Owning Your Divinity
Posted on October 9, 2007
Filed Under Embrace Your Highest Path and Purpose, Spiritual Development |
I attended a seminar on “Spiritual Power” last weekend. One of the questions that came up was this: Why are we so uncomfortable being powerful?
Most of the world thinks of God as something external, residing far away from us. God is up there, and we are down here. If you’re reading this blog, you’re most likely ready to embrace a more empowered perspective. Perhaps you already have. But even amongst spiritual seekers, we speak carefully of our relationship with the Divine.
Sure, we say that we are divinely created. We talk of the part of us that is Divine. But to go further than that feels a little blasphemous, doesn’t it? Can we say that we are divine beings? Not just in part, but entirely? Can we go even further and say that we are God? This is usually where we draw the line. It feels dangerous. To say “I am God” seems ridiculous - what would people say? They’d think we’re nuts. They’d lock us up and throw away the key. No, no - let’s go back to saying we’re divinely created. It sounds better. Safer. Less offensive and more easily digestible.
We can argue forever about whether we are God, entirely or just partially, or not at all. That’s not what this post is about. The question here is - what is it about claiming our Divinity that makes us so darn uncomfortable? The answer is fairly simple. We are afraid.
For thousands of years, members of all religious traditions have been both persecuted and persecutors. In one lifetime or another, we have died for our relationship with God. We have watched others suffer for their spiritual beliefs, or have killed others for not sharing our own faith. We have all played at least one, if not all of these roles. And in collective consciousness resides the awareness that it is safer not to be too powerful. It’s prudent not to proclaim ourselves as having too close a relationship with God. After all, in the past - and in the present, depending on where you live in the world - it might have gotten you killed. It is a very, very old fear that is deeply rooted in our collective group memory.
Most of us are blessed now to live in a time and place where we need no longer fear religious persecution. While the fear remains, we are able - perhaps for the first time in history - to embrace our own divinity out loud.
And then there’s that other fear. If we are really divine beings, the powerful Creators of our experience here - well, that puts an awful lot of responsibility on our shoulders, doesn’t it? Taking ownership of every aspect of our life as having been created by us takes courage. Moving forward with that level of awareness takes even more bravery.
On the other side of all that fear stands our own Divinity. Power, responsibility, creatorship, awareness, enlightenment. How much of it do you want? How much are you willing to expand into? This is the journey. I personally am signing up for the whole ride. Scary as it might be, I’m ready to admit that I am powerful beyond my wildest imagination. I want to be comfortable owning all of me as a Divine being. Maybe one day I’ll be comfortable writing “I am God” on this blog. Followed up with, of course “And so are you!” I’m not there yet, but I’m willing to move past the fear.
Where do you draw your line between spirituality and blasphemy? What makes you uncomfortable? How much of your Divinity do you claim, privately and publicly?
Blessings,
Andrea
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16 Responses to “Owning Your Divinity”
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Develop Your Intuition!
Yes Andrea, the fear of stepping into my power and divinity has always been a fear of being rejected, and fear of being hurt
Love Andy
It is indeed unsettling, at first, coming to the realization that in troubling times there is nowhere to turn but within for strength and comfort. That is until we realize the madnetude of that strength and that it is in us always, not just in bad times.
I am somewhat closeted about how much of my divinity I will admit to. It depends on the situation. With my “New Agie” friends I am completely open. I tend to tone it down a bit (but just a bit. I rather enjoy rocken their world a little.) for my Christian friends. It’s not so much out of fear though. I believe the moment I say, “I am God” they wll stop listening to anything else I share with them. They won’t even hear, “And so are you”. I dole out my truth in digestible portions.
Andrea,
It upsets some people when you tell them “You are God” or “You are God, expressed in flesh” — but I feel this is absolutely true and accurate.
One of favorite expressions (and I believe it’s trademarked to Barbara Marx Hubbard) is:
“You are the Universe in person.”
From one God to another…let’s go rock the world! I love your post Andrea. I was telling someone yesterday, that gaining the awareness that I create my reality and taking responsibility for the life I create is absolutely empowering and exhilarating to me..it rocks my world.
Thank you for your always inspiring and engaging conversations.
I think this day and age we are not afraid of public persecution anymore because we evolve pass that, we are now afraid of private persecution instead. Fear of Guilt is a biggest one as I see it. It’s very private and very affective in term of control.
Like training a dog. At first the dog is free to do what ever he wants because he thinks he is not very separate from us, we need to hurt them physically and yell loud command to teach them our correct behavior. Gradually yelling is much more affective than beating. Soon we only give them a dirty look and they behave. They now know who is the boss and we are not the same dog they first known.
Our social structure is far more advance than it was when force is the only mean for control. Force evolved into self-judgment. Guilt plays a biggest role in spirituality and everything else. It is the strong force to separate us from God. It is the force that disempowers us and put us in the state of submissive. It is also a force that motivates us to try many efforts to reclaim that self-power or to belong to a group so that we can feel comfortable. Either way guilt slaps us on the face and say you are not the Divine.
We are blessed to live in the time of the new evolution. The evolution that is empowered us with the new teachings. Not that these teachings are new they are as old as the old one, but the truth is just being reveal by these new one. For example: Jesus said DO NOT JUDGE if you want to go to the Kingdom of Heaven. Most of Christians don’t understand that teaching, they say because we don’t have the authority so leave the judgment to God. But what Jesus said is if you don’t judge you don’t feel guilty, if you don’t feel guilty then you will know who you are, you are Divine “My Father and I are One”.
The funny thing is Guilt is the hardest one NOT to have and the easiest one NOT to have publicly and privately.
