Category: free will

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What Were You Made For

It’s likely that you watched, listened to or heard about Billie Eilish’s song, What Was I Made For, which was the Official Music Video for the film, Barbie.

No doubt everyone has their own opinions about the song. I find it eerily haunting and beautiful. The undercurrent feels eye opening to me, especially when you consider how it fits into the movie.

Of course, you can take the song and movie at face value, but there is so much underneath of benefit and worth.

What would you answer if I asked you this deceptively simple question…what were you made for?

Perhaps you’ve already arrived at your answer.

But for those of you who have not previously considered this, what are you inclined to respond?

I always feel it’s fair that I answer the questions I ask, so here’s my response.

I need to back up a little.

I still carry with me some memories from heaven. There was a ceremony I participated in, and many choices were made. I do not remember all of them, but there are some that are clear to me. I probably ought to say, they become clear to me as my life goes on.

I believe I chose where, when and to whom I was born. It feels obvious to me that the experiences I’ve encountered fit neatly into my life plan. I realize and believe that each choice is fully and completely under my control because I have free will. This is not to say that I haven’t been manipulated or coerced or brainwashed into making choices others wanted. But the truth for me is that I allowed or sanctioned or surrendered and accepted the path others wanted me to take in order to please them or keep me from their wrath.

That is until I decided to put my self first. You may be thinking, that’s kind of selfish, isn’t it? And you would be correct.

I realized I am here, on this earth, to create and experience my life. MY life.

I love others here and I certainly want to show love, support, and encouragement, but not at the cost of losing myself in the process.

I don’t believe that is what I was made for.

I was made to explore, discover, absorb, create, connect, give and receive love. I was made to be able to make my own choices, follow my own path, and share whatever radiance that burns inside of me.

I believe you have this same birthright. It’s part of your spiritual DNA. It’s one of the reasons you were given free will, so you could choose and chart your own path.

However, for you to answer this really important question has nothing to do with what I think or what I say. It’s entirely up to you.

So, what were you made for?

Whatever the answer is, I believe it already exist inside of you and if you give yourself a chance to listen, you’ll hear the sweet quiet voice guiding you toward your own answers and choices.

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What If god Is Bigger Than We Think

I grew up Protestant, first Presbyterian, then Dutch Reformed. In college I majored in Religion and was set to go to seminary and afterwards into the ministry. That is until my whole world broadened and exploded in college.

I discovered the enlightening fundamentals of Buddhism, the inner strength of yoga, experienced the raw, untamed beauty of nature, explored the psychic world, and embraced the essence of love. Overwhelmed with these experiences, the constraints of specific religious dogmas felt too limiting to me. More than that, it felt far too small to be applied to the world at large.

During my life I’d been taught that ministers, priests, and rabbis and all the other religious teachers were somehow closer to god. They’d studied and learned things ‘regular people’ hadn’t and were experts who could help us make sense of what god wanted.

For the most part they appeared to care for their congregations and did their best to help interpret religion so that it could assist others with living their lives.

The difficulty is that ministers, priests, rabbis, and other religious leaders are also human. Despite their best intentions, they fall, just like the rest of us. Sometimes, they fall harder, buried under the weight of needing to be shining examples and god’s emissaries.

Since we’re taught to defer to their religious wisdom we often don’t grow on our own and we’re tempted to take the easy way out and let them stand between ourselves and god.

For me, I couldn’t do this. I still can’t do it.

I’ve always felt that, as a part of god’s creation, I have a bigger part to play in the grand scheme and I always wanted my own direct, personal relationship with god, not one where anyone else was filtering the flow of divine information.

Growing up I was trained to accept what others told me, but what I wanted to know was, how did they know what to teach me?

The instructions I received sounded very limiting, as if god could only behave in prescribed ways and that our relationship was based on master/servant rules. If I did not act in certain ways, god would be unhappy and would punish me.

I was taught that, by myself, I would never be good enough, after all I was born a ‘sinner’. No matter how good I was, I would always fall short of what god expected of me.

The underlying message was that god was to be feared and the ultimate threat of going to hell hung in the balance.

It took many years for me to see the real truth that god is all about love. It was not until I began having my own intimate, direct conversations with god that I began to understand the importance of our relationship.

Rather than feeling confined to the previously understood set of rules I’d been taught, god shared with me that god loves me no matter what and always will.

God then reminded me what ‘free will’ means. God told me I was open to explore and move in any direction I chose, without any risk of separation. Of course, some of my choices might lead to frustration, suffering or pain, and yet in every situation there would be teachings for me to learn from, to spur my spiritual growth and help me become the person I want to be in this world.

