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What is the Sacred Voice? We become aware of the Sacred Voice at
the heights and the depths of human existence. The peak moments of life --
the birth of a child, sexual ecstasy, a breathtaking sunset -- often
transport us into the spiritual dimension. Intense physical activity like
running, skiing, and team competition can also take us there. Music, art
and dance, times of creativity and triumph, all help us transcend the
everyday realm. Heartfelt conversation and close family times bring us
deeper into an awareness of love and the sacred connection that exists
between human beings.
The difficult times and low points of life force us to confront
spiritual issues as well: the "dark night of the soul," self-doubt,
failure, excruciating decisions, grave injustice, loss, disappointment,
misfortune, accident, illness, social upheaval, natural disaster,
catastrophe and death itself. As vulnerable human beings we desperately
need an inner voice to talk with during these times.
Our Sacred Voice is the highest, clearest, most all-encompassing Voice
we can communicate with. Yet it is the one most of us talk with the least.
You don't have to be traditionally religious or believe in God to hear
your Sacred Voice, but you do need to be open to aspects of yourself that
go deeper than your everyday consciousness and ego personality. And you
need to quiet your mind enough so that "still, small voice within" can be
heard.
Our Sacred Voice represents the spiritual, ethical and existential
dimension of life: our concerns with the ultimate purpose and meaning of
life and death. It encompasses the yearning for inner peace, unconditional
love, perfect knowledge and wisdom, eternal life and reunion with our
Sacred Self (translate into your own beliefs as Universal Intelligence,
Conscience, Higher Power, Soul, Nature, God). The universal message of the
world's spiritual teachers is that separation from our Sacred Self is the
root of all human problems.
The idea that any one of us can have a "conversation with God" is
becoming more widely accepted today, but few people know how to do so
effectively. Religions teach the need for prayer and many spiritual paths
emphasize meditation. Yet they often fail to explain how to integrate
these spiritual practices on a practical level with our daily emotional
and psychological life -- which is where we need them the most.
Chapters 14-16 in Finding Serenity in the Age of Anxiety provide
more information and examples of how to commune with our Sacred Voice.
Will the real Sacred Voice please stand up?
When we attempt to connect with our Sacred Voice, how do we know that
we are really hearing our true spiritual voice? How do we know it's not
just our ego talking? What if the messages we get are confusing, even
contradictory? And most disturbing, what if we "draw a blank" and don't
hear anything at all?
These were some of the difficulties I encountered on my own spiritual
path. There were so many times that I wished I knew what was the "right
thing to do" or what was "God's will for me." I have seen my clients
struggling with the same problems as they try to discern their Sacred
Voice.
First we need to identify what our dysfunctional Toxic Voices are
saying. For most of us, especially whenever we are anxious or distressed,
the Toxic Voices are the loudest and most persistent. When we stop talking
with our Toxic Voice, we can hear our true Natural Voice. Our Natural
Voice is confident, realistic and truthful. It is rational, emotionally
self-aware and helps us see our options more clearly and solve problems
more effectively.
However, because our Natural Voice is limited to what can be perceived
in the material world, it cannot help us with the deeper questions in
life. And even little things, the "small stuff" of daily life, has a
spiritual aspect. This is why it is so important for us to develop a
relationship with our wise and loving Sacred Voice.
The Toxic Voice tries to masquerade a spiritual guide
Our secular culture, based on science, rationalism and commercialism,
does not concern itself with many aspects of our nature that are vital to
our existence as human beings. Much of what passes for spirituality in our
culture is not authentic spirituality. Only rarely is the Sacred Voice of
a child honored and nurtured.
Taking advantage of this absence of the Sacred in the modern world, the
Toxic Voice eagerly jumps into the void and masquerades as a spiritual
guide. This flamboyant, charismatic Toxic Voice can clothe itself in the
vestments of traditional religions or in the garb of New Age cults. It
invites us to talk with it about our deepest concerns, saying slyly:
"There are many dimensions beyond everyday reality. Common sense, logic
and science can only take you so far. I am the voice of God. I know how
special you are. I know about your secret hopes and how to make your
dreams come true. I am the fount of all knowledge and all wisdom. I can
talk to you about life and death, right and wrong and about your ultimate
fate."
Our thoughts often venture into the existential realms of life: What is
my life purpose? Who am I? What career shall I follow? Who should I marry?