Hi Andrea,
I watched a film recently about the Spanish Inquisition and found myself thinking something very similar to what you have written here.
Beautifully put!
Anna
Andy - I think we all have that fear to one degree or another. We just chip away at it, a little bit at a time, look at it closely, and chuckle at it … and over time, it loses much of its power. You’re taking the first step, obviously - acknowledging that it’s a real phenomenon in your life!
David - I love the term “closeted.” It DOES sometimes feel like we have to “come out” to certain people about how important our spirituality really is, isn’t it? I do agree with you about having to “tone it down” - although I prefer to think of it as meeting people where they are.
Slade - isn’t it funny that what should be a positive statement can be taken so badly? It’s like people’s knee-jerk reaction to “You are God” is “no, no, definitely not!” And then, as David pointed out, they safely file you under the category of “nut job” and don’t listen to anything else … but who knows, maybe that one little seed will sprout someday. Love that quote!
Tuck - I’m with you! Your enthusiasm is so wonderful, it just shines through your comments, I love it. I agree, beyond the fear is endless possibility and it’s SO exciting!
Tuan - I think you’re right, we’ve gone from public to private persecution, and the private kind is much more insidious. It comes at us on a far more personal level - through guilt, but also blame, shame, insecurity, and victimization energies. We participate in these energies all the time within our society’s structure. But - everything we recognize, we can also clear!
Anna - my teacher actually suggested that looking at instances of religious persecution, reading about things that happened, etc., is a good way to move beyond the fear. You’re obviously already doing that!
Thanks for the awesome comments, all!
Blessings,
Andrea
If I am God… then why have I wasted so much time looking outside of myself for confirmation that I was doing the ‘right’ thing?
This is the question I find myself asking myself right now.
And if I am God… what is it that I WANT to experience?
Why do I struggle to admit what I truly WANT even to myself?
Tuan - I reckon you hit the nail on the head.
Guilt. Guilt. Guilt.
Andrea - another great post.
Thank you.
KL, I think you’re asking questions that take amazing amounts of courage to contemplate! Why do we wait for the “permission slip” from outside of ourselves - the one that tells us that we are now deserving, that we’re on the “right” track, that we’re doing what we’re “supposed” to be doing?
There are so many forces at work in our world that would not benefit from us walking around saying “I am God, I can create my life as I want.” I’m not a conspiracy girl, but so many of the institutions and organizations that proclaim to serve us also limit us. Which doesn’t mean that we cannot take advantage of what they offer - we must just be careful to always, always place inner authority above external approval.
We are so deeply conditioned to not see ourselves as Creator. But by asking the questions you are, we are able to shift into the recognition of our Divinity! Once we recognize what is in our way (that old guilt stuff!) we can say “no more.” After all, we are God! If we say so, away it goes. The real trick is allowing ourselves to be THAT powerful.
Awesome questions - thank you!
Blessings,
Andrea
Andrea, I think KL question can be answered by saying that we are in a constant state of “Seeking Approval”. It is the childhood wound that most of us have. As a child we must do what the adult tell us otherwise we get punishment. Punishment is very colorful this day and age. All our life we try our best not to get one, seeking for approval is the best way we know how. When we claim our Divinity self will that fix the problem? It can be hard if we practice our freewill. Freewill is a gift and also a block from exercises our Divinity. If we let our mind overpower heart I doubt if we can accomplish anything. So my take is surrender to our Divinity self completely and let heart over mind that is when we can start to create.
Tuan, I agree with you completely. What we are talking about here is ego. That is what seeks approval. The higher self knows it’s truth.
Andrea,
My permission slip came in the form of looking for ’signs’ - whether they be dreams, tarot readings, astrology, numerology… not being able to feel my own truth so attempting to discern it through the mirror of the universe.
Tuan and David - I agree that the ego seeking approval from outside of itself is a huge reason for energies such as guilt playing such a dominant role in our lives. Approval is nice, but not at cost of our own inner Truth.
Tuan, regarding “free will” - I definitely need to write a post just on that subject (or another book …) People think it means “I can do whatever I want.” But free will was given to our Higher Self to express itself - and this is of course mirrored through free will at all other levels of existence. But because the mind and ego has become so dominant, free will has become this self-indulgent force, I think.
KL - the crazy thing is, of course, that when we are uncertain and unsure, the Universe mirrors that back to us exactly. And so when we look for “signs,” we just receive more of the same …
Blessings and thanks for this great discussion,
Andrea
Thank you Andrea, You did a better job explaining Freewill. I couldn’t quite get it down right at time.
Thanks, Tuan! Free will is a tough subject, because there are so many layers.
I happened to catch a snipped of 60 Minutes on Sunday night. They were doing a profile on Joel Osteen. I’m not a huge fan of his, but I do think his message serves a certain aspect of consciousness. But apparently, he has some harsh critics in the religious sector. Here is a quote from the program that is so pertinent to this post that I had to bring it up. The Catholic Reverend Horton of the Westminster Seminary in California said: “It is certainly heresy, I believe, to say that God is our resource for getting the best life ever, because it makes religion about us, and not about God.” And my jaw dropped.
God isn’t a resource? Religion isn’t about us, or at least our relationship with God, but just about God? That makes God look like a total egomaniac. This little quote totally sums up, in my book, why we have such a hard time owning our divinity. I consider my Divine Self the greatest resource I have! I guess I’m a “heretic” …
Blessings,
Andrea
From the moment each human being decides to embrace self-acceptance, he or she will begin to better understand what it means to be a Divine being. The idea of Divine power is grounded in pure love. That can only be found and sensed once a person learns to rise above doubt, fear and negativity.