SELF STUDY

Monthly Focus~ 

TURNING BACK TO GOD

The next time you see something that you think you’ve got to have, that you’re desiring, that’s the most important thing out there – you’re longing for it, you need it, you have to get it, you’re going to do whatever it takes to get it, stop for a moment and just bring that energy of desire in for a second. Focus it upward to God and say, “Lord, I’m moving this energy of desire towards You. I desire You. I want You. Rather than this thing out here in the world, I am going to now move that energy into You and with You.” Then, just see what that feels like for a moment. Just hold it for a moment and see if that doesn’t feel more of a natural flow and an easier movement than this energy into the world.

Full Excerpt ~

Sometimes we don’t get it exactly the way we want it, but yet we do. Then there’s been other times in my life where I’ve wanted something really bad because I just thought that it was so important to me. As soon as I got it the bubble burst, and it wasn’t important to me at all and I hardly ever used it. Have you ever had that experience in your life? Have you ever had that experience with another person in your life where you desired them, you needed them, you wanted them, oh, you loved them? Then the moment they said that they loved you and wanted to spend the rest of their life with you or spend time with you, all of a sudden it was like, “Well, not so interested now.” It’s amazing what the energy of desire will do. And when the desire seems answered, it just wanes.

Well, with God, there is a desire. The soul desires to know God. The soul desires to come into Oneness with God. The soul is ever longing for that. But as long as the soul is also trapped, and caught up in the mind and through the mind into the world, the soul finds itself also placing that desire in an outward focus rather than an inward focus to God, and we are always desiring things in the world. “I need this. I desire that. That’s important to me. I’ve got to have it.” But that desire energy, that I just described, is really the soul’s desire and longing for God just focused in a different direction, down and out rather than inward and upward.

The next time you see something that you think you’ve got to have, that you’re desiring, that’s the most important thing out there – you’re longing for it, you need it, you have to get it, you’re going to do whatever it takes to get it, stop for a moment and just bring that energy of desire in for a second. Focus it upward to God and say, “Lord, I’m moving this energy of desire towards You. I desire You. I want You. Rather than this thing out here in the world, I am going to now move that energy into You and with You.” Then, just see what that feels like for a moment. Just hold it for a moment and see if that doesn’t feel more of a natural flow and an easier movement than this energy into the world. Because it really is an unnatural flow even though the mind and the body thinks it’s very natural. It really isn’t because that’s not what we desire.

So give that a try. I do that every day when I sit down in meditation. I bring all that which is of my consciousness that is focused into the world, not just my desire but all of the focus of my consciousness into the world, here into the seat of the soul, and then I just focus it to God. And I say, “Lord, I know I’m really looking for You. Even when I think I’m looking for things in the world, I know I’m really looking for You. I know I’m really longing to be One with You, and I’m just going to bring my attention fully to You now in this moment.”

Yes, it’s going to get scattered back out in the world as soon as I open my eyes, but I’m still going to bring that now to finding God in things in the world, in people in the world, as I’m now looking to find God in me inside. That’s how I learned. I started as a child imagining, praying, and holding up things to God. But I learned through that process about this whole thing of “the game” of desire, the game of want, the game of need, and it is just a game.

So the next time you find yourself looking at a car that goes by and say, “I don’t want this car anymore, I want that car,” or, “I want that person,” or, “I want that house,” just be aware of the energy of that, that you are putting out, and bring it back to yourself for a moment and just look up and say, “What I really want is God.” See if that doesn’t feel more true than the other, in the outer.

Monthly Focus “going Home work” ~

1. Do two and a half hours of daily meditation, and then listen to the talk titled: ACCOUNTABILITY VS RESPONSIBILITY by Jim Gordon
2. Listen to the guided meditation by Jim Gordon from ACCOUNTABILITY VS RESPONSIBILITY.
3. Journal focus for this month ~ Looking Back To God

• Every day sit down in meditation and bring all that which is of your consciousness that is focused into the world, not just your desire but all of the focus of your consciousness into the world, here into the seat of the soul, and then just focus it to God. And say, “Lord, I know I’m really looking for You. Even when I think I’m looking for things in the world, I know I’m really looking for You. I know I’m really longing to be One with You, and I’m just going to bring my attention fully to You now in this moment.” Journal your awarenesses from this meditation.
• So the next time you find yourself fantasizing about what you want/desire, just be aware of the energy of that, that you are putting out, and bring it back to yourself for a moment and just look up and say, “What I really want is God.” Journal what that feels like.

Contemplation exercise: contemplate the following statement by Jim:

• With God, there is a desire. The soul desires to know God. The soul desires to come into Oneness with God. The soul is ever longing for that.