What will happen to me after I die?
Our sensible Natural Voice (cognitive rational self-talk) cannot help
us with these deeper questions. In the absence of a clear and authentic
Sacred Voice, the Toxic Voice will step in and lead us astray. We need to
recognize that our attraction to the "spiritual" aspect of our Toxic Voice
is evidence of our yearning for meaning and spiritual growth. We can
refuse to buy into the Toxic Voice, no matter how skillfully disguised,
and direct and to direct that yearning to the Sacred Voice.
The Light and the Dark Angels
The Sacred Realm has two great polarities: Life and Death. We are
afraid of Death (surrender, pain, loss and nonexistence) but just as
afraid of the challenges of Life (greater aliveness, passion, creative
power and evolutionary growth).
We can symbolize these two aspects of the Sacred as the Light Angel and
the Dark Angel. The Light Angel helps us tap into love, energy, abundance,
growth and eternal life. The Dark Angel humbles us and helps us recognize
what is beyond our control. It helps us grow from conflict, injustice,
difficulty, decline, loss, pain, sickness, and ultimately death itself.
Developing a clear understanding of these two Angels can accelerate
your spiritual evolution and clear up much confusion about the spiritual
dimension of life. I use the symbol of an angel because angels are the
traditional intermediaries between human and the unfathomable divine. Both
the Hebrew and the Greek roots from which we get our word angel mean
"divine messenger."
The Rabbi of Serenity
Many years ago there was a Rabbi who was loved and admired for his
modesty, his wisdom, and his tireless ministry to the people of his
village. But most of all he was known for his unshakable serenity. A
student approached him one day and said, "Rabbi, no matter what happens,
you always seem to be at peace. What is your secret?"
The Rabbi replied, "I have two pieces of paper. One I keep in my right
pocket and the other in my left pocket. Whenever I feel the need, I take
out one of them and read it. And then I am at peace."
"What do the pieces of paper say, Rabbi?" asked the student eagerly.
"The paper in my right pocket says, 'For you the universe was created.'
The one in my left pocket reads, 'You are dust and ashes.'
"Whenever I am feeling too insignificant or unworthy, I reach for the
piece of paper in my right pocket and it restores my sense of wholeness.
Whenever I become too filled with self-importance or become too attached
to the events of my life, I read the message in my left pocket and it
restores my sense of humility."
This wise Rabbi understood that the Light and Dark Angels contain the
wisdom of the entire universe. This secret to creative power and serenity
was known to the spiritual teachers of Asia as the Tao and the principle
of Yin and Yang.
I know I'd lose those two pieces of paper within a week. So I imagine
that I carry the Light Angel on my right shoulder and the Dark Angel on my
left shoulder. Whenever I feel the need, I just turn and talk with the
appropriate Angel.
If you become an eager student of your Light and Dark Angels they will
lead you to the Sacred Realm -- the "Promised Land" of joy, serenity and
enlightenment.
Getting to know your Light Angel
Getting to know our Light Angel puts us in touch with a powerful
spiritual resource. The Light Angel helps us connect with the Sacred Realm
of unconditional love and acceptance. Our Light Angel assures us that we
are loved and accepted no matter what we have done, no matter what our
situation or condition may be. The Light Angel offers a safe haven of
serenity and peace. It reminds us that we are one with our Source and that
Life is abundant and eternal.
The Light Angel encourages our growth and our happiness. Its greatest
joy is to help us live the life we were born to live. The Light Angel
helps us find the courage and wisdom to respond powerfully and creatively
to life's challenges and opportunities.
Your Light Angel encourages you to come into the fullness of your
power. It invites you to become more vibrantly alive. The Light Angel
offers you abundance and prosperity of both body and soul. It calls you to
love and calls you to your life purpose. It reminds you that you have the
power to co-create with the universe.
Communing with your Light Angel allows you to go for the highest good
in any situation: the Sacred Purpose. When you are dealing with a problem,
your Sacred Voice asks questions like: What are the deeper spiritual
issues and moral principles involved? What does your soul desire most from
this situation? What spiritual lessons do you have the opportunity to
learn?
By focusing on your sacred purpose you will find the "courage to change
what can be changed," and maximize your chances of creating the highest
good in your life.
Your Light Angel asks you to open yourself to more love, pleasure and
success -- to realize your dreams while here on earth. Your Light Angel
tells you that you are loved and accepted and that no matter what happens
you are an essential member of the cosmic family -- a child of God.
