Friday, January 19, 2007

Visioning

There has been alot of buzz about Visioning.

What is Visioning? It is a practice of getting in touch with your Higher Self, Spirit, Intention, whatever you want to call it to bring about change in your life, set goals, move forward, advance in some area of your life.

Being the start of a new year, I recently attended a Visioning Workshop to set my intentions for 2007. I had never done a Visioning session, but according to the facilitator, Michael Beckwith used Visioning to go from a 20 member church to one of 10,000. Those kinds of numbers get your attention, so I decided to see what this Visioning thing was all about.

Well, I don't know if it was just me and I did not understand the point, or I was lead in a direction that to me seem off-Principle (Science of Mind principles) but part of this Visioning exercise just did not work for me.

First we were lead in a guided meditation to get in touch with Spirit. The workshop leader used the term "soul". After that, we opened our eyes and answered a series of questions on a worksheet. The first being: what is Spirit's Highest Vision for my soul in this lifetime?

Was I being to literal when I read this question or does it see to imply fate and predeterimation? And using the term soul seems to imply a separation. Aren't we all trying to get to the place in our personal spiritual growth where we can say, like Jesus, "I and the Father are one"?

Spirit, as in Universal Mind, Divine Mind, Creative Power, has no vision for me. It has ALL visions for me. It is the unlimited potentiality. It is the undifferentiated substance. It is all possibilities. It is me as an individualization of this all encompassing potentiality that makes it specialize. As Ernest Holmes has written, Spirit has no particular plan for anyone. That is what makes us individuals. That is what makes us Conscious beings.

And then to bring in the soul concept. Soul is my subconscious connection to the All. It is the collective unconscious, my direct tap-in to omnipresent Universal Law.
And Law is waiting to be consciously directed by me. Otherwise, it works on the Law of Averages if I do not consciously direct it.

Other questions on this worksheet continue in the same vein: Spirit's Highest Vision for my soul in 2012, in 2010, in 2007. We were supposed to write down anything that came into our minds whether that be words, images, sounds, smells, etc.

I had a few images and feelings, but not much came through. That makes perfect sense if you take into account my belief that there is nothing but unlimited potentiality for me. I am not being told by Spirit what I should be.

As we shared some of what we wrote down among the group, I could tell that some people really got into it and did get in touch with their inner self. Others I could tell were just regurgitating what their intellect and ego told them to write down. They had invested alot of something in a particular direction they wanted their lives to go in, and they were determined to convince themselves that this is what Spirit wanted for them too.

The second part of the workshop was goal-setting. For some reason, I got alot more out of this part of the workshop than the first half. This was bringing our human intellect into the equation. Nothing wrong with that. Our intellect has its place. What I liked about this exercise is that it let me think long-term and medium-term. It was almost a luxury to actually sit down and allow myself to think about these goals. Most of us do not give ourselves the time to do this. We just plod along and see what happens. And then deal with what happens. A very reactionary way to live.
Well, I rather be pro-active, and this gave me a wonderful opportunity to do that. Things actually came out of my pen that I have no idea where they came from. Maybe this was Spirit starting to individualize as me and my actions.

What was spiritual about the goal writing session was to think about what I would have to BECOME to make those goals come about -- not necessarily what I would have to DO. Big difference. Personal spiritual growth is all about what we are becoming.

Self-contemplation, which is how Spirit creates everything (read Thomas Troward's books), is also how we create our experiences. I have to think about myself in a certain way, or I won't believe certain things are possible. And belief is THE critical factor in creation.

To reach my goals, I have to see myself as more. More intelligent, more spiritual, more communicative, more prosperous, etc.

This is what I got of my first Visioning Session. Probably not what other people got out of it. Call me a purist. The Law does not care what it creates for me. It is my servant. Spirit only wants me to have my good. Whatever I choose it to be. So to ask Spirit what it wants me to do, goes completely against that.

Now, yes, there is Divine Guidance. That is your inner wisdom. Because deep down, you do know what to do, if you just become still and turn off the noise of the world, community, family, friends, and your own ego. This is what we need to tap into in a true Visioning practice.

Until next time,
Peace, be still.

Tina

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