similar kinds of opportunities to test and develop our connection to deeper levels of trust.
The Law of Faith also teaches us to trust our mind, not in the sense of its ability to store information, but in its ability to access higher wisdom. We come to recognize that our brain doesn’t just operate as a filing cabinet or computer but also as a radio that can tune in to any station. In other words, information doesn’t come from our brain; it comes through our brain.
Trusting ourselves means sweeping our beliefs out of the way and trusting our deepest intuitions. Our feeling sense conveys messages from the subconscious, which can help us make faster, more comprehensive decisions than the conscious mind, with its insufficient data. Beyond that, what we call intuition can draw upon the same universal intelligence that manifests as spiritual laws.
Those of us who trust Spirit work with it directly; the more we trust ourselves, the more we feel a higher order of wisdom and love at work in
every aspect of our lives. Self-trust involves a willingness to make “mistakes” and learn from them, for our highest good.
We’re all being tested by Spirit in order to learn. In every situation, every challenge or difficulty, the universal teacher operates through our life experience to let us see our present levels of trust, faith, and alignment with spiritual law.
Alan Watts once said, “Beware of teachers who pick your pocket and then sell you your own wallet.” Ironically, that’s all any teacher can do, even the best-intentioned one, because the treasure is already inside each of us; no one can give us anything we don’t already have. All any teacher can do is provide some keys to help unlock our own door. Teachers may save us some time, but they can only point the way; the beginning and end of the journey is inside us.
Those of us with issues around self-trust need to remember that, ultimately, we are the experts on our own life. By trusting the Spirit within us, we come to trust the same Spirit in others and begin to feel safe in the world.
Ultimately, the Law of Faith reminds us of the transcendent wisdom of the universe reflected in the old religious adage “God works in mysterious ways.” Such faith is not just believing or hoping that all circumstances serve us or that divine justice is operating when we skin our knee. Faith is a direct recognition based on higher wisdom; it entails the courage to trust that whatever happens can serve our highest good.
The following exercises can help you achieve alignment with the Law of Faith through direct experience and application.
Experiencing Faith
- Can you recall a specific time, either recently or when you were very young, when you felt very safe, trusting, and open inside, so safe that you could share your feelings without fear or shame or betrayal? (If you can’t access such a time directly, imagine strongly what it might feel like.) Can you picture or hear what was going on in your life at that time? What did that sense of trust and openness feel like in your body?
- Notice how this feeling of trust and openness may be different from how you normally feel around people. What would it be like to feel emotionally safe with other people? In what specific ways might you rejuvenate the feeling of loving faith in yourself and others?
Applying the Law of Faith
- Having accessed the memory of a feeling sense of trust and openness in the preceding exercise, contrast that feeling sense to a recent or more distant incident in which you felt less than complete trust, perhaps even betrayal.
- How might you have unintentionally contributed to the way that incident played out—that misunderstanding or failed trust—by not sharing your feelings clearly in the first place?
- With the above in mind, trusting that all parties were acting out a scenario that has served your highest good and learning, replay the incident, applying your current understanding. Observe any differences.
- Stretch yourself a little more each day, opening up, taking a chance, sharing what’s really in your heart, creating a deeper sense of trust and connection with others, a bridge from your spirit to theirs.
I am going to watch what you do. If Dan Millman expresses himself better than I do… I’ll know.
Good luck.
PS: A few weeks ago A from San Francisco asked if the activation of a capacity works through the webinar recordings too… I lied. I said “no”.
I didn’t want people to hand me all the power… again, and do no work of their own.
The lie didn’t deliver on this purpose, so let’s see if the truth will make any difference.
If you were on a call and I activated capacities for you, when you listen to the recording, the part where I was connected to you and activated… works through the recording: the connection, the energy, everything.
What I do for other people leaves you untouched, or largely untouched. The energy is not focused on you enough to benefit.
I did do webinars, calls, where I activated self-trust for people on the call… You know if you were there… Revisit the webinar through the recording. There is no capacity that offers as much as this one… self-trust.
I will attempt to activate this capacity this coming weekend on the DNA activation webinars.