Instead of letting you settle for less than you deserve or being
satisfied with material success alone, it inspires you to go for the
highest spiritual good in any situation.
Your Light Angel tells you that you are much more than you have ever
dreamed, that you are part of the divine plan, that you are a
manifestation of God in human form. It reminds you of your eternal
essence, the "God-stuff" of which you are made.
Getting to know your Dark Angel
The Dark Angel aspect of God is illustrated in the fascinating story in
Genesis that describes Jacob wrestling with an Angel. Jacob was sleeping
alone in the desert. In the middle of the night he was awakened by a
strange man with whom he wrestled fiercely until dawn.
Have you ever been awakened in the middle of the night by anxious,
dark, disturbing thoughts and then tossed and turned until morning? You
may have been wrestling with your Dark Angel.
Jacob understood that his Dark Angel was an aspect of the divine and he
refused to let his Dark Angel leave unless the Angel first blessed him.
This means that Jacob had the courage to face his doubts and fears and not
let them go until he had learned from them. And the Dark Angel recognized
his spiritual courage by blessing Jacob. He received a new name, Israel,
and founded a new nation.
So part of our relationship with God includes wrestling with God's Dark
Angel, experiencing self-doubt, terror, awe, confusion -- what I call
Sacred Anxiety.
The Dark Angel is that aspect of the Divine that humbles us by
reminding us of our smallness and the limits of our power. It is a potent
antidote to false pride, arrogance and hubris. The Dark Angel reminds us
that we are not in charge of the universe, that we cannot predict what
will happen in the future, that we do not even know what will happen
during the next second.
In everyday life, our Dark Angel helps us to avoid self-importance,
arrogance, and egotism and act from humility and modesty. It helps us to
recognize what is beyond our control and let go -- so we can find true
serenity within.
Our Dark Angel helps us take responsibility for our shortcomings with
humility and acceptance (and without toxic guilt and shame). It helps us
meet injustice and misfortune with courage and integrity (and without
self-pity, hatred or blame).
The Dark Angel asks difficult, probing questions with love: How are you
responsible for creating this problem? For which past actions do you need
to take responsibility, ask forgiveness, make amends? What is your "lower
self" feeling, thinking or wanting? How has your inexperience, ignorance
or arrogance contributed to this situation?
Our Dark Angel helps us feel safe even in dire situations in which we
are truly powerless. It helps us feel safe, loved and accepted, no matter
how bad things are. The Dark Angel knows about the dark side of life. It
comforts those in pain and helps those who have reached the end of their
life to relax and let go. It is the patron saint of all those who have
been abused, betrayed or mistreated. And it extends the hand of
forgiveness to those who repent of abusive behavior.
Our Dark Angel reminds us that God is omnipresent everywhere at every
moment, and that when we "let go" of something we cannot control, we "let
God" take care of it.
Sooner or later the day will come for each of us that we make that
transition from this life. The Dark Angel, in its role as the Angel of
Death, helps us die a good death when our time comes -- a physical death
that is also a spiritual rebirth. If we have cultivated a close
relationship with our Dark Angel during our life, we can relax on that
special day. We will feel our Dark Angel take our hand as we ride the wave
of our last breath and glide into the Sacred Realm.
Childhood and the Sacred Voice
As children we experience our parents as the creators and the gods of
our family universe. We yearn for Perfect Parents. Yet in real life
parents act imperfectly. We yearn for a perfect world. Yet the culture and
society we grow up in turns out to be far from perfect. As our nervous
system develops. we form an image of the universe that becomes distorted
by our imperfect human environment.
As children, we know we need protection, nurturing and guidance. When
we are young and helpless, the hard truth is that even toxic parents are
better than having no caretakers at all. In order to survive childhood, we
are forced into an ill-fated bargain.
We become both a slave to and a rebel against an internalized,
parental-sounding Toxic Voice, which later becomes layered with other
voices of authority such as older children and adults, teachers, coaches
and religious authorities. Today the Toxic Voice of the media adds a new
and powerful source of negative conditioning. Chronic poverty and
discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, appearance or disability
add to the Toxic Voice.
