The Key of the Inner Voice

1999-1-16 23:27:00

I thought I would take a minute and comment on LeLona's comments on my article on Trusting the Silent Voice. As you may remember this was a true account of a struggle I had in following the Inner Voice.

LeLona quoted me: "When I was a young man I found I began to pick up on inner messages and discovered that the more I trusted them the clearer they became. After having several fairly astounding things happen I was quite proud of myself as a receiver."

LeLona: "I don't get the connection as to why you would have put your skeleton story on the list at this time, other than to demonstrate what pride can do."

Answer: I posted the story for two reasons and neither of them had anything to do with pride.

First: Tracy posted a similar inspiring story, and I thought mine would be a good supporting and backup account that would emphasize the core point we have been trying to process since we have started this list - soul contact and following of the message received in that contact.

Second: I do not deny I have my faults, but when I said I was proud of myself as a receiver I was not implying a negative pride as if I am better than others, but a positive pride that we, for example, experience on this list when we progress in knowledge. We are proud of ourselves, meaning we feel good about the direction we are going. This is in no way a negative thing.

But because we feel good about the direction we are going and we think we are making progress does not mean that we are doing all we can do. Sometimes the soul comes along and gives us a wake-up call and says "Come higher." If we then obey we discover that we were capable of much more than we thought. Before the wake-up call we may have been doing our best, but the soul decided to make our best better.

LeLona's second comment: "Because the younger JJ was proud of being a receiver it took him all day long and into the evening to get back to the place he was at in the beginning, at Sylvia's house, after running around all day long. So pride distorted his trust in what he heard, but it didn't distort the Spirit's silent voice coming in. The Spirit never gave up."

I hope the group did not get the message that pride was the major problem that caused my delay in finding the answer that day. Believe me, I have never felt more stripped of pride in my life than when I was waking everyone up between three and six in the morning, telling them that I had a "funny feeling." My friends laughed at it and made fun of me for some time to come because of it.

Pride had nothing to do with the delay in pinpointing the problem. The problem I had is one that all of us have had or will have in the development of soul contact. We must bypass the fog of Maya, the mists of Glamour and the trickiness of Illusion to even register the still, small Voice; and then when it is registered we must learn to discern between the real voice and the many false voices.

The only message I received that I was absolutely sure about was that there was a problem and someone's life was in danger; and on that message I did not waiver because of the surety of it. When I tried to pick up the name of the person in trouble, the impression came with such slightness and brevity that I was just not sure if I was correct.

Therefore, when Sylvia told me that I was wrong, at first I sincerely believed I had the wrong person. If I had known for sure I would have not retreated.

Nevertheless, I followed the highest that I knew at the time... and that was that someone was in trouble. I pursued every possible lead throughout the day, seemingly making a fool out of myself to my friends. But because I did follow the highest I knew and did not give up, the message was clarified and I was finally able to identify the problem before disaster occurred.

I gave this story out hoping it would inspire the pursuit of accurate soul contact in others. I know some of you have told me that you are not sure where to begin in this endeavor and are seeking more guidance.

This story is a great example of the problems along the way, for when the Inner Voice first comes you are just not sure if it is your imagination or real. Then there are many who do get messages that are pure imagination - so how do you tell the difference?

The difference is that the true messages have a connection to the deepest center of your heart, but at first this connection seems far away. You have to go through a period of trial and error, and as you do, and follow the highest that you know, the Voice will become clearer, just as it did for me that day.

At the beginning of that day the message of who was in trouble was very vague, but by the end of the day after following the highest I knew, at great humiliation, the Voice became clear as crystal.

The false inner voice (from the solar plexus) always gives us impressions that accommodate our desires and pre-conceived notions, but the true Inner Voice often guides us in ways we never would have dreamed of on our own and directs in paths we are reluctant, even fearful to pursue.

The Inner Voice is there waiting to commune with us and has attempted to do so with all of us, but if we are unwilling to go contrary to the natural solar plexus desires, the true Voice will not be heard.

As we proceed into the third temptation of Jesus we will see that to follow His Inner Voice to resist the temptation of the outer adversary He had to lay aside not only solar plexus desires but even the highest loving desires of His heart of hearts.

I'll end here with another quote from LeLona with which I heartily agree (and there are many).

"One cannot will himself toward God, like to say I WILL be One with God, but one can say not MY Will, but THY Will."

If we put the higher will above our own desires, indeed the higher Voice will come in with greater clarity as time goes on.