Because god and I have had thousands of conversations, I’ve come to realize that god is far bigger than I was taught and far bigger that I could ever have imagined.

I ask that you not accept anything I have to say at face value, because for you to know your truth, it’s important for you to explore your own divine relationship. It’s only then that it becomes a part of you.

NOTE:

If you need some help establishing your own personal, intimate connection to god, I’ve written a book, talking with (god), that shares a way that has worked for me, and it may also work for you. talking with god is available on Amazon (books) in both print and eBook versions.

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Heaven and Earth

I’d like to invite you to join me on a short journey. It won’t take long, unless you want it to.

I was having a conversation this morning with Lia, an ethereal feminine voice of god that speaks with me and answers questions I can’t answer for myself. This morning I asked her about heaven and earth and our experiences of each.

As with so many of our conversations, it stretched my human mind.

I try very hard to follow along, for me, but also for you, so that I can share what feels like the truth. Of course, what feels like the truth to me, may or may not feel like the truth to you and I honor that. I don’t believe anyone is served by accepting another’s words, unless they sense the truth in them for themselves.

Here is what Lia shared with me.

In heaven, you know everything there is to know BUT you don’t ‘experience’ it. From an earth perspective it would be the difference between the ‘idea’ of love versus being hugged by someone and ‘feeling’ loved.

In heaven you know earth is a place where duality exists (good/bad, right/wrong). And it is a place where you can choose what to experience. You can exercise your free will, which allows you to create and experience the outcomes that happen based on your choices, some of which you anticipate and others that you do not. Your life is shaped by what you conceive and believe and by the actions you take. You can live without any awareness of heaven or with a full remembering that you are a part of one essence, one pure unconditional love.

In heaven you know that your stay on earth is temporary and that you will always return to heaven once you are done with your earth experience.

Some who come to earth choose to remember their true nature, that they are a part of one essence. They come to experience their earth life, while also knowing the truth. Most of these earth essences are teachers, guides for others, offering insight about the truth.

In heaven, each essence is a unique energetic vibrational frequency and as such chooses certain life paths and events to be a part of their earth life plan (spiritual blueprint). They do this because they want to know what life feels like. There is a yearning to experience these things that earth life offer and that heaven does not.

No one requires this. It is a free will choice each essence makes.

In order to fully experiences parts of this plan, each essence consciously allows their awareness of the truth to be forgotten when they transition for heaven to earth.

Imagine playing a game here on earth but knowing the exact outcome before you start. Would that be a fun or meaningful way to play a game? Likely not.

This forgetting includes the events and the reasons for the events.

In heaven, each essence is able to choose any path, even and perhaps especially the ones that we as humans would not choose, because they are too painful in some way.

In heaven, one of the most beautiful knowings is that earth is temporary, and heaven is permanent. ALL essences who chose to experience earth, return to heaven, without exception.

Each essence is pure unconditional love, whether they appear that way on earth or not.

Each essence has free will, so can choose to experience earth in any way. Many essences choose to experience shattering events, which would seem an unlikely choice and yet many individuals involved say, they would not have it any other way because of what came out of the experience for them. Earth life is full of these examples.

To make sense of what seems senseless is not an easy shift. It may challenge earthly logic too much and more insight may be needed. All answers do not come at once. But once an essence returns to heaven and merges back into the one, all is once again known.

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Ego Wants a Role

My most recent post focused on Free Will and its relationship with God’s Will. This brought up several questions for me, so I decided to investigate further, which means asking Lia, a feminine voice of god, to share some insight with me.

One of the most perplexing questions I encounter is how active god is in my life. I wonder how the relationship takes shape between my actions and god’s actions. Are they always in some kind of harmony? Is my free will always the action that counts the most and takes precedent?

So, of course, I asked god (in this case Lia) about this, saying, “How are you active in my life, especially in relationship to free will?”

Lia responded, “It’s less complicated than you think. You and I are connected. It can truthfully be said, we are ONE, because we are inseparable, except that you can agree to make it ‘appear’ as though we are not.”

“This ‘appearance’ happens when you accept the illusion of an earth life, but keep in mind, that beneath this illusion is the truth, we are one and inseparable.”

“While living the ‘agreement’ of the illusion, you accept that your EGO will assist you with the creation and maintenance of a state of awareness called and known as YOU (insert your name). Ego works diligently to manage this state of YOU, which includes a belief that you are separate from others and that you have observable boundaries.”