Through imitation and adaptation we internalize the Toxic Voices that
we hear or experience. Neglectful or emotionally abusive behavior
reinforces the Toxic Voice and thwarts the proper development of the
Natural and Sacred Voices. After a while the Toxic Voice obscures or even
replaces the Natural and Sacred Voices we were born with.
Whether we "believe in God" or not, each of us has an inescapable
relationship with the universal power that created us. Whether devout
believer, confirmed atheist or uncertain agnostic, subconsciously we carry
within us culturally-conditioned beliefs and images regarding "God" that
were formed in childhood and adolescence. These images greatly affect our
psychological and spiritual life in adulthood, even if we remain unaware
of them.
As adults we have a choice whether to remain in thrall to a Toxic Voice
that was formed in childhood or to rediscover our Sacred Voice. This is
why so many spiritual traditions say that we must be "born again."
What this means psychologically and spiritually is that we must
identify the old toxic parental (and societal) voices from childhood,
separate from them and let them die. Only then can we be reborn into the
"Kingdom of Heaven," the authentic paradise that is the true, loving
universe in which we live.
St. Paul, who struggled against his own childhood conditioning, wrote,
"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child; but when I became an adult, I put away childish
things. For then I saw through a glass darkly; but now face to face."
Those "childish things" are the Inner Talk thought patterns from
childhood that we must leave behind in order to become free and creative
adults. The "dark glass" is the gloomy filter of the Toxic Voice that
prevents us from seeing reality clearly. When we are able to see "face to
face" we can see God's face in everything, including ourselves and one
another.
Overcoming obstacles to having a close relationship with our Sacred
Voice
There are many obstacles to communing with our Sacred Voice. The most
obvious impediment is not believing in its existence. In our secular,
materialistic culture it's easy to lose sight of the invisible and
transcendent realm of spirit. It's easy to stay so busy with work and so
distracted by the latest media sensation or this week's sale at the mall
that we never take the time to slow down and listen to that "still, small
voice within."
That traditional phrase used to describe the Sacred Voice points to
another obstacle that interferes with our listening to it. It is a quiet
voice.
The Sacred Voice isn't a loud, boastful know-it-all like the Toxic
Voice. We need to take the megaphone away from the Toxic Voice in order to
hear our Sacred Voice.We can slow down and create sacred time through
prayer, meditation or quiet walks and develop a daily relationship with
our Sacred Voice.
Yet when we take that beneficial step, another obstacle usually arises.
When we try to commune with our Sacred Voice, we may not hear anything at
all and we may find the silence to be uncomfortable. We may even doubt the
reality of our Sacred Voice.
I've found that the best response to this is to relax with the silence.
Our Sacred Voice does not communicate in words alone. It may communicate
through silence, through visions, through a loving presence. This "sacred
silence" is actually a manifestation of the presence rather than the
absence of the Divine. Heaven has been described by mystics as the
"Singing Silence."
It may take time for us to tune in to our Sacred Voice. We will need to
find the right wavelength. We will have to experiment before we find the
right methods and approaches that work for us as individuals.
It's not always easy. Even saints and renowned spiritual teachers
endured great spiritual struggles, dark nights of the soul. Yet our
relationship with our Sacred Self is so vital, so important, so rewarding,
that it is worth the struggle.
How the Toxic Voice tries to lead us astray by impersonating the
Sacred Voice
The main obstacle in establishing a relationship with our Natural and
Sacred Voices is, of course, the interference of the Toxic Voice. Our
Toxic Voice may be mean and nasty, but it's not stupid.
It doesn't come up and say, "Hey, I'm your Toxic Voice. I'm out to make
you miserable and destroy your life." Instead it uses very cunning and
sophisticated disguises. It tries to impersonate God.
Religions often warn that the Devil (the Toxic Voice) will use any
trick in the book to hook an unwary human. It will use flattery to appeal
to our vanity and our desire for self-importance. It will promise to
fulfill our deepest desires.
It will use a tactic that is often used by big city crime syndicates.
First it threatens us with our biggest fears, and then it offers to
protect us from them -- for a price. This Toxic Devil will do anything to
get us to worship it and pay attention to it, to "sell our soul." It wants
us to dwell in fear so we will forget to commune with our true, loving
Sacred Voice.
Perhaps the favorite (and most abhorrent) strategy employed by the
Toxic Voice is to appear as a spiritual mentor and appeal to all that is
highest and best in us -- and then try to twist it to serve evil.
