For all of us there comes a time when all that’s left is God…
It happens in most people’s lives more than once. It is that moment
when you feel totally and completely isolated. It’s that time when you
feel, not that no one is hearing you, but that there is no one to hear
you. You are really all alone. There is no one else, even when there
is someone else in the room. There is nothing more, even when there is
plenty more all around. There is only you, even when the world
surrounds you. Perhaps especially when the world surrounds you, there
is only you.
Yes, there comes a time when all that’s left is
God. Nothing else matters. Nothing else has any meaning. Nothing else
calls to you, magnetizes you, demands your attention—or is even
worthy of it.
This time comes, it seems to me, either when you
have nothing or when you have everything. This moment arrives when
everything else has been taken from you and there is nothing left, or
when everything has been given to you and there is nothing more you
could possibly want.
When this moment arrives, it is a great
relief. It is a release, a letting go. And yet, for many of us, there
is still a tiny part of our being that yearns for the single thing that
so many of us have never had: complete acceptance and unconditional
love.
Somebody love me just the way I am.
We have not
been able to find that in another. We thought we could find it in
another, we hoped that we could find it in another, but we cannot. We
cannot even find it in ourselves. And because we cannot find it in
ourselves, we cannot give it to another-and that is why we cannot find
it there. For we cannot find anywhere what we have not placed anywhere,
and we have not placed complete acceptance and unconditional love
anywhere. We cannot even be okay with the weather, for goodness sake. We
can find something to complain about around everything.
And
so, we seek what is not there, for everything we seek to find in life
must have been placed there by us. If we have not placed it, we cannot
find it. What we do not place into life, we do not find, because we are
the Only Source There Is.
If we cannot find forgiveness in our
lives, it is because we have not placed it there. If we cannot find
compassion in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. If
we cannot find tolerance in our lives, it is because we have not placed
it there. If we cannot find mercy in our lives, it is because we have
not placed it there. If we cannot find peace in our lives, it is
because we have not placed it there. If we cannot find acceptance in
our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. And if we cannot
find love in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there.
All these things we must place into Life. First, into our own life,
then into the life of another. Or, for some, it is the other way
around. I want to say for most of us it is the other way around. For
most of us, it is nearly impossible to give ourselves what we most want
to receive: forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace,
acceptance, and love.
Most of us cannot give these things to
ourselves because we know too much about ourselves. We think ourselves
to be unworthy of these things. We imagine ourselves to be something
other than what we really are. We cannot see the Divinity that Divinity
Itself has placed in us. We cannot see the Innocence. We cannot see
the Perfection in our imperfection.
Because we cannot see these
things in ourselves, we cannot give ourselves what we most want to
receive. Yet, because we are not totally blind to what is good and
worthy in the world, we are often able to see these things in others.
We can often see Divinity in others. We can often see Innocence in
others. We can often even see Perfection in the imperfection of others.
And so we can give others forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy,
peace, acceptance, and love. We can, but the question is, will we?
Too often, we do not. Because of our own wounds, we cannot heal the
wounds of others. And so we deny our world the things our world needs
the most. We deny our world forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy,
peace, acceptance, and love. And when we deny these to our world, we
deny these to ourselves—for what we have not placed into the world, we
cannot receive from the world. Again, let the New Golden Rule be
repeated:
What we have not placed into the world,
we cannot receive from the world.
There comes a time when we realize that we are the Only Source There
Is. No one is going to give to us or to the world what we are unable to
get to the world, and thus to ourselves. Not for very long.
The first place we find this out is in relationship with another. What
we are unable or unwilling to give to another, we will not receive from
the other. Not for very long. If we cannot give the person across the
room forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and
love… we cannot look to the person across the room to give these
things to us. For they only have to give what we have given them.
We imagine in relationship that the other person has what we do not
have, and therefore, that they can supply it to us. This is the great
illusion. This is a great mistake. This is the great misunderstanding.
And this is the reason why so many relationships fail. We imagine that
the other is going to supply us with forgiveness, compassion, tolerance,
mercy, peace, acceptance, and love. We imagine that the other is going
to supply us what we cannot supply to them, and what we cannot even
give to ourselves. And then we become angry with the other. And then
we become angry with ourselves. And then…
… we realize
that there’s nothing left but God. We turn, then, to God. Please God,
give me forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance,
and love. Please give it to me, so that I may give it to others.
The world is rapidly approaching this turning point. We are coming to
understand that God is the Only and Original Source. Now all that we
need to do is understand, as well, that there is no separation between
God and us. When we grasp at last this foundational understanding, when
we embrace, finally, this basic truth, we will change ourselves, change
our relationships, and change the world.
Until then, we will
not. And we will wait for that moment when we realize….that there’s
nothing left but God. Hopefully, we will arrive at that moment before
we create it…in the most crude of ways possible: by destroying
everything else until there is nothing left. By destroying our
relationship until there is nothing left. By destroying our world until
there is nothing left. By destroying ourselves until there is nothing
left.
Conversations with God contains a startling statement. It
is something I’ve never forgotten. God said, "It is not necessary to
go through hell in order to get to heaven." I invite us all to remember
that on this day. I invite us all to embrace a new notion about
ourselves and about life: not that there’s nothing left but God, but
that there’s nothing but God.
When we see God in every other
person and in every other thing, then we will have dropped our
illusions, we will have stepped aside from our childish imaginings, and
we will treat everything and everyone as if it, she, or he is Divine.
And if you don’t think that will change your life and your world,
think again. This is the Pathway to the Soul.
Love and Hugs,
Neale
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