Allowing feeling into our awareness is an act of free will. Choosing to be guided by feeling is also an act of free will. The Human Condition is a single step on our evolutionary path that provides us with the opportunity to develop our use of free will. If we are to embrace this opportunity fully, then we need to understand the intimate relationship between free will, spirituality, and human existence.
We are free when we are not under the control or in the power of another. Will is our manner of taking action. Free will is the opportunity to choose our actions. Free will is creative self expression.
Spirit is defined as the nonphysical part of an individual, the invisible force that animates physical existence. In the marriage of matter and spirit, matter creates the body and spirit wills the body into action. Spirituality is the state of being aware of spirit, of being aware of how and why we choose to live the way we do.
As human beings, it is rare for us to fully understand how and why we choose to live the way we do. The reason for this is because humanity lives at the boundary of two worlds, one that exists within us, and one that is all around us. The inner world contains the seed of who we truly are. The outer world is the environment in which we grow.
When these two worlds are in perfect alignment with each other, living our truth is the simplest, most natural thing we could possibly do. Each of us pursues our heart's desire openly, shares our uniqueness freely with everyone around us, and supports each other fully. Life provides us with everything we need, and we thrive.
It is only when the outer world is not fully supportive of our true nature that we deviate from this way of life, and it is in precisely these situations that feeling, free will, and spirituality all converge on a single point, in the form of a simple question. How do we respond when the outer world is not fully supportive of who we truly are?
When we look closely at this question, we find that it is both our greatest challenge and our greatest opportunity. The choice between honoring our inner truth, or conforming to outer pressure, is the core issue of human existence, and it defines our evolutionary path. For us, the process of transforming the downward spiral of conformity into an upward spiral of creative self expression begins right here.
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Every free will act produces consequence, either positive or negative. When we act in alignment with our true nature, the flow of life energy increases, and our actions contribute to the upward spiral of creative self expression. When we deviate from our true nature, the flow of life energy decreases, and our actions contribute to the downward spiral of conformity. This is why our new spiritual awakening is based on the understanding that everything begins with self, because choosing to express or suppress our inner sense of truth is the action that sets everything into motion.
When society leads and the individual follows, this is conformity. When the individual leads and society follows, this is creativity. The reason for this is that society is not a thing in and of itself; it is simply the consequence of how we treat each other outwardly as individuals. And, the way we treat each other outwardly as individuals is nothing more than a reflection of who we are inside.
The only way we can fully honor our social nature is to first deepen our understanding of our individual nature. We do this by connecting with how we feel in the present moment, and by allowing life energy to show us, on the feeling level, if we are living in alignment with our true nature or not. The next step is to find both the courage and the will to change the way we live, if we discover that we are not living our truth.
The word "courage" literally means at heart. It doesn't mean standing up for our rights or fighting for what we believe in. These activities require the use of shields, and take us off the Gentle Path. Courage is simply a willingness to pursue our heart's desire. Courage is the will to live our truth.