“If those boundaries appear in jeopardy, ego goes to work to reinforce them and reacquires its comfort zone. That is its job, and it takes it quite seriously.”

“Occasionally, ego becomes relaxed or is forced into surrender, either voluntarily or involuntarily. When either of these happen, it creates a unique state, one where you will/can experience life outside the ego walls.”

As interesting as these insights were I still wanted to know how active Lia is in my daily life and how her action relate to my free will.

In reply she said, “As an earth essence, you are always free to do or experience anything you choose. You cannot do otherwise. This is a fundamental truth. However, since we are truly ONE essence (you and I and all others) you could say that WE have free will. WE are in relationship, always and forever, part of the same fundamental truth.”

“When you ask the question as you did, your reference point becomes a statement that there is separation…a you and a me, two entities.”

“When you view us as separate, you are forced to confront the idea of two entities, each with its own free will, which creates a conflict because it implies, we could want two different things. Unless you surrender to the truth, this will not be solvable- ever.”

I’d been listening very carefully, but wanted to make certain I heard her correctly so I asked, “Are you are telling me that, if I shift my beliefs, I will be able to see the truth, that we are not now, nor ever were, nor ever will be, SEPARATE and as such, WE have free will?”

Lia answered, “Yes, and there is more to it.”

I wondered what else there was to know and asked, “Since we are ONE, how do I make sense of my life as it appears?”

I was surprised by Lia’s response, “That depends fully on how much you want to wake up and remember.”

Some clarity was seeping in, and I responded, “I see. That’s the dividing line, isn’t it? If I truly desire and choose to wake up, all will be known to me.”

“Yes”, Lia answered.

“Then why am I afraid of this? Do I think it will end the game of life?”

Lia’s wisdom and insight shone through clearly for me as she answered, “Your ego is concerned that it will not be able to protect you if you choose to remember. There is no truth to this fear (worry, concern)…none at all, but it feels real to your ego and that’s all it takes in order to want to stay put in your current understanding.”

“How can we allay ego’s concerns?”

Lia said, “Ask ego what it has seen during your life, as you’ve expanded, that creates an uncomfortable feeling for it.”

The truth is plain now. I need to know more about what my ego has to say before I can move forward. It is certainly time for a chat.

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God’s Will

Are you familiar with the concept of God having a ‘will’ for you?
A specific plan for things God wants you to accomplish? A way to move through your life according to a long list of do’s and don’t’s?

The folks that seem to talk about this give the impression that you should know what God’s will is and comply with it, because after all, it’s God we’re talking about.

The incredibly tricky part is that although you are supposed to abide by God’s will, there are almost never any clear indications of precisely what God’s will is for you. This leaves you in a powerless position and opens the door for others to be the authority and speak on God’s behalf.

How can one person know what God’s will is for another? What source of wisdom allows them the clarity to inform and dictate what another person is to do with their life? Is their claim that God speaks directly to them and provides specific insights about all the people of this world and what each one should be doing?

You may have guessed by my questions and word choices that I don’t see life this way.

I’ve had many conversations with god and am a true believer in one of god’s greatest gifts, ‘free will’.

Free will is an open invitation from god to experience everything possible in this life. No are no exceptions, expectations, demands, requirements or strings attached. Free will is pure.

I believe logic would like to have a say in this discussion. If one of the tenets in life is that we each have ‘free will’, how can it be that there is another force called God’s will? The two would be mutually exclusive by nature, since surely there will always be conflicts, and any override of free will, voids it completely.

What proponents of God’s will have to offer is that God’s will is supreme, therefore, any instance where we use our free will in opposition to God’s will, must be abandoned or relinquished.

Of course, our free will allows us to make choices that create pain and suffering for ourselves and for others. It also provides us with the power to make choices that create healing and loving actions.

How we use our free will is entirely up to each of us.

I fully recognize there are dilemmas involved here.

How is anyone to know the truth?

How is anyone to know what God’s will is for them?

How does free will work if it conflicts with what one is told is God’s will? How does God’s will work if it is in conflict with our free will?

The answers depend greatly on what one has been told during their life and their willingness to explore new territory. If there is a strong belief that God’s will is sacrosanct and that someone else has been given the wisdom to explain what it is, there may be little room for an alternative view.

However, if one has been told these things but has never felt comfortable with them, there may be an open door to enter to consider the importance of free will.

Ultimately, I believe that having your own conversation with god, whatever your concept is for god, is the pathway to your own certainness.

I am a firm believer that sitting in stillness, breathing in and out, until a calm center is reached, and opening our mind and heart creates an opportunity for divine connection.

This is the place where all is known.