Jesus and other spiritual teachers warned their followers that they
needed to be able to recognize "false prophets" and "false gods." These
impersonators attempt to deceive people by disguising themselves in
"sheep's clothing" but they are actually "ravenous wolves."
The story of Jesus' temptation by Satan in the desert is one of the
best examples of the Devil's toxic strategies and how to overcome them.
Jesus did not give Satan any power over him. He did not let Satan scare
him. He did not allow himself to be seduced by Satan's promises of power
and happiness. Instead Jesus reaffirmed his connection with his true God
and commanded Satan to leave.
During this soul-wrenching encounter in the solitude of the desert
Jesus faced and decisively defeated his Toxic Voice in the form of Satan.
It was only after this victory over evil that Jesus gained the power to
begin his ministry of freeing others from fear so that they could
experience God's love.
This same story is repeated in the lives of spiritual teachers from
Moses and Muhammad to Buddha and Black Elk. Each one had to recognize and
defeat their personal Toxic Voice before they could fulfill their sacred
purpose here on earth. And the same is true of each one of us.
Separating the Light Angel from the Glossy Toxic Voice
One of the main skills we need to develop is the ability to tell the
difference between the Light Angel/Dark Angel Voices and the Glossy/Gloomy
Toxic Voices who are always trying to impersonate them.
As different as these four voices are, what they all have in common is
that they concern themselves with big issues like right and wrong,
self-worth, the nature of the universe and our ultimate fate. So we need
to be very careful when we are thinking about big issues in our life that
we are not being duped into talking to one of the Toxic Voices while
believing that we are talking to our true Sacred Voices. Much of the
conditioning we may have received from traditional religions adds to our
confusion about this since religious teachings have become so contaminated
with guilt, shame and grandiosity over the centuries.
The Glossy Voice can take on a spiritual disguise and look and sound a
lot like the Light Angel. Here are some ways you can tell the difference.
Remember, the Light Angel is about living abundantly, believing in
ourselves and having that sense that "for me the universe was created." So
what the Glossy Voice does is capitalize on our desire to feel special and
blessed and mislead us with flattery, grandiosity and overblown optimism.
Of course, it's not trying to help us. It's just trying to set us up to
get knocked down by its accomplice, the Gloomy Toxic Voice. The old
proverbs, "False pride goes before a fall," and "Don't get a swelled
head," are attempts to warn us about the danger of listening to the Glossy
Voice.
Megalomaniacs and cult leaders like David Koresh (Waco, Texas), Jim
Jones (the "People's Temple"), the Unabomber and Hitler are examples of
people who were led astray (and led others astray) because they listened
to an extreme Glossy Toxic Voice that masqueraded as a spiritual voice
calling them to a great mission.
The Glossy Voice may also prey upon people who want to be good and who
take spiritual values seriously. One of its favorite techniques is to take
a spiritual principle and then misapply it, or use spiritual proverbs to
validate a toxic pattern. As people have known for centuries, "The Devil
can quote Scripture for his own purposes."
The Glossy Voice tries to mislead Rita
For example, the Glossy Toxic Voice might say to a woman, Rita, who is
being emotionally and physically abused by her husband:
"You must forgive him, Rita. 'Judge not, that you be not judged.'
Remember, no matter what he does, he is a child of God just as you are.
God is in each and every one of us. After all it's only because he was
abused as a child that he acts like this. His inner child feels unloved.
You should have compassion for him. You are too judgmental of others.
Besides if you acted more loving toward him, he wouldn't lose his temper.
Instead of judging him, you should work on yourself and become more loving
and forgiving. You are more advanced spiritually than he is so it's up to
you to rise above your own feelings."
Listening to a Toxic Voice like that not only disempowers and endangers
Rita. It also cons her into becoming a victim of a toxic, destructive
pattern.
Her true Sacred Voice would say something more like this:
"I love you, Rita, and I want you to know that you are spiritually safe
at all times. I want you to seek relationships with people who are safe
and who love and respect you. Your inner child does not deserve to be
abused. Protect her and care for her. You do not deserve to be a dumping
ground for another person's anger or anxiety. You don't need to judge or
hate your husband, but you do need to refuse to participate in his abusive
relationship patterns. Let's focus on getting you support for creating a
healthy emotional life and taking appropriate action steps to ensure your
safety."
