| The Path to Spiritual Freedom In Our Unity of Spirit | by Rev. Allen Liles Has the world gone mad and taken us with it? This is a legitimate question given our current state of chaos and general unrest. Is there any way to recover our sanity and emotional balance? I believe we can regain our physical and mental equilibrium by pursuing the path of spiritual freedom. Becoming free spiritually is the secret to realizing peace, prosperity, healing and harmony in our lives. Winning freedom from anything that imprisons our spirituality guarantees us a happier and more fulfilled human journey. Freedom of the spirit brings serenity, understanding, forgiveness and acceptance. It helps delete prejudice, intolerance and negative judgment. As we rediscover our innate divinity, a natural connection to all living things is established and nurtured. Becoming spiritually liberated reveals a new technology of being. We move to a higher level of awareness. With this awareness comes illumination. We begin to perceive the reality of the inner world. Material concerns do not disappear, but their influence lessens. Becoming unbound from negative distractions lifts our spirits and we're released from constant worry and stress. What is spiritual freedom and how can we declare it for ourselves? The truth of any freedom begins with discernment. In the discernment process, we attempt to see clearly and perceive truthfully. In looking at the conflict and strife that originates in the polarized external world, we behold many factors that unsettle the spirit. We are bombarded by constant messages of negativity. Wars rage and destruction pervades. Fear, distrust and animosity ruin relationships between people and nations. Our spiritual nature remains under constant attack from an overwhelming army of adverse forces. In the midst of such spiritual anarchy, any relief seems unlikely. We feel imprisoned and tortured by daily events. But in our struggle to recover our mental balance, we can locate the path to freedom of the spirit. Pain precedes deliverance. When things get bad enough, we find an incentive for action. Throughout human history the rallying call for freedom appeared after a situation or circumstances became intolerable. So it is with us. When our lives become unmanageable, the moment to seek spiritual freedom has arrived. The path toward an illumined consciousness involves three specific and personal decisions: surrender, honesty and commitment. Surrendering control over external factors calls for a new way of thinking and approaching life. This includes giving up a long held reliance on our human power. We must let go of self-trust and bring a higher power into play. Before any spiritual shift can occur, our inner authority has to be activated. We can then begin seeing with new eyes, hearing with new ears and reprogramming old thoughts through an enlightened mind. This first footprint in the march toward freedom of the spirit can occur with a simple prayer: "Not my will, but yours be done." We thus end the misguided and ineffective rule of ego. We experience the reality of a higher power that unconditionally supports our quest for freedom. It offers a loving presence that desires only unity with the spiritual aspects of our higher self. For most of us, an awakening to the truth of a loving rather than a punishing God provides a powerful basis for spiritual trust. The second aspect of the discernment process calls for what recovery groups describe as "rigorous honesty." To secure our spiritual freedom, no other type of honesty will do. Again, real honesty requires altering our thoughts; most of us have become quite comfortable blaming other people and events for the shambles of our physical and emotional worlds. When we accept personal responsibility for everything that affects us, we remove the log from our own eyes. We cease harmful judgments and start beholding the natural divinity in ourselves and others. Could there be any finer freedom than holding ourselves accountable for every single facet of our lives? Honesty comes in knowing the truth about ourselves and allowing it to set us free. The third link in discernment involves commitment. Dedicating ourselves to a path free from the negative influence of external pressures remains absolutely essential to our success. Once we experience the empowerment that comes by aligning ourselves with a higher Source of good, commitment becomes a given. Why would we choose to give fickle materiality the right to decide our happiness, peace, joy and ultimate fate? Is this in our best interest? Declaring a pact of freedom with God, or whatever higher power we choose, allows us a new opportunity to co-create the life we want, need and value. Integrity arrives in tandem with a heightened awareness of our spiritual power. Of course, we still see the imperfections of the world and the people in it. But, as wise mystics have forever urged us: "Be in the world but not of it." We find ourselves spiritually free when we begin living more by grace than by our own wits. Life flows with us and through us. We are free from dependence on human conditions. We claim our spiritual heritage. We are lifted into a new world of abundance, health, harmony, peace and love. We live in freedom, not fear. We dwell in a secret place of the most high, our own consciousness. Rev. Allen Liles is the associate minister at Unity Christ Church in Golden Valley. Unity Christ Church is at 4000 Golden Valley Road., Golden Valley, MN 55422. Visit www.unitychristchurch.org or call (763) 521-4793. Copyright © 2003 Rev. Allen Liles |
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