Even though the Glossy Voice can sound "spiritual," if you reread what
the Glossy Voice said and what the Sacred Voice said to Rita you can
easily hear the different tones and discern the manipulative nature and
destructive agenda of the Glossy Voice.
Tips on identifying the Glossy Impersonator
The Glossy Toxic Voice is a spiritual con artist and may try to get our
attention by saying things that can sound very confusing and contradictory
but seem to make sense at the time:
"I am your spiritual guide, your conscience. Listen to me."
"You want to do the right thing, don't you?"
"You know what's best for the other person. You've got to sacrifice
your own needs and help them even if they don't appreciate it." (The
rescuer/martyr syndrome)
"Don't worry, everything will work out just fine because God's on your
side."
"You just need to meet the right person (get your dream job, make more
money, buy that thing you want) and everything will be great."
"Of course it's not your fault. The other person is obviously the one
with the problem."
"This is your lucky day!"
"You are very special and God has a very special plan for you. If you
follow my advice everything will magically work out just the way you've
always wanted it to. Everyone will recognize what a great person you are.
You'll finally have the love, admiration and approval you've always
craved."
"You are the only one who can save the planet (or a person or a
relationship) from destruction!" (The grandiose "savior complex")
The Glossy Voice likes to confuse levels of existence and get someone
to invest in a marketing scheme or blow hundreds of dollars gambling by
misusing the human desire to have our hopes and dreams come true: "You
don't deserve to struggle with money problems all the time. You deserve
prosperity and abundance -- and your ship has finally come in!"
The Glossy Voice can take on a Pollyanna tone and sound a lot like a
New Age guru, a televangelist, or a late night infomercial. It's got a big
bag full of wonderfully inspirational quotes it will try to hook you with.
(Commercial advertising is based on manipulating both our Glossy and
Gloomy Toxic Voices.)
The Glossy Voice is the voice of addiction, promising us the false
paradise of temporary intoxication. It tries to find our weakness, our
vulnerability, and then it exploits it. Food, alcohol, drugs, fame,
wealth, sex, shopping, control -- all become false gods in the hands of
the Toxic Voice.
One of the most common and seemingly benign "glossy" intoxicants in our
culture is caffeine. It dresses itself up in fancy, sophisticated coffees
and trendy, heavily-advertised soft drinks and promises to give us the
energy and motivation we don't feel. Then it gets us so tense and wired
that we can't relax and get a good night's sleep. And guess who is waiting
for us the next morning with a big grin on its face, ready to "help" us
out again?
The Glossy Voice: Arrogance and hubris
The Glossy Voice tempts us into committing the fundamental sins of
arrogance and hubris. From Greek mythology we have the cautionary tale of
Icarus who became so intoxicated with the power of his new wings that he
flew too high. The sun's heat melted his wings and he plunged to his death
in the sea.
The Glossy Voice can be difficult to resist because it promises us that
we will finally hit the jackpot; we'll get something for nothing, we can
finally have things "my way." It's one of the Devil's favorite ways of
drawing us into temptation. Don't entrust your hopes and dreams to the
Glossy Voice. It will promise you everything and leave you with nothing.
Go back and read the section on the Light Angel so you can see the
difference between your Light Angel and its Glossy imposter. The Light
Angel inspires us to claim our birthright of love and abundance, but it
does not promise us that things will turn out just the way our ego wants
them to. That's a clue as to why we may have preferred to listen to our
Glossy Voice instead of our Light Angel. The Glossy Voice tells us what we
want to hear. It appeals to our ego's desires and delusions.
Satan said to Jesus, "Look, Jesus I know you want to help people, so
I'll make you king of the world. Just think of all the good you can do
once you're king!" Jesus discerned the evil intentions behind Satan's
cunning words and turned away from this Glossy Imposter. It's up to us to
turn away from our Glossy Voice and listen to our Light Angel as it
inspires us toward our personal evolution and spiritual growth.
Separating the Dark Angel from the Gloomy Toxic Voice
Of course the inspirational-sounding Glossy Voice is always working
with its partner in spiritual crime, the Gloomy Voice. The Glossy Voice
gets you to aim too high, to overshoot the mark. Then when you crash and
burn, the Gloomy Voice is waiting there to add insult to injury. It's
motto is: "Don't hit someone when they're down. Kick them, it's easier!"
While the Glossy Voice gets our attention by promising us Heaven, the
Gloomy Voice threatens us with Hell. This is the eschatological voice of
gloom and guilt, doom and damnation. Sometimes it sounds like an
old-fashioned fire-and-brimstone preacher telling us how bad we are, what
terrible sinners we are. It tells us we deserve all the bad things that
have happened to us. It warns us of Judgment Day and all the horrors that
await us on the other side of death.
Even if we don't buy into the "heaven and hell" theology of traditional
religion, this fear-based model of the universe still affects our
subconscious mind through the influence of past generations and the way it
has been woven into the very fabric of our civilization.
For many people who suffer from low self-esteem, anxiety attacks,
depression, health anxieties or a fear of death this Gloomy Voice is the
root cause of their symptoms.
Tactics of the Gloomy Voice
The Gloomy Voice often acts as if it is the voice of our conscience, a
spiritual authority. It will masquerade as the voice of self-improvement.
Here's some of its favorite lines:
"Here's what you should do…"
"You know what your parents would say…"
"Of course you feel guilty. You've done some very bad things and you
know it."
"Things aren't turning out the way you hoped, are they? That because
there's something very wrong with you. You have a fatal flaw and it dooms
you to failure and unhappiness. You are a sinful person. I am God and it's
my job to judge people like you. You better mend your evil ways. Repent!"
"You better listen to me. I know you better than anyone else."
"You know you're flawed and unlovable. I'm the only one you can really
count on. I've always been there for you, haven't I?"
"You might not like what I'm saying, but you know it's true."
"I'm only criticizing the hell out of you because I love you and I'm
trying to help you be the best person you can be."
"I know you're scared. Believe me, I understand what you're going
through. It's a hostile, uncaring world out there. Just think of all the
potential dangers that could threaten you and your loved ones. There's so
many obstacles in your way. Follow me. I can help you get past them and
keep you safe."
Our true Dark Angel does not scare us, shame us or make us feel guilty.
It does hold a mirror up in front of us so we can see ourselves clearly.
The face we see in the mirror may not correspond to our ego's self-image.
It may not be one we're comfortable with. It shows our imperfections.
Our Dark Angel reminds us that we do not need to be perfect to be
loved. To be loved we do need to acknowledge our imperfections, ask
forgiveness when we make mistakes, and be willing to be guided toward a
more evolved and enlightened state of consciousness.
Finding our true Sacred Voice
The Toxic Voices keep us from connecting with our true Sacred Voice.
For many years, I never really trusted God. I wanted to. I tried to. But I
just couldn't trust God fully. Subconsciously I felt it would end up being
like my parents and make me do something "for my own good" that was not
really in my best interest -- or like that capricious, punishing God that
I'd learned about as a child.
My childhood conditioning was still distorting my perception of God.
Later I realized that the reason I couldn't trust was because I had not
yet met my true Sacred Voice. I was still being fooled by my Glossy/Gloomy
Voices who were doing a very convincing job of impersonating a God I
couldn't not trust.
One of the primary tasks of adulthood is to discover the true nature of
our universe and establish our own relationship with the mysterious Source
from which we live and have our being. Through my own evolution and by
using the Miracle Method process consistently, I have been able to peel
away the toxic layers of parental and cultural conditioning so that I can
see and hear the Light Angel and Dark Angels more clearly. My
understanding continues to evolve. These divine beings truly want the best
for me and for all of humanity.
My own image of God is no longer limited to that of an ancient
patriarchal authority figure. Sometimes God appears to me as a Divine
Parent, sometimes as a Companion and Lover, and sometimes it is simply Me.
The Divine is both God and Goddess -- and beyond the duality of gender.
The Light and the Dark aspects of God work together dynamically to further
evolution. Sometimes the Divine Presence is as vast and mysterious as the
universe, beyond form, image or thought. The scientists and mystics are
both right. The universe is energy and that energy is Love.
The Divine is alive in a tree and in a galaxy, in my wife's loving
touch, in the face of a stranger. We love, we play, we co-create a reality
that is eternally evolving.
Listen to your Sacred Voice. Learn to see the world through God's eyes.
This is a wonderful universe. That we find ourselves here on this jewel of
a planet, alive and aware, is truly a miracle.
Robert Gerzon
77 Bolton St, Concord, MA 01742 • 978.369.3539
www.gerzon.com
Read more articles by Robert Gerzon online at:
http://www.gerzon.com
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